Album Review: No Life 'Til Leather - A Tribute To Metallica's Kill 'Em All
Reviewed by Matthew Williams
There’s no way to describe the joy of hearing a selection of bands playing one of your favourite band’s greatest albums. We are used to Metallica themselves playing cover songs, as they’ve done this for decades, but as soon as the opening riffs and screams came out from Tailgunner’s version of “Hit The Lights” I was smiling from ear to ear. This album just proves how much of a legacy the Bay Area legends have, and with some big hitters like thrash giants Testament alongside some of Metallica’s favourite bands, Saxon, Diamond Head and Motorhead, there is plenty to enjoy.
As mentioned, Tailgunner kick it all off, and they do a superb job, with their singer opening with a trademark Hetfield “oooooo yeeeeaaaahhhhh”. It still proves what a blistering song this is and it’s followed by a rockier version of “The Four Horseman” from The Almighty, with Ricky Warwick’s voice doing a sterling job. This has been 5 years in the making, and it all began when NWOBHM legends Diamond Head covered “No Remorse”.
With Swedish prog metallers Soen next, they give an intriguing version of “Motorbreath”, which did make me go “wow” as it sounds so damn good. Tygers of Pan Tang are added to the line up as they tackle “Jump in The Fire” with the vocal and guitar sound completely changing the mood of the song whilst still being amazing, but for me, this is exactly what a covers/tribute album should be all about, bands taking a track and making it their own, which so many have done here.
David Ellefson probably had the hardest act to follow, as he provides his take on “(Anesthesia) – Pulling Teeth” and produces a version full of emotion and complexity, before we get Motorhead’s Grammy Award winning cover of “Whiplash”, so just sit back and enjoy this masterpiece. You can almost picture the grins on the faces of Metallica as they listened to this being performed with Lemmy’s trademark vocal.
With NWOBHM bands dominating the final four songs, apart from Testament of course, Saxon rock up with “Phantom Lord” with Biff Byford’s voice totally changing the song, before one of the bands idols, Diamond Head, return the favour with “No Remorse”. Brian Tatler probably knows Metallica better than most, and they provided a roaring rendition of the classic song.
The song I was intrigued most about was Testament’s take on “Seek and Destroy”. This is a track like no other and has probably had more people headbanging to it than most Metallica songs. The thing that stands out is the bass, as it’s huge, but they add intensity in the way that only Testament can, with Peterson and Skolnick giving the riffs their full treatment and Chuck Billy being his imperious self.
It all culminates, rather appropriately with Raven, who were part of the now famous Kill `Em All For One tour with Metallica in 1983. They have an intriguing opening to “Metal Militia” before that trademark thrash metal noise reverberates around the speakers and they give a thunderous adaptation of the final track.
