What If Metallica’s ‘Kill ’Em All’ Album Were in Major Keys?

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When it was released in 1983, Metallica’s debut album, Kill ’Em All, set the pace for thrash metal, with its minor-key riffage, precise playing and fusion of punk with New Wave of British Heavy Metal.

Would the album have been nearly as successful if the songs had been in major keys? The answer is obvious, but that didn’t stop Ben Eller from exploring how the intro to each of the album’s 10 tracks would sound in major keys.

Clearly, it’s a thin line between thrash metal and pop punk.

Check out Ben’s YouTube channel for more of his videos.

Christopher Scapelliti
Christopher Scapelliti

Christopher Scapelliti is editor-in-chief of Guitar Player magazine, the world’s longest-running guitar magazine, founded in 1967. In his extensive career, he has authored in-depth interviews with such guitarists as Pete Townshend, Slash, Billy Corgan, Jack White, Elvis Costello and Todd Rundgren, and audio professionals including Beatles engineers Geoff Emerick and Ken Scott. He is the co-author of Guitar Aficionado: The Collections: The Most Famous, Rare, and Valuable Guitars in the World, a founding editor of Guitar Aficionado magazine, and a former editor with Guitar World, Guitar for the Practicing Musician and Maximum Guitar. Apart from guitars, he maintains a collection of more than 30 vintage analog synthesizers.

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