No Life ’til leather, we’re gonna kick some ass tonight…

So says Metallica, on “Hit The Lights,” the opening track of their 1982 demo No Life ’til Leather, which, after over three decades, is finally getting an official release for this year’s Record Store Day.

The mighty Metallica will be releasing the 1982 demo No Life ’til Leather as a re-mastered limited edition cassette tape for Record Store Day this April. This offering will contain the original demo recordings for the seven songs that went on to make up the bulk of the thrash metal legends’ first album, 1983’s Kill ‘Em All, including the popular “Seek & Destroy.” The demo tracks were performed by the band’s original line-up of James Hetfield (lead vocals and rhythm guitar), Lars Ulrich (drums); Dave Mustaine (lead guitar), who went on to form fellow Big 4 thrash band Megadeth; and Ron McGovney (bass). (For Kill ‘Em All, current guitarist Kirk Hammett replaced Mustaine, while Cliff Burton, who died in 1986, stepped in as bassist).

The limited edition Record Store Day demo tape release will have a re-mastered version of the original 1982 mix, and this will be the first time the demo is being offered commercially ever.

See cassette art and track listing here below (image above is of the aforementioned original line-up, but is not an official photo for the limited edition cassette release and was not included in the press release).

I found myself the other day trying to explain to my kids the immense impact that Metallica had on the metal underground when they first burst onto the scene in 1982. That’s right kids; Metallica was an underground (and cutting edge) band once upon a time. Their debut album
Kill ‘Em All did exactly as it’s title promised. It was a manifesto… a declaration… Metallica were about to take over the world and indeed kill ’em all.

For the next eight years, through endless touring, tragedy and triumph, and four albums that would become the very pillars upon which modern metal is built, Metallica would rule at the forefront of the metal underground. There is no way to describe to someone who wasn’t there the amount of reverence that we metalheads held for this band during those years. And then came the black album and Metallica was no longer the metal world’s underground darlings. But that’s a story for another Thursday.

Here is the shot heard ’round the world, “Hit The Lights” the opening track of Metallica’s landmark debut album Kill ‘Em All.