Thanks to The Metal Den, we can now all hear Metallica in the band’s infancy.  The website recently unearthed the earliest known recording from the band, and by the looks of the old-school RCA cassette tape, the six-track EP was recorded at then-bassist Ron McGovney’s garage during March 1982.

The “ancient” relic contains two original Metallica songs, “Hit the Lights” and “Jump in the Fire”, which were subsequently released on their studio debut Kill ‘EM All. However, the band went through a major transformation between the recording of the demo and the 1983 release. In the 18 months following this session, guitarist Dave Mustaine and bassist McGovney would be replaced  by Kirk Hammet and Cliff Burton, respectively.

The early recording of “Hit the Lights”, which you can listen to below, displays an amazing 20-year old Dave Mustaine pushing the pace at a break neck speed while James Hetfield’s guitar is absent due to lack of experience.  The early recording also emphasizes the bass beat, possibly due to the growth that was still to come for drummer Lars Ulrich.  Early recordings by this line-up are remarkably rare to discover. Unless you have their early Power Metal bootleg, demo No Life ’til Leather, or the live recording of Metal Up Your Ass (Kill ‘Em All’s working title) collecting dust on a shelf somewhere, you have never heard this line-up. With the news of a possible US “Big Four” tour, might we witness a couple Mustaine/Metallica live tracks?  Commence Listening!

TAGGED AS: Metallica