 Kill ' Em All has received mostly positive reviews . Bernard Doe of Metal Forces described Kill ' Em All as one of the fastest and heaviest albums ever recorded , and remarked that the album is not for the faint @-@ hearted . Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune acknowledged it as the " speed metal prototype " , but felt the lyrical replication of Judas Priest and the Misfits kept the album short from becoming a classic . In a retrospective review , Billboard praised Kill ' Em All for changing the face of popular music with its unique combination of punk and metal . AllMusic 's Steve Huey called it " the true birth of thrash " . He praised Hetfield 's highly technical rhythm guitar style and said that the band was " playing with tightly controlled fury even at the most ridiculously fast tempos " . Rob Kemp , writing in The Rolling Stone Album Guide , credited the album for consolidating the punk rock and heavy metal scenes , but felt that apart from " Seek & Destroy " and " ( Anesthesia ) - Pulling Teeth " , most of the album had the band " trying to look tough " over enthusiastic but unfinished riff @-@ based songs . Journalist Martin Popoff said Kill ' Em All differentiated from the debuts by Metallica 's Bay Area contemporaries because the fans could identify with Hetfield 's lyrics and the band 's appearance . Spin 's Chuck Eddy considered Kill ' Em All the inception of the " extreme metal mania " of the early 1980s . He noted the album did not receive much critical praise at the time of its release , but said it aged well and opened the doors for the less commercially successful bands . Although McIver credits Venom 's Welcome to Hell ( 1981 ) as the first thrash metal album , he acknowledged Kill ' Em All as a major influence on the flourishing American heavy metal scene . Despite its " less @-@ than @-@ perfect " production , Loudwire 's Jon Wiederhorn said that Kill ' Em All sounds like an " influential slice of history " and stands on the same level as classic albums by Black Sabbath , Iron Maiden , and Judas Priest . 
