Description
A Metallica live album that has become a classic piece for the fact that it was made by Euronymous (Öystein Aarseth) of Mayhem in 1988. Black vinyl with a yellow insert
Phantom Lord features a recording made at the Old Waldorf in San Francisco on the 29th of November 1982 with Exodus as support act (featuring Kirk Hammett on guitar). 350 people had gathered for this Exodus/Metallica show and Metallica were paid $ 87,50 for the performance. This recording, done by a boom box on stage, as opposed to from the soundboard, due to technical difficulties with the mixing, is almost complete. An eleventh song, The Prince, was played, but was not part of the recording since the tape ran out. This live recording was released as Metal Up Your Ass live demo. Metallica were already by the end of 1982 a force to be reckoned with. Sure they are still very rough around the edges as far as performance goes, but the raw energy is definitely there. The sound quality is pretty decent, considering it is an audience recording made from a boom box! (I’m surprised that the recording wasn’t totally distorted, seeing as the thing was placed right on the stage!) The performance has a few minor fuck-ups here and there – but really nothing all that unusual compared to their later drunken performances. Hetfield’s vocals do kind of suck at this point in time, and Ulrich fucks up a lot, but the sheer volume of the guitars compensates for any of that silliness. Hetfield and Mustaine do a competent job playing the songs, including the solos, quite well. As for the setlist – they played pretty much everything they had at that point, including two of their favourite Diamond Head covers: Am I Evil and The Prince (Sucking My Love was out as of mid-1982, as were covers by other bands: Killing Time, Let it Loose, and Dirty Money). The line up on this recording were
James Hetfield – rhythm guitar and vocals
Dave Mustaine – lead guitar
Ron McGovney – bass
Lars Ulrich – drums
Track listing:
1. Hit The LIghts
2. The Mechanix
3. Phantom Lord
4. Jump In The Fire
5. Motorbreath
6. No Remorse
7. Seek And Destroy
8. Whiplash
9. Am I Evil-Diamond Head cover
10. Metal Militia