Metallica Reissue Demo Tape for Record Store Day

BY Gregory AdamsPublished Mar 3, 2015

Bay Area thrash force Metallica are reaching way back into the annals for this year's Record Store Day, having announced that they'll be reissuing their demo tape, No Life 'til Leather, as a limited-edition cassette.

A press release explains that these are some of Metallica's earliest recordings, tracked back in the summer of 1982 at Tustin, CA's Chateau East Studio. The vintage, seven-song demo features founding mainstays James Hetfield on guitar and Lars Ulrich on drums, but the recordings also features Megadeth leader Dave Mustaine on guitar and bassist Ron McGovney. The latter pair would leave the band not too much later and would be replaced by guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Cliff Burton, respectively.

The tape led to the band getting a record deal with Megaforce Records, with tracks like "Hit the Lights," "Jump in the Fire" and "Seek & Destroy" later being re-recorded for Metallica's 1983 debut LP, Kill 'Em All. The demo recordings have been remastered from the source recordings "to maximize the sound potential for 2015 without altering the original mixes."

"This year we decided to celebrate Record Store Day with our friends at independent retail by taking a huge leap back in time to our humble beginnings with that little rectangle of plastic known as the 'demo tape,'" the band elaborated in a statement. "In 1982 we recorded seven songs that became our initial calling card known as No Life 'til Leather and it led us to our first record deal . . . the rest, as you some of you may know, is history!"

While the tape reissue is due to land April 18, as part of Record Store Day, Metallica have plans to put the collection out on CD and vinyl as well. More info is expected to be revealed at a later date.

You can see Exclaim!'s ongoing list of what's incoming for Record Store Day over here.

No Life 'til Leather:

1. Hit The Lights
2. The Mechanix 
3. Motorbreath
4. Seek & Destroy
5. Metal Militia
6. Jump In The Fire
7. Phantom Lord

   

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