In celebration of Record Store Day, on April 18th Metallica released No Life 'til Leather as a limited edition cassette. The seven tracks were recorded in 1982 in Tustin, CA by the band's original lineup of James Hetfield: lead vocals and rhythm guitar, Lars Ulrich: drums, Dave Mustaine: lead guitar, and Ron McGovney: bass. Straight from the archives, the original source material has been re-mastered to maximize the sound potential for 2015 without altering the original mixes. The collection has never been available commercially until now.

Record Store Day 2015 was a resounding success. The White Stripes “Get Behind Me Satan” topped the chart as the best-selling title for the day. Metallica’s cassette demo, No Life ’til Leather, was second and the only non-vinyl title in the Top 100.

See the entire list at this location.

 

 

A note from Metallica: “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." 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! We hope you enjoy this little walk down memory lane with us and that you will continue to join us in supporting independent record stores around the world.”

Look for expanded versions coming on CD, vinyl and a collector's set sometime this summer.

 

 

Tracklisting:

“Hit The Lights”
“The Mechanix”
“Motorbreath”
“Seek & Destroy”
“Metal Militia”
“Jump In The Fire”
“Phantom Lord”

Record July 6th, 1982 at Chateau East Studio, Tustin, CA.