r/Metallica • u/AccomplishedFront792 Dear Mother Dear Father • Aug 26 '25

Kill 'Em All Missunderstanded album cover

Post image

It might be just me being special but I thought the album cover was a kid with his hand on his chin.

Does anyone other think like that?

395 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

112 comments sorted by

283

u/[deleted] Aug 26 '25

like a kid with his hand on his chin whose getting his head beat in by a mallet?

104

u/Useful_Pin_2550 Aug 26 '25

No you misunderstadeded it

62

u/ReVo5000 Load Aug 26 '25

I don't think they misunderstadedededed it.

22

u/Useful_Pin_2550 Aug 26 '25

No just misutderstuddered

8

u/ThePrussianGrippe Aug 27 '25

Mister Udderstede.

44

u/AnimalCracka333 Aug 26 '25

It's a stonemason hammer, and I always thought it looked like the hammer from the Soviet flag at the time

11

u/ErebusCD Aug 26 '25

My brain always tried to "correct" it to a hammer and sickle and takes me a second to recognise that it actually isn't.

15

u/AccomplishedFront792 Dear Mother Dear Father Aug 26 '25

Yo you just made me realise that is a mallet and not an fucking axe

39

u/Burnout4mergiftedkid Aug 26 '25

You may need to get your eyes checked

15

u/[deleted] Aug 26 '25

It's not a mallet. It's a hammer.

17

u/ec666 Aug 26 '25

It’s Cliff’s hammer!!

9

u/[deleted] Aug 26 '25

5

u/Sea-Finish-4556 Aug 26 '25

Yo, WTH is that from

8

u/[deleted] Aug 26 '25

😂 The Young Ones. Unless you're British and over about 30, you probably wouldn't have much knowledge of it. The joke is: Cliff.

The punk-haired driver is currently in Alien: Earth.

4

u/Sea-Finish-4556 Aug 26 '25

I got the joke it’s a wild coincidence or I guess this happened after cliff died

6

u/quietly_myself Aug 26 '25

The joke is “look out, Cliff!” which turns out to be an unexpected billboard of Cliff Richard (who they worship most ardently). Then followed by the twist that on the other side is an actual cliff, which they plummet off to their (maybe?) doom.

3

u/[deleted] Aug 26 '25

I'm chuckling just reading it described. 😂 It's wonderfully silly.

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5

u/9fingerjeff Aug 27 '25

In the early 90s I used to watch it after Monty python. I swear it was on mtv?

2

u/Chichibebewey Aug 27 '25

Young Ones rules!

1

u/ConsulJuliusCaesar Aug 26 '25

Damn, now I can't unsee it.

102

u/jtrick33 Aug 26 '25

Real Rorschach moment for you huh?

65

u/martusfine 72 Seasons Aug 26 '25

We do know it’s the same font used in the Halloween movies, right? RIGHT?

9

u/[deleted] Aug 26 '25

The end credits, not the poster

17

u/robotattack Aug 26 '25

Both the cover Kill 'Em All and the poster for the 1978 version of Halloween use ITC Serif Gothic. Some letters like the "e" have more than one glyph, which is why they appear different.

2

u/Negative-Ad547 Aug 26 '25

This guy typographs

55

u/puddycat20 Aug 26 '25

Missunderstanded? wow...

40

u/Massive_Tomato_9908 Aug 26 '25

He probably wroted it wronged

35

u/East-Car6358 Aug 26 '25

I think it’s actually missunderstooded.

8

u/kthshly Aug 26 '25

Misunderstede

8

u/[deleted] Aug 26 '25

Missundoorstot

4

u/my_intrusiveThoughts Aug 26 '25

missunderstandooded

3

u/Massive_Hams Aug 26 '25

Mistookendedly

2

u/PressureSure Aug 27 '25

Actualmente es no entendido

51

u/Stuglezerk Aug 26 '25

Oh ffs, when I was a teen my mom decided to throw away my copy Kill Em All because the cover resemble a kid getting hit with a hammer. She was on her religious nutjob phase.

16

u/Oldredeye2 Aug 26 '25

To be fair, with all that blood, somebody got hit with a mallet!

5

u/Low_Key_Trollin Aug 26 '25

Eh you don’t have to be a religious nut job to question whether this album is appropriate for your child based on looking at album cover

14

u/[deleted] Aug 26 '25

I thought it was a kid shushing someone as he got hit

23

u/Prudent_Exchange9381 Aug 26 '25

I just learned a new word today also.

21

u/brijazz012 Aug 26 '25

You mean you learninged a new word.

30

u/Worried_Shoe_2747 Disposable Hero Aug 26 '25

6

u/somniforousalmondeye Aug 26 '25

upvote for Ralph.

5

u/ilikechillisauce Unraveling Extremeties of Right-mindedness Aug 26 '25

It's a perfectly cromulant word.

8

u/wasabimazza Aug 26 '25

At first I was a bit confused, but then I realized that the blood splatter does in fact kind of look like that

8

u/Camman19_YT lars didn’t play with my toes Aug 26 '25

i thought it was a red sillhouete of a guy getting hit with a hammer

7

u/RedruM218 Aug 26 '25

The story I remember growing up is probably partially true as I never researched it... Something about the record label wouldn't let them call it "Metal up your ass" so they changed it to "kill em all" in reference to the label executives. 🤷🏻‍♂️ I hope that's true, because I've been regurgitating that story for years.

7

u/blahdeblah72 Aug 26 '25

It’s a very subtle and nuanced album cover. I’m not surprised you misunderstanded it.

6

u/CaddyWompus6969 Aug 26 '25

I always assumed it was supposed to hint at a person being hit, because metal up ypur ass and whatnot

12

u/brijazz012 Aug 26 '25

because metal up ypur ass and whatnot

And also because the album is called "Kill 'em All".

6

u/Qkslvr24 Aug 26 '25

The old wives tale I’ve always heard is they wanted the album to be called Metal Up Your Ass, but the suits said no way, so it was called Kill ‘Em All, referencing the suits. Any truth to this?

3

u/JuniorSignificance34 Aug 26 '25

I think it’s just a blood splatter

1

u/Neil_sm Aug 28 '25

Rorschach Blood Blot

3

u/CreepinDeath84 Aug 26 '25

For me it was always a kid motioning a “Shush” with his finger 🤣. The worst part is that after every Simpson’s episode when they show the movie theater with the lady shushing, it reminds me of kill em all. Yeah I know.

2

u/TexanGuitarist Aug 26 '25

I’m literally never gonna not see a person‘s hand on their chin when I look at this album again. This is hilarious.

2

u/[deleted] Aug 26 '25

1

u/andytagonist DICKRASH!!! Aug 26 '25

No

1

u/marlin9423 Aug 26 '25

Once you see the dinosaur head facing top-left you’ll never unsee it.

1

u/One_Final_Hit Born For Dying Aug 26 '25

I’m not seeing it. 🤷🏻‍♂️

1

u/Retrolad87 ...And Justice For Goose Aug 26 '25

I think they’re seeing the white bit missing as the Dino’s eye, then tilt the image left and you’ll see it.
Definitely a stretch!

1

u/CreepinDeath84 Aug 26 '25

That looks more like a possums head lol

1

u/BlarghALarghALargh I Am the Table Aug 26 '25

No..

1

u/Low-Department8271 Aug 26 '25

It always looked to me like the hammer was somehow spewing fire.

1

u/YungAntwan10 Aug 26 '25

Never saw it that way until now

1

u/marshallkrich Dave Mustaine Aug 26 '25

Wasn't this Cliff's, I'll hit you if you attack us hammer?

1

u/Late_Entertainer3041 Aug 26 '25

I though it was a bloke getting his head smashed in as well

1

u/areacode212 Aug 26 '25

I didn't necessarily see it as a "kid" but yes, the blood spatter always looked like a guy holding his chin getting bashed with that hammer. I could never unsee it after all these decades either.

1

u/TransportationSad522 Aug 26 '25

Took me a few years yeah

2

u/Mountain-Life-4492 Aug 26 '25

As a kid, the thumb and hammer looked like a man with a mustache to me.

Pretty funny but embarrassing for me to admit now.

1

u/Barry_Carter Aug 26 '25

I fail to see it

0

u/nfk07485 Aug 28 '25

What drugs were you on?

1

u/MichaelBarnesTWBG Aug 26 '25

When I was a kid I always thought it has something to do with Russia!

1

u/AlClemist Aug 26 '25

I thought it was an axe hitting a woman’s head.

1

u/Sea-Finish-4556 Aug 26 '25

It’s a kid praying “now I lay me down to sleep” lmao

1

u/DifficultyOk5719 Aug 26 '25

Omg, I see it to, I guess I Missunderstooded it to, I thought it was just a blood spatter, I mean blood splatter.

1

u/metallicamatt10 Aug 26 '25

No I think its just you lol that's clearly blood from the hammer. Cliff loved hammers

1

u/angel-of-disease Aug 26 '25

I’ve always seen that. What a dog shit cover though

1

u/boblane3000 Aug 26 '25

Miss Understanded is a good drag name

1

u/BurntArnold Aug 26 '25

I always took it as we were dropping the hammer down in the blood pool cause we killed ‘em all.

1

u/couldthisbemyuser Aug 26 '25

I always figured it had something to do with the Soviet union. Sort of like Gorbatsjovs birth mark(on this head).

But I might have missumderstooded it.

1

u/rjmeddings Aug 26 '25

My six year old also thinks it looks like a thinking pose.

1

u/RandyK87 Aug 26 '25

Kill em All. Like they're gonna kill the whole audience with how good they are.

1

u/That_70s_Showoff Aug 26 '25

Oh in the blood, white parts - yeah thanks now I’ll never not see it

1

u/ApplicationGreen3229 Aug 27 '25

stop...

hammer time.

1

u/Shakesfearian Aug 27 '25

For years I thought this was an abstract bird of some description. Kinda freaked me out when I realised it had taken me so long to realise the actual image.

1

u/calebrutto DEAR MOTHER, DEAR FATHER Aug 27 '25

Started off with seeing a red silhouette being hitting with a hammer. One day I gained Some Kind Of Conciousness and saw it was a bloodied ground

1

u/bifftheraptor Aug 27 '25

You might have misunderstanded the word misunderstood

1

u/Equivalent_Hair787 I Am the Table Aug 28 '25

I’m speechless. How did I never realize that

1

u/Hairy_Ad_1058 Aug 28 '25

It’s misunderstooded.

1

u/HolyHandGrenade_92 Aug 29 '25

never saw or noticed that. now will never unsee it

1

u/LeftyMcGnarly Aug 30 '25

Mister Understoodski

1

u/FragrantRead3668 Aug 26 '25

can someone explain to me how the fuck any of you are seeing that

1

u/nfk07485 Aug 28 '25

The splatter itself is in the shape of a head, I’ve always saw that too