Each approach has its own central problem. If it's metabolism-first, how did it 'invent' information storage? If it's information-first, how did it 'invent' metabolism?
For information-first, the answer might be in self-organizing amaloyds; for metabolism-first, membrane memory.
But if it's information-first, why does all life use proticity and the krebbs / CA cycle? Gotta say, when I first ran across Martin's hypothesis, I was struck by the inevitability of the progression from a geologic / chemical process to something very similar to linear parts of the Krebbs / CA - only going the 'other' way from what we're used to seeing.
Oh, in that response, I assumed people would just know about 'proticity', how all life relies on electrical charge. My bad; it's more compelling if you've already marvelled at that for a bit.