Metallica - ...And Justice For All
 

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Metallica - …And Justice For All (Elektra Records, 1988)

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I have, up until recently, always considered Master of Puppets to be their pinnacle, however recent plays of …And Justice For All has reawakened my passion for this album and changed my opinion.

…And Justice For All is Metallica’s fourth studio album and was certainly their most difficult on a personal level, following the untimely death of Cliff Burton. With only the $5.98 EP as a warm up, it was down to new bassist Jason Newstead to step into the very large shoes left behind. Ultimately, it would be live performances that would give Jason the opportunity to make his mark on the band - surprisingly, for a thrash album with quite a heavy sound, it is somewhat renowned it's low bass - which was of great disappointment to him.

As with the previous two albums, there is an underlying theme – political and legal corruption. “Halls of justice painted green, money talking, power wolves beset your door, hear them stalking” – with the title track Hetfield and co.’s eyes were fixed firmly on the issue of money spinning the wheels of justice.

The album’s flagship single ‘One’ would prove to be Metallica’s first venture into the world of shooting videos for songs as well as having an impact on the singles charts with a very respectable number 13 in the UK. Along with 'Harvester of Sorrow' it became a virtual mainstay in their live sets.

The one main criticism of the album from the media and fans alike was that the songs were too long (the title track alone clocking in at over nine minutes), something that the band found problematic when touring the album. Having said that I personally don’t think that this detracts from the album, conversely I find it gives it more depth. Each track tells its own story, creates its own atmosphere and just wouldn’t have had the same impact if they were, say, four minutes long.

The album closes with two very different, but equally significant tracks. ‘To Live Is To Die' would be the last Metallica song to give Burton co-writing credits, with the ending lyrics “Cannot the Kingdom of Salvation take me home” etched on Burton’s memorial stone. On the back of this comes the seething anger of 'Dyer’s Eve', a vitriolic outburst against parental control and manipulation in which, seemingly, Hetfield can barely repress his own resentment.

It’s a very dark, broody album and one which I think represented a change in Metallica. Other than the slightly tongue in cheek intro to ‘Frayed Ends of Sanity’ the album shows the band maturing, albeit in their music and not their personal lives.

Nice review! It doesn't tend to get much love from MB in general, but I'm a big fan of AJFA and consider it their second best after MoP. While I do agree with the criticism about the track lengths, I think the album contains some of their best songs ("Dyer's Eve", "Blackened", "One" and "Harvester of Sorrow" all come to mind).

Its major problem to me isn't length but lack of diversity. To me if you're 3 minutes into any track on that album it can be hard to tell where you are. I don't know if its the lack of bass, but the songs on that album seem to lack a certain character that makes them stand out from one another. If I have to pick one sound to describe the album it would be whatever they did to the guitar:

flat, low, staticy, like you're hearing it on an AM station. It whats Metal would sound like if it applied the philosophy of a funk band to a metal album. In all its a really great album, I obviously love it being a big metallica fan, but it lacks a flavor that its predecessor and successor seemed to have.

The Black Album for me... that's what introduced me to Metallica in the early 90s.

In their defense they had just lost one of the best metal bass players of all time. I prefer the first three to AJFA, but its an oustanding album in its own right. I love Dyer's Eve, that was the last song that Cliff Burton orchestrated with Hetfield before he passed on. Newsted is a great player in his own right, but its hard to follow up Burton. AJFA is classic Metallica, their last record I bought.

Thanks for your comments. As much as I like Master of Puppets, Justice left a much bigger impression on me and it was also my introduction to Metallica, which I guess explains my attachment to the album.

Good review. I like Justice but the whole album feels too long. RTL is probably my favorite Metallica album.

This pretty much sums up my view on the band and their early career as well. If it weren't for the inclusion of Dyer's Eve I'd call AJFA good rather than great.

I like this album even if it's the album that gets the least bit of play in my collection. With albums like The Black Album and Ride The Lightning, and I will also include Death Magnetic, ...And Justice For All just falls to the end of the list. It wasn't exactly done on purpose, I just never found it to be a great album. It's good, just not THAT good.

I've got a weird opinion on Metallica, because i'm probably of the rare breed that found and still finds Death Magnetic pretty great.

Death Magnetic is certainly their best work for a long time, however it's let down by awful production.

See, that's what I don't get. I thought the production was pretty good. A lot of songs on that album are some of my all time favorite Metallica songs.

I can't even listen to this album anymore. The production is awful and the whole album feels contrived and lacks the organic quality of previous releases.

There are some great riffs and passages of play but as a whole it's a sterile album that confirmed Cliff Burton was the 'warmth' of the band. Newsted was treated appallingly on this album and I am surprised he hung around as long as he did.

I, for one, was really disappointed when Jason left the band. He seemed to give the band an equilibrium - a balance to the runaway egos of James and Lars.

No offence to Jason's replacement (the fact that, in all honesty, I don't know his name speaks volumes), but I've never been able to take to Metallica since he left.

I like the review. I've heard much worse recordings, and have no problem with the production whatsoever. Burton's gone, but Lars steps up big time, provides what I think is his best drumming performance. IMO a thrash drummer > than a thrash bassist, including someone as talented as Burton, so I don't miss him as much as others. Length is long, but it's Metallica jamming, so no prob with that either. Finally, it's got their best power ballad ever, so far a thrash record, it's plenty diverse.

But... Fade to Black is on Ride the Lightning :shycouch:

Haha, good point!

I Beg To Differ, sir. Solely for the reason of exquisite classical guitar playing segueing into pounding thrash chords. Fade to Black is now slouch either though. :beer:

...but what are you saying is their best ballad?

But, again... Fight Fire With Fire is on Ride the Lightning :p:

I'd actually say that description is closer to Battery than FFwF. Which is on MoP.

Are those even power ballads? IMO, The choice in the 80s is really only "One" and "Fade to Black".

They aren't, but I wouldn't say One is either.

There's only really 'Fade To Black' and 'Nothing Else Matters' that I'd consider as power ballads.

Out of those two, the former is by far the better song.

The worst thing you can say about "One" it is it's half a ballad, but then I'll counter that it's Metallica pushing the boundries of what a power ballad should sound like.

"One" begins very well within the boundaries of a standard ballad by telling a story of a sad young man, melodically with acoustic instruments, before thrashing out. Just because they change up the pace half-way through the song, doesn't stop it from being a ballad. This is a "power ballad" so these types of songs always get heavier and faster as they proceed. Because of the way it's composed, I find "One" much more interesting structurally, than "Fade to Black'. Metallica adds nothing to the power ballad form on NEM, so it's pretty conventional and boring.

I agree that 'One' is a superior song to 'Fade To Black' but I can't for the life of me think of it as a ballad!

I don't think Fade to Black is a power ballad in the same way Journey's Faithfully is a power ballad. Since right now the term is describing both, we should either retire it or come up with a new term for one of the songs.

There's different types of ballads. I think I'd classify Faithfully as a "love ballad", as opposed to a "murder ballad". Power ballads can be about love, murder, suicide among other things.

Well... I'd say Battery is just a more refined version of the same album opener style that FFwF pioneered :p:

Also just because it's slow doesn't make One a freaking ballad (it made it prog)

I love Death Magnetic also its a raw heavy album

i probably like fade to black better to be honest

i used to like one better but that changed overtime

ones got a kind of like.... tyrannical... simplicity to it... its a very unique song

I love ...And Justice for All, my third fave after RtL and MoP.

For years though I thought it was amazing, but not to its potential, due to it's awful production.

Heard a remastered version that fixed some of that though, and it made me love it more.

AJFA is very progressive, and the drumming is so good it makes me wonder if Lars was the guy responsible. Death Magnetic tries very hard to copy this formula.

has been my fave 'Ca for some time

until i relistened to the whole lot of them recently, then something clicked and my fave is "Master of Puppets"

problem is, AJFA is a collection of jams and it shows

I don't personally feel though that ...And Justice For All has any significantly weaker tracks on it - 'Frayed Ends of Sanity' is the weakest, but it's really only the introduction that makes it so.

Conversely, I could happily skip two tracks listening to Master of Puppets. In all the years I've listened to the album I'd have to say I've tolerated, rather than really liked, 'The Thing That Should Not Be.' 'Damage Inc.' seems to be misplaced. Not to take away from the track, but it just doesn't feel right to me, as if it was just something they stuck on the end to finish the album.

really great metal album, lyrically maybe the best Metallica album.

8.9/10