This is the 4th studio release for Metallica while they remained a thrash metal outfit. A more technical approach to songwriting and probably the most out of their entire 1980's discography. At the time, this was the first release that I owned by the band. It really got me into thrash metal. Not only was the music dark, but it showed a more technical approach to their songwriting.

Remaining musically doomish and dreary in terms of the song features, this is probably the heaviest release of theirs. Even though some tracks portray clean and/or acoustic guitar melodies, the actual songs are really depressing. That seemed to be Metallica's focus for this album. This remains to be one of my favorite releases from the band.

An introduction to this release begins with lead guitar melodies that segues into a much heavier, E-tuned guitar riff for the song 'Blackened'. All of the songs are lengthy. The last track entitled 'Dyer's Eve' was still well over 5 minutes in length. The tempos for each track vary. Not all of them are downright fast though many melodic especially on the title track and 'To Live Is to Die'. This song was a tribute to Cliff Burton (RIP).

They remained innovative regarding to the guitar riffs as well as the leads. Kirk Hammett still does a good job in the lead department, though less technical than on 'Ride the Lightning' and 'Master of Puppets' (1984 & 1986 respectively James Hetfield belts out some seriously heavy rhythm guitar structures. His vocals are more hoarse than prior releases though it definitely accompanies the music and overall atmosphere.

Hetfield has a lead guitar part featured on 'To Live Is to Die'. It's not wholly technical at all and I figure that they wanted to create something that fit the clean electric part which takes place in about the middle of this song. Also, the introduction to this track was an acoustic guitar which then flows into more distorted electric parts. Probably their longest song overall throughout this whole album and 1980's discography.

The title track is lengthy also and filled with clean parts mainly for the introduction but not the entire song at all. There's also a ballad which also became a video. That was something that Metallica wasn't too keen on doing in their earlier days. However, 'One' was a huge success overall. But mainly to a darker audience. I don't think that they anticipated going mainstream with it.

Sound quality wise came out more fluidly than previous 1980's releases. This was thanks to Flemming Rasmussen's contribution for the mixing. The only complaint though would be that the bass guitar efforts by Jason Newsted seemed to be totally void. Hearing all of the tracks and not one of them you can really tell that there's bass included on this album.

The focus in terms of the lyrics dealt with society, corruption, inner struggles and anger. Hetfield belts out some seriously heavy throat as previously mentioned. He seemed to really sound like a death metal vocalist spewing depressing lyrics in a much greater magnitude. His only cleaner voice is featured during the clean guitar moments for the song 'One'. They didn't do any cover songs at all.

This album is their last as a thrash metal outfit. As I said previously, it's their heaviest and darkest release ever. The best tracks to hear are 'Blackened', 'One' and 'To Live Is to Die'. All of the tracks are noteworthy though. The ones that I mentioned are my favorites. Their songwriting here was probably the most creative though some would challenge this view. A sad farewell to the Metallica of the 1980's.

Reviewed by Death8699
01/19/2010 21:25

Metallica, who were influenced by NWOBHM and hardcore punk, never played plain thrash metal, if looking at it album-by-album. However, they were one of the very pioneers of speed/thrash metal, they had thrash in their music, surely, but also heavy metal. They covered a lot of ground already in the 1980s. But still, they were metal-to-the-bone.

Before '...And Justice for All', the band's fourth full length album in six years, the band had lost the legendary bass guitarist Cliff Burton. His boots were filed by Jason Newsted of Flotsam And Jetsam. While forming members James Hetfield (guitar and vocals) and drummer Lars Ulrich practically made 1986 hit album 'Master of Puppets' together. They were probably somewhat lost due to the loss of Burton, so this album was started like a band project. They tried to build songs by listening to their demo recordings for the album, which included stuff from every guy. In the end, the songs were mostly put together by Hetfield and Ulrich, because nothing got done when four guys threw ideas. Some viperish tongues might say, that its puzzle-esque compositional work can be heard; 'And Justice...' is one of the most divisive Metallica album to date, even though they've done it after. This just was the first true "sword of Damocles" for the band. However, the end result includes only three Hetfield/Ulrich songs, and 'To Live Is to Die' features Cliff Burton's poem, giving him the credit for the song.

The band had travelled far from their roots of simpler, attacking songwriting. The shortest song here is just five seconds short of six and a half minutes, but that alone does not reveal how labyrinthine the songs actually are. I attest, that the songs work: Back in the day, the block of this album was nigh on impossible for me to get into. Okay, the most complex songwriting at the last quarter of 1980s that I had heard probably was something like Iron Maiden's 'Powerslave' (1984) and Helloween's 'The Keeper of the Seven Keys' duo (1987 and 1988). During the weeks, months and years I began to understood this album, bit by bit. I wouldn't change any of its parts to something else now, compositions-wise. The songs are perfect as they are.

I see this album as a real symphonic effort, truly multi-layered work. It shows the both sides of Metallica; emotional (they are human beings, after all) and emotionless (fighter attitude). For some weird reason, emotion is a curse word in the world of metal music, that in fact is so filled with emotions. It is only about living, people. As said, this is a real monument of metal music. Part thrash metal, part heavy metal. Pure intricacy in all its ugliness and beauty. While there is non-distorted and acoustic guitars, that doesn't mean they are all "beautiful". But yes, there is so much various emotions here, and understandably, due to the band's recent loss, hectic lifestyle, and the members' past lives.

The album begins with heroic opening licks of 'Blackened'. However, its true essence is soon uncovered: This is very dark and ominous indeed, easily the most grim and murky output from the band. It is driven forward by pessimism, wrath and aggression. There certainly are more of these heroic riffs and solos during the album, but not that many ('One's fantastic harmony guitar part from 3:53 to 4:33 being one of the most noticeable ones). This time the lyrical topics are about real life events: Destruction of Earth, elite slaving "lesser" people, drugs, war and personal tragedy. Just like the titles and arresting cover artwork show. No Cthulhu or The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse needed for horror, just reality. Some compositional choices and very traditional, but the album includes rather experimental stuff, too. Unusual time structures and tempo changes are the most experimental traits of the album, together with some non-typical part layout. These surely can make some parts feel blocky and schizophrenic, leaving listener going "what the fuck just happened??!?." While this includes one of the band's fastest songs, 'Dyers Eve', the album can also be rather slow at times, and generally it is mid-to-fast-paced affair. It can be melodic, but it's more about the riffs.

THE FLAW of the album is this: The bass guitar of Newsted is almost totally absent, thanks to the stupid idea made by three Metallica guys. That was a truly stupid idea, so bloody idiotic, that it haunts me even 21 years after it was settled. No wonder I didn't like this album 20 years ago. But as it goes, I've used to its dry, backdraft sound by now. It truly is in-your-face type thing. I always wanted to think I hear the bass somewhere in it, because the sound is bassy after all. Well, due to kick and tom drums, and backdraft-style rhythm guitar sound anyway. I've read somewhere, that the bass closely follows the guitars, but then again... The album was produced with Flemming Rasmussen again. Somewhere during the road, the bass guitar was mixed really quiet. Judging by the commentary on the album by personnel recording and mixing it, it was a commandment from Hetfield and Ulrich. Well, it is fucked up, but the net offers some sort of consolation in form of album with bass guitar played over it.

The guitars are powerful; you can smell the blood flowing from them ripped fingers. Sharp shredding and heavy-handed riffing, classical acoustic guitar picking, vivid lead guitar work, not forgetting those harmonic cutie pies. It's simply top-notch. Oh, and Kirk Hammett began to use wah-pedal on this album, but it's not heard a lot as yet... Which was nice! Here Mr. Ulrich performed some of his best drumming. What's not often said about his caveman drumming must be said here: It is technical, and he is actually playing, not just hitting, them drums. Hetfield's vocals are angry and raspy. First time around he sounds like a man, not just a boy. He's not singing, but at least hitting some notes in order to fit together with the guitars.

'...And Justice for All' is a highly memorable album despite all of its blockiness and brain-twisting songwriting. After a listen, one will remember loads of riffs and solos, but it takes loads of listenings to remember the song structures. That's the beauty, and also the beast, of the album. If the band had gone towards more progressive stuff after this, instead of easier and more heavy metal approach, they could have ended up in the same league with Watchtower, Cynic and Atheist, probably. Then again, many progressive-as-heck bands have tried to write catchier stuff, and hitting the nail in the head like Metallica did here, it just didn't happen but very, very rarely. '...And Justice for All' is a classic Metallica, and metal, album, even though it has its faults.

Rating: 10- (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
03/20/2017 12:12