MusicKidMp3 : ...And Justice for All (Album) by Metallica

Skullkid755 So here's some music history. It was the 80s. Metallica was killing it, with their second album being better than their debut, and then Master of Puppets also being a masterpiece. 1986 was both good and bad for Metallica. The good - Metallica killing it in the thrash metal genre. I like Metallica's 90s stuff, but it isn't thrash like the 80s stuff. The bad - The death of their bassist, Cliff Burton. Anesthesthesia and For Whom the Bell Tells are only a couple of songs that would be empty or lacking of plenty of the quality they have if Cliff hadn't had put his bass playing in the music. Trapped Under Ice and Escape are the least popular songs on RTL and the only two on the album that Cliff didn't contribute too. He died in a tour bus accident in 1986. You know how David Bowie fans reacted to David Bowie's unexpected death when they found out? Or Linkin Park fans after hearing about Chester Bennington's suicide? Well, Metallica fans felt the same. Then 2 years after, they made their best album with their new bassist Jason Newsted. And I'm reviewing that album here in this post. So the review starts in 3...2...1...0.5...0.25...0.24...0.23...zero! Point 22. Okay the review starts right now.

Blackened : This is my favorite Metallica song right here. It has a unique and eerie intro which is played by the band and then was reversed in the recording, which is why it gets louder instead of quieter. Then the riff kicks in. And in my opinion, is one of the best riffs in music. Fast, aggressive, and gives a dark mood as well. It goes with the theme of the song, which is the end of the world. After that, it slows down. But in the slow part of the song, it keeps it's darkness and anger. And for a music video I think it would be the part just a few minutes before the world ends. And then it goes into what I think is a mid tempo solo by the one and only Kirk Hammet, and then it speeds back up, and with a pretty great, speedy guitar solo. Lar Ulrich's drumming is well done as well, especially right after the first chorus finishes. I'll rate this song a 10/10.

...And Justice for All : And here we have the title track of this progressive-thrash metal album. It begins with a calm intro played on acoustic guitars. It builds up into the heaviness of the track. The lyrics are about corruption in the justice system, which I guess means this is punky-thrash (punk is about rebellion and hating on the government is a form of that, thus it's punky-thrash metal). Lars's drumming is even better in this track. After a few minutes we get a good guitar solo by Kirk Hammet and then a slow down in the music. It speeds back up after that and in the end has what I think is some pretty good dual guitar work. I will give this song a 10/10.

Eye of the Beholder : And what do we have here? Another lightning fast song? Yes, we do. No, I was lying. We get a slow/mid-tempo song here. I like Hetfield's vocals in this song too. Especially the end of the chorus. And the dual guitar that starts around the 4:45 point and lasts only a few minutes is magical. I think the song is about questioning the rights we are told to have by the government. Metallica, please do at least one hardcore punk song. Just do it. And it has a good guitar solo by Kirk Hammet but not good enough for the song to be 10/10. So I give the song a 9/10.

One : This song, is amazing. It starts off with war sounds like guns shooting. And then, the acoustic intro starts. It sets a sad tone for the song, which is good since it's a ballad. You can't combine happy chords and sad vocals + lyrics, if you do that the genre of metal you're doing is bipolar metal. Van Halen's Jump is happy sounding but is actually a song about suicide, so I guess if you do that it could also be depression-hiding metal. I'm getting off topic. Then the vocals and lyrics kick in. The song is about a soldier who was wounded badly in war and can't move or communicate with the outside world. After a couple of verses and choruses, there is a short solo which I think is either clean-electric or regular acoustic, when after done, it goes into the bridge. This is Lars's biggest and most iconic moment. The catchy double bass drumming that goes with the rhythm guitar along with angry vocals makes for a great transition into one of Kirk Hammet's greatest solos of all time, and one of music in general's greatest guitar solos. There's some more great rhythm guitar afterwards and then the song ends. Amazing song in my opinion. Outstanding song, and the music video only makes it better. 10/10 song.

The Shortest Straw : Another great song from a great album. Lyrics are about people being hunted down for reasons that don't mean they should be. Like the previous songs it's complex and progressive. It starts off with a mid-tempo then gets faster, and in the chorus it's slower. I really like the riffs in the song, James Hetfield did an excellent job in it. It then has a pretty good and fast solo by Kirk Hammet, then some more rhythm guitar. Then it slows down and gives us a slower solo by Kirk Hammet. And in the end it doesn't even matter! Just decided to add in a random Linkin Park reference there because I am numb from paper cuts. And there you have another random LP reference I made while crawling. Done with the Linkin Park references, back to the actual review. The song gets some dark sounding rhythm guitar before it ends. 10/10 song, 2 great solos (not Kirk's best stuff, every St. Anger solo is Kirk Hammet's best), awesome rhythm guitar, and some pretty good lyrics.

Harvester of Sorrow : And here we have another slow song like Eye of the Beholder. It's got some cool riffs in it by James Hetfield, one of the people who inspired me to play guitar. The intro reminds me of this album's ballad, One. But it's not a ballad, just has an intro like one. It's a pretty aggressive song despite not being lightning fast. The song seems to be about somebody who was abused and is now getting their revenge. There's a good and slow guitar solo in the song too. But it is lackluster compared to the other songs off the album. 8/10. High quality but medium quality compared to everything else.

Frayed Ends of Insanity : Here's a song that's obviously about losing your mind and your mental state degrading over time. It's a mid tempo song with great riffs by The Table. Kirk Hammet has some great lead guitar work in the song. Drumming is also good as well but doesn't stand out. I think this song's standout quality is the lyrics though. Alzheimer's is likely what the song is about.
Old habits reappear means not acting your age and instead like an infant. Fighting the fear of fear means trying your best not to be scared of what's happening but being highly concerned anyway. Everyone's after me means your deteriorating mental state and actions are drawing attention to the ones close to you, and not in a good way. That's just a few interpretations I have. I rate this song 10/10.

To Live Is To Die: This song is a great instrumental. And in my opinion, the best instrumental by Metallica. It's a tribute to their bassist Cliff Burton, who as you all know, sadly died in a tour bus accident. The guitars give different emotions like anger and sadness. And the transitions just add to the songs quality more. The few lyrics in the song is a poem written by Cliff Burton. The bass in the song is unused riffs written by Cliff himself. The orchestra in the middle gives the song more uniqueness which it already has plenty of. Kirk Hammet did a great job on the first solo, especially since he just played what was at the top of his head. And James Hetfield was good at the second solo. Lars's drumming is great in my opinion in this song, really adds to the mood of the song. A masterpiece of a song. 10/10. If I was willing to break the laws of reviewing I'd make that an improper fraction but I can't.

Dyers Eve : The last song of the album, and a great way to finish it off. A lightning fast main riff after a mid tempo one. Awesome drumming by Lars. And aggressive vocals by James Hetfield. And you can tell he's truly pissed off here because it's about something personal to him. His parents being complete d*cks to him. He was raised strictly in a Christian Scientist home. His father also left him at a young age and his mother died of cancer when he was a teen because she wouldn't let herself be treated.
Probably their thrashiest song ever made. Kirk Hammet's solo is eargasm inducing also. I give this song a 10/10.

Now that I've reviewed and rated all 9 tracks, time to combine then divide the ratings. The sum is 87, which is between this album and the one before it Master of Puppets? Coincidence? Yes, nothing more than that. Divided by 9 equals 9.67. So 96 out of a hundred for this music.

Instruments, rate and ranked :
1. Rhythm Guitar - great riffs - 10/10
2. Vocals - James Hetfield outdid himself here - 10/10
3. Lead Guitar - great/pretty good solos but one of them is average - 9/10
4. Drums - An album that proves Lars is overhated - 9.5/10
5. Bass - Heard a bass boosted version of some songs, thought it sounded better. Official recording could've been way more audible though - 8.5/10

Average of the instruments is 94/100. Add it with the songlist average and you get a 95. It's a great album, not perfect, but came close to perfection. I recommend this album to metal heads. If you want complex songs this should be a good to album. Best songs include, well can't decide. I'll go with title track, blackened, one, and dyers eve for top 3. Bottom 2 are eye of the beholder and harvester of sorrow. I'm done with this review, if I hadn't had finished it I would be dubbed unforgiven. Not sure how to end the post so just gonna say goodnight.

Comments

You're on track with these music reviews. Keep it up, my good man. - visitor (9/22/2017)

Nice review - visitor (9/23/2017)

Pretty decent album. - ProPanda (9/23/2017)

. - Musicfans (3/30/2021)