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Metallica - ...And Justice for All

Metallica - ...And Justice for All

List Price: $22.95
Your Price: $15.61
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: nothing short of awesome.....
Review: in 1994, i bought metallica's "the black album", and it totally turned me on to the trash metal band. after buying the rest of the albums over the next year i came to the conclusion that "...and justice for all"" was sonically,and lyrically, better than any of the other albums. a very intense cd beginning with the destruction of mother earth in "blackend" to the 9 minute ride through the government and politics in the title track, to the mellow wartime medely of "one", all the way to the finishing song that represents all that is speed metal, "dyers eve", it is simply the total package and will stand the test of time forever.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Second Best Metallica Album Ever
Review: ...And Justice For All. This is what metal is all about. Second only to their previous realease, Master of Puppets, this album is an essentail Metallica recording! While Master of Puppets showcased the bands raw energy and pwerful sound, this album brings them to their musical peak. Their most ambitious and talent revealing album, filled with incredible drum work and guitar riffs that contribute to the incredbile sounds known only to Metallica. Top ten metal album. Highly recommended!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Solid, fast, and furious
Review: It sounds odd, but one of the things I like best about Metallica is that you get your money's worth. Out of the nine songs, the shortest one is five minutes and twelve seconds of metal; two of the songs are over nine and a half minutes.

This is the first album with Jason Newsted on bass. Although I miss Burton (who wrote the lyrics for "To Live is To Die"), Newsted does a great job.

This album is from the earlier years where they still have the dark themes of alienation, but they also have a lot of fast riffs going throughout. "Blackened," the first song on the album, will knock you backward with its power. While you are then in the reclined position, enjoy the fury.

I would recommend this CD if you are ready for the frenzy.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: At their peak
Review: This album - cd - is very reccomended because it conjures different styles of metal in one album. It shows , that from the previous 'Master of puppets', the band was heading in a more melodic, yet mature and solid sounding style. Maturity comes naturally. But making awesome records like this one takes a good group of musicians.
It probably doesn't warrant to go into full detail on this album. It is solid throughout. Not one weak moment. 'Dyer s eve' is probably my least favorite song, although the lyrics are very interesting, and the music.. well let s say perfection is difficult to find.
But the rest of the songs, To live is to die, Blackened (a monster), the title track, and on through most of the cd will leave you very pleased. This is a timeless album that I think 10 years and 20 years from now will still be listened and respected as much as they were when they came out, and now.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Dark, angry, depressing and complex
Review: The only real problem with this album, which has been harped on constantly in past reviews, is the admittedly odd production which only really becomes apparent when you turn the bass right up. Was it a mistake? Surely not. Metallica and Flemming Rasmusson were no amateurs at the production game, evidenced by their 2 perfect previous releases. Was it intentional? If so, why? I don't know, and I certainly can't judge whether or not it detracts from the overall quality of the album in that it's impossible for me to picture it any other way. Can you honestly tell me that the S&M version of "One" is superior? Give me a break. It just adds to the angry, complex mystique.

There isn't a weak second on this album. While "Master of Puppets" was superior in terms of it's sheer, head-banging, foot-tapping metal perfection, "...And Justice For All" is just as good in strikingly different ways. Deliciously complex chord-structures, breakneck and frequently fluxing time signatures and the James/Kirk interplay is superior to all their albums before or since. And yet it's all done in such a cold, barren way that it's so utterly unique. The closest this album veers to emotion is the gritted-teeth eulogy to their tragically departed friend Cliff in "To Live Is To Die" which is only made more powerful by the cold acceptance and exploration to all things melancholy layered around it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: More Classic Metallica
Review: I, unlike many of you, love everything that Metallica has recorded up to this point in their career. However, there's no denying that their three post-debut, pre-90's albums are their best, and among the best material recording by any band in any genre, with only Iced Earth's material standing up to it.(within the more or less traditional heavy metal genre.) This is porbably the weakest of the era, and is definitely worse than Master of Puppets(which needs no more recommendation) but is still absolutely essential.

Everyone loves to talk about the lousy sound quality on this album, and it is definitely a problem, but it really isn't as big of a deal as everyone makes it out to be. Frankly, the vocals sound the best of any of the 80's material, with out question. The drums sound kind of weird, but better than they did on Master, especially the bass drums, which where essentially an indistinct rumble on Master. Sadly, the bass is as hard to hear as everyone says, but the guitars usually have enough power that you don't notice too much. I say usually, because 2 of the songs, "Blackened" and "Eye of the Beholder" end up being severely under powered. Come to think of it, the louder parts of "One" are also a bit too weak sounding, but other than those songs it isn't too much of a problem.

Some people try to claim the songs on this album are overly long and lack focus, but this simply isn't the case. They aren't as continuously compelling as the songs on the 2 previous albums, but they really never drag. Hammet shows why he is my favorite lead guitar player, with great solos on most of the songs, particularly on "One" and "Harvester of Sorrow". His solos, combined with Hetfield's constantly changing, frequently lightning fast solos keep even the longest songs interesting. Ulrich's drumming hit it's peak on this album. He was never one of the best thrash drummers, but he has good, intricate and powerful patterns on this album, with plenty of double bass as well. This album is also their darkest overall, both musically and lyrically. Hetfield's lyrics are easily his best of the three classic albums, and tend to focus on real world problems including war, child abuse, problems with the court system, bad parenting etc. Metallica maintains a good variety of textures and tones throughout the album. Delicate, dual lead parts from "One" and the title track contrast well with the straight mid-tempo pounding of "Eye of the Beholder" and "Harvester of Sorrow", which too contrasts with the thrashing fury of "Dyer's Eve" and "Blackened". They have lots of strong tempo changes as well, with only about half of the album being played at true speedmetal velocity. This is a good thing, mind you, since over an hour of that tempo would get tedious, and is essentially the way it was on all of their 80's albums.

This album has 2 weaker points, "Blackened" and "Eye of the Beholder".(Ride the Lightning had only 1, Escape, and Master of Puppets didn't have any, hence my determination that this album is the weakest among them) These are still 2 good songs, with much of their weakness coming from the production, but of course knowing that is the main problem doesn't actually make them any more enjoyable. The rest of the album kicks .... Pretty much everything else is a classic. "One" is probably their best song, perhaps the best metal song by anyone. "Dyer's Eve" is pure thrash power, and "Harvester of Sorrow" is their darkest, most intense song ever. The title track is more winding, progressive brilliance, like their two previous title tracks, and "To Live is to Die" is another great instrumental.

So, go buy this album.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: THE FLAT ALBUM
Review: As 1991's METALLICA was dubbed the BLACK ALBUM, 1988's AND JUSTICE FOR ALL should be called THE FLAT ALBUM: "flat" being for its flat sound, uninspired production, horrible drums sound, total lack of bass.

IN this album, Metallica had great ideas, but Ulrich and Hetfield began to show the world who rules Metallica with an iron hand, by giving new bass player Jason Newsted a "hot" reception, by simply practically erasing the bass parts from the final mix!!! It's awesome: a metal album where you can hardly listen to the bass guitar!!

That put aside, Jason himself says this album is terribly bad and that he would prefer to record Elvis songs than something like this. Ok, it's full of time changes or whatever, but they hardly work in benefit of the songs.

Best tracks are Blackened, One and TO live Is To Die.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Its hard to explain...
Review: Its hard to explain And Justice For All

I am a big Metallica fan, and I like the majority of the songs on this album. But, the production is so terrible that I can't listen to this album for more than a few tracks before my ears start to bleed. It souds like someone turned the treble all the way up and bass all the way down on an equalizer. I thought something was wrong with my cd player at first, and I tried to turn the bass up, but then all I heard was drums (which don't sound too good)...where's the bass guitar? But, even though the production was quite shoddy, there are a lot of good standout tracks especially Blackened and One. And of course there are other good ones like Harvest of Sorrw, and Dyer's Eve. I found To Live Is to Die a little weak as an instrumental. Yes it was inspired by Cliff, but The Call and Orion are so much better (songs from Ride the Lightning and Master of Puppets for the non-Metallica afficianados). The guitar work is pretty good on this album. A little too trebly, but good. A few tracks on this CD sound alike, and on those songs, the guitar is really weak. But again, the standout tracks really standout.

This album is a pretty good buy, but I reccommend it for the veteran Metallica fan. If you're just getting into them, Ride, Master, or Black are probably you're best bets. ...And Justice For All is like a fine wine, its an acquired taste. The more you listen to all of Metallica's works, the more you appreciate this album, but at the same time, you see its shortcomings.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Metallica's 2nd best album
Review: Metallica was one of the bands that got me listening to rock and roll as a young black kid in the late 80's and early 90's. During this time I would watch Yo MTV Raps and Headbanger's Ball on the same day and see Public Enemy, Slick Rick, Guns N Roses and Metallica. By far the best band of the 1980's, this album is the fourth(and unfoutunately the last) of their masterpiece albums; their political stances and superb musicianship drew me into them and got me wanting to play guitar and drums. I love Jamed Hetfield's voice and great penchant for writing lyrics that mean something. Even though they have fallen off HARD, listening to this brings back memories. Go get it!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: An Overall Poor Album, But Metallica's 1980s Zenith
Review: "...And Justice For All" was Metallica's first album after a 1986 bus crash that killed bassist Cliff Burton, resulting in a two year hiatus and the hiring of Jason Newsted as the former's replacement. Although the buzz about the album seemed to anticipate an epic metal masterpiece, "...And Justice For All" was merely, for the most part, another predictable thrash metal album, with few exceptions. Eager metalheads didn't notice the album's poor sound and production, since they were so eager for a new album...and because most of them had already cranked up the bass and volume on their speakers. "And Justice For All" is a poorly arranged and recorded set which makes it all the more sadder for Metallica that this was their musical peak of the 80's (that said, my views are obvious on the bland quality of their previous three releases of that decade).
Meant to be a concept album about the death of the American dream and the "rape" of justice, "And Justice For All" loses any chance of maintaining its theme with songs such as 'Frayed Ends of Sanity,' 'Harvester of Sorrow,' and 'One' which have little or nothing to do with the rest of the album's "theme." The latter though was inspired by the anti-war novel "Johnny Got His Gun" and though it is a consummate Metallica performance, it is a dull and predictable song overall (not to mention that it doesn't even follow its inspiration in accuracy). Other songs like 'Blackened' and the title track are drawn out thrash rockers with some good melodies and a few intriguing lyrics, but those intriguing lyrics soon to turn to verses of mindless babbling, separated by boring guitar riffs. The highlight of "And Justice For All" is more than enough for an additional star, the instrumental suite 'To Live is To Die' complete with an imaginative arrangement, violins, and posthumously published spoken words written by the late Burton. However, on the rest of this album, singer James Hetfield's vocals are unflexible and close to being one-noted, and guitarist Kirk Hammett yields little that can be considered exceptional.
Overall, the production and writing of "And Justice For All" detract most of its artistic merit, while the bad sound--lack of Newsted's bass, which makes one wonder if the rest of Metallica resented the new recruit--makes most of it down-right unlistenable.


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