METALLICA — ...And Justice for All (review)

METALLICA — ...And Justice for All album cover Album · 1988 · Thrash Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4.5/5 ·
Stooge
I can’t dispute that this is a classic album, and easily one of my favorite Metallica releases. Is it a worthy follow-up to Master of Puppets? Definitely. Is it as good? Almost.

The track lengths are somewhat of an issue. Not bad in principle, but when comparing some of the songs to Master Of Puppets, some songs just seem to drag a little, and I mean a little. Basically, I’ll point to “Frayed Ends Of Sanity” and to a lesser extent “Harvester of Sorrow” (which doesn’t feel like AJFA’s 2nd shortest track) as examples. That’s pretty much my only issue, and it’s really not a significant one.

The production/mix might be an issue to some, but it honestly doesn’t really bother me. This is coming from a bass player, so that tells you something about the quality of the songs, what really matters. Each song has rather meaningful lyrics, aided by memorable patterns that make the words rather easy to memorize and fun to sing along with, and the heaviness of the total album (perhaps their most heavy album) cannot be denied. When someone refers to the “Metallica crunch”, they are most likely thinking of And Justice For All.

Just about every riff compiled within these songs has that “I wish I wrote that” quality to them that appeals to any aspiring metal musician. And with metal (thrash in particular), the riff is what makes the song. Much of the riffing in “Blackened”, Jason Newkid’s first and perhaps most meaningful contribution to Metallica, has that quality. The title track, “Eye of The Beholder”, “Dyer’s Eve”, hell, pick any song and it will have three killer riffs minimum. And who can forget their classic “One”, which is easily one of my favorite Metallica songs ever. It's such a powerful song that stuck with me from the first time I heard it. The mostly instrumental “To Live Is To Die”, while not quite the piece of music that “Orion” was on the previous album, it is still rather beautiful and a fitting tribute to ex-bassist Cliff Burton.

While this takes (a close) second place to my favored Master of Puppets, And Justice For All is easily an album that is an essential component of any metal music collection.
Share this review

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

Tarantula Heart Sludge Metal
MELVINS
Buy this album from MMA partners
God Damned You To Hell Traditional Doom Metal
FRIENDS OF HELL
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Absence Melodic Death Metal
THE ABSENCE
Buy this album from MMA partners
Unextinct Technical Death Metal
HIDEOUS DIVINITY
Buy this album from MMA partners
Powerlords Power Metal
ELETTRA STORM
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

EXISTENTIAL DEAD - Cold Hands
EXISTENTIAL DEAD
Bosh66· 5 days ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us