Artist: Metallica
Label: Elektra
Release Date: 1988
Rating: 5 Skulls
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Title: ...And Justice For All Artist: Metallica Label: Elektra Release Date: 1988
Rating: 5 Skulls |
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Reviewed by Solomon:
On a recent excursion to the Metropolitan Museum of Art with several members of the MJ crew, we passed through the white marble statues in the Greek/Roman art wing. I had to turn to Death and Hel and say "Hey, these look like leftovers from the Justice tour." Har-har! Ah, who can forget those exploding replicas of Mother Justice? Just a random thought to introduce the last of Metallica's "speed" period before heading down the Bob Rock Trail. Contrary to what some may think, the "Black Album" was NOT the last "real" Metallica record. Okay, it may not have been as shocking an about-face as Load was, but those who had bowed before the holiness of Master of Puppets knew something was awry. For our fundamentalist friends, this was like introducing the Gospel of St. Thomas into the 1611 King James Bible. Yeah, the "Black Album" threw me for a bit of a loop, too, but I dig it for what it is and still accept it as a valid part of the Metallica canon. However, the stylistic break between "Blackened" and "Enter Sandman" is rather apparent.Like the band's previous efforts, Justice continued the fine Metallica tradition while changing things around just enough to notice a difference. Always present were the breakneck speeds, epic guitar solos, barking vocals, a bit of groove and the contrast in clean and dirty textures. Kill 'Em All was a blunt, thrash-bat upside the head. Ride The Lightning was darker and more refined, while Master of Puppets sort of blended the two and made metal history. ..And Justice For All certainly was pure Metallica, but darker, angrier, artier and a bit harder to get into. The lack of production value is noticable, but it does in a sense lend itself to the bleak nature of the lyrics and music, making the black blacker. Speaking of the lyrics, I have to say Justice contains some of the best ever written. Hetfield outdid himself with venom-spewing rants on environmental destruction, politics, freedom, war and personal demons, made all the more potent by his trademark holler. Nowhere on the record is this more evident than on "Harvester of Sorrow," a supreme Metallica track that just oozes with hate, the tense, Near-Eastern tinged intro giving way to a pummeling series of guitar chords. James blurts "Drink up/Shoot in/Let the beatings begin" like he damn well means it.
"Blackened" breaks the mold a little bit, neglecting a heavenly acoustic intro and whetting your appetite instead with a long, distorted fade-in before ripping your face off with a punchy one-noter. The crunchy breakdown in the middle (2:34) is great, also. "To Live Is To Die," besides sounding like the next James Bond flick, is the album's high-point. Another long instrumental in the tradition of "The Call of Ktulu" and "Orion," "Live" is a moving tribute to departed bassist Cliff Burton, who contributed a brief lyrical passage. After a beautiful acoustic intro, the track plods along with a F#-G-A motif before reaching new heights with a melodic guitar line (4:31) that'll melt the hardest heart (sniff). The following clean fingerstyle passage is truly a moving moment (4:58), a part I have to play practically every time I pick up a classical guitar, and the slow, gripping solo following it is just icing on the cake.
Other tracks such as "The Shortest Straw," "Dyers Eve" and the title song do not offer the same emotional rewards as these gems, but Justice is another jewel in Metallica's crown before the hair came off and duets with rap stars came in. Of course, Justice also spawned the hit single "One," a righteous epic made all the more forceful by one of the most powerful videos in the history of music (the unedited, full theatrical version, that is). In my book, Justice is actually the weakest and least accessible of the pre-"Black" era, but the band put together quite a beast with this one and retained its metal crown.
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