GENERAL INFO And Justice for all or AJFA as it often known was metallica's 4th album and their last thrash album before the commercial metal self entitled album metallica. This album is the first metallica studio record (not including the garage days E.P) with Jason Newsted who joined the band after bands ex bassist Cliff Burton (R.I.P) died in an tragic bus accident in 1986 while the band was on tour in sweden.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS My first impression was the cover art which i thought was a really cool concept and portrayed the material on the album really well. When i first listened to this album my favourite songs were Blackened, One, Dyers Eve and To live is to die. On a negative note the sound quality wasnt great.
TRACK BY TRACK REVIEW 1. Blackened This song was a great intro to the album and is one of metallica's fastest tunes. Its been used to open up concerts on several tours including the latest tour "Madly in in Anger with the World" I love the drumming in this song which like many other songs on this album has some of the best double kick lars ulrich can cook up. The song is about the world being destroyed by Nuclear weapons and has some very emotional lyrics.
2. ......And Justice For All AJFA is (if im not mistaken, correct me if i am) Metallica's longest song. It is one of the most emotional and angry metallica songs (excluding stuff from the new album). The song is about how theres no justice and its all about money (well duh). The only disadvantage to this song is it is too long for a lot of people. In the words of Kirk Hammet "I hate playing AJFA you look up in the 8th or 9th minute and see the people on the front row yawning". It hasnt been played live fully since 1989 on the Justice for the world tour.
3. Eye of the Beholder Similar theme to AJFA, very emotional lyrics. Theres nothing wrong with it but in my opinion i dont think this song is too memorable. I think this is one of the weak links in the album.
4. One Well what can i say about One, easily one of the best songs on the album and one of the best metallica has ever written. Based on Dalton Trumbo's anti war novel "Johnny Got His Gun" it is about a soldier who loses all his limbs. It follows a similar structure to "Fade to Black" and "Sanitarium", ballad with melodic intro, bridge and thrashy outro. One was Metallica's first music video and is still a metal classic which has not left the metallica live set since. I really enjoyed Ulrichs double kick work during the bridge.
5. The Shortest Straw Another song in the album that really doesnt stand out to me. Similar lyrical themes to the res of the album, a good solo though.
6. Harvester Of Sorrow One of the heaviest songs on the album slow grinding metal at its best. Another headbanger this one. Still a live favourite. Lyrics are exceptional.
7. Frayed Ends Of Sanity A really cool riff, probably one of the more technical songs on the album but lacking the flare needed to be a metallica classic.
8. To Live is To Die An instrumental except for a short spoken verse written by the late Cliff Burton, this song is often considered as a tribute to Cliff. It has never been played fully live. One of the best tracks on the album.
9. Dyers Eve A fast, aggressive, raw, emotional song dealing with Hetfields childhood finishes off the album with some explosive double kick, this is another one of my favourites from this album and is the ideal way to end the album. Dyers Eve was not played live till 2004 simply because the band didnt want to try it because of its extreme speed.
CONCLUSION This is easily in metallica's top 4 albums and is one of the classic metal albums which in my opinion every metal fan should own a copy of. Unfortunately poor sound quality the repetitive nature of some songs stops it from beating Master of Puppets.
I would reccomend it to every metal fan.
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This record has so much good material that it's a shame the production is so shoddy. ... more
Song-wise, this is probably Metallica's most sophisticated album, exploring the theme of justice and perversions thereof with a vengeance. "One" is one of their best s...
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Advantages: It's Metallica, quite simply. Amid much criticism from the American public in their early years they still knock out such fantastic, original tracks. Well worth purchasing Disadvantages: Bass is too quiet depending on how you like your metal but doesn't do much to spoil sound
Aug 7th, 2005
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