... AND JUSTICE FOR ALL

You will never hear Metallica as 'progressive' as they are here. Not until St. Anger will you find a worse sounding Metallica album. That's the pros and cons of this release. The music here is complex and technical; the mix is horrible, no bass at all. Ex-Flotsam & Jetsum bassist Jason Newstead joined the group after former bassist Cliff Burton died in a tour bus accident. He must have had the flu, so the other three recorded this album without him. That's what it sounds like.

"One" is one of the best songs here. It was the bands first video. At one time they swore never to make music videos. "One" was a great video however. But then on their next album they make 5(!) videos. Some of Kirk Hammett's best guitar playing can be heard in this song. The neo-classical playing at the beginning is nice and is more tasteful than anything Yngwie Malmsteen was doing at the time. The song builds and builds to a great climax. There are a couple songs here where the compositions and playing is very prog. The title track and "Frayed Ends Of Sanity" are great examples. "Blackened" and "Dyer's Eve" could have fit on Master Of Puppets, while "To Live Is To Die" is one of the band's best instrumentals. The latter was co-written with Burton and has a good spoken section. This album has some of the band's best lyrics.

The album was mixed by James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich so it's all drums and rhythm guitar. I don't know if mixing Newstead so low was done on purpose as some kind of inside joke because he's the 'new guy'. But it was an awful idea and it ruined this album's reputation. All their 1980s albums have been remastered and re-released. But ...And Justice For All should have been RE-MIXED. It still should be. The music here deserves at least 4 stars, but the production ruins everything. So I'll give this 3 stars.