... AND JUSTICE FOR ALL

To most Metallica fans ...And Justice For All is usually either the last great album from the classic era leading up to the Black Album or an inferior followup to Master Of Puppets. Surprisingly this inferiority doesn't come from the quality of the material but rather from the terrible production values. First off, the bass sound is almost nonexistent, so no need to adjust your subwoofer level, while the guitars and drums come off sounding very dry in comparison to the juicy sounds that were depicted on the two preceding releases. Just listen to these albums back-to-back and you'll see what I mean.

Being a fan of '70s music, one generally gets accustomed to the sound production that would make anyone who only listens to the mainstream of today to turn it off. I know that production has become a huge deal in this day and age but I'm not the one to disregard excellent songwriting just for the lack in the sound department. This holds especially true if an album isn't recorded during the last twenty-something years.

Blackened is easily my favorite Metallica album-opener and unlike Fight Fire With Fire and Battery it tries to push things forward without abandoning the heavy opener-blueprint of the past. The rest of the material is not too shabby either. Among these compositions Eye Of The Beholder definitely gets an honorable mention from me for its very groovy style that shows that Metallica liked to experiment with other styles than just their usual straightforward Thrash Metal sound.

This one was my favorite Metallica album for a very long time until I eventually passed on the crown to Ride The Lightning, even though ...And Justice For All is still the more consistent of the two albums.

***** star songs: Blackened (6:41) Eye Of The Beholder (6:30)

**** star songs: ...And Justice For All (9:47) One (7:27) The Shortest Straw (6:36) Harvester Of Sorrow (5:46) The Frayed Ends Of Sanity (7:44) To Live Is To Die (9:49) Dyers Eve (5:13)

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