...And Justice For All

Metallica | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Original Release Date: September 6, 1988
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Elektra / Wea
• ASIN: B000002H6C
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (877 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,680 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #11 in Music > Hard Rock & Metal > Thrash & Speed Metal
  • #55 in Music > Hard Rock & Metal > Hard Rock
  • #84 in Music > Hard Rock & Metal > Pop Metal

Track Listings

1. Blackened

2. ...And Justice for All

3. Eye of the Beholder

4. One

5. The Shortest Straw

6. Harvester of Sorrow

7. The Frayed Ends of Sanity

8. To Live Is to Die

9. Dyers Eve

Editorial Reviews

No Description Available
No Track Information Available
Media Type: CD
Artist: METALLICA
Title: AND JUSTICE FOR ALL
Street Release Date: 09/06/1988
Domestic
Genre: HEAVY METAL

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

192 of 202 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rage Before The Machine!, June 10, 2003

By 

Brent Evans (Rockhampton, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: ...And Justice For All (Audio CD)

After an extended layoff period and a classic `covers' ep, Metallica returned with a vengeance on AND JUSTICE FOR ALL. All the anger and sadness they held in on the death of bassist Cliff Burton was unleashed on the record buying public. The album is full of seething vocals and complex chord and tempo changes, with melody at its centre. Lars Ulrich (drummer) and Kirk Hammet (lead guitar) have never played better. Unfortunately for new boy bassist Jason Newsted, the house producer Fleming Rasmussen buries his contributions way into the mix, so it sometimes sounds like he's absent. However, this complaint aside, if you wish to hear some truly angry heavy metal way before `Rage Against The Machine' raised its collective voice in protest, check out the true rage and beauty of this release.

BLACKENED - Starting, as the two previous Metallica albums on a deceptively soft note, this anti -war track suddenly roars to life with a snarl at it's heart, courtesy of James Hetfield. Jason Newsted's bass sounds like a buzz saw as Hetfield's spits out horror filled images: "Fire! To begin whipping dance of the dead". The abrupt change of pace in the track's middle only goes to prove what an impressive drummer Lars Ulrich can be. Kirk Hammet's lead solo incredibly shows an improvement since the `Master of Puppets' album. An intelligent update of the `Ride the Lightning' leadoff track, `Fight Fire With Fire'.

AND JUSTICE FOR ALL - Another soft build-up into a shout of protest. This time the target's the buying off of justice and the corruption of the system. The chorus is a total damnation of the unfairness of it all. Lars pounds every part of his kit in a display of virtuosity that only some metal drummers can manage. This track may be around 9 minutes in length, but I guarantee you'll be transfixed for that amount of time. "Hammer of justice crushes you, overpower . . ." Indeed.

EYE OF THE BEHOLDER - A strident track decrying the erosion of freedom and rights.Again, the chorus grabs you by the throat and won't let go." Freedom . . . with their exception!" The beat on the track is very militaristic.

ONE - The first Metallica song with an accompanying video. This has got to be my favourite Metallica song of all time. The tale of a soldier who has stepped on a land mine and now is an armless, legless, and blind vegetable. You can almost hear the desperation, the pain and the fury of being hooked up to a life support machine in Hetfield's vocal performance. The track goes from heavy ballad to out- and-out thrash with a deft flick of the wrist. Kirk's searing lead break and Ulrich's machine gun drumming compliment the tune perfectly.

SHORTEST STRAW - Powerhouse, fast paced monster about paranoia, ostracism, being the victim of witchhunts and blacklisting, and mental pressure. The one thing that's a certainty on Metallica albums, are catchy choruses and `Justice . . .' has plenty of those.

HARVESTER OF SORROW - A lumbering evil tune about child abuse and how a victim can repeat what has happened to them on the next generation. The rhythm section sounds like an `Imperial Walker' crushing all under foot. I especially like the `answer vocal' on the chorus.

FRAYED EDGE OF SANITY - Beginning with a musical in-joke (the band plays `The Guards' March' from `The Wizard Of Oz') then revving up for a tale of paranoia sliding into mental illness. This is pure head banging material with a literate edge.

TO LIVE IS TO DIE - A fitting epitaph to supreme bassist Cliff Burton (the lyrics are his), the band puts all they have into this mournful, melodic cruncher of an instrumental that ranks up there with `Pulling Teeth', `Orion' and `The Call Of Ktutlu'. May he always be sadly missed.

DYER'S EVE - A thrash masterpiece to end the album. This is a scream of rage towards parents who dictate and censor without supplying love or encouragement. Hetfield's voice spews venom and the track's instrumentation is stabbing, relentless. One final roared, "Go!" and the album is finished; leaving you emotionally spent. What a musical ride.

29 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The End of an Era..., November 2, 2005

By 

Campbell Roark "tri-zeta" (from under the floorboards and through the woods...) - See all my reviews

This review is from: ...And Justice For All (Audio CD)

Epic. This is the line of demarcation... The toe in the dirt scrawling out the line bewteen fans of the old-school thrash Metallica and their more pop-conscious fans of the new. It's also my favorite Metallica CD, I find it to be their most consistently BADASS. Epic riffs, sprawling density; the songs are allowed to take up as much time and aural texture as is needed ("...And Justice For All" and "To Live Is To Die," both clock in at just under 10 minutes).

This one: Exceptionally well-paced, a tad thinly recorded, brutal sonic delivery. Killer legendary tracks. Thematically unified, this would be Metallica's most socially-driven release as most, if not all, of the tracks seem to deal (in some way) with ostracism, petty-tribal-hates, the plight of those passed-over, those forgotten, those stepped on or kicked out of the way... James's vitriol is unleashed in full! No sleepers, no skippers.

Something I don't see noted in here much: the drums! Lars really pounds the living soul out of himself on this one. There's more variety and interesting bass-drum fill work on this one than previous (and following) releases. It almost sounds like a different drummer at times. Early Metallica skin-work always comes off as a tad marginal... That's probably because I don't know anything about drums beyond digging double-bass-kicks. This one brings them aplenty.

...From the melodic building electric drone of the first track "Blackened," (which infectiously sets the tone for the what is to come), to the take-no-prisoners thrash mayhem of "Dyers Eve," a blistering and acerbic closer.

Some high points: The parts in "Eye Of The Beholder" When James starts howling "Independence, Liberty! FREEEEEDOM!" he comes off like a metal Braveheart, Plus it has one of all-time fave screechy "wong-wong--wong-WONG-WAAAAAHHH!!!!! blast-off" solos.

The chorus of "...And Justice..." is just killer. "Justice is rrraped, justice is DONE!" Recalling, "Master of Puppets" with its "pulling your strings, justice is done," line... Loss of Power/Control being an oft-recurrent major theme in the Metallica corpus.

I'm not gonna gush on and on about how slick the transistions are in "One," from the softer melodic poignance to all out thrash-insanity, seeing as how everybody knows the tune in question. But it does never seem to get old, at least to these ears.

The instrumental "To Live is to Die," is better than prior instrumental tracks (yes, there I said it- someone had to); the snakey blues-metal solo is sick, and then there's the dynamic shifting in the song...

Love the "Oh-EEE-OH," chorus opening off "Frayed Ends of Sanity," that could've sounded kitschy and dumb but the guys pull it off making it the only time anyone has referenced "The Wizard of Oz," in an ominous manner.

Nitpicking: As many other reviewers have noted- You can't hear the bass. As in: at all. It's just not there. These tunes are bassless accusations, mwah-hah-hah... Given how awful James, Lars and Kirk treated Jason for something like the first 4 years he was with them; maybe this is but one more sign of that... Still, as I think Jason is an interesting metal bassman (a rare breed) I wish there were more low-end theory on this classic... Maybe when it gets the remaster in however many years, they'll crank up the BOOM... Which remindeth me, O my brothers- completely off the topic at hand: AVOID AT ALL COSTS THE NEW MEGADETH REMASTERS; the vocals are unbelievably bad. I know, I listened. I suffered so that you don't have to: we all know Mustaine was never an able crooner to begin with (not that his chosen mode of expression demands that) but... wow. They're just plain awful, the new vox. You want to tell yourslef, "Hey it ain't that bad, but that tiny part of your soul that knows spit from spinola just keeps nudging you saying, "Dude... Umm... Dude... Just turn it off."

Back to Metallica: This one catches some flak from most fans I think, despite the fact that those who dig on this one dig the holy hell out of it.

Oh... This is perhaps the best weight-lifting CD ever. The tracks ably segue into each other so well... Great for maintaining consistent anger and power output for multiple sets of squats and deadlifts.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Metallica's Last Thrash, October 11, 2006

By 

R. Gorham "RCG2" - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: ...And Justice For All (Audio CD)

THE BAND: James Hetfield (lead vocals, guitar), Kirk Hammett (guitars), Lars Ulrich (drums & percussion), and new member Jason Newsted (bass) formerly of Flotsam And Jetsam (replacing Cliff Burton, R.I.P.).

THE DISC: (1988) 9 tracks clocking in at approximately 65 minutes. Included with the disc is a 10-page booklet containing song titles/credits, song lyrics, band pictures, one 'gavel' drawing containing band member faces, and thank you's. This is Metallica's 4th studio album. All songs written by Hetfield, Hammett, Ulrich and/or Newsted. Recorded at One On One Studios, Los Angeles, CA. This would be Flemming Rasmussen's last album produced with the band (Bob Rock would follow). The Japanese (import) version contains a bonus track - a Diamond Head cover, "The Prince". Label - Elektra.

COMMENTS: "...And Justice For All" was the last classic Metallica album of the 80's. It was also their final attempt at thrash metal (once the 90's rolled around and producer Bob Rock entered the picture, the band took a more "mainstream" metal approach). The majority of songs are long with complex riffs... borderline progressive. Let me first say that for years, this disc sat on my shelf. I thought it was over-produced; I didn't like Ulrich's snare drum (sounded cheap and tinny) or his double bass (sounded shallow and metallic - partly due to a coin taped to the drum skin where the foot pedal hit); Newsted's bass was nonexistent (the standard explanation for this combines Newsted's absence from the mixing sessions where he could have voiced his opinion, and the lingering issue of his "newness" within the band following the death of Burton); there were three songs that I just could not get into ("Eye Of The Beholder", "The Shortest Straw" and lightning fast "Dyers Eve"); and the articles I read about the 3 original band members hazing and not accepting newcomer Newsted was infuriating... call if fun, call it pranks, call it cruel - Newsted simply did not deserve this kind of treatment. Newsted (or anyone else who took the job) had two choices - put up with the crap or leave. From the outside looking in, Burton's loss was tragic, but the way Hetfield/Ulrich/Hammett handled the situation afterwards seemed uncalled for. As far as "...And Justice For All" is concerned though, it's taken a decade to grow on me and finally realize there are some brilliant songs here. In my opinion, "One" is one of Metallica's finest songs in their entire catalog. "One" has an awesome slow beginning, tells a great story of an injured soldier, and ends in fine metal thrash form (not to mention one of the more memorable MTV videos)... all in all featuring great guitar work (intro, rhythm and solos). "Blackened" is an underrated gem of an opener. "To Live Is To Die" is the other masterpiece (almost 10 minutes long) - riffs and spoken words written by Cliff Burton (his last written testament) - this song has great riffs and 7 minutes of jamming before any vocals... reminiscent of something taken right off "Master Of Puppets". The title track also resembles something from "Puppets". "...And Justice For All" chart success - hitting #6 on Billboard's "Top 200 Albums" from 1988, as well as the song "One" hitting #35 on Billboard's Hot 100. There's good and bad here... this album is still considered a classic and essential. If not only for the songs "One", "Blackened" and "To Live Is To Die" (4 stars).