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Reverse Reviews : Metallica, …And Justice For All (1988)
METALLICA - …AND JUSTICE FOR ALL (1988)
Elektra
Yeah, these guys are huge – nay, mega-huge – jackasses now, and have been for several years. Metallica’s self-titled release (1991) arguably marked the last time the band would put out a record that was in any way decent or acceptable to their hardcore fan base. After that, it seems like they started doing a lot more bowhunting, complaining about the Internet, and making records that sounded more like high school book reports on heavy metal rather than examples of it.
But jump back to 1986. They’d just released Master of Puppets, a record that brought thrash metal to the masses at long last. It was the first thrash record to crack the Billboard Top 40. Thrash metal, to be distinguished from glam metal: Master of Puppets represented a rude response to the glam metal popular at the time….Poison, Motely Crue, Ratt, and other hair bands that focused on the more aesthetic aspects of the genre rather than metal’s roots in street life.
With Master of Puppets, Metallica officially blew up on a global scale, taking the metal world by storm and shattering the common metal image with a more primitive, harsher sound and a more relentless playing style. It marked a return to form for metal culture. Picture James Hetfield impaling Brett Michaels with a giant wooden spear and then beating his chest over the fallen glam rocker. Yeah, Master of Puppets was kinda like that. A door was opened that would never be shut.
Then, 6 months later in Europe, bassist Cliff Burton (according to most accounts, the real “heart n’ soul” of the band) was tragically killed in a tour bus crash. The good times were, suddenly, over.
But here’s why Metallica used to be the baddest metal band on Earth: When their best friend died, they didn’t react to the tragedy by becoming recluses and eventually dissolving the band amidst a flood of tears and self-pity. Instead, they hired a new bassist (Jason Newsted), turned the corner and got tougher on their next record…producing an album that would be, as it turned out, their sonic masterpiece. If Master of Puppets was an affront, their next record would be an all-out assault.
In 1988, Metallica released the much-anticipated …And Justice For All, a piece of work representing a radical detour for the band in just about every way imaginable. Here was a scathing record, whose lyrics told of a dystopian future that could very well be America’s present, supported by incredibly complex and skillful instrumentalism. For this record alone, Metallica would grow fangs, howl at the moon, and become the savage. No taboo was safe here. It was a homemade pipe bomb set off under the nose of American metal. The status quo was altered.
Formerly content to write songs with lyrics inspired mainly by science fiction (see H.P. Lovecraft) and instrumental arrangements that, while always tight as a drum, often seemed to hold something back…Metallica, in 1988, decided to go for the jugular. …And Justice For All remains the most intense, beastly and severe of their records, with lyrics that indicted the American justice and political systems and guitar attacks that reflected some very real disgust and frustration. This is a record that absolutely oozes with righteous anger and nihilistic fury. This is Metallica at the top of their game.
While every song on this record just struts like a battle-scarred gamecock, the title track is, in our opinion, the true classic here. Running almost 10 minutes long and rife with odd-numbered time signatures and ingeniously layered guitar textures, “…And Justice For All” is a scorching piece of metal opera with multiple movements. With this track, the second on the album, you realize that …And Justice For All was very deliberately recorded in order to demonstrate Metallica’s virtuosic instrumental ability and songwriting prowess.
As the record moves forward, the songs only get more intense. “One,” perhaps the most well known of the tracks on …And Justice For All (thanks to heavy radio rotation), is a harsh ballad about a man whose limbs and sight have been taken from him by a landmine in the Vietnam War. Listening to this track, you have to really appreciate its historical significance in the history of rock: Until this point, rock ballads always ended with the standard solo and fade-out…it’s what the average listener expected. Instead, “One” ends with a sucker punch…guitars imitating the firing of machines guns and Hetfield shouting horrific lyrics from the 1st person perspective of the injured solider. The first time you hear this, it’s nothing short of horrifying. And it makes “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” – a famed metal ballad of the time – seem pathetically melodramatic and silly.
After “One,” Metallica realizes they’ve shown you all their cards. You’re now aware of just how mean this record is…so they just cut the leash and let the dogs run loose. The next track, “The Shortest Straw,” for example, has one of the most almighty metal rhythm riffs we’ve ever heard.
While all the more hook-laden tracks are at the front of the record, …And Justice For All blasts relentlessly all the way through, giving the listener no break from the piercing guitars and drums until the album is concluded. It’s actually pretty easy to blow a stereo speaker with this record if you don’t adjust your equalizer levels.
...And Justice For All represented thrash metal’s entrance into the collective consciousness of the metal mainstream. Until 1988, the metal world was dominated by glam rockers who took the T.Rex model of makeup, flash and big hair to the extreme. After this record, glam’s days were numbered.
Live footage of Metallica performing "Blackened," the first track off ...And Justice For All, in 1989.
For fans of: Slayer, Melvins, Body Count, Anthras, Karp, Whirlwind Heat, Tomahawk, Queens of the Stone Age, The Sword (who's touring with Metallica right now, akshally).