{"id":3552,"date":"1988-09-01T00:00:11","date_gmt":"1988-09-01T00:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=3552"},"modified":"2013-07-20T12:11:13","modified_gmt":"2013-07-20T12:11:13","slug":"album-review-metallica-and-justice-for-all","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-metallica-and-justice-for-all\/","title":{"rendered":"METALLICA – \u2026 And Justice For All | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

METALLICA
\u2026 And Justice For All<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nVertigo (1988)<\/span>
Rating: 10\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Two and a half years since the release of their platinum-selling (in the States, at least) Master Of Puppets<\/em> LP, the boys in Metallica have finally unleashed its follow-up and what a monster it is!!<\/p>\n

As was the case with all their previous outings, Metallica once again prove to be the undisputed leaders of the new metal movement, completely pissing on the likes of Anthrax, Overkill, Testament and Exodus while surpassing even Slayer<\/a> in terms of sheer heaviness and raw brutality.<\/p>\n

Clocking in at just over 65 minutes, …And Justice For All<\/em> can rightly be referred to as Metallica\u2019s finest hour to date as well as one of the heaviest records ever. Granted, there are no real surprises here in terms of the band going out on a limb and trying out ideas that haven\u2019t, at one point or another, touched upon on their previous efforts, but even so, the group have never sounded as strong and together as they did on this particular piece on vinyl, and they certainly don\u2019t seem to be showing any signs of slowing down.<\/p>\n

Anyway, there are nine tracks on offer, so let\u2019s proceed with a track-by-track run-down:<\/p>\n

1. \u2018Blackened\u2019: Energetic, uptempo opener that takes a sharp turn about halfway through the song and continues in slow, grinding fashion before returning to its original pace towards the end of the song. It\u2019s a little more involved than Metallica\u2019s previous openers, but it retains that classic Metallica feel without getting too complex for its own need.<\/p>\n

2. \u2018…And Justice For All\u2019: After a brief acoustic intro, the boys rip into this ten-minute epic that features some interesting time changes and a killer chorus which is sure to go down a storm live. As on the rest of the album, James Hetfield\u2019s vocals are simply brilliant on this one, particularly as he switches from his regular singing style to near-growls during the chorus. Good job, Jim!<\/p>\n

3. \u2018Eye Of The Beholder\u2019: Another uppety-tempo, epic-like track that contains some brutal riffing as well as a very strong chorus which sticks in your mind upon the very first listen. Not my personal favourite, but a rocking cut nevertheless.<\/p>\n

4. \u2018One\u2019: After starting out as a semi happy-sounding ballad, this one turns into a brutal barrage of death, with crunching, galloping riffs bursting out of the speakers one after another in completely annihilating fashion. This song is definitely the most build-up sort of track on the whole album.<\/p>\n

5. \u2018The Shortest Straw\u2019: A brutal, uptempo cruncher that will surely go down as one of Metallica\u2019s best. Typical Bay Area-type galloping riffing and an excellent chorus make this one of my personal faves.<\/p>\n

6. \u2018Harvester Of Sorrow\u2019: Like \u2018The Shortest Straw\u2019 this is a very heavy, straightforward sort of song, although \u2018Harvester Of Sorrow\u2019 is a bit more controlled and grinding than its predecessor. It\u2019s not as involved as some of the other tracks on the album, but it\u2019s certainly no less effective.<\/p>\n

7. \u2018The Frayed Ends Of Sanity\u2019: One of the less-instant tracks on the LP, this one is uppety-tempo with lots of super-heavy riffing and some cool vocal lines. I wouldn\u2019t say that it\u2019s one of the best songs on the album, but it\u2019s one that\u2019s definitely grown on me after repeated listenings.<\/p>\n

8. \u2018To Live Is To Die\u2019: A ten-minute instrumental that doesn\u2019t even sound half that long due to its very flowing structure and some excellent old Black Sabbath<\/a>-like riffing. Although the band deny it, this sounds very much like Metallica\u2019s tribute to the great late Cliff Burton, especially as it contains some riffs written by the man before his death two years ago. Possibly Metallica\u2019s best instrumental yet.<\/p>\n

9. \u2018Dyers Eve\u2019: The best way to describe this song would be this album\u2019s answer to Master Of Puppets<\/em>\u2019 \u2018Damage Inc.\u2019. By far the fastest track on the record, this song features some super-fast double-bass drumming from Lars Ulrich and immensely intense, face-ripping riffing from James Hetfield. Great lyrics, too!<\/p>\n

As usual, the production is first-rate (a bit \u201cdrier\u201d than that of Master Of Puppets<\/em>, but quite appropriate nevertheless), and the playing standard has only gotten better, all of which adds up to make this as close to a perfect album as I have ever heard.<\/p>\n

As if I really need to say it, …And Justice For All<\/em> is guaranteed to be worshipped by every Metallica fan all across the globe.<\/p>\n

Borivoj Krgin<\/strong><\/p>\n

Review taken from Metal Forces, Issue 31 (1988)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

METALLICA\u2026 And Justice For All Vertigo (1988)Rating: 10\/10 Two and a half years since the release of their platinum-selling (in the States, at least) Master Of Puppets LP, the boys in Metallica have finally unleashed its follow-up and what a monster it is!! As was the case with all their previous outings, Metallica once again […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3552","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-metallica"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3552"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3552\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13152,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3552\/revisions\/13152"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}