Review by UnhinderedbyTalent for Metallica - ...and Justice for All (1988)

I class the first four Metallica albums as being a true “golden run” of records - I have stated this on MA before I am sure so let’s not go over old ground.  Needless to say that for as much as I can see why …and Justice for All gets criticised, it is still a vicious and scathing thrash metal album that from the off is clearly made by a band on the attack.  One of the key strengths of Metallica’s 1988 offering is how technical yet spontaneous it manages to still sound.  The flurry of activity that is the razor sharp album opener, “Blackened” is evidence of an album that is going to be positively spilling over with riffs and chops, all blending, transitioning and morphing into a thoroughly entertaining experience end to end.  Whilst not flawless, the bands fourth album is a celebration of energetic thrash metal that clearly showed a band able to carry on without a key member so tragically torn from their ranks.

Now then, let us get this bass discussion out of the way at this early stage of the review.  I agree, it is a travesty (however it happened) that Jason’s four strings get so little (if any) air-time.  However, the fact is, I do not miss the bass in all honesty.  This is the real clever part of …and Justice for All for me, to produce an album of such intensity without the bass being prominent shows quality as far as I am concerned.  Is the album sterile or brittle sounding as a result of this component lacking input?  Not to my ears, no.  Does any of the messaging land poorly because we do not have the rumble or twang of the bass?  Again, no it does not.  Not to my ears anyway.

If I am to point to a critical finger at the record then it is the contrasting quality of the song writing that gets the digit wagged at it.  It is hard to believe that the same album that contains the title track, “Harvester of Sorrow” and “One” also has “Eye of the Beholder” in at track number three.  It risks an early derailment of the promise of the first two tracks that thankfully does not come to fruition.  Although it does marginally better than “To Live is to Die” which although I get the sentiment of, just does not manage to move me as perhaps it should.

In a world were it is more or less universally recognised that Metallica are a shadow of their former selves, their final true thrash metal release is a celebration of their early career before the band chose an increasingly commercial path at whatever crossroads they visited latterly in their lives.  If you like your thrash metal full of grit, steel and technical prowess then you should own a copy of …and Justice for All as a mandatory release in your collection.