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On September 27, 1986, near the small Danish town of Ljungby, the eccentric bassist of Metallica, Cliff Burton, dies in a road accident.
After an uncertain pause lasting almost 2 years, Ulrich and co. write, together with the new bassist Newsted, one of the most beautiful chapters in the history of metal. Like a thunderbolt from the clear blue sky, like a Ferrari racing at 280km through the city center,..."And justice for all" arrives and devastates the world!
An enviable sound clarity, technique at the highest levels, inspired and perfectly integrated lyrics! Metallica creates a precise album, yet complex at the same time; dark, obscure, fierce, fast! Simply perfect!
A work that differs from the previous 3 albums in its elaboration, in the search for new frontiers in music, in the sound, which leans heavily on speed-metal while maintaining THRASH roots!
A record that made, makes, and will make every drummer’s joy. Lars Ulrich, manager-drummer of the San Francisco band, performs true miracles, holding, with his “Tama
Kirk Hammet, on the other hand, along with Hetfield, gifts us historic melodies and riffs, and solos that make you want to mosh.
The new bassist, Jason Newsted, nicknamed by fans "the new kid boys," fits perfectly with the band’s spirit, keeping up with very fast and powerful rhythms. He has never been Cliff's heir, no one has ever placed him on the same level as his predecessor, but he has always done his duty in 12 years of ups and downs with the metal band.
In 1989, the year of the album’s release, many saw "And justice for all" as the album of change, both negatively and positively. Critics saw this work as a betrayal of the "Master of puppets" sounds, but at the same time, they contradicted themselves by announcing it as the most beautiful album, marking the rise to success, thanks to a sound never seen before.
Historic songs are present on the album. It begins with the dark “Blackened,” with a silent intro and a galvanizing outro! An outstanding solo in “Blackened,” among the best conceived by Kirk. The title track, with its sarcasm, in Hetfield’s voice, in the lyrics, in the music. The drumming "Eye of the beholder," with its chorus praising freedom. Track No. 4…the wonderful “One,” the ballad that starts sad and turns into pure rage, a successful experiment already done with “Fade to black” and “Welcome Home- Sanitarium.” A beautiful piece that evokes the pain of war. Devastating “The shortest straw,” which thunders like few other songs at the beginning. With its constant “Stop and go” and its lashes, “Harvester of sorrow” shows us how love turns into hate. “The frayed ends of sanity” is the strangest track on the album, musically, in effects and lyrics. The spirit is always very “driving.” The chorus would fit perfectly in a black metal song. The peak of technique and emotion is reached with “To live is to die,” the last song composed by Burton. The drums play the role of an orchestra conductor, setting the pace for moving arpeggios, violin effects, and sublime guitar solos. Unforgettable is the thought of Cliff Burton, “narrated” by James in the track. “Dyers eve,” seems to have come out of hell, with an insane speed, reminiscent of “Damage inc.”
Perhaps the last, true, magnificent, unforgettable masterpiece of Metallica……………………….let’s keep our fingers crossed… “When a man lies he murders some part of the world. These are the pale deaths which men miscall their lives. All this I cannot bear to witness any longer. Cannot the kingdom of salvation, take me home?”….
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
01 Blackened (06:43)
Blackened is the end
Winter it will send
Throwing all you see
Into obscurity
Death of Mother Earth
Never a rebirth
Evolution's End
Never will it mend
Never
Fire
To begin whipping dance of the dead
Blackened is the end
To begin whipping dance of the dead
Color our world blackened
Blistering of Earth
Terminate its worth
Deadly nicotine
Kills what might have been
Callous frigid chill
Nothing left to kill
Never seen before
Breathing nevermore
Never
Fire
To begin whipping dance of the dead
Blackened is the end
To begin whipping dance of the dead
Color our world blackened
Blackened
Opposition (opposition)
Contradiction (contradiction)
Premonition (premonition)
Compromise
Agitation (agitation)
Violation (violation)
Mutilation (mutilation)
Planet Dies
Darkest color
Blistered Earth
True death of life
Termination (termination)
Expiration (expiration)
Cancellation (cancellation)
Human Race
Expectation (expectation)
Liberation (liberation)
Population (population)
Lay to waste
See our mother
Put to death
See our mother die
-Solo-
Smoldering decay
Take your breath away
Millions of our years
In minutes disappears
Darkening in vain
Decadence remains
All is said and done
Never is the sun
Never
Fire
To begin whipping dance of the dead
Blackened is the end
To begin whipping dance of the dead
Fire
Is the outcome of hypocrisy
Darkest potency
In the exit of humanity
Color our world blackened
Blackened
02 ...and Justice for All (09:45)
Halls of justice painted green
Money talking
Power wolves beset your door
Hear them stalking
Soon you'll please their appetite
They devour
Hammer of justice crushes you
Overpower
The ultimate in vanity
Exploiting their supremacy
I can't believe the things you say
I can't believe
I can't believe the price you pay
Nothing can save you
Justice is lost
Justice is raped
Justice is gone
Pulling your strings
Justice is done
Seeking no truth
Winning is all
Find it so grim
So true
So real
Apathy their stepping stone
So unfeeling
Hidden deep animosity
So deceiving
Through your eyes their light burns
Hoping to find
Inquisition sinking you
With prying minds
The ultimate in vanity
Exploiting their supremacy
I can't believe the things you say
I can't believe
I can't believe the price you pay
Nothing can save you
Justice is lost
Justice is raped
Justice is gone
Pulling your strings
Justice is done
Seeking no truth
Winning is all
Find it so grim
So true
So real
Lady Justice has been raped
Truth assassin
Rolls of red tape seal your lips
Now you're done in
Their money tips her scales again
Make your deal
Just what is truth? I cannot tell
Cannot feel
The ultimate in vanity
Exploiting their supremacy
I can't believe the things you say
I can't believe
I can't believe the price we pay
Nothing can save us
Justice is lost
Justice is raped
Justice is gone
Pulling your strings
Justice is done
Seeking no truth
Winning is all
Find it so grim
So true
So real
Seeking no truth
Winning is all
Find it so grim
So true
So real
03 Eye of the Beholder (06:25)
Do you see what I see?
Truth is an offence
Your silence for your confidence
Do you hear what I hear?
Doors are slamming shut
Limit your imagination, keep you where they must
Do you feel what I feel?
Bittering distress
Who decides what you express?
Do you take what I take?
Endurance is the word
Moving back instead of forward seems to me absurd
Doesn't matter what you see
Or into it what you read
You can do it your own way
If it's done just how I say
Independence limited
Freedom of choice is made for you my friend
Freedom of speech is words that they will bend
Freedom with their exception
Do you fear what I fear?
Living properly
Truths to you are lies to me
Do you choose what I choose?
More alternatives
Energy derives from both the plus and negative
Do you need what I need?
Boundaries overthrown
Look inside, to each his own
Do you trust what I trust?
Me, myself, and I
Penetrate the smoke screen, I see through the selfish lie
Doesn't matter what you see
Or into it what you read
You can do it your own way
If it's done just how I say
Independence limited
Freedom of choice is made for you my friend
Freedom of speech is words that they will bend
Freedom with their exception
Do you know what I know?
Your money and your wealth
Your silent just to hear yourself
Do you want what I want?
Desire not a thing
I hunger after independence, lengthen freedom's ring
Doesn't matter what you see
Or into it what you read
You can do it your own way
If it's done just how I say
Independence limited
Freedom of choice is made for you my friend
Freedom of speech is words that they will bend
Freedom no longer frees you
Doesn't matter what you see
Or into it what you read
You can do it your own way
If it's done just how I say
04 One (07:26)
I can't remember anything
Can't tell if this is true or a dream
Deep down inside I feel to scream
This terrible silence stops with me
Now that the war is through with me
I'm waking up, I cannot see
That there's not much left of me
Nothing is real but pain now
Hold my breath as I wish for death
Oh please God, wake me
Back in the womb it's much too real
In pumps life that I must feel
But can't look forward to reveal
Look to the time when I'll live
Fed through the tube that sticks in me
Just like a wartime novelty
Tied to machines that make me be
Cut this life off from me
Hold my breath as I wish for death
Oh please God, wake me
Now the world is gone I'm just one
Oh God help me
Hold my breath as I wish for death
Oh please God, help me
Darkness
Imprisoning me
All that I see
Absolute horror
I cannot live
I cannot die
Trapped in myself
Body my holding cell
Landmine has taken my sight
Taken my speech
Taken my hearing
Taken my arms
Taken my legs
Taken my soul
Left me with life in hell
05 The Shortest Straw (06:35)
Suspicion is your name
Your honesty to blame
Put dignity to shame
Dishonor
Witchhunt, modern day
Determining decay
The blatant disarray
Disfigure
The public eyes' disgrace
Defying common place
Unending paper chase
Unending
Deafening
Painstaking
Wreckening
This vertigo it doth bring
Shortest straw
Challenge liberty
Downed by law
Live in infamy
Rub you raw
Witchhunt riding through
Shortest straw
This shortest straw has been pulled for you
Pulled for you
Shortest straw
Pulled for you
Shortest straw
Pulled for you
Shortest straw
Shortest straw has been pulled for you
The accusations fly
Discrimination, why?
Your inner self to die
Intruding
Doubt sunk itself in you
It's teeth and talons through
You're living catch-22
Deluding
A mass hysteria
A megalomania
Reveal dementia
Reveal
Secretly
Silently
Certainly
In vertigo you will be
Shortest straw
Challenge liberty
Downed by law
Live in infamy
Rub you raw
Witchhunt riding through
Shortest straw
This shortest straw has been pulled for you
Pulled for you
Shortest straw
Pulled for you
Shortest straw
Pulled for you
Shortest straw
Shortest straw has been pulled for you
Shortest straw
Pulled for you
Shortest straw
Pulled for you
Shortest straw
Pulled for you
Shortest straw
Shortest straw has been pulled for you
Behind you, hands are tied
Your being, ostracized
Your hell is multiplied
Upending
The fallout has begun
Oppressive damage done
Your many turned to none
To nothing
You're reaching your nadir
Your will has disappeared
The lie is crystal clear
Defending
Channels red
One word said
Blacklisted
With vertigo make you dead
Shortest straw
Challenge liberty
Downed by law
Live in infamy
Rub you raw
Witchhunt riding through
Shortest straw
This shortest straw has been pulled for you
06 Harvester of Sorrow (05:45)
My life suffocates
Planting the seeds of hate
I've loved, turned to hate
Trapped far beyond my fate
I give
You take
This life that I forsake
Been cheated of my youth
You turned this lie to truth
Anger
Misery
You'll suffer unto me
Harvester of sorrow
Language of the mad
Harvester of sorrow
Pure black looking clear
My work is done soon here
Try getting back to me
Get back what used to be
Drink up
Shoot in
Let the beatings begin
Distributor of pain
Your loss becomes my gain
Anger
Misery
You'll suffer unto me
Harvester of sorrow
Language of the mad
Harvester of sorrow
All have said their prayers
Invade their nightmares
To see into my eyes
You'll find where murder lies
Infanticide
Harvester of sorrow
Language of the mad
Harvester of sorrow
Language of the mad
Harvester of sorrow
09 Dyers Eve (05:14)
Dear Mother
Dear Father
What is this hell you have put me through
Believer
Deceiver
Day in day out live my life through you
Pushed onto me what's wrong or right
Hidden from this thing that they call life
Dear Mother
Dear Father
Every thought I'd think you'd disapprove
Curator
Dictator
Always censoring my every move
Children are seen but are not heard
Tear out everything inspired
Innocence
Torn from me without your shelter
Barred reality
I'm living blindly
Dear Mother
Dear Father
Time has frozen still what's left to be
Hear nothing
Say nothing
Cannot face the fact I think for me
No guarantee, it's life as is
But damn you for not giving me my chance
Dear Mother
Dear Father
You've clipped my wings before I learned to fly
Unspoiled
Unspoken
I've outgrown that fucking lullaby
Same thing I've always heard from you
Do as I say not as I do
Innocence
Torn from me without your shelter
Barred reality
I'm living blindly
I'm in hell without you
Cannot cope without you two
Shocked at the world that I see
Innocent victim please rescue me
Dear Mother
Dear Father
Hidden in your world you've made for me
I'm seething
I'm bleeding
Ripping wounds in me that never heal
Undying spite I feel for you
Living out this hell you always knew
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Other reviews
By Gianluca_90
It is impeccable from a musical standpoint, played to perfection.
A good album to get closer to the Metallica sound, but here’s a tip: 'Kill ‘Em All', 'Ride The Lightning', 'Master of Puppets', THOSE ARE ALBUMS THAT REALLY KICK ASS!!!!!
By evileye9000
"...And Justice For All is the band’s most technical and musically complex CD and is certainly among the most difficult to listen to."
"'One' is undoubtedly among Hetfield & Co.’s best songs, starting as a ballad and building to an immortal final part."
By power85
It's the best Metallica album and stands out from the rest of their trash like a beacon in the dark.
The impression is of a mediocre band trying, perhaps successfully, to produce a better and more original album than their previous ones.
By Frenk
‘...And Justice For All’ represents, for many, the pinnacle of the band; it is still a historical thrash album.
The clean riff in ‘One’ is one of those reflective ones, Hetfield at his best.
By Thrash_MTL6
"...And Justice For All is indispensable both for die-hard fans and for anyone intending to hear what Metallica managed to produce."
"The famous 'One' is a true masterpiece capable of delivering intense emotions, with a social and musical vortex of contrasts."
