Metallica
...And Justice For All

THE REVIEW

Perhaps you are wondering why I chose, 23 years later, to review an album like "...And Justice For All". Simply because it is a must for every lover of extreme music and because from time to time it is necessary to dust off "old" works that have marked generations of enthusiasts (if ever there were a need, it is not my intention to appear as one of the few "suitable" for this task). Works that are chronologically placed in the '80s and early '90s, still unsurpassed today and that, judging by what is heard today, will hardly even be touched. For the record, let us recall "The Number Of The Beast", "Master Of Puppets", "Reign In Blood", "Rust In Piece", "Cowboys From Hell", just to name the most famous ones (but there are many more). Here, "...And Justice For All"" belongs to this category.

That being said, let's focus on the album in question: the first thing you notice on a first listen is undoubtedly a renewed sound compared to its predecessors; the tone of the guitars is dry, clean, more brutal and sharp compared to what was heard in "Master Of Puppets", although it loses something (but very little) in terms of richness. Ulrich's drumming is truly heavy, with a snare drum that sounds dry and rocky and prominent double bass drums. The only flaw is the almost total lack of bass in the mixing phase, which is a real shame because Newsted's excellent work would have added that rough touch to an already sonically violent album.

The opening is entrusted to the tremendous "Blackened"; it starts with a fade-in of harmonized guitars that flows into a dynamic and powerful riff, all supported by an ultra-fast Ulrich on the drums. The song has a tripartite structure: first part very fast, second slow and dark (2:36), third more dynamic (4:10) with interlude and a stunning solo by Kirk Hammett, certainly one of the best of his career. We move on to the title track where the pace slows down, but the power is the same: the delicate acoustic guitar introduction should not be misleading because the following riffs show that the Four Horsemen manage to impress even without speed, with cadenced and well-rhythmed riffs. The pace drops further with the gloomy "Eye Of The Beholder", in which Hetfield's cavernous voice speaks of threatened liberty, violated often, too many times; a good track perhaps underrated. And here comes the time for one of those songs that never fade away, a true masterpiece capable of delivering intense emotions (even more so when performed live): this is the famous "One". A socially committed text, it is not the usual, sometimes even banal, condemnation of war but a vortex of contrasts (life/death, love/hate, hope/despair) that can be heard not only in the lyrics but in every single played note. And so after the splendid clean arpeggios regularly followed by a refrain with very distorted guitars, we move to a moment of tension (around the fourth minute) where the sound thickens; in the melancholy progression, we reach the obvious awareness that war can only bring destruction: the sixteenth notes played with double bass drums and with palm muting on the low E string of the guitar clearly allude to the sound of a machine gun that leaves no escape: it is a symbol of death. Hammett's solo is moving but at the same time fast; the final part proceeds at a brisk pace as Metallica usually do. Breathtaking. We continue with "The Shortest Straw", dynamic and hard as a boulder; here Hammett gives us a stylistically flawless solo and one of the most complex on the album. The following "Harvester Of Sorrow" stands out for its cadenced rhythm and the powerful stops of great impact. "The Frayed Ends Of Sanity" is a more than decent mid-tempo, maybe it’s the worst track on the album, but still maintains very high levels, to be clear; the choruses at the beginning of the song are very effective and sound quite eerie, also the schizophrenic riff conveys well the idea of what is intended to be transmitted to the listener; the only flaw is the presence of a few dead spots. And we come to the instrumental "To Live Is To Die" dedicated to the talented bassist Cliff Burton, who died in a cursed road accident during a Metallica tour in Sweden. Heartbreaking track, it is all a succession of solos that convey desolation and melancholy, with the obsessiveness of one who still struggles to accept the brutality of events. And it is precisely brutality that dominates the last track, namely "Dyers Eve", a very fast piece in which Hetfield deals with the problematic relationship with parents and the education received from them. Pure Thrash Metal: shouted lyrics, hammering double bass drums. Devastating. This concludes the album listening, after more than 65 minutes of sonic violence that leaves wreckage behind.

Compared to previous works, the times further expand (more than 7 minutes per song on average) showing a clear progressive attitude, with well-studied tracks, intricate in their time changes, their irregular metrics, and the use of syncopations and countertimes. Also to be noted are the broad instrumental sections with solos of fine quality and passages with harmonized guitars also noteworthy, not to mention an amazing rhythm section, a trademark of Metallica from the beginning. There's little to criticize about the individual performances: everyone gives their best. As already said, a more prominent bass would have further benefited the overall sound, as would an "ambient" effect that is really nonexistent (as if the sounds were "canned"). It's really a pity that some band members (particularly Lars Ulrich) let themselves go and did not maintain the good level reached in this masterpiece (technically the band's peak). 

In conclusion, "...And Justice For All" is an album not easy to listen to that is absorbed after multiple times, both because of the particularly intricate structure of the songs and the cold, rough sound. It should be listened to with both the heart and the mind. Historic record (perhaps more important than its predecessor in some ways) that defines new stylistic standards and that will be crucial for the development of future currents, like groove. Obviously, it's not the only one to do so, and anyway these are entirely debatable considerations. The fact remains that "...And Justice For All" is indispensable both for die-hard fans and for anyone intending to hear what Metallica managed to produce (old bygone times...).

Simply: listen to it.