...And Justice for All

by Metallica

Overview

The most immediately noticeable aspect of ...And Justice for All isn't Metallica's still-growing compositional sophistication or the apocalyptic lyrical portrait of a society in decay. It's the weird, bone-dry production. The guitars buzz thinly, the drums click more than pound, and Jason Newsted's bass is nearly inaudible. It's a shame that the cold, flat sound obscures some of the sonic details, because ...And Justice for All is Metallica's most complex, ambitious work; every song is an expanded suite, with only two of the nine tracks clocking in at under six minutes. It takes a while to sink in, but given time, ...And Justice for All reveals some of Metallica's best material. It also reveals the band's determination to pull out all the compositional stops, throwing in extra sections, odd-numbered time signatures, and dense webs of guitar arpeggios and harmonized leads. At times, it seems like they're doing it simply because they can; parts of the album lack direction and probably should have been trimmed for momentum's sake. Pacing-wise, the album again loosely follows the blueprint of Ride the Lightning, though not as closely as Master of Puppets. This time around, the fourth song -- once again a ballad with a thrashy chorus and outro -- gave the band one of the unlikeliest Top 40 singles in history; "One" was an instant metal classic, based on Dalton Trumbo's antiwar novel Johnny Got His Gun and climaxing with a pulverizing machine-gun imitation. As a whole, opinions on ...And Justice for All remain somewhat divided: some think it's a slightly flawed masterpiece and the pinnacle of Metallica's progressive years; others see it as bloated and overambitious. Either interpretation can be readily supported, but the band had clearly taken this direction as far as it could. The difficulty of reproducing these songs in concert eventually convinced Metallica that it was time for an overhaul. ~ Steve Huey

Product Details

Release Date:	11/09/2018
Label:	Universal
UPC:	4988031307175

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Metallica   Primary Artist
Ennio Morricone   Primary Artist
James Hetfield   Soloist,Lead Vocals,Vocal Harmony,Guitar (Acoustic),Guitar,Vocals
Kirk Hammett   Guitar
Lars Ulrich   Drums
Jason Newsted   Bass,Guitar (Bass)

Technical Credits

James Hetfield   Arranger,Composer,Lyricist
Cliff Burton   Composer,Lyricist
Toby Wright   Assistant Engineer,Engineer
George Marino   Remastering
Eicca Toppinen   Arranger
Glenn Danzig   Composer
Steve Thompson   Mixing
Ennio Morricone   Composer
Ritchie Blackmore   Composer
Jon Lord   Composer
Brian Tatler   Composer
George Cowan   Mixing,Mixing Assistant
Dave Mustaine   Composer
Ray Phillips   Composer
Pushead   Illustrations
Brian Ross   Composer
Ross Halfin   Photography
Jim Sirotto   Composer
Mike Hughes   Engineer
Reiner Design Consultants   Design,Artwork
Gianfranco Intra   Composer
Stephen Percy Harris   Composer
John Burke Shelley   Composer
Ian Jones   Composer
Anthony Bourge   Composer
Tony Iommi   Composer
Brian May   Composer
Tatler   Composer
Bob Ludwig   Mastering
Ian Paice   Composer
Bill Ward   Composer
Killing Joke   Composer
Ian Gillan   Composer
Kirk Hammett   Composer
Freddie Mercury   Composer
Lars Ulrich   Arranger,Composer
Earl Scruggs   Composer
Flemming Rasmussen   Mixing,Engineer,Producer
Geezer Butler   Composer
John Deacon   Composer
Jason Newsted   Composer
Roger Glover   Composer
Roger Taylor   Composer
Sean Harris   Composer
Ozzy Osbourne   Composer
Metallica   Producer
Michael Barbiero   Mixing,Engineer
Mike Clink   Engineer,Drum Engineering