Few had the innovative hot streak Metallica does across their debut album up to …And Justice for All. An impressive run irrespective of the genre, but for thrash metal and heavier tones of rock and roll, the James Hetfield-fronted band were, for a time, unlike any other. Ride the Lightning may be the peak of this power, but the follow-ups, Master of Puppets and this, are enviable achievements. Some acts go their whole career without a song worth of quality, let alone albums worth as Metallica offered through the 1980s. It’s the first without Cliff Burton, who died two years before recording began, and to transition into the next iteration of the band without missing a step is not just courageous, but deftly admirable. …And Justice for All is a statement of intent not for what the band can do, but how they can prevail in the face of nastier odds. They’d not keep that going forever, but while it happens, it’s hard not to fall in love with the sound they can make.
Intensity crashes into animosity throughout this hour-long spectacle. The titular track lays on the message of judgement thick and works thoroughly well. Where spectacle and instrumental independence had prevailed in previous releases, there’s a softening of that particular blow here. Forget the bass guitar, the profile found for the electric guitar work, the fret-thumping spectacle on the title track, is hard to ignore. Metallica walks a fine line between showmanship and solid instrumental excess. …And Justice for All remains exceptional, though that flatter sound is much more noticeable now listeners can leap between albums at the push of a button. It stands out for the wrong reasons but the work isn’t without merit. A marching guitar style for the start of Eye of the Beholder, before expanding into a promising, nuanced take on what we see and read. It all affects us, no matter the emotional connection, and Metallica does very well across …And Justice for All to feature some liberating commentaries.
Boldness can be found not just in the context of the song, but the length of each track, too. At a time where singles were short cuttings to convince a listener to buy an album, epics like the title track and To Live is To Die feel as urgent and outstanding as the obvious draw for the album, One. Tragedy marks the album, but it feeds into the lyrical purpose, the first Metallica album to truly hold such a tone consistently. To do that over a double album worth of material is a remarkable accomplishment for the band, and it remains as such. Instrumentally, the album does begin to tire, but the writing is a step up for Metallica. Occasionally, it’s delivered with such a brilliant malice as to salvage a song like The Shortest Straw, though it does fall a tad short on those latter songs.
Interesting all the same those later stages of …And Justice for All may be, they do begin relying on the same instrumental touch-ups. A buried bass guitar, a singular, strumming electric guitar which hears how proud the band were of One, replicated to the rest of the album, and some relatively plain drumming is infrequent but noticeable when it happens. Harvester of Sorrow remains a repetitive song, the instrumental vibrancy just not enough to keep up with the rest of the album. Impressive what the band can do for long stretches, longer still than the preceding, better songs, but all the same, …And Justice for All has some remarkable moments. They’re never quite as conclusive or convincing as they should be, but it starts so incredibly strong that it’s easy to forgive the band for a long and winding latter half.
Discover more from Cult Following
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
