On the 27th of September 1986 Metallica's Tour Bus was involved in an accident which killed their bass player Cliff Burton. And it was two more years before their next release. With their new bassist, Jason Newstead, this has become one of my most favorite Metallica albums.
The Tracks:
The album starts out with the slow mellow-ish sounds to the "Blackened" intro, which has a
little story behind it. When the intro was first recoded on several guitars, the band didn't
like it too much. So they reversed it to get the intro that is on the album. This provides
you with a few minutes of fun, where you can reverse it again to hear what it was orignally.
This fast paced, heavy guitared song tells of the end of the world through nuclear war.
The next track, "...And Justice For All" (which shares it's name with the name of the
album), also starts off with a mellow-ish guitar riff. This classical intro builds up into
the classic Metallica heavy styles. This song talks about the corrupt justice system, in
which money is more important than the truth. This song is 9:50 minutes long, making it the
second longest track on the album.
Track three, "Eye Of The Beholder", explains that freedom is only as true as you perceive
it. The repeative nature of the verses creates a fairly catchy tune, which is easy to pick
up.
Track four is one of my favorite Metallica songs ever (ranking up there with "Call of
Ktulu", "Fade To Black"(both from "Ride the Lighning" - 1984), "Orion"(from "Master Of
Puppets" - 1986) and "No Leaf Clover"(from "S&M" - 2000). The song "One" describes the life of a man who returns from the war after being nearly killed. The listener gets the feeling
that the man would rather die than live from being "tied to machines that make me be." The
first 3/4 of this song are rather mellow and full of emotion. With a simple, yet effective
guitar intro which anyone can play(first riff I learnt how to play), this song provides
bothe the mellow and heavy forms of Metallica.
The next track "The Shortest Straw", is believed to be a tribute to Cliff Burton, due to the
fact that before the bus accident Cliff and Kirk Hammet(lead guitarist) drew cards for a
seat on the bus. Cliff lost both the game and his life(hench he pulled the shortest straw).
But encyclopedia-metallica.com believes that it deals with black listing as a whole. This
song is great to listen to as it is in the traditional Metallica style.
"Harvester Of Sorrow" is next on the list. This song is full of emotion and tells of a
alcoholic man who torments his family before murdering them. With a nice catchy intro, this
is one of those songs you will listen to again and again. This song ranks fairly high on my
list of favorite Metallica songs.
The song "The Frayed Ends Of Sanity" dealswith the growing inability to distinguish fantasy
from reality. The intro is kind of wierd, because it is marching sound of the Evil Witch's
soldiers from The "Wizard Of Oz".
"To Live Is To Die" is the longest song on the album, it is a few seconds longer than
"...And Justice For All". Encyclopedia-metallica.com believe this song is a true tribute to
Cliff Burton, because of it being based on many riff which Cliff has wrote. The lyrics is
also a recording of something Cliff said himself. The song starts off with a repeating
classical riff which is over powered but the heavy guitar. The riffs in this song are full
of emotion which you can hear every time they hit the strings.
The album ends with the song "Dyers Eve". The first to line of the song is "Dear Mother,
Dear Father". This repeats at the start of every verse. This song deals with a persons anger
for his parents, due to the way they treated him. Many believe this song is about James
Hetfield(Rhythm Guitar, Vocals) dealing with his past.
Overall:
This is a great album, recommended for any metal fan.
Parting Comments:
"You can do it your own way, if it's done just how I say." - Eye Of The Beholder
