And Justice For None
Sometimes it takes a good deal to make Krude rapidly pull
the trigger on a purchase. Case in point recently a compact disc caught my eye
online for a scant $5 price tag. The cd in question? ...And Justice For All by
Metallica. The newly remastered version of this 1988 album. Hmmmmmm.
Wonder why this cd is selling for so little. Oh yeah. Almost forgot. It's not
that good. But I did need to hear if Jason Newsted on bass is now
audible in the mix.
First up. I haven't listened to this album at all since
about 1990. I bought it on cd upon its release in 1988. What drew me into this
album at first was the punchy,dry production. The drums sounded the most crisp
and clear of any Metallica album to that point. Compact discs were rather new
to me then. And this album really put that medium to max mojo.
The music is where this album fails. Basically this album is
Ride The Lightning part 3. Just not as good as RTL. The Metallica album
formula at that point: Thrash opener,Title track,mid tempo track,Sad song in
minor key. Same shit. Different production values. With AJFA,Metallica is also
missing their most key ingredient: late bassist Cliff Burton.
The tune Blackened opens the album in fine fashion.
Then the drawn out, boring title track comes on. Zzzzzzzzzzzzz. These kind of
time changy,over wrought tune less drivel songs are best left to real musicians
who can cover the bad song writing with solid chops. Lars Ulrich is a drumming
hack. After listening to this album recently,this fact shines right through the
bass-less riffs. Lars is a very mediocre drummer.
Then the album turns into total metal mush. One is
the go home track here. Basically a rewrite of Fade To Black and Santarium
from the previous two albums. The band made their first music video for this
track. And since music video was an important marketing tool in 1988,Metallica
hit the Q Prime jackpot. Now most of the world could hear this rewrite trash.
And this was after Metallica claimed that they would never make a video. $
talks kids. Cocaine ain't cheap....
The rest of AJFA is pretty boring. Longer time consuming
tracks that go nowhere. James Hetfield forcing himself to endure these meandering
bullshit tunes to fill up the running time max on a compact disc. All the while
with NO AUDIBLE BASS IN THE MIX. I mentioned Cliff Burton before. Had he lived
to record this album,I'm sure the bass would be heard. And the songs wouldn't
be so boring. Jason Newsted totally gets screwed on this album. He was a thrash
metal veteran at that point. But had ZERO influence on the Hetfield/Ulrich Let's
become millionaire rock stars song writing tandem. What a shame.
Oh yeah. Kirk Hammett is on this album. The generic
sounding guitar solos are all his. He is the perfect guitar playing puppet for
Metallica. Not too good. But plays well enough to not be labeled a hack. He was
in Exodus,for Christ's sake. Why can't he influence Hetfield/Ulrich?
Cocaine ain't cheap,kids.
There was major anticipation with this album back in the
late 80's. Metallica was the THE music business anomaly with their no videos,no
concert theatrics,no bullshit,fan friendly policy. Then this turd of an album
came out. Then the ultra turd Black album came out. And Metallica became
the band they always claimed to hate. $ talks. And Lars needs to add to his art
collection. What a bunch of phony posers. Still touring and playing for who
knows why. Their music peaked in 1986 with Master Of Puppets. They
haven't come close to matching that excellence since.
Metallica remastered AJFA. And still no bass in the mix.
Blackened is the end. For me with Metallica. Slayer released
their excellent South Of Heaven album in 1988. And didn't rehash the
same formula over and over. Metallica always wanted to be generic rock stars.
What a crying shame. They were the new Black Sabbath. For about 3 years
in the 80's. Now Nickelback seems to play heavier music than them.
I was over with Metallica by the time I saw their show in
New Jersey during the summer of 1989. The Cult opened the show and stunk
up the place. Metallica came out and did their set. Had some special
effects.Elaborate stage props. Some pyro. Blah.Blah.Blah. Typical arena rock
bullshit. What happened to the that cool band that just played their music to
entertain? Maybe they were never cool to begin with. Mahalo
Martin Birch > Bob Rock
KK
@kapn_krude
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