589 Metallica - ..and Justice for All (1988)

Studio Album - Progressive Thrash Metal 

About the Act:

Metallica were formed in 1981, became one of the "big four" bands of thrash metal, and are probably the best known (and likely the best selling) band of modern metal ("modern" meaning from about 1990 onwards, when the sound changed dramatically). They have had a fairly stable line-up, and are fronted by James Hetfield. Thus far they have released 10 studio albums, as I write this their 11th is on the way. They are famous for spearheading a campaign against the peer-to-peer sharing service Napster in 2000.

About the Album:

This was their fourth album. It has been noted that the musical structures are complex, leaning towards Prog. It has also been noted that the production is particularly "dry and sterile", and that the bass is inaudible. The producer says he was instructed to take the bass down so you can just hear it, and then take it down a bit more.

My History with this Album:

None

Review:

Metallica need to eat more ice cream. Ice cream makes you happy. This is not happy music. It's thrash metal, which never seems to be happy. It's not sad, but it's fairly angry and bitter. 

Their favourite chord is E. I think it's an E "power chord" which is missing a third, so you cannot categorise it as a major or a minor chord, but the implication is minor, because another frequently used chord is G. E is a common chord in metal because that's the bottom note on a guitar. The most common noise used is a fast chugging of chords on the mega-over-driven guitar, in complex and fast switching patterns, mirrored by the drums. Usually in metal this is mirrored by the bass, but on this album the bass is inaudible. Genuinely. Patterns, time signatures and speeds all switch around in a very progressive/technical metal way. This all sounds very controlled and so somewhat negates the label "thrash". I would say that this sort of thing is about 80% of the album. The clinical-ness of the mix was probably in order to bring out the clarity of the fast hits and stops and starts. It is mostly pretty tight, and so would be fiendishly difficult to play and remember. The drums are very metal, and one thing that sticks out to me is the bass drum sound, which is quite "clicky" -it doesn't really ring, and cuts through really well. To my ear is sounds like it has been hard-compressed and then pushed up in the mix.

Sometimes there are guitar solos, although often more than one in harmony. They are either fast and technical, and remind me of Steve Vai, or slower, more lyrical, and harmonised, and remind me of "God Gave Rock n Roll To You" by Kiss. There are occasional acoustic guitar bits, which are some of my favourite bits, using a particular acoustic guitar sound that has become very dominant in metal for contrasting quiet passages. I don't know how it is achieved but it sounds to me like the strings have to be very new, heavy weight, and maybe played with a metal pick.

There is singing, and quite a lot of it, and most of it can actually be called singing. James Hetfield has a strong metal gravel quality, his voice sounds somewhat nasal to me and compressed. It's not a voice I am particularly fond of, but you can at least make out quite a few of the words.

The subject matter is generally anti-establishment, about politics, society and war. To their credit they are not mired in fantasy, Satanism or anti-Christianity. This seems to be a niche stance for a metal band, but may have contributed to their position as being the most establishment of metal bands (ironic in some ways given how anti-establishment their themes are, but it's kind of an acceptable level of social commentary). I think the first song is about the end of the world. 

My favourite track was To Live Is To Die. It was quite radical, for a start it starts off in F# not E, and has acoustic passages, and actual chord sequences. It is a respite from the incessant chugging. To be fair I noticed an earlier track in F# too.

And it's OK I guess. After the first 1.5 listens that were quite casual, I was ready to dismiss it out of hand. I decided to give it a more concentrated listen, and enjoyed parts of it. There were a couple of grooves I enjoyed, and some of the technical stuff was engaging, but the dominance of the same sound and the same chugs gets quite wearing. By the end I was glad it was over. If you don't like proper chuggy metal, steer clear, and if you do, can I recommend Riverside and Pain of Salvation to you.

6/10

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/6Eycw3dwcDMEFSqkUvLQ7g

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6ogdCG3tAWhOUeMyn8UqrBTNgonrnbs3

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...And_Justice_for_All_(album)