...And Justice for All

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

LP Version is terrible!!!, 2008-11-01
Don't get me wrong, this is a great album, my one star review has to do with this particular pressing of the lp. For a half speed master, this sounds absolutely horrible! The signal of the recording is so low, I have to crank my phono preamp so much, that the surface noise of the vinyl is noticeable. This should never happen, ESPECIALLY on a heavy metal record, where the music should be so loud it drowns out any lp noise. Do yourself a favor, spend your money on an older original pressing, this one is horrible. I have a UK pressing of this album from vertigo from the early 90s that BLOWs this pressing out of the water, half speed mastered or not.

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

Not worth it!, 2008-10-31
I bought this SHM-cd thinking it would at least sound a little better than the original one! Unless you need a special Shm-cd player, this release on a normal player doesn't sound any different from the domestic one. Usually Japanese releases sound better, but not here. This album needs a remastered job real bad!

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

and justice for all, 2008-10-31
i was sent 2 CD of " and justice for all " returned 1 copy. i have NOT received a refund or credit for the returned CD. i like the CD but am not thrilled with the return procedure.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

Master of Puppets Extended, and Beaten to Death, 2008-10-13
Three Stars Is a VERY Kind Review. I'm being kind because the album after this was below in quality and actually makes this one seem better than it ever really was. A good way to more objectively review this is to listen first to the "Black" album, then to "Master of Puppets", and finally this one. For me, listening to the Black Album was for the large part a chore, the ensuing MOP a pleasure, and this halfway between. br / br /As I wrote in the title, ...And Justice For All is Master of Puppets extended, and beaten to death. So many of the same keys, chugg-chugga "melodies", vocal patterns, and composition structures are pounded into the ground. Even worse, the compositions themselves are rarely inspiring; the sludgey tempos and easy-to-make-fun-of dour atmosphere predominate throughout, making it hard to finish listening to most of the individual tracks. Perhaps Metallica recycled all of these patterns thinking that their more preachy lyrics would stand out more, there being little more to distinguish the tracks musically from "...Puppets". Either way, alot of time here just goes by without any sort of lift from the frowning "duh" of the vocal delivery. br / br /One of the most significant (hold on, I'm holding my stomach laughing over the idea of the word "significant" applied to any part of this album) differences betweeen this and "Master of Puppets" is the near-complete lack of any worthwhile guitar leads. Hetfield was the only contributor of anything really non-shred (tranlated "memorable" "musical") guitar leads on Master of Puppets, but even he fails to deliver much to chew on here. But the worse culprit in this variable is of course the "guitar player of 1988", Kirk Hammett. There's not a single lick or trick (emphasis on the latter) on this release he didn't use on the three albums preceeding this one. What's really a bummer for other guitar players (the same ones whom, like me, really loved and looked up to his leads on the title track of "Ride the Lightning" and "Fade to Black") is hearing time and again his total disregard for crafting memorable, musical leads from the chords Metallica plays behind him. Try humming the solo to "One"...hah! After awhile any guitar player (you know, the kind whom grew out of the "look, Mom, I'm playing so faaaassst!" frame of mind) will become either disillusioned or facetious hearing so many oppurtunities wasted. I mean, considering how admittedly terrific and nicely composed his above mentioned Ride the Lightning solos were, we can forgive Hammett for a little redundancy. But after hearing him rely on the same crutches over and over (the wah and/or tapping whenever he runs out of ideas), it's safe to say that even Yngwie had a longer run from compositional perspective. At least he lasted more than two songs. br / br /This album does have a couple of very memorable riffs and chorus/pre-choruses. But overall, there really isn't even one second here that comes anywhere near the invigorating power of,say, Disposable Heroes, or For Whom the Bell Tolls. Points I give for at least attempting to "stay Metal" and sounding sui generis, a distinction which for Metallica in 1988 was worth three stars alone. br / br /They were great, they were the undoubtedly one of the best...until after Cliff Burton died. Do yourself a favor and grab the still awe-inspiring Ride the Lightning, and the only-slightly-less-inspiring Master of Puppets first for your collection. ESPECIALLY if you're a guitar player.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

Not What It Could Have Been, 2008-09-30
I know I am in the minority here, but to me this is Metallica's most overrated album. I almost feel guilty for feeling this way about "Justice" since so many others think it's a masterpiece. Makes me wonder why I don't "get it." Maybe it's the shoddy production. My God, I have blues recordings from the 1920's and '30s that are better produced than this. There is no excuse for an album recorded in the late 80s to be this poorly mixed. Where is the bass? Why do the drums sound like pop guns? Second, some of these songs seem to be long just for the sake of being long. Mind you I have nothing against long songs, but some of these songs in particular the second half of the album, seem to go on forever. It's not that they are bad songs but they seem to go nowhere with nary a hook to be found. I guess in short I find several of the songs to just be boring. On the positive, "Blackened", "Justice", and "One" are great tunes. But as a whole this just doesn't hold up and doesn't compare to "Master Of Puppets" or "Ride The Lightning". I would even probably put "Kill 'Em All" ahead of "Justice". Granted the songwriting and lyrics were much more mature on "Justice" and the intentions were good, but IMHO this is far from the masterpiece some would have you believe. Maybe if this gets re-mastered I'll change my mind.