by Simon Wright

Created on: March 31, 2008

Metallica are one of the biggest rock bands on the planet. Their commercial success really took off with the release of their Black album (entitled Metallica') in 1991, which pared down the length of guitar solos and placed more of a focus on melody.

However, before the black album, Metallica released four other albums. And justice for all' is the fourth of their studio albums and I think it laid the foundations of the juggernaut success that was to follow.

The justice' album was released in 1988 on Elektra Records and was the first to feature bass guitarist Jason Newsted. This is significant as Newsted had been recruited to replace the much loved Cliff Burton who had died in a tour bus accident. The album was, thus, preceded by tragedy and it is perhaps not surprising then that the album has a heavy feel to it. There are no bubblegum happy songs on here about sex, love, or fast cars.

This is one of the real joys of this album. Metallica ambitiously chose to focus on deep matters such as justice and war. The album is also unabashedly a thrash metal record. It is big on guitars and the song lengths all exceed five minutes, with the longest (To live is to die) coming in at nearly ten minutes.

The album cover is very iconic, featuring a drawn depiction of the statue of liberty. Her eyes are blindfolded, she is tied with rope and her bosoms are exposed. Her scales are also filled with dollar notes.

Having listened to this album for many years, there are always three songs that I keep coming back to and that feature regularly on my ipod Shuffle selection. Additionally, there's a fourth that deserves additional commentary because of its background.

- One' is THE outstanding song on this album and quite possibly one of the best metal or rock songs ever. The intro is very distinctive with the sounds of war (machine guns, etc) giving way to a beautifully gentle guitar intro. Then, the lyrics come in and Metallica go into great story telling mode. The song tells the story of a soldier who has been horribly injured. He's lost his arms, legs and sight and is lying in a hospital bed, praying for death. An example of the lyrics is Now that the war is through with me / I'm waking up I can not see / That there is not much left of me / Nothing is real but pain now'.

The song moves between gentle mournful passages and wild loud layered guitar playing to symbolise the desperation and helplessness that the song's protagonist feels. The album's worth buying for this song alone.

- And

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