Metallica "...And Justice For All": Bleeding Priest's Bay Area Metal Spotlight 16

Hey, what’s up boys and girls and welcome to Bleeding Priest’s Bay Area Metal Spotlight. You know, I’ve been putting it off for as long as I can, but you knew eventually if I’m talking about Bay Area Metal, I was going to have to talk about this band. 

And so today I’m covering Metallica’s …And Justice for All for a lot of different reasons. It’s not necessarily my favorite Metallica album, but it’s definitely up there. Probably Ride the Lightning is my favorite, but that album gets talked about so much. Actually, this album does too, but let’s just get into it.

In 1988 when this album came out, I was pretty burnt out on Metallica by then. I don’t blame them—they were still putting out killer albums. Master of Puppets was awesome and Garage Days was great. It was because of the school I went to, Westmore High in Daly City. When I was a freshman, there were a lot of rockers and stoners, mostly seniors and juniors. But by the time I was a junior, they were mostly gone. By senior year I was the only rocker in my class. The scene at my school was basically non-existent.

The few rockers and metalheads that were left there fell into two groups: the stoners who loved Pink Floyd, and the ones who worshiped Metallica. I thought I’d connect with the Metallica crowd since I was into thrash, but no. I wasn’t just a Metallica fan—I was a thrash fan, way beyond Metallica by 1988. Kreator was probably my favorite band at the time (Terrible Certainty, Extreme Aggression—holy shit!). I was also into Coroner, Celtic Frost, and all these underground European bands.

Metallica, August 6, 1989. Photo by Paul Natkin

So when I’d talk to the Metallica fans, I’d say “Cool, check out this band Kreator,” and they’d have none of it. They didn’t care what else was happening in thrash. Ninety percent of Metallica fans were just Metallica fans, even then. Asking them to check out Slayer was too much, maybe a little Megadeth, but that was about it. So it wasn’t really Metallica’s fault that I lost interest, it was just oversaturation in Daly City.

When Justice came out, I didn’t rush out to buy it. I knew it was out, everyone was talking about it, but I wasn’t in a hurry. Eventually, I went to my buddy Gil’s house—he had it, even though he was more into GG Allin and The Mentors by then. He put the record on, left the room, and halfway through side three I was out cold on his bed. He woke me up like, “Oh, you liked it that much, huh?” The drums sounded weird, the songs didn’t connect with me, and I thought they were long and boring.

I didn’t listen to it again for a while, but at some point I bought a copy. This copy I still have from 1988. At home I gave it a real listen, made it all the way through Dyer’s Eve. I loved the first and last songs, but thought everything in between was rubbish. And honestly, I didn’t touch that record for 30 years. I didn’t buy another Metallica album after that. I acquired a few, ending up with a couple CDs of the Black Album, Garage Inc., a few others, but Justice was it for me.

Then around 2018 I decided to put it on again, and I was blown away. I felt like a fool for depriving myself of this kick-ass record for three decades. And the two reasons I now love this album are the same reasons many people hate it: the drums and the lack of bass.

The drums sound incredible. The kick drum was revolutionary—every thrash, power, and death metal band tried to copy that clicky, typewriter sound. It’s still everywhere today. The snare is crisp, the toms sound amazing, and the drums are loud in the mix. Lars’s drumming here is fantastic.

And then, the lack of bass. Honestly, bass is my least favorite instrument in metal. No disrespect to my bandmates—Damien in Death Angel and Tom in Nefarious are phenomenal bassists—but I don’t need to hear bass in my monitor mix. I want rhythm guitar and kick drums. That’s how I play. So the no-bass sound of Justice just works for me. It’s actually a good representation of how Metallica really sounded live at the time—James and Lars locked in together.

The only drawback is some of the songs are too long. They revisit riffs unnecessarily and drag on, but that’s a small detail. James’s vocals are still youthful and raspy, the songs are powerful, and this album is a flawed masterpiece.

So yeah, I love this record now. Lars was at the top of his game in 1988. It’s trendy to rip on him, but any drummer who says his playing here is bad is an idiot. …And Justice for All is brilliant.

I may have started this as a down-on-Metallica rant, but it’s not. I love this album, I love the first four, and I still respect Metallica to this day. I’m glad they are still around. They’re the godfathers of thrash and they deserve everything they have.

–Bleeding Priest