It’s in every musician’s nature to want to evolve their sound. For all the security that comes with playing it safe with a batch of tunes that can resonate with anyone, there’s only so far that you can take that idea before the music starts sounding like a blank canvas than anything sonic colour. Every member of Metallica may have been completely fine with continuing on the tradition of abrasive thrash metal, and while And Justice For All is one of the highlights of their career, Lars Ulrich thought that intensity was never going to happen again.
Then again, that also might come down to the circumstances surrounding the album. Metallica were still one of the reigning kings of the metal underground, but losing someone like Cliff Burton was bound to do a number on what they would sound like next. Burton was the heart and soul of the group in some respects, and without his knowledge of classical harmony, there was bound to be a gaping hole on the next record.
While they soldiered on with Jason Newsted in tow, And Justice For All was far from the showcase he probably wanted. Whether it was some cruel joke they were playing on the new guy or a way of getting past their grief, Ulrich made the decision to turn the bass all the way down in the mix, which makes the entire album feel more like a demo recording than a proper album.
But that’s far from the record’s only flaw. The thrash metal scene had already been known for its relentless energy, and yet this was the first time the songs actually felt too long. Say what you want about the more aggressive tracks like ‘Blackened’, but it’s hard to really take the rest of the album seriously when the title track goes on for nearly ten minutes. By the time you get to the final somewhat tight track, ‘Dyers Eve’, you really deserve it.
Although it still gained traction for their amazing ballad ‘One’, Ulrich thought that they had hit the ceiling a bit with the album, telling Ultimate Albums, “It became mental gymnastics and mental exercises. The only objective of playing every song was not fucking it up. The songs couldn’t get longer, they couldn’t get faster, couldn’t get any more self-absorbed. It couldn’t be that anymore for our survival.”
Granted, it’s hard to blame the group for wanting to play something technical. This was the dawn of the virtuoso guitar players starting to show their stuff, and with groups like Dream Theater on the verge of becoming huge just a few years later, And Justice For All could have been the answer to the progressive side of metal.
Once they hit the wall, Metallica knew they needed something different, with Bob Rock later coming in to streamline their sound for their global smash The Black Album. After fans had a lot of long faces getting through all eight minutes of ‘Harvester of Sorrow’, having a tight five-minute single in ‘Enter Sandman’ was the breath of fresh air that everyone needed.
And Justice For All is still a solid record to check out for anyone interested in the band’s complex side, but their choice to move away from that was more practical than anything else. Because, let’s face it, if they had continued on that road, the next album would have probably only four or five songs that ran about 15 minutes apiece.
