blackened adj

1 darkened by smoke; "blackened rafters"

2 (of the face) made black especially as with suffused blood; "a face black with fury" [syn: black]

English

Pronunciation

Adjective

1. Darkened to the degree that something appears almost black in color.

Verb

blackened

1. past of blacken

...And Justice for All is American heavy metal band Metallica's fourth studio album released August 25, 1988, by Elektra Records.

It is the first studio album to feature bassist Jason Newsted and without former bassist Cliff Burton. The front cover depicts the statue of Lady Justice cracked and bound by ropes, with both of her scales filled with dollars and both of her breasts exposed. The words "...And Justice for All" are written in graffiti to the right. This was used to symbolize that Justice had been raped, which is the main theme of the album as expressed in songs such as "Eye of the Beholder" and "...And Justice for All".

The album has sold over 8 million copies in the US alone according to the RIAA.

Production

Lyrical Themes

The lyrics on ...And Justice for All discuss politics and social issues; however, lyricist James Hetfield is more direct than ever before in his views. At the same time, and despite Hetfield's aggressive singing style, the lyrics refrain from overt confrontation or ringing calls for revolutionary change. Instead, as drummer Lars Ulrich explained it, the ideas expressed in the lyrics merely represented "interests" of the band, and were meant largely to be "documentary" in nature.

Recording

The production of the album is noted for its unusual, and at times "one-dimensional", post-production mix. The quality of the album's sound has been described as "cold" and "flat", due in part to the way the instruments were recorded. The bass drums don't "thud" so much as "click", while the guitars "buzz thinly". And, in one of the more famous of Hetfield and Ulrich's controversies with bassist Jason Newsted, the album's production almost completely lacks identifiable bass in most songs. his absence from the mixing sessions (where he might have asserted his opinion) and the lingering issue of his "newness" within the band following the tragic death of Cliff Burton in September 1986. As said by the band in their magazine SO WHAT!, they wish that they could re-mix the entire album because the drums and guitar overpower the bass completely. The album was released on two LPs at the usual single-LP price, since the band thought that putting the album on a single record would have diminished its fidelity.

The album continues the trends set by the previous albums Ride the Lightning and Master of Puppets by having a fast paced, heavy song as the first track, the title track as the second track, a slower, heavier track as the third track, and a ballad as the fourth track.

Critical Response

Despite its unusual production, ...And Justice for All was Metallica's breakout album and reached No. 6 in the Billboard charts. Though it would soon be over-shadowed commercially by the band's following album (1991's Metallica), this album nevertheless confirmed Metallica's large-scale arena status.

The album was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance in 1989, but with much controversy, it lost to Jethro Tull's Crest of a Knave. In 2007, the win was named one of the 10 biggest upsets in Grammy history by Entertainment Weekly.

In 1990, "One" received the first-ever Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance, as well as being Metallica's first Grammy Award.

"One", a single on the album, is used on the game Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock.

The album was ranked at number nine in IGN's Top 25 Metal Albums.

Metallica released their first music video for "One", after years of resisting pressure to release videos for their tracks. The video incited controversy among their fans, who had valued the band's apparent opposition to MTV and other forms of mainstream commercial metal. "One" entered the Top 40 on March 25, 1989 at #35.

Live performances

Hammett noted the length of the songs being problematic for fans and the band. "Touring behind it, we realized that the general consensus was that songs were too fucking long," he said. "One day after we played 'Justice' and got off the stage one of us said, 'we're never fucking playing that song again.'" In spite of this, the song "One" quickly gained a permanent fixture in the band's live playlist since the release of the album . The only other song off of ...And Justice For All that has come close to this is "Harvester of Sorrow," a song that was played live heavily after the album's release but has only begun to be played again recently.

On June 28, 2007, Metallica played the title track for the first time since October 1989, in Lisbon, Portugal on the first show of their Sick of the Studio '07 tour and made it a set-fixture for the remainder of that routing.

To date, "The Frayed Ends of Sanity" and "To Live Is to Die" remain the only songs from the album that have never been performed live in their entirety. Instead, the band played segments of them during solos or impromptu jams.

Since the group's 2003–2004 Madly in Anger with the World Tour, many of the songs from the album have begun to appear in the group's live performances, with in particular "Dyers Eve" making its live debut. On the most recent tours Blackened was often used as a set opener, though usually with a shortened guitar solo and instrumental section.

Personnel

• James Hetfield – vocals, rhythm guitar
• Lars Ulrich – drums
• Kirk Hammett – lead guitar
• Jason Newsted – bass guitar

Track listing

All lyrics by James Hetfield, except "To Live is to Die", by Cliff Burton.

1. "Blackened" (Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Jason Newsted) – 6:41
2. "...And Justice for All" (Hetfield, Ulrich, Kirk Hammett) – 9:47
3. "Eye of the Beholder" (Hetfield, Ulrich, Hammett) – 6:30
4. "One" (Hetfield, Ulrich) – 7:26
5. "The Shortest Straw" (Hetfield, Ulrich) – 6:36
6. "Harvester of Sorrow" (Hetfield, Ulrich) – 5:46
7. "The Frayed Ends of Sanity" (Hetfield, Ulrich, Hammett) – 7:44
8. "To Live Is to Die" (Hetfield, Ulrich, Cliff Burton) – 9:49
9. "Dyers Eve" (Hetfield, Ulrich, Hammett) – 5:13

Bonus track (Japanese edition)

This song is a Diamond Head cover. It was also released on the "Harvester of Sorrow" CD single, and later on the Garage Inc. covers album.

1. "The Prince" (Sean Harris, Brian Tatler) – 4:26

Singles

• "Eye of the Beholder" - 1988
• "...And Justice for All" - 1988
• "Harvester of Sorrow" - 1988 (UK)
• "One" - 1989

Charting positions

Album

Singles

References