...And Justice for All

…And Justice for All, released on August 25th, 1988, was Metallica’s first studio album following the tragic death of bassist Cliff Burton. The looming darkness heavily influenced both of the band’s leaders, James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich.

The lyrics to the songs on the album were summed up as the “CNN Years”, where both would watch the news and James would write based on what dissatisfied him. The songs are long dirges all over 5 minutes with the shortest track being “Dyer’s Eve” and the longest track being “To Live is to Die”. …And Justice for All was mainly criticized for the dry and terse production, with clicking drums and a nearly inaudible bass (partly as hazing to Burton’s substitute, Jason Newsted).

With the help of Metallica’s first music video for the single “One”, …And Justice for All became the first underground metal album to achieve chart success in the US. The album went on to be certified 8x Platinum, and won the group their first grammy award (for “One”).

Later in 2018, Metallica’s social media posted a not so cryptic video showing factories producing what appeared to be box sets and CD’s of …And Justice for All along with various live performance CD’s. …And Justice for All was confirmed to be getting a remastering and reissue just like what the band had done with their previous three studio albums. On November 2nd, 2018, the remaster was released to the public on all music streaming services and retail stores.