Customer Reviews
Well worth it - By: T. McKay, 18 Aug 2008 
This is perhaps Metallica's most accessible work, & for fans of less heavy, Hard Rock bands such as Motley Crue or Guns N Roses, serves as a good introduction to Metallica. It is certainly not their best or most impressive work technically, but it is still a great album well worth owning.
With this album Metallica moved from Thrash Metal to a simpler sound, that is more commercial & accessible. Many songs from 'And Justice For All' would not be appreciated by the average listener, but the more melodic & better produced tracks on 'Metallica' are very radio friendly.
The production is a step up from previous albums, with the bass especially being more prominent. Similarly the drums sound a lot better thanin previous albums. The guitars sound weakin some places though, somewhat drowned by vocals & drums. However the overall sound is impressive. With 'Nothing Else Matters' & 'The Unforgiven' Metallica have produced two incredibly rich & layered ballads, that are two of the best tracks on the album.
However unlike previous albums not every song is as strong as 'Enter Sandman' or 'Sad But True'. Tracks such as 'Through the Never' & 'Don't Tread on Me' don't sound rushed, & seem to be acting as filler. Despite this, it is definitely a must have album.
Rocking Hard or Hardly Rocking? - By: Ed, 30 Jul 2008 
Rocking Hard or Hardly Rocking?
Like a retard chasing a hot dog on a stick, Metallica went *gasp* commercial! This shouldn't really be a shock anymore, the metal world has indeed been watching the band struggle & flail about to get their bloated alcoholic bellies into the latest threads for the last fifteen years or so. But it's still quite a long way from the young, hungry & lean thrash savagery of `Kill `Em All'...but that alone doesn't make this unpleasant, indeed it's a whole plethora of problems.
Who then takes the blame for this sudden paradigm shiftin musical direction? Bob Rock, the poor hapless Canadian. A bit spineless he may be, butin all actuality a good hard rock producer. Listen to The Cult's `Fire Woman' or Motley Crue's `Kickstart My Heart', excellent hard rock from bands very much capable of er rocking hard. Vibrant & full of lustre & life, excellent production too. Unlike Metallica's infamous Black Album. Lest we forget that Rock only plays Mephistopheles to Metallica's Faustus (for some reason Metallica's career always makes me think of Faustus), they wanted this direction & Bob merely ensured the rights of their souls where signed overin blood...except Sral Hcirlu who only bled the tears of orphans, from which he gains sustenance.
However, Metallica aren't particularly good at this, heavy metal Sturm und Drang they could, at times, pull off with aplomb. However, with a hard rock album, they merely plod along & James' riffs have all the love & passion of a Xerox machine, pounding out the same riff until the mould is changed. This isn't the sound of one of metal's, supposed at least, finest rhythm guitarists, but of mechanical & forced song writing from a creatively bankrupt band. In the hard rock arena as well, I wouldn't consider this good. Look at Malcolm Young, the archetypal nothing-fancy hard rock rhythm player; he's tight but never rigid, & there is a definite feel to his playing & space for a lead player to work within. James eschews most of this & sets gain on ten, mid on zero & provides dense lumbering riff work that suffocates the other instruments & gives Jon Schaffer a raging hard-on. Even the most brain-dead & dim-witted hip hop fan can find something to enjoyin `Sad But True', which perhaps is the true measure of this album's mainstream appeal.
In essence, moving away from the progressive & at times near farcical direction as seen on `...And Justice For All' was a good idea, just it's execution is mildewed & stinky. At what point did such an over-the-top rhythm guitar & drum sound on a hard rock record make sense! Sure make them sound big, but have some semblance to subtlety please! Also, the layering of guitars with such a big-dumb-over-saturated tone never made sense. Listen to those old Zeppelin records; loads of guitar tracks, but no unabashed over-saturation which only goes to detract from the overall power of the guitars. Lets put this into perspective here, Kirk Hammett puts out a far better performance than James on this album...I'll let that sink in...KIRK BLEEDIN' HAMMETT! Sweet baby Jesus, what has become of James Hetfield?! Kirk's solos have an over-reliance on wah, sure, & they are quite predictablein places, but it sure as hell beats the "Hetfield grab, Hetfield smash, Hetfield angry" riff work.
However, production can't kill everything, for instance, `...Justice' acts as a testament to this, despite its inherent flaws it was still a good metal album. Metallica's self titled isn't really anything, it falls short of being a metal album, let alone a good one & as far as hard rock goes, this isn't standing up to the likes of `Powerage', `Lights Out' or `Live & Dangerous'. It's not the worst thing Metallica ever did, future releases were a case of out of the frying pan & into the fire, but an immensely frustrating one. I want to grab the band by their greasy greebo necks & shout "If this is a pop sell-out album, how come I'm not having fun! Ou est `Armageddon It'!?"
So how's about the songs then? Well, to these ears, mainly offensive. Not that I'm annoyed that this isn't a thrash album, but I just can't really enjoy much on display here. `Wherever I May Roam' is perhaps the worst offender, with that token eastern riff. If I were of Asian descent I would be offended, this is tantamount to Oswald Mosley giving a talk on equality & race relations. Musically D-U-M-B, to the very core, perhaps some of these riffs wouldn't sound so stupid if it wasn't for the ridiculous guitar & drum sound, which is crystalline yet completely inane. Lyrically, it's based on the clumsy metaphor of the road being a wife, it wouldn't be so silly if it wasn't for Hetfield's extremely macho (in all the wrong ways) vocal performance. `Of Wolf & Man' is stupidityin the same vain, the opening riff sounds like a heavy metal take on the disco bass-line. The chorus again, is a clumsy cartoon pastiche of what some believe heavy metal to be, & who can blame them for harbouring such opinions if this is all they've heard?
`Enter Sandman' is actually one of the better songs on the album, it's infirm compared to what the band had been capable of, but still quite enjoyable. It has become something of an anthem for the Neanderthal types that frequent the dingiest pubsin your town & smell of beer, cheap fags & corn nuts. Whenever these thumbless souls pick up a guitar they put their fat sausage fingers around the seventh fret & begin plumbing their way through...you guessed it...dun dun dun dun dun dunnn. It has become a metal karaoke classic & a dance floor favourite for knuckle-dragging apes, a perennially overplayed rock radio favourite. And this alone renders it quite irritating for the metal community,in fact most outsiders would consider it our universal anthem that has us engagingin all sorts of "mosh-pitery", "head-bunging" & poking are spiky gauntletsin each others eyes.
What strangely, almost curiously, are the most successful moments on the album are the power ballads. `The Unforgiven' is mainly very good, despite some absurdly pompous parts, ahem;
`I dub thee Unforgiven'...y'know James, Merlin was real he won all those wars for King Henry! The backing to the solo, as well as the solo itself are very richly textured. I always liked Metallica's guitar harmonies & these are no exception. The worst thing about this is that it led to too many introspective lyrics on later albums, which would manifest itselfin most abominable form later as `Mama Said'. Other than that the most annoying thing about this track is that my older brother described it as a superior version of `Sign of the Southern Cross'...riled up? I was. `Nothing Else Matters' is a bit weaker, still one of the better tracks here, not a bad power ballad at all. The arena rock cliché of the big build up & then massive solo is wholly satisfying...it would be better if Slash played it whilst sky-diving. Again it's somewhat let down by the mix, whyin God's name are the drums so bloody loud & separate? This is prevalent throughout the album, but more noticeable on a ballad.
Necessary to a complete commercial transition & success is maintaining & appeasing your old fan base. Metallica being the bright sparks that they are, also utilised this tool. So we have the token heavier tracks. `Through the Never' is just this, a gesture of heaviness to appeal to the bands initial & oft-abused fans. It accomplishes very little & without his beloved wah pedal, Kirk's solo falls flat on it's bum for the most part. It sounds like a `...Justice' era reject & shows further stagnationin the riff department. `Creeping Death' it ain't. `Sad But True' is another heavier track, more eventful than `Through the Never', but it's bludgeoning weight lacks purpose. James, you've misinterpreted Black Sabbath...again. I suppose it's Metallica attempting to update the mid-tempo drudgery of say `The Thing That Should Not Be'. I didn't really mind Metallica selling out, just do they have to be so callous about it?
All this general "brah brah brah...not very good...rah rah rah Faustus..." is all fine & well on my part, but Metallica's self titled release is not completely functionless. For me & many others it acted as a gateway to metal & for that I am truly thankful. However, this album's quality is perhaps shown by the fact that, prior to today I had not listened to this album or more than one individual track from itin about four years. In the course of writing this review I started off under the working title of `It's good, but that doesn't mean I have to like it' but I soon changed my tune as this album is nowhere near as good as I once remembered. It sounded pretty good when I was twelve, but completely lacks any staying power. Thinking about picking this up? Instead you could walk into the rock & pop section & under T you will find a band called Thin Lizzy...ask the clerk if you can't find them, now you've no excuse. You can thank me later.
Different to the last lot, but still good. - By: Go Me, 30 Jun 2008 
In the black album., Metallica take a different approach to metal, replacing long songs with huge musical interludes & different sections with shorter, slower catchier songers. This means there are no stand out musical masterpieces like One, or Fade to Black, but these self imposed constraints don't stop Metallica from rocking. Riffs are heavy, drums are crushing, solos are screaming. There are still clear classics here, like Enter Sandman & Nothing Else Matters, & the production is arguably better than any albium before. The sound however, loses its rawness which you find on Kill 'em All & Ride the Lightning, which is replaced by a commercial sheen. If you are just starting to get into Metallica, this is the album I recommend. Its much easier to get into the the songs, even for people who aren't hardcore metalheads. Even for the said metalheads however, & for me, this album is a classic.
Best songs:
1.Enter Sandman
2.Nothing else matters
3.Wherever I may Roam
Truly Epic - By: Steven Stewart, 17 Jun 2008 Metallica are one of those bands that have given us a sound that can last a life time, no matter who you're talking to or where they're from everybody has at least heard of Metallica. Their music is loud, they're energetic & they're truly something great & James Hetfield along with Lars Ulrich gave us possibly their most famous song with Enter Sandman. They are genuinely a cult status band & have a fan base that would possibly even go as far as dying for this band & that's no surprise as they are truly at the status of being god-like.
One awesome album & is one that would really express the true greatness of Metallica's work & this is expressed through the fact that commercially this is their most successful album.
My Top 5
1. Enter Sandman
2. Holier Than Thou
3. Of Wolf And Man
4. Nothing Else Matters
5. Through The Never.
Metallica's 2nd greatest album - By: Gum Bear, 26 May 2008 ... And Justice For All is the album that made me like Metallica. Metallica's earlier albums Kill'em All, Master of Puppets & ride the Lighting failed to make an impression on me, which is probably one of the reasons I liked Guns N'Roses more, backin the day (the 80's). Haha. ... And Justice For All is my favourite Metallica album, followed by the Black album. The reason I place these 2 albumsin this order is quite simple. The Black album contains 12 tracks of which 4 are great (Sad But True, The Unforgiven, Through The Never, Nothing Else Matters). ... And Justice For All contains 9 tracks of which all 9 are great. No contest really. I've just purchased ... And Justice For All for the 2nd time as my other copy is vinyl.
