Thoughts?

Great album

Terrible production though

Last great Metallica album! The Black Album was good but they went to shit after that. AJFA is the last fast loud thrashy album Metallica ever did. Decent follow up to Masters of Puppets.

Good but bloated. Could have been better with a proper mix.

AJFA is indicative of Metallica's potential to step into technical thrash territory but none of the members of the band are artistically capable of pulling off something along the likes of Artillery or Coroner or Sabbat so it falls short of a little past 'droll.' The riffs go to interesting places and then fail to deliver on their setup. The strength of this album lies in its arrangement, as its pretty much a perfection of the sprawling arrangements that they were delving into on Puppets. However, I've always felt that Puppets and AJFA are the weakest, least cohesive, and ultimately boring albums of their "thrash" period because of this. Ride the Lightning is the absolute sweet spot of the aggressive technicality James was touching upon with this album and the NWOBHM influence of Kill 'em All.

>>68270892

Sorry, I mean't dull, not droll.

>>68270610
Go read what Jason Newstead said about the album's production. Lars pretty much wanted to fuck him over and told the engineer to turn his bass down in the mix.

this is the first cd i ever bought. still my favorite metallica album.

>>68271229
God I hate that little piece of shit.

Too long

>>68270610
I like this album, but this is pretty fucking funny.

>>68271229
That balding manlet said he will leave America if Trump is elected. So we all have that to look forward to.

>>68270610
I like the album, but this is pretty fucking funny.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7-XDrjWkS4

>mfw Lars screws up at 2:00 and James tries not to laugh

>>68271229
It's not just the lack of bass

The drums have too much compression and almost none dynamic range, and some song are longer than they should be

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>>68270574
>This is not gay shit

>>68271646
Apparently the overcompressed drums were also Lars.
The engineer was interviewed and said that Lars pretty much called all th shots on production while their usual producer was out of town...

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...And Justice For All [Elektra, 1988]

Problem isn't that it's more self-conscious than Puppets, which is inevitable when your stock in trade is compositions rather than songs. Problem is that it's also longer than Puppets, which is inevitable when your stock in trade is compositions rather than songs. Just ask Yes. C+

>>68272899
delete this.

>>68270574
blackened and eye of the beholder are among of their best tracks desu

Master of Puppets [Elektra, 1986]

I feel at a generational disadvantage with this music not because my weary bones can't take its power and speed but because I was born too soon to have my dendrites rerouted by progressive radio. This band's momentum can be pretty impressive, and as with a lot of fast metal (as well as some sludge) they seem to have acceptable political motivations--antiwar, anticonformity, even anticoke, fine. But the revolutionary heroes I envisage aren't male chauvinists too inexperienced to know better; they don't have hair like Samson and pecs like Arnold Schwarzenegger. That's the image Metallica calls up, and I'm no more likely to invoke their strength of my own free will than I am The 1812 Overture's. B-

the only metallica album i still listen to

"In theory, metal is today's real rock and roll--the music of the people. It's basic, it's rude, kids love it, parents hate it. But the closer you look, the stupider and more delusory it seems. Metal isn't basic--it cultivates a pseudo-virtuosity that negates content. The dreams it promulgates are usually foolish and often destructive. Eighty per cent of the "people" who like it are male, and 98 per cent of them are white."

>>68271229
I will never understand this. They could have picked any fucking bass player they wanted and not only did they treat him like shit but they sacrificed their own sound and quality just to fuck him over.

It's hard to appreciate Metallica even for their good material because of how fucking dumb and childish they were. It still amazes me that Hetfield was able to craft so many good Thrash Metal songs early on considering his severe mental incompetence.

4th best Metallica album, has some very good songs on it but unfortunately the bass being drowned makes it worse than it could be.
>>68272997
>98% white
>implying that's a bad thing