Your honesty and your willingness to step outside your comfort zone are amazing. And then, you candidly acknowledge that your understanding of the heaviness of the music was wrong. I'm so glad that one day, TH-cam decided that I needed to watch your iron maiden reaction 😁. Thanks a lot Doug ( and thank you DJ Dan!). R'Lyeh the dead, by Adagio 😊
I usually wouldn't defend Lars but Lars isn't rushing here. He's actually just wrong on that. I also find this guy incredibly dubious in terms of his actual knowledge as a classical composer. Stating 'thats an E' or 'this is descending' is hardly in depth analysis. As a classical composer to not not able to tell that the first intro he listened to was the reversed one is suspect too.
@@paulmallon9292 I think he sees metal as too basic and doesn't think outside the box to realise it's in reverse, but he actually knows a lot he did some classical music test video on youtube.
@@hatujemeletsplayeryheskyce6460 I would still say it's a poor ear. Its obvious from the phrasing from the reversed intro is as such. Saying its descending or ascending is pretty basic stuff. I've watched a few of his videos and nothing indicates he has anything above average music knowledge. If this tune is so basic, he is wrong about a few things anyway.
@@paulmallon9292 Actually not that surprising at a guy who mainly deals with classical wouldn't immediately recognize a reversed guitar recording vs. any of the other effects that can be added to guitar (and he admits in other videos that production and effects are not his wheelhouse). Also like, he's a classical composer and Metallica has a lot going on rhythmically but especially on songs like this there's not as much to actually comment on from the compositional standpoint; not much in the way of key changes, etc. Check out his videos of Opeth songs and the like that. None of that is to say there's anything wrong w/ this song, it's my favorite Metallica song, just that I get why he has less to analyze, and he also puts these outs daily as fun little reaction vids, not as deep dive analyses. So like, y'know, be cool.
There are remixes you can find on TH-cam with bass, but they go overboard with it. I would like to find one with the bass mixed the way it's supposed to be.
AJFA is one of Metallica's best classic masterpieces. This album was my very first introduction to Metallica back in the early 90s. Got promptly hooked, and began the wonderful journey of finding all the earlier albums and then more.
Indeed, many producers point to this album as the starting point for the whole dry-drum era of metal (Fear Factory, Chimera, Lamb of God to name a few). What Lars took from us with one hand he gave back with another, albeit inadvertently. The dry, stark nature of the whole album perfectly matches the subject matter as you say. Whatever everyone may think of this production, the album will always stand in the top 50 of all time for decades to come. MoP and AJFA are definitely the pinnacle of Metallica's writing career.
After the solo, it's not a new riff. It's exactly the same but Lars switches to play it off beat and after the fill comes back into it. The guitar stays exactly the same throughout the section.
@@neoneherefrom5836 yes it does. The guitar plays the same riff as earlier, only thing that changes is the drums. It’s a mind fuck to play to live and it constantly used to fuck me up until I realized to just completely negate what the drums are doing and play the riff as normal and when the fill comes in halfway though that riff and it changes the best you have to ignore it and just listen to your guitar and keep playing the regular riff or that change up fucks up your timing
@@TheJerseyNinja lol now this is fucking with my head! I’ve played this with my drummer a million times and I’ve always felt as though I were consciously adding an extra note for a few measures. This is the exact opposite strategy from your post to stay in time yet we always did. Still you’ve got me second guessing it now. There’s gotta be a video on this somewhere. Lol
Blackened is my single favorite song of all time. I often times listen to jazz, rock, blues, or classical depending on what mood I'm in, but nothing compares to that raw and unfiltered brutality that Metallica put into this piece. Whether I'm happy, sad, anxious, excited, or angry, whether I've been listening to anything from Miles Davis and John Coltrane all the way to Jimi Hendrix and Aerosmith, it doesn't matter, Blackened always gives me goosebumps every time starts playing to the moment the song stops. The moment when the heavy music picks up in the beginning is like rocketing down the highest point of a roller coaster. Truly masterful piece in my opinion.
Just want to be one more person in the world that gets what you are saying. This song is my favorite Metallica song, for sure, and it just rips your face off. This song has everything. It's raw and tight, impeccably shredded. It's got all types of time shifts to keep it fresh and the riff out of the solo just rips your face off. Something about that transition is just awesome. The intro is so symphonic and iconic too. Somehow an underrated song, even to fans. And ps I don't miss the bass on this album. I love how it sounds. The only gripe I have on this song is the when the drums come in with that tap tap tap tap snare beat. It's sounds weird to me, but I only noticed on the 100th listen, and it only lasts for that one phrase.
@@Mc7wis7 Yes! The time signature changes during the bridge are amazing. I get where you’re coming from about the bass, but I still think it could’ve been just a little louder. But that’s the only complaint I have about the mix.
On the original version, the intro is actually backwards, on the second fan version, they placed the forward version, then the authorized 'reversed' intro. 'And Justice for Jason' overdid it on the bass, there are a few out there are better and in the middle.
All of this. The release needed more bass, the ...And Justice For Jason version was way over the top. Regardless of that controversy this is my favourite album of theirs, and this the best song on it. Would I feel the same way about the overblown bass on the remaster if that was the original cut? Probably not. But I know and love the original too much for anything different to not sound weird.
From what I have seen in many videos he isn't interested in guitarists at all and rags on any drummer that dares to use double base anywhere, am a bit confused as to why he bothers with metal at all.
@@colz848 he definitely talks about guitars. also, what is the matter with not enjoying double bass? I enjoy it, but why would I be bothered he doesn't?
@@98danielrayguess you haven't watched many vids then, he pretty much ignores when a guitarist is playing a killer solo and constantly goes on about time changes by the rest of the band(Pretty much all he ever does unless it's a keyboard solo) and moans about any drummer ever doing any double bass at any time. Just dont understand why he bothers when amazing guitarist and drummers showing what they can do is a huge part of the metal world
Yeah except that's not Lars dictating how we perceive the riff, just him hitting the toms one too many times in the fill so that he's behind when the bar starts. Whether it was on purpose or not remains a mystery, but I'm leaning towards mistake considering Lars' general drumming and time keeping prowess. Also the fact they don't do it live anymore makes me think it was never on purpose.
@@beirch For me it's such a genius, progressive and ambiguous move that I doubt it was intentionally thought or composed by Lars but the fact he just did it that way in the context of the song confuses me to the point I don't think it's just by accident. I don't know, it's one of those great moments in metal drumming that just catches you off guard.
Lots of 80's thrash music was lyrically about nuclear war. The artists grew up during the Cold War and so believed that a 3rd world war was on the cards. Thrash metal was a great poetic avenue to express their anxieties about the possible dark future ahead of them.
@@napalmthedogiiiiii4105 even tho I agree with you, it's better this way, he might've lost his voice if he continued screaming like that without any technique
The intro on the album version is actually played in REVERSE. The other intro on the "Justice for Jason" version is played as it was recorded, then played backwards like the album.
Main riff is 7/8 and Lars intentionally mutes kicks at intoduction of the riff and twists our mind about the main riff; def NOT a “rush”. Also at outro of bridge he adds one extra tom and starts the riff on “2”, so the riff twists for two measures; again NOT a “new riff” as you mentioned. A random underestimation of Lars. Edit: main riff is 7/4, not 7/8. After bridge Lars starts on the “and” of main riff, not on “2”. Thanx!
According to the Metallica fandom page this is what the time signatures are: “Blackened" has perhaps the most changing time signatures of any Metallica song. The intro is in 4/4, then 3/4, 4/4 again, and then followed by a 5/4 measure, leading into the 7/4 riff. Then, the verse is in 6/4, going into the 7/4 riff again, then a 2/4 measure leading into the chorus, which is in 4/4. The 7/4 riff kicks in again, then the 6/4 verse, another 7/4 riff, and another 2/4 measure leading into the 2nd 4/4 chorus. Then the slow bridge starts with a 7/4 measure, then 4/4 for the rest until the dual-guitar build-up section, in which every other measure is 4/4, and the other measures alternate 2/4 and 3/4, in that order, but starting with a 4/4 measure. Some find it easier to alternate counting 6/4 and 7/4 measures, or even counting one pattern as a whole: a 13/4 measure repeating over and over until the slow solo, which is entirely in 4/4. Then there is a short 4/4 break, ending with a 2/4 measure that leads into the fast solo, which is entirely 4/4 except one measure before the last part of the solo that's in 5/8. Then the riff starts again, in 7/4. Then one final verse in 6/4, then a 2/4 measure leading into the final chorus, which is in 4/4. The last chorus repeats itself, with different words. This repeat is tied to the previous chorus by a 5/4 measure. Finally, the outro is in 7/4. It is somewhat difficult for inexperienced musicians to count the beat properly during the riff, because of the odd time signature and the accented notes for the melody, as well as the snare, are played on the upbeat.”
Agreed, it's not a rush. It's actually a time variation on the riff from Newstead's original riff idea. Lars was at his peak of technicality and creativity on this album. Every drum note on this tune is right where it's supposed to be, on purpose.
This album is a riff-masterpiece IMO. This is where the early technical stuff came together at its peak moment. Master of Puppets was also very good, but I think they kept going in the technical direction to make this album, challenging themselves. With the Black album, this reversed itself significantly. Every one of the tracks on this album does something for me.
Oh absolutely. Black was a deliberate attempt to hit the breaks and scale things back, after going SUPER technical on Justice. And it worked out great in both instances.
I onestly think that they attempted to get "progressive" with this album. Those riffs are insanely nor replicated even in today metal industry. This album is criminally underrated
@@Squic83 I found MoP to be more musical with its progressive sound. Yes, this one is hyper-technical, but some of that musicality gets lost as a result.
"Is he trying to switch the drums? Is that on purpose?" Yes. Switching from playing the snare on the down-beat, to up-beat, and back to down-beat can create and then release tension. Also, when you listen to the music from the '70s, '80s, and '90s, you'll hear a lot of rushing and dragging because metronomes weren't standard practice like they are now. There are other big-name drummers in the same genre who don't have metronomic timing. Lars is an "easy target" because of Napster. Most people don't even know why they hate him.
Uuh, you think he is making the comment because of Napster? Come on! Of course this happened to big bands all the time. Especially a song getting faster. But the snare being on and off the beat for the same riff at different parts of the songs, that is a mistake and he is picking up on it. How often do you listen to a song and automatically try to figure out the time signature, and figure out which things are on the beat, and which are off beat? He does this. So he hears immediately. When you go study music for 4 years, they force you to do this unfun stuff.
he's an easy target because he drumming ability doesn't stand up to the rest of the band's ability in their roles. Check out Metallica when they have guest drummers.
@@kemeroghTo be honest, I don't understand the greatness of Kirk anymore. Just wanking the wah pedal in standard E minor really, really isn't impressive. He should get a lot more flak for that than he does, and Lars has been way more influential and creative with the band for the whole time he's been here. The last great thing Kirk did was the Unforgiven solo. There's some good stuff on Load and Reload as well, but not incredible. I can't recall anything worthwhile on their three newest albums, and live he is just awful and sloppy. But just because he can hide behind that pedal, nobody notices.
Yeah there is another video out there explaining this. On the fill he switchs from the off beat then back again after two measures. Who knows if it was done on purpose. They probably they just thought it sounded cool and didn't put much thought into it. And it does sound cool so they were right.
I think Lars' drum parts are tricky in this song and a perfect match for the first song of the album. It increases the aggresion and it makes you feel like the riff is really fast. This song is a fuel tank and a nice starting track. Also this technique is used in black and death metal songs as a drum attack in fast tempos
Hey Doug, when you have the time try to listen to 9:17 - 9:37 again, because it is the same riff from the beginning, the only diference being that it starts on the offbeat twice, then back to the beat again two more times. Such a tiny difference made it sound completely new and I love it.
@@R3b3l-Scumm Of course it was. It's actually the guitar that starts with a delay, the drums are still in sync. It,s amazing and confuses the shit out of many guitar players.
@@Adam-vc7oy Only live. And very sloppy. And he doesn't sing unlike James. He doesn't write this riff. On the record all rhythm sections plays James. Kirk makes solo on record and thats all. It's good solos, but he can't play them live.
In the 80’s Metallica really loved writing riffs that plays tricks with our perception of the beat. The up beats are so heavy we feel them as down beats. They’re doing the same thing on ”Fight Fire With Fire” and ”Battery”.
Yeah man, I still have NEVER been able to hear FFWF's riff the right way. Even though I can hear the snare on the upbeat at the begining of it, my brain quickly switches it to the downbeat because of the accent is so strong with the snare, the vocals and the occasional crash cymbals. It drives me nuts to think I may never hear the song the way it's supposed to sound hahaha
So there are now 50 different fan mixes w Jason’s bass louder. A guy named AHDY (first name..) has the best by far remix of any METALLICA song, especially this Justice album. He doesn’t over kill anything, he really is a pro. In case your interested later
They didn’t screw Newstead. They screwed themselves. They took a brilliant album and made it sound like dog crap. Looks like Jason got justice after all.
@@Mr._Bassman97bro from what I've seen this album is mostly everyone's favourite. I love this album even with no bass. First time hearing it I focused on guitars drums and vocals bass didn't ring up bells for me even on albums with bass if it's there I enjoy it. but everything else is my main prioritie hate me if you want but that won't change my point.
9:20 'new riff'. Yes, but actually no. The guitar part is exactly the same as the main riff from the start. All this is different is the drums. There a wonderful series of videos by Mike from The Art of Guitar. about how lars often did this in those earlier albums. Lars comes out of a fill and ends up switching the beat to its rhythmic inversion. In this instance he's gone into half time. Or I spose standard time if you consider the main version as double time. Brilliant stuff as always!
Hard to say but this is probably my favourite Metallica song, as this was my first Metallica album. They're at their best here, both lyrically and musically. Love it.
Lars is not rushing, its the lars / hetfield talent of putting together complex fast rhythms and beats to the point where you think you're hearing it back to front or confused , they also do it in BATTERY and FIGHT FIRE WITH FIRE
Bingo! If anything Lars is playing ahead of the beat for a reason. Most of the people that critique Lars don't realize he was one of the most important members of the band. Without Lars and James meeting there is no Metallica. No "One" , no "Enter Sandman", no "Creeping Death", "Fade To Black", "Battery", Master of Puppets" or any of the rest of their stunning back catalog. Please, give Lars the respect he deserves as one of the founders of Metallica and one of the most influential musicians in rock music history and give the "Lars sucks" comments a break. It gets super old!
@@suprchickn7745 No, the composer guy is hearing it right. Lars is floating. All the other things you say are irrelevant. You can either year him float over, or you can not. And you then can say it is either on purpose or not. And then you can say it sounds good or bad. Saying Lars is important to the band is immaterial to the matter.
No, the composer guy is hearing it right. Lars is floating. If you play very fast, it only takes a little bit of time to shift your entire drum pattern a beat.
Yeah, Lars is floating. But to be fair, this is common with thrash drummers. When the song is lightning fast and the snare hits are on the "and", it's almost impossible not to float back and forth off the "and" back the top of the beat. So, what most thrash drummers do is just not worry about it and whack away and let the snare hit where it will through the passage. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, in fact it often lends itself to the chaotic, reckless feel of thrash metal. As far as Lars goes, he's got a poor sense of internal time and drifts more than most, and is often late or early, which is why he has James' guitar turned way up in his in-ear monitors on stage. But to his credit, he is an incredibly inventive drummer, as far as his parts, and he understand what to play to bring out the best in each song, and greatly contributes to what makes Metallica sound so epic and unique.
@@lanemeyer663 As a Heavy Metal/Thrash Metal drummer, yeah pretty much everything you say is true. Lars isn't necessarily a bad drummer, just doesn't really practice anymore.
The drums actually aren’t rushed at all. The tempo is so fast that our ears struggle to find the downbeat, and hear the snare hits as the down beat even though they consistently stay on the upbeat. This also causes the riff to have this almost upside down feel. If you were to count out loud with every down beat on the low E on the guitar in the main riff though, you would notice that the tempo grid lines up. A similar thing happens in Battery and Fight Fire With Fire as well.
Sometimes he does rush though, most noticably on his snare fills starting around 8:23 in this vid. You can hear the awkward pauses before the kick because he played faster than 16th notes and therefore ended the fills too early and had to wait for the downbeat.
Yeah he does rush and drag a little bit in some sections but I don't feel it too much in the intro. There there is something to be said about Doug not quite catching all the rhythmical intricacies which is totally fine on a first listen. I think the almost constant flipping of the downbeat is confusing to most until they hear it a bit more. Part of what I love about this song and album. Makes it almost infinitely re-listenable. It's also hard to catch right away that the opening riff is in a fast hard-to-count 7! (as you said, easy to loose the beat when counting it which i think Doug was trying to do at 3:32)
@@user-uv1rr5xk8i maybe saying it wasn’t rushed was wrong, as Lars has always played a bit loose with the tempo, but my point was more that he never accidentally turns the beat around. The only time the downbeat on the riff actually changes it’s done intentionally, and Doug thinks it’s a different riff entirely when it happens, which means Lars’ drumming had the intended outcome.
I love the way you break down these songs key by key and dive into lyric meaning. I’ve listened to these songs over 30 years and have never dived into them the way you do lol. Keep up the videos, love it
When I entered high school, I was curious about all those metal t-shirts I was seeing(me mostly listening to whatever was playing on the radio at that time), Metallica was the most intriguing. This song (and album) was my introduction to Metallica. I was blown away and a changed man.
Same here. I went to Target to buy Appetite for Destruction and saw the display for And Justice For All. I was curious based on seeing t shirts some kids in school. Blackened was my introduction to Metallica too!
If you stop with your intro to metal you are doing it wrong. A friend handed me to Number of the beast and a year later I was seeing Forbidden as my first metal Show not stopping with the someone known names. Might I suggest Silver Talon? Yes I know they are kind of somewhat to Nevermore. Or perhaps their sister band Unto Others who is far more Gothic?
The album intro is the “pre-intro” you heard on the second one, played backwards. They recorded that non-reversed version initially, and reversed it for the album track.
The main thing I love about this channel is that you seem completely unbiased, just have a love for music and appreciation to whatever genre it is, it may not be your favorite type but you appreciate the work that goes into it and the talent that went into it
Maybe my favourite song of this band, which played a big role in the developement of my musical taste... And by the way: I personally love the sound of the album.
The tightness of Lars• drumming sound is needed here, and on most songs on And justice…, because of the insane speed. Any more richness and it would have been drowning the sound of the guitars. One of the greatest thrash albums of all times. Thanks!
I remember watching a video of a sound engineer being in awe at how bad lars wanted the drum kit to sound for this album. and that they wanted the base to be as quiet as possible
@@ryanoneill91 That doesn't make sense, Justice has the best sounding drums of all of their albums. Yes, it was stupid of him to turn the bass down to imperceptible levels, but the drums sound fantastic on Justice.
From what I understand, the story of the intro is that they played it then reversed it in the studio to get the intro that we hear on the album. That fan made youtube video reversed the intro and basically came up with what Metallica originally recorded before it was reversed. It's pretty cool to hear both of them side by side, and its one of my favorite metallica intros.
Thank you, it's pleasing, for a metalhead such as myself, to hear someone not calling us bullies, dumbasses, stupid violent musicians and/or fans. Metal is actually pretty difficult to play and compose, and a genre so immense that anybody can find a interest in. And yes, many bands are talking about serious matters, and some lyrics are just poetry (well, to me anyway). Thank you again for the Video. Younshould check out the band Archspire, the song "Involuntary Doppelganger" is a good start 😉
Man, I really thought you'd have something to say about the drum inversion after 9:20 to 9:26. It's one of the cool details that have always stood out to me in this tune.
This is my very first album that introduced me into metal. One has a very progish feel and talking to a buddy about my favorite Metallica songs: One, To Live is to Die, Master of Puppets, Call of Kutulu, Orion. My buddy said. You have to check out this band called Dream Theater. The rest is history.
This was a great song to react to. I enjoyed your comments at the end. Metal is always been an outlet for me. I started playing guitar over 30yrs ago at 14yrs old to learn Metallica songs. It is a great outlet to sing and jam to metal to get through stuff, to let it all out through singing and headbanging to a killer beat. Metal to me has always been a form of therapy if you will. You can't kill the man but you can scream at him at the top of your lungs. Great video! 🤟 😎🎸
@@Arrow2theACL Particularly the S&M2 version as Rob plays Cliff's bass lead part (which was unjustly buried on the original record) as opposed to Jason just playing simple bass lines.
Hello Doug thank you for giving metal a chance. We are very passionate about our genre. I strongly believe second to none. In 1988 when the and justice album dropped it took about a week to get used to. I don't like the word sterile, as you put it, as this is Metallica most progressive album and today I find flawless, chalk full amazing riffs and blistering leads, would not change one thing about it. I don't really find it to be a controversy over the years,, some people have discontent for the album, I just couldn't hang around someone who couldn't find greatness in this album, simply pit those people are wrong and never trust their musical opinions again. metal is constantly finding new avenues and some work (Pantera vulger display of power, Terry date introduced a different way to EQ kick drums with heavy attacks 3.5 K, it sounds like there are silver dollars between the kick and the pedal. This method is still being used today and is almost the standard for kick drum.and some don't (St.Anger snare sound) but they are true pioneers and am grateful that my teenage years to my 50s had Metallica instead of led Zeppelin Or the greatful dead YUK!!!. We are a different bread of music enthusiasts . I must say it was disappointing you never mentioned James hetfield interpretation of the pentatonic scale. Metallica truly are masters. Also your insight on Lars being ahead of time. Metal is a little more accepting of loose play. Sometimes that's what makes these untrained garage heros great. Anyway I will check more of your videos out. More metal please. Maybe the sleep from Pantera. Anything Dimebag. He was a talented soul and spread joy around the world with his unique guitar style. He definitely got a pull. Metal tip... when the metal jam has started up, you NEVER turn it down and you NEVER stop it to talk. A true metal head will quickly let you know you have committed a faux pa. Its a big deal Thanks again
You're such a great teacher and so open to New stuff. I really appreciate your "innocence". You're a sincere person whom I would vouch for in times of food shortages.
What you've said about how you would pre-judge the meaning or intent of metal music is something that has plagued heavy music unfairly for a long time. People jumping to conclusions about a bands beliefs or intent with only the most superficial knowledge of lyrical content or imagery really held back a lot what were actually very well meaning sentiments. As a big Iron Maiden fan this always frustrated me...they see the "devil" imagery on early album covers and hear a heavy riff and assume they are satanists...you only have to look closely at the detail of the art and listen to the lyrics to see it's a commentary on the evils of the world rather than anything anti-christian or pro-satanist. It's nice to hear someone acknowledge that they didn't give things a fair shake of the stick back in the day.
You don't even have to look deep sometimes, even just looking at the lyrics reveal the songs aren't satanic. It really shows how willfully ignorant people can be.
The intro was recorded forward, then reversed for the album. That second version you heard was the intro riff being played forwards before it’s reversed. Yes they did that on purpose to give that intro a different feel.
I have such affection for 80s Metallica and this album especially. I get that the dry, buried-bass production was a bit of a letdown, especially after the immaculate sound of Master of Puppets. But Lars's percussion hits so hard in the studio version of this album, it just works for me. Some years ago when I was first getting into metal, I too had the realization that very little of the genre is actually angry and violent. Going all the way back to Sabbath, so much of metal has been about apocalyptic terror, about feeling small and afraid in a hostile world, not *angry*.
You can say the same with the guitar tone. Objectively, from a production standpoint, that dry scooped mid guitar tone should not have worked, but it did. The riffs chosen meshed well with Lars' tight drumming on this record. Hell, it helped coin the "Machine Gun Riff" in One for how it sounded.
Oddly enough, while I love Master, I don't personally think that the production is amazing. It's fine. Clearly more balanced than this. But for my money, Ride had the best sound, hands down, of their early albums. That album sounds amazing.
@@Retrorevelations I always thought Ride had a bit of a mushy sound. I read James said that too because of the pedal they used . I still think it's in the top 2 of Metallica albums Original garage days had a great mix/sound.
@@Retrorevelations Totally agree with you about Ride; it has my favourite sound of any of their albums. That transition from clean to distortion on "Fight Fire with Fire" is so powerful (more so than the similar transition on "Battery") and it heralds a heaviness that persists throughout the album - not just because of the songs, but also because of the 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 of the songs. I also remember reading James' saying that all the vocals on it are "double-tracked". Some people may not like this, but I think it adds a detached, almost other-worldliness quality, in fitting with the material.
@@Retrorevelations A lot of people say that about Ride The Lightning, and while I agree that the album sounds good overall, I don't understand why just about *everything* on that record had to have that cursed echo-y effect. Doesn't seem to bother a lot of listeners, but for me, it displaces the sound.
7:40 That’s exactly what happened Doug - you’ve got şt. The sound guy of this album said in an interview (available in youtube) that the bass lines and guitar riffs were identical so they’re unnoticable after Lars lowered the basses further to achieve this drum sound.
First tour that i saw Metallica live on... Queensryche was the opener... freaking amazing show... the stage/columns collapsing was epic... i love the sound of this album... maybe they just need to turn it UP! :)
Yeah I think a LOT of people these days don't understand the NO REVERB aspect of this and Puppets. They don't understand that thrash actually had concepts it worked it's way through. But you'd have to have been a fan from the basic beginning to fully understand that. Really cool to see Doug doing this song.
Even in later years - watch them live. A song will pick up an extra 20-30bpm from start to finish, depending on how excited he is. The rest of the band just races to keep up with his rushing!
EXACTLY! Tempo changes and James’ vocal is beautiful ❤️🔥 and yes the RIFF!!! What a piece! James is a great lyricist too ❤️🔥 his mother was an opera singer. Check out the Metallica/Black album
So there are a few versions with the bass restored, and some of them go too far in the other direction because the bass was turned down more or less to inaudibility in the original release due to the band’s difficulty in coming to terms with the loss of Cliff. There’s a lot of sympathy for Jason over this because he actually was a really good addition to the band even if Cliff’s shoes were too big to fill, but it just did not work out in the end. I think it does make a considerable difference with some of the songs, with blackened I thought only the solo really benefitted from the bass boost.
Jason himself said that his bass was occupying the same space as James' rhythm tracks. Jason realized that his bass would be turned down somewhat so that the bass and rhythm guitar wouldn't audiblly clash too much. That being said, the bass got turned down even more when Lars kept telling the producers to take it lower and lower. Likely to haze Jason more than anything else. In any case the "bass boosted" versions don't sound that attractive to me exactly because the bass clashes too much with the guitars. Due to James' playing style Metallica never really needed the bass anyway.
It was written in late 80s, height of the fear of nuclear Holocaust (eg "The Day After"). Hearing this song actually calmed my fears and let us verbalize that fear. It's hard to know what it really meant unless you were there. Also, I never noticed the bass because my stereo, and most back then, couldn't handle low end bass like today's technology. They layered so many electric guitars that the bass really isn't necessary and probably would sound muddy on most of those old stereos.
I was really curious to see how Doug would listen to these fast drums, wondering if he would percieve the snare on the up or the downbeat. And hearing him say Lars was rushing, switching from the up to the downbeat, was really interesting, because that's how I used to hear (and sometimes still do) a lot of these really fast drumbeats, like Damage Inc, Raining Blood, Caught in a Mosh, etc. It took me years to realize that the snare on these songs are on the downbeat, and sometimes I still strugle to hear it the "right" way. I know it is in the upbeat but my brain just switches to the downbeat against my will hahahaha
Interestingly enough, there are rock/metal drummer videos that explore this and other songs, and actually go in depth into Lars' switching beats/tempos in the middle of songs. They didn't treat it as a criticism, but rather that they were surprised by how sneaky and difficult his change-ups could be. As in they felt he was doing it on purpose. As for the bass, on this first album especially, in addition to the bass being turned low in post-production, Jason did basically just play along with the guitar riffs, by choice. James has even said in interviews that he found it odd early on when Jason just wanted to double the guitar. I think Jason was just excited/nervous about being in his dream band, and didn't want to "rock the boat" at all, even though James claims that he encouraged him to branch out and do his own thing in songs at times.
That must have been WAY later on. I remember watching an interview with James saying how he was telling Jason 'no, play this note AND NOTHING ELSE' for a lot of material.
Jason had a fan connection that none of the other members had achieved up to this date. Jason was the underdog and we all loved him. So we all wanted to hear more of him on AJFA. He finally got some freedom on My Friend of Misery.
I haven't watched alot of these reaction type videos. But I really enjoyed this. Your a good man. Open minded and you clearly understand your craft. Cheers man.
You completely missed one of the coolest drum/riff parts in this tune starting @ 9:18. Listen to the transition of riff to snare position during these 4 measures. I've always thought that this was a super cool sounding float from up beat to down beat on the snare relative to the guitar riff.
Compressed was the word you were looking for Doug at 8:55, that is the main criticism of the production of this album. Still, it is my favourite Metallica album ever, because they really excelled in musical composition and rhythmical structure. I just love every single song on this album, the energy just blows your head off.
There's a Very clear purpose for this... the anger, the fury of the music if you will, the agressiveness. It's meant to "smack you around the back of the head". It's supposed to shake you, it's supposed to wake you up, or if you will... it's supposed to punch you in the face musically and say, hey... listen the Eff up. Imagine Blackened being made by the Beatles or any of the today "mainstream contemporary" artists. It wouldn't have been the same thing at all. Imagine Justin Bieber doing this for example.... or Miley Cyrus.... it wouldn't have worked at all... but Metallica makes this into a masterpiece, sterile sound aside... it's a bloody great song this one.
For me, the addition of bass actually subtracts from the impact of this song, not adds to it...It must be something peculiar about this album, but somehow it all sounds more raw and fresh without the bass. Let's be honest, anyway: the bass pretty much doubles the rhythm guitars during Metallica songs (at least in the early days). Here, it's absence doesn't seem to matter to me; during some of their other albums - "KEA" or "RTL", etc - I think I would miss it.
I never once knew there was any problems with the mix until people started complaining about it when the internet got more popular. I’ve always loved the sound of AJFA.
You're beginning to understand what a lot of Rock & Metal songs were about - Anger and aggression at the wars, the politicians behind wars, weapons of war and the potential of mans stupidity to end all life through their actions...
Your honesty and your willingness to step outside your comfort zone are amazing. And then, you candidly acknowledge that your understanding of the heaviness of the music was wrong.
I'm so glad that one day, TH-cam decided that I needed to watch your iron maiden reaction 😁.
Thanks a lot Doug ( and thank you DJ Dan!).
R'Lyeh the dead, by Adagio 😊
In my opinion, any track from the Underworld album would be a better choice considering Doug's taste.
You're probably right. What I really like about r'lyeh, is the apparent strange time signature they use, that makes the rhythm so syncopated.
His Iron Maiden review is what brought me to Doug's channel. If I'm not mistaken it was a suggestion by his brother Dan.
@@MaurizioBonani Yes, Underworld and Sanctus Igni are both album of Adagio that have most appeal in my opinion.
@@metalmark1214 same here!
Doug: “The snare sounds like it’s tinny”
St.Anger: ‘Hold my beer…’
am i the only one who thinks that the drums sound the best on AJFA?
@@yolo0042 Drums on the Black album are the best. I think that snare has been sampled so many times since. Powerful.
@@yolo0042 probably not the only one.. But to anyone who has good musical analysis is obvious
Hahahaha... no kidding. He will need 6 of them to sit through one song on that album.
@@yolo0042 Ride the Lightning is their only good-soudning album.
Composer listens 2 minutes to Metallica: "Lars is rushing".
Pure gold.
I usually wouldn't defend Lars but Lars isn't rushing here. He's actually just wrong on that. I also find this guy incredibly dubious in terms of his actual knowledge as a classical composer. Stating 'thats an E' or 'this is descending' is hardly in depth analysis. As a classical composer to not not able to tell that the first intro he listened to was the reversed one is suspect too.
@@paulmallon9292 Lars is maybe not perfect when he plays live, but on the record s he's awesome. I don't consider it as rushing, he just plays fast.
@@paulmallon9292 I think he sees metal as too basic and doesn't think outside the box to realise it's in reverse, but he actually knows a lot he did some classical music test video on youtube.
@@hatujemeletsplayeryheskyce6460 I would still say it's a poor ear. Its obvious from the phrasing from the reversed intro is as such. Saying its descending or ascending is pretty basic stuff. I've watched a few of his videos and nothing indicates he has anything above average music knowledge. If this tune is so basic, he is wrong about a few things anyway.
@@paulmallon9292 Actually not that surprising at a guy who mainly deals with classical wouldn't immediately recognize a reversed guitar recording vs. any of the other effects that can be added to guitar (and he admits in other videos that production and effects are not his wheelhouse). Also like, he's a classical composer and Metallica has a lot going on rhythmically but especially on songs like this there's not as much to actually comment on from the compositional standpoint; not much in the way of key changes, etc. Check out his videos of Opeth songs and the like that.
None of that is to say there's anything wrong w/ this song, it's my favorite Metallica song, just that I get why he has less to analyze, and he also puts these outs daily as fun little reaction vids, not as deep dive analyses. So like, y'know, be cool.
When you do another Metallica, I strongly suggest Orion.
Highlight of the show when I saw them at Big 4 Indigo, Ca.
So weird knowing I was at Jeff's last live appearance for Slayer.
second this. or Call of Chtulu
@@malawigw Just don't tell him Dave from Megadeth wrote a lot of it.
Super-agree
Oh he would love Orion
This album is a masterpiece despite the lack of bass. The guitar tone is heavy as fuck
There are remixes you can find on TH-cam with bass, but they go overboard with it. I would like to find one with the bass mixed the way it's supposed to be.
I heard a couple of those remixes...you're right the go overboard with it lol if it were mixed like puppets or the black album it'd be perfecr
my favourite album, hands down
Agreed, best tone of all the albums. Kill Em All is the best album though.
@@darkstreamfish2729 You are the first person I know to say that kill ‘em all is the best album, I love phantom lord :)
AJFA is a very dry sounding album, which also makes it very raw and hard. Perfect.
This. When it came out, it was a welcome relief from all the drowned-in-reverb mixes that dominated thrash to that point.
@@MrvlZmb interesting, ive always loved reverb-drenched thrash riffs/vocals
@@iommic7981 The intimate sound of a drier mix made it sound incredibly heavy at the time. Like it was closer to your ears.
AJFA is one of Metallica's best classic masterpieces. This album was my very first introduction to Metallica back in the early 90s. Got promptly hooked, and began the wonderful journey of finding all the earlier albums and then more.
Indeed, many producers point to this album as the starting point for the whole dry-drum era of metal (Fear Factory, Chimera, Lamb of God to name a few). What Lars took from us with one hand he gave back with another, albeit inadvertently. The dry, stark nature of the whole album perfectly matches the subject matter as you say. Whatever everyone may think of this production, the album will always stand in the top 50 of all time for decades to come. MoP and AJFA are definitely the pinnacle of Metallica's writing career.
"listens to metallica for the first time in life"
instantly starts bashing on lars
ha ha ha ha !!
LOL
Omg!
naturally...any musician who has heard enough good drummers would.
As one should… nah jk I love Lars 😂
Doug: The drums are rushing.
Everyone: Welcome to Metallica.
😂👍
Not quite my tempo.
Metallica doesn't rush in the studio.
Is he rushing or is he dragging?
The “Coca-Cola” years…
After the solo, it's not a new riff. It's exactly the same but Lars switches to play it off beat and after the fill comes back into it. The guitar stays exactly the same throughout the section.
No, Lars does not switch, the snare in the intro is and the "and" of all beats.
The guitar does not stay exactly the same. It’s not drastically different either, however.
@@neoneherefrom5836 yes it does. The guitar plays the same riff as earlier, only thing that changes is the drums. It’s a mind fuck to play to live and it constantly used to fuck me up until I realized to just completely negate what the drums are doing and play the riff as normal and when the fill comes in halfway though that riff and it changes the best you have to ignore it and just listen to your guitar and keep playing the regular riff or that change up fucks up your timing
@@TheJerseyNinja lol now this is fucking with my head!
I’ve played this with my drummer a million times and I’ve always felt as though I were consciously adding an extra note for a few measures.
This is the exact opposite strategy from your post to stay in time yet we always did.
Still you’ve got me second guessing it now. There’s gotta be a video on this somewhere. Lol
@@neoneherefrom5836 there is! th-cam.com/video/YRQXVCrcUz8/w-d-xo.html lol
Blackened is my single favorite song of all time. I often times listen to jazz, rock, blues, or classical depending on what mood I'm in, but nothing compares to that raw and unfiltered brutality that Metallica put into this piece. Whether I'm happy, sad, anxious, excited, or angry, whether I've been listening to anything from Miles Davis and John Coltrane all the way to Jimi Hendrix and Aerosmith, it doesn't matter, Blackened always gives me goosebumps every time starts playing to the moment the song stops. The moment when the heavy music picks up in the beginning is like rocketing down the highest point of a roller coaster. Truly masterful piece in my opinion.
Just want to be one more person in the world that gets what you are saying. This song is my favorite Metallica song, for sure, and it just rips your face off. This song has everything. It's raw and tight, impeccably shredded. It's got all types of time shifts to keep it fresh and the riff out of the solo just rips your face off. Something about that transition is just awesome. The intro is so symphonic and iconic too. Somehow an underrated song, even to fans. And ps I don't miss the bass on this album. I love how it sounds. The only gripe I have on this song is the when the drums come in with that tap tap tap tap snare beat. It's sounds weird to me, but I only noticed on the 100th listen, and it only lasts for that one phrase.
It’s my ringtone.
Couldn't have said it better myself! 😎
@@Mc7wis7 Yes! The time signature changes during the bridge are amazing.
I get where you’re coming from about the bass, but I still think it could’ve been just a little louder. But that’s the only complaint I have about the mix.
To me Dyer’s Eve is the most interesting musical arrangement on Justice.
for me it is "One"
All of them has something different.
Same !!!
@@dryder7078 If it was not overplayed on MTV when I was growing up, I might agree, but still to this day, I cant listen to it.
to live is to die says hello
Even if the bass is somewhat missing from the original mix, this album is still one of their finest.
Agree completely. Flawless album. Cold production for harsh lyrics.
it is their finest by far
@@krusher74 agreed it's my fav.
This album is hands down their best work
"Somewhat missing"
On the original version, the intro is actually backwards, on the second fan version, they placed the forward version, then the authorized 'reversed' intro. 'And Justice for Jason' overdid it on the bass, there are a few out there are better and in the middle.
Was looking for this comment so I did not have to write it on my own ;)
The bass needed to be more punchy, less fat but not as forward either in the mix
All of this. The release needed more bass, the ...And Justice For Jason version was way over the top. Regardless of that controversy this is my favourite album of theirs, and this the best song on it. Would I feel the same way about the overblown bass on the remaster if that was the original cut? Probably not. But I know and love the original too much for anything different to not sound weird.
Yeah, the "...Jason" version makes it sound like a nu-metal album, IMO. Like the dude from Korn joined. Or the guy from Suicidal Tendencies... wait...
Ahdy Khairat's remix and remaster is great
The man is obsessed with the drums when Kirk is delivering a killer solo.
From what I have seen in many videos he isn't interested in guitarists at all and rags on any drummer that dares to use double base anywhere, am a bit confused as to why he bothers with metal at all.
@@colz848 he definitely talks about guitars. also, what is the matter with not enjoying double bass? I enjoy it, but why would I be bothered he doesn't?
@@98danielrayguess you haven't watched many vids then, he pretty much ignores when a guitarist is playing a killer solo and constantly goes on about time changes by the rest of the band(Pretty much all he ever does unless it's a keyboard solo) and moans about any drummer ever doing any double bass at any time. Just dont understand why he bothers when amazing guitarist and drummers showing what they can do is a huge part of the metal world
no such thing
@@Mephilis78 ?
The drums of Blackened are amazing, and yes the change up is meant.
Ppl don't understand how genius the drum structure is in this song. Lars dictates how we perceive the riff. Like he said here, "new riff".
exactly, he's done that plenty of times in the past
true
Yeah except that's not Lars dictating how we perceive the riff, just him hitting the toms one too many times in the fill so that he's behind when the bar starts.
Whether it was on purpose or not remains a mystery, but I'm leaning towards mistake considering Lars' general drumming and time keeping prowess. Also the fact they don't do it live anymore makes me think it was never on purpose.
@@beirch I meant the part that is just before the last verse. With all the snare rolls.
Edit: writing from my other account.
@@beirch For me it's such a genius, progressive and ambiguous move that I doubt it was intentionally thought or composed by Lars but the fact he just did it that way in the context of the song confuses me to the point I don't think it's just by accident. I don't know, it's one of those great moments in metal drumming that just catches you off guard.
... And Justice for All: "I have a less than stellar production."
St. Anger: "Hold my beer."
Hold my trash can
@@viniciusleaoa You mean "hold my snare drum", don't you?
@@frankswarbrick7562 well, in St Anger that's basically the same thing hahahaha
I’ve had better productions coming out of my arse.
Other than the lack of bass, most Metallica fans love the production.
Lots of 80's thrash music was lyrically about nuclear war. The artists grew up during the Cold War and so believed that a 3rd world war was on the cards.
Thrash metal was a great poetic avenue to express their anxieties about the possible dark future ahead of them.
Nuclear Assault
This. I was just going to comment this. The time period essentially gave them the perfect issues to write music about.
Fight Fire With Fire
Absolutely, this is a song about the threat of nuclear holocaust or human destruction of the natural world to create an uninhabitable earth
@@dgrimesii And Justice for all could have been called the black album... because lyrically, it was a black metal album.
Yes James does have the perfect voice for metal…
Did, not does.
@@napalmthedogiiiiii4105 Sad but true
@@napalmthedogiiiiii4105 even tho I agree with you, it's better this way, he might've lost his voice if he continued screaming like that without any technique
too bad he was neutered after this album
@@kirbothepinkball1324 he fucked up his Voice singing So What
The intro on the album version is actually played in REVERSE. The other intro on the "Justice for Jason" version is played as it was recorded, then played backwards like the album.
Main riff is 7/8 and Lars intentionally mutes kicks at intoduction of the riff and twists our mind about the main riff; def NOT a “rush”. Also at outro of bridge he adds one extra tom and starts the riff on “2”, so the riff twists for two measures; again NOT a “new riff” as you mentioned. A random underestimation of Lars.
Edit: main riff is 7/4, not 7/8. After bridge Lars starts on the “and” of main riff, not on “2”. Thanx!
Happens to us all the time!
According to the Metallica fandom page this is what the time signatures are:
“Blackened" has perhaps the most changing time signatures of any Metallica song. The intro is in 4/4, then 3/4, 4/4 again, and then followed by a 5/4 measure, leading into the 7/4 riff. Then, the verse is in 6/4, going into the 7/4 riff again, then a 2/4 measure leading into the chorus, which is in 4/4. The 7/4 riff kicks in again, then the 6/4 verse, another 7/4 riff, and another 2/4 measure leading into the 2nd 4/4 chorus. Then the slow bridge starts with a 7/4 measure, then 4/4 for the rest until the dual-guitar build-up section, in which every other measure is 4/4, and the other measures alternate 2/4 and 3/4, in that order, but starting with a 4/4 measure. Some find it easier to alternate counting 6/4 and 7/4 measures, or even counting one pattern as a whole: a 13/4 measure repeating over and over until the slow solo, which is entirely in 4/4. Then there is a short 4/4 break, ending with a 2/4 measure that leads into the fast solo, which is entirely 4/4 except one measure before the last part of the solo that's in 5/8. Then the riff starts again, in 7/4. Then one final verse in 6/4, then a 2/4 measure leading into the final chorus, which is in 4/4. The last chorus repeats itself, with different words. This repeat is tied to the previous chorus by a 5/4 measure. Finally, the outro is in 7/4. It is somewhat difficult for inexperienced musicians to count the beat properly during the riff, because of the odd time signature and the accented notes for the melody, as well as the snare, are played on the upbeat.”
For me Lars is always rushing 😆
Agreed, it's not a rush. It's actually a time variation on the riff from Newstead's original riff idea. Lars was at his peak of technicality and creativity on this album. Every drum note on this tune is right where it's supposed to be, on purpose.
Shawn Lars drumming is very uninteresting and they push the drums so far forward on the mix. Maybe it is the kit or his percussive choice.
This album is a riff-masterpiece IMO. This is where the early technical stuff came together at its peak moment. Master of Puppets was also very good, but I think they kept going in the technical direction to make this album, challenging themselves. With the Black album, this reversed itself significantly. Every one of the tracks on this album does something for me.
Oh absolutely. Black was a deliberate attempt to hit the breaks and scale things back, after going SUPER technical on Justice. And it worked out great in both instances.
I onestly think that they attempted to get "progressive" with this album. Those riffs are insanely nor replicated even in today metal industry. This album is criminally underrated
Yes it is a riff masterpiece, but it's a percussive nightmare. Lars Ulrich SUCKS!!!!
@@Squic83 I found MoP to be more musical with its progressive sound. Yes, this one is hyper-technical, but some of that musicality gets lost as a result.
@@twelveeighteenofficial7487 that's why we are humans! Our taste is different! ;)
The switching of the snare rhythm by Lars was intentional. He does something similar on Dyers Eve.
This guy clearly doesn’t know Lars’ style if he think he made a mistake. That was clearly intentional and he does that in many songs on this album
@@jd0879 Obviously he doesn't know Lars style. This is a blind reaction to a song of a band he barely heard.
@@ardcVs Yeah but Jazz guys pick up on that immediately.
"Is he trying to switch the drums? Is that on purpose?" Yes. Switching from playing the snare on the down-beat, to up-beat, and back to down-beat can create and then release tension. Also, when you listen to the music from the '70s, '80s, and '90s, you'll hear a lot of rushing and dragging because metronomes weren't standard practice like they are now. There are other big-name drummers in the same genre who don't have metronomic timing. Lars is an "easy target" because of Napster. Most people don't even know why they hate him.
Uuh, you think he is making the comment because of Napster? Come on! Of course this happened to big bands all the time. Especially a song getting faster. But the snare being on and off the beat for the same riff at different parts of the songs, that is a mistake and he is picking up on it. How often do you listen to a song and automatically try to figure out the time signature, and figure out which things are on the beat, and which are off beat? He does this. So he hears immediately. When you go study music for 4 years, they force you to do this unfun stuff.
100% on purpose
he's an easy target because he drumming ability doesn't stand up to the rest of the band's ability in their roles. Check out Metallica when they have guest drummers.
@@kemeroghTo be honest, I don't understand the greatness of Kirk anymore. Just wanking the wah pedal in standard E minor really, really isn't impressive. He should get a lot more flak for that than he does, and Lars has been way more influential and creative with the band for the whole time he's been here. The last great thing Kirk did was the Unforgiven solo. There's some good stuff on Load and Reload as well, but not incredible. I can't recall anything worthwhile on their three newest albums, and live he is just awful and sloppy. But just because he can hide behind that pedal, nobody notices.
Yeah there is another video out there explaining this. On the fill he switchs from the off beat then back again after two measures. Who knows if it was done on purpose. They probably they just thought it sounded cool and didn't put much thought into it. And it does sound cool so they were right.
Doug: so are you rushing or dragging?
Lars: I - I don’t know
Love that movie.
@@IamNomadSauce so good
Lars: neither, pay attention to the time signature interplay
who fucking cares. Write your own music
I think Lars' drum parts are tricky in this song and a perfect match for the first song of the album. It increases the aggresion and it makes you feel like the riff is really fast. This song is a fuel tank and a nice starting track. Also this technique is used in black and death metal songs as a drum attack in fast tempos
Hey Doug, when you have the time try to listen to 9:17 - 9:37 again, because it is the same riff from the beginning, the only diference being that it starts on the offbeat twice, then back to the beat again two more times. Such a tiny difference made it sound completely new and I love it.
Best bit of the record 👍👍👍
Glad you mentioned that, funny how that one 8th of a beat difference of the drums completely changes the sound of the entire guitar riff...
@Over Shantae'd The running joke about Lars... I think this time it was intentional though.
@@R3b3l-Scumm Of course it was. It's actually the guitar that starts with a delay, the drums are still in sync. It,s amazing and confuses the shit out of many guitar players.
Best riff and best work with riff
James is such a machine with those down-stroked riffs. Just awesome.
This song is definitely a workout on the right hand!!
Ppl seems to forget that Kirk downstrokes em all aswell.
@@Adam-vc7oy Only live. And very sloppy. And he doesn't sing unlike James. He doesn't write this riff. On the record all rhythm sections plays James. Kirk makes solo on record and thats all. It's good solos, but he can't play them live.
@@TheMaxa92 James is the greatest for sure. I just want to give Kirk some love 😊
@@TheMaxa92 The main Blackend riff was Jason's - and was the first thing he brought to the band. Jason nails the bass with downstrokes only too.
In the 80’s Metallica really loved writing riffs that plays tricks with our perception of the beat. The up beats are so heavy we feel them as down beats. They’re doing the same thing on ”Fight Fire With Fire” and ”Battery”.
Yeah man, I still have NEVER been able to hear FFWF's riff the right way. Even though I can hear the snare on the upbeat at the begining of it, my brain quickly switches it to the downbeat because of the accent is so strong with the snare, the vocals and the occasional crash cymbals. It drives me nuts to think I may never hear the song the way it's supposed to sound hahaha
after the solo it was a mistake that they decided to keep in lolol
Not really. lars arranges it to be tricky. If you listen to the isolated guitar track it's pretty easy to follow.
@@redrick8900 Did Lars tell you this? Are you psychic?
@@viniciusleaoa exactly this!
So there are now 50 different fan mixes w Jason’s bass louder. A guy named AHDY (first name..) has the best by far remix of any METALLICA song, especially this Justice album. He doesn’t over kill anything, he really is a pro. In case your interested later
Lemme guess. Ahdy Khairat.
@@MaliuntinuvuVlogyh
I love the bass guitar on this album.
This but without irony, the original basslines are sick
@@TSE_WOODY If you turn the volume up to the max and if you have good headphones you can hear the bass really faintly.
@@CTC0411 I actually thought this too but what you can hear is James palm muting
It's a shame Newsted's basslines are practically inaudible because he kills it.
They didn’t screw Newstead. They screwed themselves. They took a brilliant album and made it sound like dog crap. Looks like Jason got justice after all.
@@Mr._Bassman97bro from what I've seen this album is mostly everyone's favourite. I love this album even with no bass. First time hearing it I focused on guitars drums and vocals bass didn't ring up bells for me even on albums with bass if it's there I enjoy it. but everything else is my main prioritie hate me if you want but that won't change my point.
9:20 'new riff'. Yes, but actually no. The guitar part is exactly the same as the main riff from the start. All this is different is the drums. There a wonderful series of videos by Mike from The Art of Guitar. about how lars often did this in those earlier albums. Lars comes out of a fill and ends up switching the beat to its rhythmic inversion. In this instance he's gone into half time. Or I spose standard time if you consider the main version as double time. Brilliant stuff as always!
No, it's not the same......
@@MarcelH666 lmao it is
@@MarcelH666 it is the same riff, what changes is the drums
It's such a tricky little turn around to play, not because it's hard to do, but because it goes against all rhythmic instinct.
Hard to say but this is probably my favourite Metallica song, as this was my first Metallica album. They're at their best here, both lyrically and musically. Love it.
Lars is not rushing, its the lars / hetfield talent of putting together complex fast rhythms and beats to the point where you think you're hearing it back to front or confused , they also do it in BATTERY and FIGHT FIRE WITH FIRE
Bingo! If anything Lars is playing ahead of the beat for a reason. Most of the people that critique Lars don't realize he was one of the most important members of the band. Without Lars and James meeting there is no Metallica. No "One" , no "Enter Sandman", no "Creeping Death", "Fade To Black", "Battery", Master of Puppets" or any of the rest of their stunning back catalog. Please, give Lars the respect he deserves as one of the founders of Metallica and one of the most influential musicians in rock music history and give the "Lars sucks" comments a break. It gets super old!
@@suprchickn7745 No, the composer guy is hearing it right. Lars is floating. All the other things you say are irrelevant. You can either year him float over, or you can not. And you then can say it is either on purpose or not. And then you can say it sounds good or bad. Saying Lars is important to the band is immaterial to the matter.
No, the composer guy is hearing it right. Lars is floating. If you play very fast, it only takes a little bit of time to shift your entire drum pattern a beat.
Yeah, Lars is floating. But to be fair, this is common with thrash drummers. When the song is lightning fast and the snare hits are on the "and", it's almost impossible not to float back and forth off the "and" back the top of the beat. So, what most thrash drummers do is just not worry about it and whack away and let the snare hit where it will through the passage. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, in fact it often lends itself to the chaotic, reckless feel of thrash metal.
As far as Lars goes, he's got a poor sense of internal time and drifts more than most, and is often late or early, which is why he has James' guitar turned way up in his in-ear monitors on stage. But to his credit, he is an incredibly inventive drummer, as far as his parts, and he understand what to play to bring out the best in each song, and greatly contributes to what makes Metallica sound so epic and unique.
@@lanemeyer663 As a Heavy Metal/Thrash Metal drummer, yeah pretty much everything you say is true.
Lars isn't necessarily a bad drummer, just doesn't really practice anymore.
The title track from this album deserves some attention. Definitely one of their best written tracks, ever. Imo
The drums actually aren’t rushed at all. The tempo is so fast that our ears struggle to find the downbeat, and hear the snare hits as the down beat even though they consistently stay on the upbeat. This also causes the riff to have this almost upside down feel. If you were to count out loud with every down beat on the low E on the guitar in the main riff though, you would notice that the tempo grid lines up. A similar thing happens in Battery and Fight Fire With Fire as well.
Couldnt quite figure out that statement myself!
Sometimes he does rush though, most noticably on his snare fills starting around 8:23 in this vid. You can hear the awkward pauses before the kick because he played faster than 16th notes and therefore ended the fills too early and had to wait for the downbeat.
Yeah he does rush and drag a little bit in some sections but I don't feel it too much in the intro. There there is something to be said about Doug not quite catching all the rhythmical intricacies which is totally fine on a first listen. I think the almost constant flipping of the downbeat is confusing to most until they hear it a bit more. Part of what I love about this song and album. Makes it almost infinitely re-listenable.
It's also hard to catch right away that the opening riff is in a fast hard-to-count 7! (as you said, easy to loose the beat when counting it which i think Doug was trying to do at 3:32)
Its rushed dude... geez. Get a metronome
@@user-uv1rr5xk8i maybe saying it wasn’t rushed was wrong, as Lars has always played a bit loose with the tempo, but my point was more that he never accidentally turns the beat around. The only time the downbeat on the riff actually changes it’s done intentionally, and Doug thinks it’s a different riff entirely when it happens, which means Lars’ drumming had the intended outcome.
The drum fills in this song are great.
lars's offbeat fills are very underrated, they confuse most people and so they discount them.
Especially the double kick drum accents
In whole album...
Hope to see Pain of Salvation's "Rope Ends" on the list super soon... I think you'll love the lyrics and the composition.
My favorite PoS song ❤️
Or iter impius martius nauticus
Yes!! I'd like that too.
Doug should do the entire BE album for patreon and then put it on YT channel! I'm sure he'll love it! also do a reaction for "Her Voices"!
My vote would go to In the Passing Light of Day
This album is an absolute classic! Harvester of sorrow is my favorite song by them.
I love the way you break down these songs key by key and dive into lyric meaning. I’ve listened to these songs over 30 years and have never dived into them the way you do lol. Keep up the videos, love it
When I entered high school, I was curious about all those metal t-shirts I was seeing(me mostly listening to whatever was playing on the radio at that time), Metallica was the most intriguing. This song (and album) was my introduction to Metallica. I was blown away and a changed man.
Same here. I went to Target to buy Appetite for Destruction and saw the display for And Justice For All. I was curious based on seeing t shirts some kids in school. Blackened was my introduction to Metallica too!
my favourite metal album of all time.
If you stop with your intro to metal you are doing it wrong. A friend handed me to Number of the beast and a year later I was seeing Forbidden as my first metal Show not stopping with the someone known names.
Might I suggest Silver Talon? Yes I know they are kind of somewhat to Nevermore. Or perhaps their sister band Unto Others who is far more Gothic?
@@shangri-la-la-la By the way, that introduction was like 30 years ago. My exploration into metal didn't stop there, believe me! XD
@@casachezdoom2588 It only stops when you let it.
You’ve GOT to watch The Art Of Guitar’s breakdown of Lars and the timekeeping in this song. It should help clear things up!
Yes!!! Mike is amazing
Vinicius Leão de Almeida isn’t he Hearts lead guitarist? Or like in a really good Heart cover band or something?
@@Huddle_House56 yeah, I think he plays for a Heart cover band, or at least used to
The album intro is the “pre-intro” you heard on the second one, played backwards. They recorded that non-reversed version initially, and reversed it for the album track.
That's one of my favorites from Metallica. I love the energy of the music. I also love your video. Ty
The main thing I love about this channel is that you seem completely unbiased, just have a love for music and appreciation to whatever genre it is, it may not be your favorite type but you appreciate the work that goes into it and the talent that went into it
"Just kind of over E"
Metallica in a nutshell lol
Metal in a nutshell
@@mutsisloll 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Maybe my favourite song of this band, which played a big role in the developement of my musical taste...
And by the way: I personally love the sound of the album.
The tightness of Lars• drumming sound is needed here, and on most songs on And justice…, because of the insane speed. Any more richness and it would have been drowning the sound of the guitars. One of the greatest thrash albums of all times. Thanks!
I remember watching a video of a sound engineer being in awe at how bad lars wanted the drum kit to sound for this album. and that they wanted the base to be as quiet as possible
@@ryanoneill91 That doesn't make sense, Justice has the best sounding drums of all of their albums. Yes, it was stupid of him to turn the bass down to imperceptible levels, but the drums sound fantastic on Justice.
Insane speed?
Imagine if you could hear the bass on it...
@@jasonallen5318 Lars said he wanted a "Live" sounding kit, so it is very dry compared to other albums.
From what I understand, the story of the intro is that they played it then reversed it in the studio to get the intro that we hear on the album. That fan made youtube video reversed the intro and basically came up with what Metallica originally recorded before it was reversed. It's pretty cool to hear both of them side by side, and its one of my favorite metallica intros.
Thank you, it's pleasing, for a metalhead such as myself, to hear someone not calling us bullies, dumbasses, stupid violent musicians and/or fans.
Metal is actually pretty difficult to play and compose, and a genre so immense that anybody can find a interest in.
And yes, many bands are talking about serious matters, and some lyrics are just poetry (well, to me anyway).
Thank you again for the Video.
Younshould check out the band Archspire, the song "Involuntary Doppelganger" is a good start 😉
Man, I really thought you'd have something to say about the drum inversion after 9:20 to 9:26. It's one of the cool details that have always stood out to me in this tune.
Classical musicians don't understand time like Jazz and rock musicians.
Your little bro has some good music taste. Bravo. Insightful analysis as ever, cheers.
Dan, the little brother, has a great taste in music. Love metallica
I LOVE how attentive you are to lyrics. Instantly gotten what's the song about. Bravo!
One of my favourite Met tracks...This track is even more relevant in today's world than it was in 88.
Metal is therapy!
Underrated therapy
@@arthurgabriel4325 We metalheads don't give a shit though!
Main riff is in 7/4. Drums were played to a click and edited together, there is no rushing
This is my very first album that introduced me into metal. One has a very progish feel and talking to a buddy about my favorite Metallica songs: One, To Live is to Die, Master of Puppets, Call of Kutulu, Orion. My buddy said. You have to check out this band called Dream Theater. The rest is history.
missing Fade To Black you just managed to name 5/6 of my favorite Metallica tracks lol
@@colemantrebor6574 Definitely one that I missed. Tell me you are a Haken fan. If not, take a listen to their Virus album.
Are you kidding?
dream theater are my favourite metal band
The best Metallica album released after 1991 is Train of Thought. A shame it's not by them ;)
This was a great song to react to. I enjoyed your comments at the end. Metal is always been an outlet for me. I started playing guitar over 30yrs ago at 14yrs old to learn Metallica songs. It is a great outlet to sing and jam to metal to get through stuff, to let it all out through singing and headbanging to a killer beat. Metal to me has always been a form of therapy if you will. You can't kill the man but you can scream at him at the top of your lungs. Great video! 🤟 😎🎸
The Rule: never to talk during a cool solo. Friendships have ended over this.
Damn right!
Wow, I’ve not heard this album in years. This album was the first time I saw Metallica in Glasgow, I’m going to enjoy this little vid
Get Doug on Orion and The Call of Ktulu Stat!
The two best Metallica tracks. \m/
Call of Ktulu with the S&M orchestra is quite good.
@@Arrow2theACL Particularly the S&M2 version as Rob plays Cliff's bass lead part (which was unjustly buried on the original record) as opposed to Jason just playing simple bass lines.
oh yeah, the bass track of call of ktulu is AMAZING
"See your mother put to death, see you're mother die." I never made the mother nature connection. Brilliant.
Seriously? Never??
Or Mother Earth?
@@FanFanBessie2 I with you. I always thought of Mother Earth.
its mother earth hes talking about
Very nice breakdown. Your analysis was excellent; much better than a lot of other metal fans.
I love how the original riff returns inverted and your ear can interpret it as a new riff until it flips back
Hello Doug thank you for giving metal a chance. We are very passionate about our genre. I strongly believe second to none. In 1988 when the and justice album dropped it took about a week to get used to. I don't like the word sterile, as you put it, as this is Metallica most progressive album and today I find flawless, chalk full amazing riffs and blistering leads, would not change one thing about it. I don't really find it to be a controversy over the years,, some people have discontent for the album, I just couldn't hang around someone who couldn't find greatness in this album, simply pit those people are wrong and never trust their musical opinions again. metal is constantly finding new avenues and some work (Pantera vulger display of power, Terry date introduced a different way to EQ kick drums with heavy attacks 3.5 K, it sounds like there are silver dollars between the kick and the pedal. This method is still being used today and is almost the standard for kick drum.and some don't (St.Anger snare sound) but they are true pioneers and am grateful that my teenage years to my 50s had Metallica instead of led Zeppelin Or the greatful dead YUK!!!. We are a different bread of music enthusiasts . I must say it was disappointing you never mentioned James hetfield interpretation of the pentatonic scale. Metallica truly are masters. Also your insight on Lars being ahead of time. Metal is a little more accepting of loose play. Sometimes that's what makes these untrained garage heros great. Anyway I will check more of your videos out. More metal please. Maybe the sleep from Pantera. Anything Dimebag. He was a talented soul and spread joy around the world with his unique guitar style. He definitely got a pull. Metal tip... when the metal jam has started up, you NEVER turn it down and you NEVER stop it to talk. A true metal head will quickly let you know you have committed a faux pa. Its a big deal Thanks again
The "sloppy" drums is one of the most genius elements of this era of Metallica. Defiantly intentional.
it might have been intentional back in the day, but his recent sloppiness is definitely lars just being old, props to him for going for like 30 years
@@ChromeKnives 40 as of this week. Kill Em All was released almost exactly 40 years ago
@@ImThe5thKing oh right, hetfield is almost 60
To be fair though Lars' drumming has improved now and I think he's re-practiced a lot more. @@ChromeKnives
LOL, sloppy drums were not intentional, Lars was just never that good. His most complicated stuff he can barely play and didn't play a lot of it live.
Yes Sir!James vocals are perfect for metal music!.totally agreed!..James is awesome🔥
Thanks again.
Really enjoy your takes, they seem as you do, authentic & honest.
You're such a great teacher and so open to
New stuff. I really appreciate your "innocence". You're a sincere person whom I would vouch for in times of food shortages.
What you've said about how you would pre-judge the meaning or intent of metal music is something that has plagued heavy music unfairly for a long time. People jumping to conclusions about a bands beliefs or intent with only the most superficial knowledge of lyrical content or imagery really held back a lot what were actually very well meaning sentiments. As a big Iron Maiden fan this always frustrated me...they see the "devil" imagery on early album covers and hear a heavy riff and assume they are satanists...you only have to look closely at the detail of the art and listen to the lyrics to see it's a commentary on the evils of the world rather than anything anti-christian or pro-satanist.
It's nice to hear someone acknowledge that they didn't give things a fair shake of the stick back in the day.
You don't even have to look deep sometimes, even just looking at the lyrics reveal the songs aren't satanic. It really shows how willfully ignorant people can be.
The intro was recorded forward, then reversed for the album. That second version you heard was the intro riff being played forwards before it’s reversed. Yes they did that on purpose to give that intro a different feel.
I have such affection for 80s Metallica and this album especially. I get that the dry, buried-bass production was a bit of a letdown, especially after the immaculate sound of Master of Puppets. But Lars's percussion hits so hard in the studio version of this album, it just works for me.
Some years ago when I was first getting into metal, I too had the realization that very little of the genre is actually angry and violent. Going all the way back to Sabbath, so much of metal has been about apocalyptic terror, about feeling small and afraid in a hostile world, not *angry*.
You can say the same with the guitar tone. Objectively, from a production standpoint, that dry scooped mid guitar tone should not have worked, but it did. The riffs chosen meshed well with Lars' tight drumming on this record. Hell, it helped coin the "Machine Gun Riff" in One for how it sounded.
Oddly enough, while I love Master, I don't personally think that the production is amazing. It's fine. Clearly more balanced than this. But for my money, Ride had the best sound, hands down, of their early albums. That album sounds amazing.
@@Retrorevelations I always thought Ride had a bit of a mushy sound. I read James said that too because of the pedal they used . I still think it's in the top 2 of Metallica albums
Original garage days had a great mix/sound.
@@Retrorevelations Totally agree with you about Ride; it has my favourite sound of any of their albums. That transition from clean to distortion on "Fight Fire with Fire" is so powerful (more so than the similar transition on "Battery") and it heralds a heaviness that persists throughout the album - not just because of the songs, but also because of the 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 of the songs.
I also remember reading James' saying that all the vocals on it are "double-tracked". Some people may not like this, but I think it adds a detached, almost other-worldliness quality, in fitting with the material.
@@Retrorevelations A lot of people say that about Ride The Lightning, and while I agree that the album sounds good overall, I don't understand why just about *everything* on that record had to have that cursed echo-y effect. Doesn't seem to bother a lot of listeners, but for me, it displaces the sound.
7:40 That’s exactly what happened Doug - you’ve got şt. The sound guy of this album said in an interview (available in youtube) that the bass lines and guitar riffs were identical so they’re unnoticable after Lars lowered the basses further to achieve this drum sound.
I LOVE the production quality on this album!
First tour that i saw Metallica live on... Queensryche was the opener... freaking amazing show... the stage/columns collapsing was epic... i love the sound of this album... maybe they just need to turn it UP! :)
Yeah I think a LOT of people these days don't understand the NO REVERB aspect of this and Puppets. They don't understand that thrash actually had concepts it worked it's way through. But you'd have to have been a fan from the basic beginning to fully understand that. Really cool to see Doug doing this song.
9:30 is one of the coolest moments in Metallica musically.
in the earlier years Lars had the reputation for "speeding" on his drumkit, and had to be told regularly to slow the f*ck down
Even in later years - watch them live. A song will pick up an extra 20-30bpm from start to finish, depending on how excited he is. The rest of the band just races to keep up with his rushing!
Man, that Whiplash teacher would have eaten his inaccurate ass for lunch
Whiplash man: "Are you a rusher or a dragger?"
Lars: "Yes."
@@Cleve_Crudgington hahahahahaha
@@IkmelAAA flethcer
EXACTLY! Tempo changes and James’ vocal is beautiful ❤️🔥 and yes the RIFF!!! What a piece! James is a great lyricist too ❤️🔥 his mother was an opera singer. Check out the Metallica/Black album
This song can be analysed for hours. It's a technical masterpiece. Only a band that completely understands the music can write that
Very astute. Check out The-Art-of-guitar "How Lars tricked us in Blackened." He talks about your comment after the solo
So there are a few versions with the bass restored, and some of them go too far in the other direction because the bass was turned down more or less to inaudibility in the original release due to the band’s difficulty in coming to terms with the loss of Cliff. There’s a lot of sympathy for Jason over this because he actually was a really good addition to the band even if Cliff’s shoes were too big to fill, but it just did not work out in the end. I think it does make a considerable difference with some of the songs, with blackened I thought only the solo really benefitted from the bass boost.
Jason himself said that his bass was occupying the same space as James' rhythm tracks. Jason realized that his bass would be turned down somewhat so that the bass and rhythm guitar wouldn't audiblly clash too much. That being said, the bass got turned down even more when Lars kept telling the producers to take it lower and lower. Likely to haze Jason more than anything else. In any case the "bass boosted" versions don't sound that attractive to me exactly because the bass clashes too much with the guitars. Due to James' playing style Metallica never really needed the bass anyway.
It was written in late 80s, height of the fear of nuclear Holocaust (eg "The Day After"). Hearing this song actually calmed my fears and let us verbalize that fear. It's hard to know what it really meant unless you were there.
Also, I never noticed the bass because my stereo, and most back then, couldn't handle low end bass like today's technology.
They layered so many electric guitars that the bass really isn't necessary and probably would sound muddy on most of those old stereos.
The 60's had the height of fear of nuclear holocaust.
The reverse is absolute legend. It's incredible to have a riff sounding so cool but even more amazing when reveresed.
14:05 - "they're not advocating war, they're not advocating conflict (...)" - oh boy, have I got the whole metal subgenre for you.
Listen to the entire Ride the Lightning, Master of Puppets, and ...And Justice For All albums. It's all a symphony of it's own.
I was really curious to see how Doug would listen to these fast drums, wondering if he would percieve the snare on the up or the downbeat. And hearing him say Lars was rushing, switching from the up to the downbeat, was really interesting, because that's how I used to hear (and sometimes still do) a lot of these really fast drumbeats, like Damage Inc, Raining Blood, Caught in a Mosh, etc. It took me years to realize that the snare on these songs are on the downbeat, and sometimes I still strugle to hear it the "right" way. I know it is in the upbeat but my brain just switches to the downbeat against my will hahahaha
Interestingly enough, there are rock/metal drummer videos that explore this and other songs, and actually go in depth into Lars' switching beats/tempos in the middle of songs. They didn't treat it as a criticism, but rather that they were surprised by how sneaky and difficult his change-ups could be. As in they felt he was doing it on purpose.
As for the bass, on this first album especially, in addition to the bass being turned low in post-production, Jason did basically just play along with the guitar riffs, by choice. James has even said in interviews that he found it odd early on when Jason just wanted to double the guitar. I think Jason was just excited/nervous about being in his dream band, and didn't want to "rock the boat" at all, even though James claims that he encouraged him to branch out and do his own thing in songs at times.
That must have been WAY later on.
I remember watching an interview with James saying how he was telling Jason 'no, play this note AND NOTHING ELSE' for a lot of material.
Jason had a fan connection that none of the other members had achieved up to this date. Jason was the underdog and we all loved him. So we all wanted to hear more of him on AJFA. He finally got some freedom on My Friend of Misery.
I haven't watched alot of these reaction type videos. But I really enjoyed this. Your a good man. Open minded and you clearly understand your craft.
Cheers man.
You completely missed one of the coolest drum/riff parts in this tune starting @ 9:18. Listen to the transition of riff to snare position during these 4 measures. I've always thought that this was a super cool sounding float from up beat to down beat on the snare relative to the guitar riff.
My favourite version is the one they have on their Mexico City dvd. It is the best sounding and best performed, in my opinion.
Compressed was the word you were looking for Doug at 8:55, that is the main criticism of the production of this album. Still, it is my favourite Metallica album ever, because they really excelled in musical composition and rhythmical structure. I just love every single song on this album, the energy just blows your head off.
Good job DJ Dan. (As always)
My favorite album by these guys...Nice review Doug
There's a Very clear purpose for this... the anger, the fury of the music if you will, the agressiveness. It's meant to "smack you around the back of the head". It's supposed to shake you, it's supposed to wake you up, or if you will... it's supposed to punch you in the face musically and say, hey... listen the Eff up.
Imagine Blackened being made by the Beatles or any of the today "mainstream contemporary" artists. It wouldn't have been the same thing at all. Imagine Justin Bieber doing this for example.... or Miley Cyrus.... it wouldn't have worked at all... but Metallica makes this into a masterpiece, sterile sound aside... it's a bloody great song this one.
The lack of bass on this record is profound. I have a love/hate relationship with Justice.
One of the albums demanding urgent remastering.
For me, the addition of bass actually subtracts from the impact of this song, not adds to it...It must be something peculiar about this album, but somehow it all sounds more raw and fresh without the bass. Let's be honest, anyway: the bass pretty much doubles the rhythm guitars during Metallica songs (at least in the early days). Here, it's absence doesn't seem to matter to me; during some of their other albums - "KEA" or "RTL", etc - I think I would miss it.
@@stuartparsons4948 Totally agree, the "super" bass version just degraded the aggressive feeling of the original song
I never once knew there was any problems with the mix until people started complaining about it when the internet got more popular. I’ve always loved the sound of AJFA.
@@DanielRodriguez-eh1qd Agreed 👍
You're beginning to understand what a lot of Rock & Metal songs were about - Anger and aggression at the wars, the politicians behind wars, weapons of war and the potential of mans stupidity to end all life through their actions...
YES THE DRUM SWITCH IS ON PURPOSE!!!!!! 09:50
This is amazing. Love your perspective. Subscribed!