Blackened
...And
Justice For All
Eye Of The
Beholder
One
Shortest
Straw
Harvester
Of Sorrow
The Frayed
Ends Of Sanity
To Live Is
To Die
Dyers Eve
(1988)
| Det tog dem två år att
spela in detta fjärde album. Denna gång ville de inte
göra som under några av de tidigare inspelningarna;
boka ett datum för inspelning innan alla låtarna var
riktigt klara och sedan fortsätta med låtarna under
tiden i studion, vilket de tyckte var slöseri med tid.
Den här gången såg de till att allt var klart innan de
bestämde sig för att påbörja inspelningen. Texternas
innehåll på '...And justice for all' varierar bl a
mellan U.S.A:s rättssystem och hur vi förorenar vår
planet. Med låtar i olika hastigheter och med långa
symfoniska inslag blev detta ett fulländat album som
nominerade gruppen till en Grammy Award, vilken alla
trodde att de skulle vinna, men som istället vanns av
Jethro Tull. Själva är gruppmedlemmarna idag ganska
missnöjda med detta album, eftersom låtarna enligt dem
blev alldeles för långa och tjatiga. Det blev ett album
man verkligen måste ta sig tid att lyssna på för att
höra allt som pågår i låtarna och inte bara höra en
massa långa riffs. Soundet på albumet är något av mycket "närmare" lyssnaren, jämfört med 'Master of puppets' som låter något mer "avlägset ". Istället för en massa avancerade effekter använde de sig här av reverb och eko och riffen var mycket tyngre och råare än vanligt. |
| Gitarrintrot på ‘Blackened’ är inspelat baklänges. Texten handlar om hur världen förorenas och miljön förstörs. |
Blackened is the end
Winter it will send
Throwing all you see
Into obscurity
Death of Mother Earth
Never a rebirth
Evolution's end
Never will it mend
Never
Fire
To begin whipping dance of the dead
Blackened is the end
To begin whipping dance of the dead
Color our world blackened
Blistering of earth
Terminate its worth
Deadly nicotine
Kills what might have been
Callous frigid chill
Nothing left to kill
Never seen before
Breathing nevermore
Never
Fire
To begin whipping dance of the dead
Blackened is the end
To begin whipping dance of the dead
Color our world blackened
Blackened
Opposition...contradiction...premonition
...compromise
Agitation...violation...mutilation...planet dies
Darkest color
Blistered earth
True death of life
Termination...expiration...cancellation...
human race
Expectation...liberation...population...lay to waste
See our mother
Put to death
See our mother die
Smouldering decay
Take her breath away
Millions of our years
In minutes disappears
Darkening in vain
Decadence remains
All is said and done
Never is the sun
Never
Fire
To begin whipping dance of the dead
Blackened is the end
To begin whipping dance of the dead
Fire
Is the outcome of hypocrisy
Darkest potency
In the exit of humanity
Color our world blackened
Blackened
| Handlar om det amerikanska rättssystemets förfall, där pengar blivit viktigare än rättvisa. Bra advokater kan få vemsomhelst frikänd, oavsett om han är oskyldig eller inte, så länge han har gott om pengar. Låten är uppbyggd kring ett konstigt trumsolo som Lars hittade på under en repetition, som de använde eftersom det lät häftigt. |
Halls of justice painted green
Money talking
Power wolves beset your door
Hear them stalking
Soon you'll please their appetite
They devour
Hammer of justice crushes you
Overpower
The ultimate in vanity
Exploiting their supremacy
I can't believe the things you say
I can't believe
I can't believe the price you pay
Nothing can save you
Justice is lost
Justice is raped
Justice is gone
Pulling your strings
Justice is done
Seeking no truth
Winning is all
Find it so grim
So true
So real
Apathy their stepping stone
So unfeeling
Hidden deep animosity
So decieving
Through your eyes their light burns
Hoping to find
Inquisition sinking you
With prying minds
The ultimate in vanity
Exploiting their supremacy
I can't believe the things you say
I can't believe
I can't believe the price you pay
Nothing can save you
Justice is lost
Justice is raped
Justice is gone
Pulling your strings
Justice is done
Seeking no truth
Winning is all
Find it so grim
So true
So real
Lady Justice has been raped
Truth assassin
Rolls of red tape seal your lips
Now you're done in
Their money tips her scales again
Make your deal
Just what is truth? I cannot tell
Cannot feel
The ultimate in vanity
Exploiting their supremacy
I can't believe the things you say
I can't believe
I can't believe the price we pay
Nothing can save us
Justice is lost
Justice is raped
Justice is gone
Pulling your strings
Justice is done
Seeking no truth
Winning is all
Find it so grim
So true
So real
Seeking no truth
Winning is all
Find it so grim
So true
So real
Texten handlar om
hur folks tankar påverkas, och att
USA inte är lika fritt som folk tror.
Do you see what I see?
Truth is an offence
You silence for your confidence
Do you hear what I hear?
Doors are slamming shut
Limit your imagination, keep you where they must
Do you feel what I feel?
Bittering distress
Who decides what you express?
Do you take what I take?
Endurance is the word
Moving back instead of forward seems to me absurd
Doesn't matter what you see
Or into it what you read
You can do it your own way
If it's done just how I say
Independence limited
Freedom of choice
Choice is made for you my friend
Freedom of speech
Speech is words that they will bend
Freedom with their exception
Do you fear what I fear?
Living properly
Truths to you are lies to me
Do you choose what I choose?
More alternatives
Energy derives from both the plus and negative
Do you need what I need?
Boundaries overthrown
Look inside, to each his own
Do you trust what I trust?
Me, myself and I
Penetrate the smoke screen, I see through the selfish lie
Doesn't matter what you see
Or into it what you read
You can do it your own way
If it's done just how I say
Independence limited
Freedom of choice
Choice is made for you my friend
Freedom of speech
Speech is words that they will bend
Freedom with their exception
Do you know what I know?
Your money and your wealth
You silence just to hear yourself
Do you want what I want?
Desire not a thing
I hunger after independence, lengthen freedom's ring
Doesn't matter what you see
Or into it what you read
You can do it your own way
If it's done just how I say
Independence limited
Freedom of choice
Choice is made for you my friend
Freedom of speech
Speech is words that they will bend
Freedom no longer frees you
Doesn't matter what you see
Or into it what you read
You can do it your own way
If it's done just how I say
| Baserad på Dalton Trumbos bok ‘Johnny got his gun’ (svensk titel ‘Johnny var en ung soldat’). Trumbo var en av författarna som svartlistades och bannlystes på 50-talet. Boken och låten handlar om en soldat som förlorat armar, ben, talförmåga, syn och hörsel. Videon till ‘One’ innehåller klipp från filmatiseringen av Dalton Trumbos bok. |
I can't remember anything
Can't tell if this is true or dream
Deep down inside I feel to scream
This terrible silence stops me
Now that the war is through with me
I'm waking up, I cannot see
That there's not much left of me
Nothing is real but pain now
Hold my breath as I wish for death
Oh please God, wake me
Back in the womb it's much too real
In pumps life that I must feel
But can't look forward to reveal
Look to the time when I'll live
Fed through the tube that sticks in me
Just like a wartime novelty
Tied to machines that make me be
Cut this life off from me
Hold my breath as I wish for death
Oh please God, wake me
Now the world is gone I'm just one
Oh God, help me hold my breath as I wish for death
Oh please God, help me
Darkness
Imprisoning me
All that I see
Absolute horror
I cannot live
I cannot die
Trapped in myself
Body my holding cell
Landmine
Has taken my sight
Taken my speech
Taken my hearing
Taken my arms
Taken my legs
Taken my soul
Left me with life in hell
| Låten handlar om svartlistningen av personer som förekom i USA på 50-talet. Alla som var lite annorlunda och hade ovanliga eller kontroversiella åsikter ansågs vara ett möjligt hot mot samhället. Många personer i Hollywood som hade idéer som var utöver det vanliga, blev bannlysta. Detta drabbade främst författare, som fick sina karriärer förstörda. |
Suspicion is your name
Your honesty to blame
Put dignity to shame
Dishonor
Witchhunt, modern day
Determining decay
The blatant disarray
Disfigure
The public eyes' disgrace
Defying common place
Unending paper chase
Unending
Deafening
Painstaking
Reckoning
This vertigo it doth bring
Shortest straw
Challenge liberty
Downed by law
Live in infamy
Rub you raw
Witchhunt riding through
Shortest straw
This shortest straw has been pulled for you
Pulled for you
Shortest straw
Pulled for you
Shortest straw
Pulled for you
Shortest straw
Shortest straw has been pulled for you
The accusations fly
Discrimination, why?
Your inner self to die
Intruding
Doubt sunk itself in you
It's teeth and talons through
Your living catch-22
Deluding
A mass hysteria
A megalomania
Reveal dementia
Reveal
Secretly
Silently
Certainly
In vertigo you will be
Shortest straw
Challenge liberty
Downed by law
Live in infamy
Rub you raw
Witchhunt riding through
Shortest straw
This shortest straw has been pulled for you
Pulled for you
Shortest straw
Pulled for you
Shortest straw
Pulled for yoy
Shortest straw
Shortest straw has been pulled for you
Shortest straw
Pulled for you
Shortest straw
Pulled for yoy
Shortest straw
Pulled for you
Shortest straw
Shortest straw has been pulled for you
Behind you, hands are tied
Your being, ostracized
Your hell is multiplied
Upending
The fallout has begun
Oppressive damage done
Your many turned to none
To nothing
You're reaching your nadir
Your will has disappeared
The lie is crystal clear
Defending
Channels red
One word said
Blacklisted
With vertigo make you dead
Shortest straw
Challenge liberty
Downed by law
Live in infamy
Rub you raw
Witchhunt riding through
Shortest straw
| En låt som handlar om en vanlig Medelsvensson, med ett 9 till 5 jobb, fru och barn, som plötsligt blir tokig och börjar döda folk i sin omgivning. |
My life suffocates
Planting seeds of hate
I've loved, turned to hate
Trapped far beyond my fate
I give
You take
This life that I forsake
Been cheated of my youth
You turned this lie to truth
Anger
Misery
You'll suffer unto me
Harvester of sorrow
Language of the mad
Harvester of sorrow
Pure black looking clear
My work is done soon here
Try getting back to me
Get back which used to be
Drink up
Shoot in
Let the beatings begin
Distributor of pain
Your loss becomes my gain
Anger
Misery
You'll suffer unto me
Harvester of sorrow
Language of the mad
Harvester of sorrow
All have said their prayers
Invade their nightmares
To see into my eyes
You'll find where murder lies
Infanticide
Harvester of sorrow
Language of the mad
Harvester of sorrow
Language of the mad
Harvester of sorrow
Harvester of sorrow
(repeat)
En låt om
paranoia, dvs att vara rädd, men inte veta vad man
är rädd för.
Never hunger
Never prosper
I have fallen prey to failure
Struggle within
Triggered again
Now the candle burns at both ends
Twisting under schizophrenia
Falling deep into dementia
Old habits reappear
Fighting the fear of fear
Growing conspiracy
Everyone's after me
Frayed ends of sanity
Hear them calling
Hear them calling me
Birth of terror
Death of much more
I'm the slave of fear, my captor
Never warnings
Spreading its wings
As I wait for the horror she brings
Loss of interest, question, wonder
Waves of fear they pull me under
Old habits reappear
Fighting the fear of fear
Growing conspiracy
Everyone's after me
Frayed ends of sanity
Hear them calling
Hear them calling me
Into ruin
I am sinking
Hostage of this nameless feeling
Hell is set free
Flooded I'll be
Feel the undertow inside me
Height, hell, time, haste, terror, tension
Life, death, want, waste, mass depression
Old habits reappear
Fighting the fear of fear
Growing conspiracy
Myself is after me
Frayed ends of sanity
Hear them calling
Frayed ends of sanity
Hear them calling
Hear them calling me
| (Nästan) en instrumental låt, som på sätt och vis är en hyllning till Cliff Burton. Flera riff som Cliff hade skrivit bara några månader innan han dog finns med i låten, och texten som finns med hade Cliff skrivit: |
When a man lies he murders some
part of the world
These are the pale deaths which men miscall their lives
All this I cannot bear to witness any longer
Cannot the kingdom of salvation take me home
| En personlig låt skriven av James. Den handlar om en pojke, som under hela sin uppväxt gömts från omvärlden av sina föräldrar. Låten är skriven som ett brev från pojken, som nu kommit ut till den riktiga världen. Han frågar varför han inte fick veta hur världen såg ut, och varför han gömts så länge. James upplevde själv sina föräldrars engagemang i Kristi Vetenskap på ett liknande sätt. Han fick inte göra vad han ville, eftersom hans föräldrar hade stränga regler. |
Dear mother
Dear father
What is this hell you have put me through
Believer
Deciever
Day in day out live my life through you
Pushed onto me what's wrong or right
Hidden from this thing that they call life
Dear mother
Dear father
Every thought I'd think you'd disapprove
Curator
Dictator
Always censoring my every move
Children are seen but are not heard
Tear out everything inspired
Innocence
Torn from me without your shelter
Barred reality
I'm living blindly
Dear mother
Dear father
Time has frozen still what's left to be
Hear nothing
Say nothing
Cannot face the fact I think for me
No guarantee, it's life as is
But damn you for not giving me my chance
Dear mother
Dear father
You've clipped my wings before I learned to fly
Unspoiled
Unspoken
I've outgrown that fucking lullaby
Same thing I've always heard from you
Do as I say not as I do
Innocence
Torn from me without your shelter
Barred reality
I'm living blindly
I'm in hell without you
Cannot cope without you two
Shocked at the world that I see
Innocent victim please rescue me
Dear mother
Dear father
Hidden in your world you've made for me
I'm seething
I'm bleeding
Ripping wounds in me that never heal
Undying spite I feel for you
Living out this hell you always knew