10 Perfect Hard Rock Albums That Are Insanely Dark
8. And Justice for All - Metallica
Out of all the thrash metal bands to come out of the Big 4, it was a bit of a switch up when you listened to Metallica's lyrics. As much as every other metal act was trying to copy the Black Sabbath formula by talking about demons and witchcraft, James Hetfield's lyrical style was a lot more cerebral, talking about the deadly toll that can come from everything from drugs to religion. On their fourth outing though, they started to shift their focus less inward and more towards what they were seeing around them.
During the writing sessions for And Justice for All, Lars Ulrich referred to the creative process as their 'CNN years,' with most of the downtime being spent listening to the political discourse happening around the same time. And it shows in the lyrics too, with the title track being a damning indictment of a broken political system and Blackened detailing just how much we're hurting the Earth.
Even when not looking at the political talk, songs like One absolutely terrify you from the getgo, being inspired by a book about a man trapped inside his own mind after being a victim of war. Given everything they talk about, it's probably a good thing that the record rips as much as it does. If you had to pay attention to just the lyrics on the page, you might need to lie down afterwards.