May 10, 2026 at 4:28 AM Metallica - …And Justice for All Favorites: Eye of the Beholder, One RIPPER ROO’S RATING: 7/10 I’ve never really connected to Metallica’s music. Everyone always says how great they are. While I get that they are one of the most important metal bands of all time, I’ve never truly felt their music. Aside from hearing their music a ton over the years through various local gyms that play almost nothing but Metallica I don’t know when, where, or why I’d seek out their music and listen to it by my own volition. While I perhaps understand them a bit more now, that still hasn’t changed with listening to this album. Still I gotta give it to them for their strong, unique vocals and iconic riffs. I also have to say how both amazing and disheartening it is that a lot of the lyrics on this album still remain true almost 40 years later. A lot has changed but yet so little has changed. “Eye of the Beholder” is a perfect example of this. Lines from this song like, “You can do it your own way / If it’s done just how I say”, and “Freedom of speech is words that they will bend / Freedom no longer frees you” are more relevant now than ever. I gotta give this credit for aging well, as unfortunate as that may be. “One” gotta be one of their best songs ever. That chorus, “Hold my breath as I wish for death / Oh please God wake me” is the closest I’ve come to actually feeling a Metallica song. I was originally gonna give this a 6/10, but the songs “Eye of the Beholder” and “One” got me to push it to a 7/10 so that easily makes them my favorite songs on the album. Maybe one day I’ll feel Metallica, but it just isn’t my kind of music. Still, this is a decent to good album and it’s hard for me to call it mediocre or average despite not feeling very strongly about it. @AOTWClub
May 10, 2026 at 11:30 PM Non Music Rant: Canada has gotta be the most beautiful country in the world. The last 3 weeks doing so much of the Canadian Rockies, if you guys have never been to Banff, Jasper, Yoho National Parks in Canada id highly recommend a trip here. Still have a few more days here but got some really good pictures the last few days
May 11, 2026 at 9:25 PM I’ve always wanted to visit Canada, looks beautiful up there. Also have a lifelong pal I met on Xbox when I was like 8 who lives in Toronto lol so this has been a long long time I’ve wanted to come up there
May 11, 2026 at 10:14 PM I’m choosing Madvillainy by Madvillain. @AOTWClub @Justin Trudeau It’s one of my favorite albums of all time. And I even scored the audiophile edition on Vinyl.
May 11, 2026 at 10:38 PM @AOTWClub @Evad has chosen Madvillainy by Madvillain Get your reviews in for Metallica! Ill tally it up on Thursday!
May 11, 2026 at 10:40 PM Late april- Early May isnt a bad time to go, the weekends busy but the week is fairly quiet! The restaurants are really good, I try to avoid the actual towns and do hikes, drives and all that s---. Banff town is touristy is f--- lol
May 12, 2026 at 3:28 PM Congrats! What crazy timing too, I just started listening to Magdalena Bay again yesterday after not hearing them for a while, I loved Imaginal Disk. I still gotta check out all the new singles they dropped in 2025
May 13, 2026 at 5:00 AM Human Happens is really good! I also particularly liked Second Sleep, Unoriginal, and Nice Day. Nice Day makes me wanna grit my teeth and mew so hard that I break my jaw.
May 14, 2026 at 12:18 AM @Justin Trudeau @Justin Trudeau Metallica - ...And Justice For All Only full Metallica record is Master Of Puppets which i thought was basically a 10/10 when i heard it but i never revisted it for whatever reason. Either way excited to dive into this! Blackened is a pretty good opener, Kirk really kills the solo here. Lyrics are decent and Lars is doing solid but even if it had less drowned bass its mixed pretty dryly overall, done on purpose so mileage varies on it. The title track bangs, I like how theatrical the beginning is. While James lyrics are very melodramatic so far i like them more here. Guitar work is really good. Really like this one. Eye of the Beholder is a really solid follow up to the title track! Actually really dig Lars playing with time on this one a bit. So far Kirk as been the highlight of the album, a lot of these riffs are super good. Can't really say anything about One that hasn't been said before, one of the most iconic metal songs ever made. Always thought songs like this and Rooster by Alice In Chains were really interesting subject matters to handle and build a song around. The switch up is so good in the 2nd half. The Shortest Straw is also pretty d--- good, getting used to the mixing. Very old man yells at cloud album so far but their hearts are in the right place lol. Harvester of Sorrow is alright, I reallu like the concept on this one but James' vocal delivery is getting a little samey on some of these songs. And something about the "language of the mad" backing vocal sounds off to me. Band kills it tho. The Frayed Ends of Sanity is solid, not too much commentary for this one just a good album cut. I appreciate the format of fewer songs but they have have longer runtimes cause so few things do that anymore. Can be hit or miss and for a couple songs here feel like they overstay ever so slightly but when it hits it really hits. To Live Is to Die is f---in awesome, super sad in context. Only complaint is that i wish the first section which wraps back around at the end transitioned a little smoother into the rest of the song. Honestly one of my favorites on the album lol Dyers Eve is a strong closer imo! Really like and can relate to some of the lyrics and appreciate them getting back to being more thrashy for the last track. While having some of the weaker stuff from Metallica's prime years its still their prime years so its pretty d--- solid overall! Glad you chose this @DiggleDogg69, been meaning to listen to Ride The Lightning for the first time and this is getting me back in the mood for more of their music! Although idk how frequently I'll return to this as a project which hinders the score a bit Favorite Songs: ...And Justice For All, Eye Of The Beholder, One, To Live is to Die, Dyers Eve RATING 8/10
May 14, 2026 at 3:36 AM Wake - Hail The Sun Not gonna be a very long review, since the round is already over. But I listened to this a few times past few weeks and didn't want to 'skip' even if it's too late lol I liked this. As soon as the second song started it gave me a little Simple Plan vibes. Personally I'm more of a fan of upbeat rock than sad, 'depressed' songs. Even if they can be really good as well. Black Serotonin is really catchy love it. Same as Mourning Sickness -funny title btw- Other favorites are Cosmic Narcissism and the closer (Anti Eulogy). Will I be playing this over and over? Probably not. But it's a handful of new songs on my playlist and another artist I never heard of before that I know now. @AOTWClub 7,5/10
