OBITUARY’s Donald Tardy shares his love for METALLICA’s “…And Justice For All” album in new interview
Talking with the “Speak N’ Destroy” podcast, Tardy discussed the much criticized METALLICA LP’s production with host Ryan J. Downey. Donald said: (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “When there’s conversations with my friends… We all agree the songs are killer; you can’t deny those songs. I like the drum production, and some of my friends absolutely hate it. And there is something weird about it; it makes you feel like you just got out of a swimming pool and your ears are a little bit off. And I get that. But maybe because I loved the record, maybe because I loved the drumming on it, and maybe because it fit the production of the guitars and stuff, I just thought it was killer. I had no problem with that.
“I’m not a dude to argue with friends again and again, night after night about production,” he explained. “Trust me — I’ve heard the reviews of our productions over the years. You can disagree or agree, or agree to disagree. But I liked it. And it’s funny that some people just thought it was a bad production. It was a different production, but there’s nothing bad about it.”
“…And Justice For All” has been widely panned by METALLICA fans for it’s almost complete lack of bass guitar on the record with Jason Newsted‘s playing barely audible in the final mix.
In a 2021 interview, Newsted told Metal Hammer that he was “fucking livid” when he heard “…And Justice For All” for the first time. “Are you kidding me?” he said. “I was ready [to go] for throats, man! No, I was out of my head, because I really thought I did well. And I thought I played how I was supposed to play.”