As it happens, I'm currently taking a break from reviewing 2 Metallica songs for a gig next week with my cover band ... "Helpless" and "Blackened". The setlist we wworked out puts these 2 songs back to back and without intentionally straying too far from the original question posed I would like to throw my opinion in on what Remy had said. Even though AJFA was the 1st full album with Newsted, lets not forget the Garage Days EP. Newsted's bass was pretty noticeable on that ep and even though it was supposed to capture a more raw "garage band" feel, I have to say the actual sound of that ep is awesome ... mostly because there IS such a large amount of his bass in the mix. He's actually a great bass player so I can't see why they would have his bass tracks turned down on AJFA just because it was his 1st full album with them. They had already done the ep to introduce him to the fans and show that he was a good player. I think any mix decisions for Justice were primarily made for selfish reasons. Its true that it was a newer sound for album productions, and in a way the cold & sterile sound actually emphasized the dark tone of the songs but I still think it was a boo boo to not have that bass in there. However, opinions and assholes wa?
Anyway, the kick drum .... sounded lke ass on small speakers but was actually really cool when listened to through a big system. Don't know if the "coin trick" was done or not because I've heard that same story for just about every kick drum sound that came out for a year before to about 3 years later. Would be cool if someone did email Mr. Rasmussen and maybe post what he says because I'm curious what his exact answer would be.
Cheers!