Metallica - Master of Puppets

Artist - Metallica

Album - Master Of Puppets

Released - 3rd March, 1986

Reviewed by - Vaibhav Jain

"Master Of Puppets" is American Thrash/Heavy Metal band Metallica's 3rd studio album and is considered by many THE best Heavy Metal albums of all time and believe me its for good reason. This album is considered as a landmark in the history of Metal and is the last album recorded with bassist Cliff Burton. In a list compiled by Metal - Rules it has been named as the number 1 album and this album has also been mentioned in the book "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die."

The first song on the album is "Battery" and is a headbangers delight!!. With a slow opening it suddenly bursts into Thrash Metal personified. The song is about the control anger can have over an individual. This can be seen in the lines "Smashing through the boundaries / Lunacy has found me / Cannot stop the battery".

The second track on the album is the title track "Master Of Puppets", This song is easily one of the best if not THE best Metallica track ever. This song is not only a musical masterpiece but also a lyrical one. The song was considered as the best of its time because Kirk took the guitar solo to heights unbelievable. The song is about people being controlled by Drugs and the Government to that extent that Drugs and Government have become the "Masters" of people who have become"puppets" in front of them as we are being controlled excessively by them. This song is a fan favourite and is played very often on Metallica live shows and is rumoured to be Cliff Burton's favourite Metallica song.

The third song on the album is "The Thing That Should not Be" and is about a person becoming a lunatic because he cannot comprehend The Thing That Should Not Be.The Fourth Track is "Welcome Home[Sanitarium]" and this too is a fan fav. The lyrics are about a man who is perhaps trapped in a mental asylum and who wants to break free. This song too has a slow opening and lyrics slowly become harsher as the song continues.

The Fifth song is "Disposable Heroes" and this too is fan favourite. The song is about soldiers[The Disposable Heroes] at war.In the chorus Hetfield shouts "Back to the front!", meaning that the soldiers who have come home must return to the war and continue fighting. Like puppets, the soldiers are controlled by their commander, which is the main theme of the album. On the front cover artwork of Master of Puppets, a helmet and an identifier hang from a cross headstone, referring to this song and possibly Evergreen Cemetery, which uses stone crosses to mark the graves of soldiers who died in the Battle of Gettysburg. Also the hands above, manipulating the puppets, may represent the government being all-powerful and above everyone else which is described in the title track mentioned above.

This is followed by the song "Leper Messiah". Dave Mustaine who ealier was a band members claims to have written the main riff of the song. This is followed by Metallica's third instrumental "Orion" which was mainly composed by Cliff Burton. Parts of this song were played by Dimebag Darrell at a memorial for Cliff Burton as a tribute.

The last song on the album is "Damage Inc." and is one of The Heaviest Metallica Songs Ever. The lyrics are probably about a battle unit or maybe the pressure on musicians because of the changing trends in music. This can be seen in the lyrics "Fuck it all and fucking no regrets; Never happy endings on these dark sets," are nearly re-used in exact form on the song "St. Anger".

This is one of my favourite albums of all times and I strongly recommend you to buy it, if you don't already have it!

Rating - 5/5

Tracklisting -

1. "Battery" (Hetfield, Lars Ulrich) - 5:12

2. "Master of Puppets" (Hetfield, Ulrich, Burton, Hammett) - 8:35

3. "The Thing That Should Not Be" (Hetfield, Ulrich, Hammett) - 6:36

4. "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)" (Hetfield, Ulrich, Hammett) - 6:27

5. "Disposable Heroes" (Hetfield, Ulrich, Hammett) - 8:16

6. "Leper Messiah" (Hetfield, Ulrich) - 5:40

7. "Orion [Instrumental]" (Hetfield, Burton, Ulrich) - 8:27

8. "Damage, Inc." (Hetfield, Ulrich, Burton, Hammett) - 5:32