METALLICA — Master of Puppets (review)

METALLICA — Master of Puppets album cover Album · 1986 · Thrash Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4.5/5 ·
The Angry Scotsman


Battery. Begins with some wonderful acoustic guitar and melody before the thrash begins. Aside from a small break with melody this lasts for most of the song. One of the better solos from Kirk is in this song, and this is a rare song of good drumming from Lars, (who is merely adequate in my book). Really great song.

Master of Puppets. The title song is pretty much a mid tempo song. There is a beautiful melodic section in the middle. It builds to a more shred solo from Hammett. The songs ends well enough.

The Thing that Should not be. A slower song, it has some cool sounds as well as nice slow heaviness, but overall is just kind of boring. One of those infamous Metallica songs that just goes for too long.

Welcome Home (Sanitarium). My favorite song on the album. A slow, ballad-esque song with some just great melody in it, and James' vocals are great as usual, really works in this song.

Disposable Heroes. A nice contrast with the previous song, this one is quite thrashy and tells the story of our youth going off to die in war. Some of the best vocals on the album as James shouts, "You will do, what I say, when I say, back to the front! You will die, when I say, you must die, back to the front!" Powerful.

Leper Messiah. A slow, heavy churning song that peaks, then takes us back with a chuggy outro.

Orion. A very intriguing song, and perhaps the most progressive on the album. Quite a journey, though a bit too long.

Damage,Inc. Starts off nice before slamming us with non stop, no mercy thrash metal till the end!

Overall, a great album. As with all of Metallica's work James is the unsung hero. His rhythm guitar work is really the backbone of the album, and his vocals are superb. As usual Kirk is good, showing his shred capability but also melodicism. Lars is mediocre, not good nor bad but he gets the job done at least. Cliff is good, but I don't hear the bass too much. Frankly, he impresses me more as a musician than virtuoso anyway.

Like all their works, "Master of Puppets" is greater then the sum of its parts. Metallica's stability and musicianship make this album so great. A classic metal album that is one of the best examples of musicianship. A great blend of thrash metal and progressive rock that is done quite well. Only real knock is that some parts simply drag on for too long.

Four and a Half Stars
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