Product Description

Metallica's irresistible rise to the top continued with this enigmatic 1986 album. A constant touring unit by this point, their combination of light and dark and their deft staccato delivery, especially on the title track, came brusquely through. Their ever-lengthening arrangements (three songs came in at over eight minutes), bolstered by the precise snap of Hetfield's vocals, testified to their undeniable power. The striding "Battery", the darkly lit "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)", as well as the complex instrumental, "Orion", all gavepowerful testament to their ever-developing skill and vision.

Track Listing

1. Battery
2. Master Of Puppets
3. The Thing That Should Not Be
4. Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
5. Disposable Heroes
6. Leper Messiah
7. Orion
8. Damage Inc.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1311 in Music
• Released on: 1989-05-01
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 55 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
One of the defining albums of thrash metal, Master of Puppets is arguably Metallica's best album (as well as their last with bassist Cliff Burton). Focusing on the concept of power and abuses thereof, this is a collection of complex, intelligent music, played at about a hundred miles an hour. Not that these are short songs; this eight-song album clocks in at over an hour, which makes it all the more impressive that not one moment on this recording is boring. In tackling various approaches to their subject, Metallica is insightful lyrically as well as musically: "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)" is from the point of view of an institutionalised inmate and "Disposable Heroes" is the perspective of a soldier. --Genevieve Williams

Customer Reviews

MONUMENTAL, METALLICA'S BEST, MAYBE METAL'S BEST?!
As follows:
METALLICA'S BEST.
THRASH METAL'S BEST.
1986's BEST HEAVY METAL ALBUM,
ONE OF ROCK'S GREATEST ALBUMS.
CLIFF BURTON; A LESSON IN BASS!
ORION; METALLICA'S BEST INSTRUMENTAL - CHECK OUT THE BASS & GUITAR SOLOS!
MASTER OF PUPPETS; THE DEFINITIVE METALLICA SONG? MAYBE!
BATTERY; WHEN ACOUSTIC INTROS SOUNDED INNOVATIVE!
DISPOSABLE HEROES; METAL WITH A CONSCIENCE.
THE THING THAT SHOULD NOT BE; FOR THE CLAUSTROPHOBIA, AND FOR KTULU.
KIRK HAMMETT; ALONG WITH RIDE THE LIGHTNING, HIS BEST SOLOS.
JAMES HETFIELD; HIS BEST RIFFS & GREAT VOCALS/LYRICS. CHECK OUT SANITARIUM, PART 2 OF METALLICA'S HOLY TRINITY OF BALLADS..
LARS ULRICH; PERHAPS HIS BEST DRUMMING - BEFORE THE OVER ELABORATE AND JUSTICE FOR ALL AND THEN THE SHIFT TO A SIMPLER STYLE...
FLEMMING RASMUSSEN FOR THE UNIQUE PRODUCTION, NO OTHER ALBUM HAS A GUITAR SOUND LIKE THIS!
IF YOU ONLY OWN ONE METAL ALBUM, MAKE IT THIS....

The Definitive Metallica Album
This is a fantastic album; not only the best Metallica ever made, but also one of the best metal albums of all time. Buy it, you won't be disappointed.

Epic Metal
Metallica were an extremely ambitious band, and with "Master of Puppets" they matched their ambitions with their ability. Where "Kill 'Em All" was fairly immature even while technically superb, only approaching their later classics with "The Four Horsemen", "Ride The Lighning" was a great leap forward marred by an inconsistency (the title track is never mentioned as anyone's favourite). Here, Metallica, as never again, got everything right. The massiveness of the sound was allied to a cunning melodicism; the lyrics were incisive, thoughtful and burning with anger; the production was the best they'd ever had; the themes of power and powerlessness suited them ideally; and the variety of music meant that even their longer songs never became boring.

Far from it - right from the off this is an album that is both completely immediate and lastingly engrossing. The pounding sonic assault of "Battery" opens things up nicely, with an awesome solo from Kirk Hamnet. The title track takes things to a different level altogether. It's a multi-sectioned epic, on an anti-drugs theme, and the power and huge scale of Metallica's sound perfectly convey the sense of some massive oppressive force - hence why it's sung from the perspective OF the addiction, not the addict ("Now I occupy / Now I watch you die"), as they would later repeat with "Sad But True". Each section leads beautifully onto the next, the whole thing is played with mind-blowing precision and power. A highlight of all rock music.

"The Thing That Should Not Be" takes its lyric from HP Lovecraft, himself a master at suggesting huge forces and powers which mankind can only guess at, so he and Metallica are well matched. This songs is simpler but no less effective, especially the intense grinding sound at the end.

"Sanitarium" takes a different approach, with a gentle opening leading to a powerful ending, as the powerless inmates of the sanitarium plot revolt. The progression from one section to the other is handled beautifully - and would in time lead to "One".

"Disposable Heroes" opens side two with a thoughtful thasher about the mindlessness that leads young men off to war in pursuit of ideals but ending up in situations they barely understand - "Looking back I realise nothing have I done / Left to die with my only friend, alone I clench my gun". "Leper Messiah" takes a timely pop at televangelists with a bitterly articulate lyric - "Make a contribtution and you can get a better seat".

The brilliant instrumental "Orion" follows, and shows an almost prog-rock influence, showing that Metallica weren't just thrashers, they could play soulful rock too. Again, it's a multi-section song, and what's always fantastic about "Master of Puppets" is that each new section feels like the logical path; there's never the feeling of chucking on another bit for the sake of it, as perhaps happens in the song "And Justice For All". This is succeeded by the blasting "Damage Inc" as though to bookend the album with quick-fire thrashers to please their old-school fans and have the more varied songs within.

This album has got the lot. Skill, artistry, imagination, execution - a milestone of rock music. If you even like the sound of an electric guitar you should get this.