Master Of Puppets
released 1986
Reviewed by Prodigal
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1. Battery. A very quiet intro.....don't be fooled - the first crunching riff kicks in and you'll soon be banging your head to some heavy lightspeed guitars...Assault and Battery of the ears no doubt! - great start.
2. Master Of Puppets The first epic of the album - and it's one of the best tracks Metallica have ever produced.......truly great lyrics "twisting your mind and smashing your dreams", a nice variation in the guitar solo's - not all played at the speed of light and some excellent drumming (!). A stunning and menacing epic - Masterful!
3.The Thing That Should Not Be Another crunching intro with the heaviest of riffs and thumping drums and pounding bass.....A bit more slow paced than normal (apart from one rapid solo break), but VERY heavy and brooding none the less. A nice contrast to the previous 2 tracks
4.Welcome Home (Sanitarium) Was Mr Hetfield seeing the future where he had to go to a re-hab clinic?? Dunno about that, but the lyrics certainly indicate something of this....! "Sanitarium Leave me be, Sanitarium Just leave me alone" Hetfield's vocal perfomance and a stunning solo towards the end are the highlights of this mid-paced thrasher...
5.Disposable Heroes One of the best anti-war songs produced by any band. 8 minutes of stunning brilliance, lyrically and musically - best track on the album in my opinion. "You will die when I say, You must die, back to the front, you coward, you servant, you blindman" . Brutal, stunning and relevant. (Are you listening to this Bush / Blair????? )
6.Leper Messiah Very cool intro to this - great solos's and some pretty savage lyrics about the religous preachers on american tv are the highlight of this belter "Time for lust, time for lie. Time to kiss your life goodbye. Send me money, send me green. Heaven you will meet. Make a contribution and you'll get a better seat............LIE" brilliant stuff.
7.Orion Instumental, and another great one - after Maidens's Transylvania - lot's of cool time changes and melody here - Cliff Burton's bass being very prominent. A great demonstration that this band are not just "one-trick thrash ponies"
8.Damage, Inc. A very quiet intro leads into a savage and brutal thrasher - both lyrically and musically. The thrashing guitars, pounding drums and bass will give any headbanger a real headache, 'cos there is no way to keep up with this pace unless you want your head to fall off. Damage indeed!!
To sum up. The best thrash metal album bar none, and pretty much top of the tree of all metal in my opinion. Not one bad track, brilliantly heavy and fast - but with some great variation (Orion for example). I don't think they will ever surpass this album, no matter how long they play for. Metal perfection
Highlights: Disposable Heroes, Orion, Master Of Puppets
Prodigals Star Rating 10/10
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