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. Year: 1986 Label: Elektra - Official Site |
Metallica - 'Master of puppets' - By M. Freeman
Metallica's 1986 disc is the record which many people now call the blueprint for metal music, they were one of the few bands to survive the 80's and still be making successful music into the new milllennium. Cliff Burton's last contribution to the band was unfortunate because I think it is fair to say, they began to fail once he parted company with them through his untimely, and tragic death. It maybe argued that without this CD in your collection, you are not a true metal fan. Why? You might ask... 'Battery' has an extremely warm introduction, with it's mellow guitar strumming which slowly reaches out into a growing electric thrash riff. This track pummels away at the speakers (if you have it loud, as you should do) as both the guitars and lyrics are reeled out like a musical avalanche. A great start to an album, if it carries anything like as good as that, this is going to be a great album, but it gets better! After the five minute slaughter of 'Battery' comes the albums title track which holds an equally supreme guitar sound, and like the most part of the album, contains some trademark Metallica guitar solo's which will leave one in awe. Rememberant of the opening tracks slow guitaring, 'The Thing That Should Not Be' proceeds in a much similar manner. This piece is dark, the music is evil sounding, the lyrics are almost satanic, the whole aura of this is gloomy. Not a personal favourite Metallica track, but still good, and renound to be excellent live. A slower direction all-round is visited on 'Sanitarium' and this is one of the best tracks you could imagine that take such a course. This is about how the insane are treated, Metallica obviously feel strongly about this, and I feel compelled to say these are some of my favourite Metallica lyrics from any one of their many albums. Lars Ulrich's drumming is up to scratch as always and is a very positive feature of this, as well as the other pieces on the record. The gentle verses wash in and out beautifully which makes for a good breather between the opening and the following mayhem. 'Disposable Heroes' is the track which many call the down-point of the album, but there is something about it that seems to make it equally powerful as the opening three pieces. The powerful vocals are all present once the near-two minute instrumental has passed. If there is one thing I dislike about this track, it's the similarities of vocal style to the other tracks, to be fair to Hetfield, it is his own style, but personally it gets a bit tedious on some of Metallica's work. Leper Messiah picks up where 'Disposable Heroes' left off. The guitar hooks aren't so heavy in this, but I wouldn't go as far to call it a subtle track either, the musicianship nearer the end of the track are the most impressive on 'Disposable Heroes' but at the end of the day, this is Metallica and the album stands proud and impressive with each and every track on offer. An eight music instrumental piece is the penultimate track on 'Master Of Puppets', 'Orion' is fades in gently and gradually picks up to a great pulsing rhythm that will almost certainly have you tapping along to. Kirk Hammet shows off some solo-guitar work well while Cliff Burton is given a relatively rare opportunity to impress with his bass lines, and rest assured, the whole band impress here. The final offering from the album is 'Damage, Inc', and despite a brilliant introductory sample arrangement and some quality pre-solo bridge movements, there is nothing really new on offer from this track. The formula is that which has been used across the album, it is a proven formula of course, but by this stage it seems a little old. Not many bad things can be said about this album, all true metal fans will have a copy of this in their collection if nothing else. Along with '...And Justice For All', certainly one of Metallica's better efforts to the metal industry. Nothing short of a thrash masterpiece. Metal Obsessive Grade: 95% |