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Metallica - Master Of Puppets CD (album) cover

MASTER OF PUPPETS

Metallica

 

Prog Related

4.13 | 853 ratings

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CCVP
Prog Reviewer
5 stars Going in the right direction

Master of Puppets, although not being Metallica's first step towards progressive metal, is their most important step towards progressive metal. Here, they clearly go beyond the somehow raw thrash metal they presented us in Ride the Lightning and put together an album that pushes away the boundaries of thrash metal and is often hailed, together with Slayer's Reign in Blood, as the best thrash metal album ever and, as far as thrash metal goes, it is hard to disagree (although i think that Metallica's magnum opus was ... And Justice for All).

Maybe it has that much fame because it is Metallica's half way to progressive metal: it is already more complex and elaborate than the previous albums, making its quality go up, and it is not too complex nor elaborate as ... And Justice for All, making it easier to listen. Because of its popularity, Master of Puppets is Metallica's most influential and important album, although its not their best selling album.

Master of Puppets also is, sadly, the last Metallica album with the bassist Cliff Burton, who died a horrible death wile touring with the band, soon after this album was released. It can easily be said that Master of Puppets was a worthy goodbye document left by Cliff.

About the songs, musicianship and other features, there are somethings i would like to state:

the good points of this album, much like Ride the Lightning and ... And Justice for All, starts right at the opening song. Battery is just an absolute classic in metal and deserves to be so, just like the next song, the title track, is and deserves to be.

Although the album is mainly a thrash metal album, there are some softer song, like the ballad Welcome Home (Sanitarium) and the instrumental epic Orion.

The musicianship here is almost pure thrash metal. Good thrash, but thrash anyway. The music is more straightforward than in ... And Justice for All, although being just as long. This is because the songs have more ideas put in them, instead of some ideas being extensively worked, like happens in the next album.

Grade and Final Thoughts

Does it really needs more explanation? The album is awesome, its an absolute classic and has a wide influence among metal in general. 5 stars, and that's final.

CCVP | 5/5 |

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