Great Metal Albums of 1986: Metallica- Master of Puppets

Here is one album which changed the shape of music in 1986. When Metallica’s third album, “Master of Puppets,” exploded onto the music scene in March of said year, no one was prepared for the storm it was to cause. Before this album, a lot of people, including some metalheads, turned up their snouts at thrash metal. There were the same old cliches that it wasn’t proper music or even proper metal, the musicians couldn’t play, the singer just screamed, yada, yada, yada. However, this album bulldozed all of those myths into oblivion and with “Master of Puppets,” thrash and speed metal became mainstream.

Let’s start off with me gushing over my all time favourite Metallica song, the opener “Battery.” Even thirty-four years later, every time I hear the song, I want to mosh around the place, smashing up small objects and throwing television sets and dogs and cats out of windows. (Note: I wouldn’t really do any of that.) “Battery” places first in another 80sMetalman Category: It is the best album opening song of all time. This is one song that grabs you by the pubes and makes you listen. It is the song which forms the foundation of this iconic album. I can go even further. The first time I saw Metallica live, supporting Ozzy in 1986, they opened with “Battery” and their set was fantastic! The second time I saw them, Donington 1987, they didn’t open with it and I thought they weren’t as good, I would go on to say they were disappointing as a result. Therefore, if Metallica were to play my dream concert, they would be contractually obligated to open with “Battery.”

The album tends to slow down after that manic opener. The title track is less fast paced but still ferocious. It does go bit acoustic in the middle but that helps make an eight minute plus song so great. Great lyrics contribute to it’s greatness as well. Things continue to slow down with “The Thing That Should Not Be.” Again, not a bad thing because the slowness of the song augment the power chords in it. It also gives it that ‘horror movie’ feel which I think Metallica were going for. That continues with the final song on side one, (I first got this on cassette), “Sanitarium.” The eerie intro on it actually makes you believe you are in such a place. Again, the lyrics and the way James Hetfield sings them add to that feeling. Even though, I have heard “Sanitarium” many times over the past three and a half decades, I have a fonder appreciation for it these days.

Side two starts with two songs I could personally identify with at the time. Three years after leaving US military service, I was feeling like a “Disposable Hero.” The American dream wasn’t working out for me the way I had hoped and the lyrics: “Twenty-one, only son but he served us well.” were felt in my veins. Of course, the speed and power of the song did their job in bringing those lyrics home to me. On the other hand, while “Leper Messiah” didn’t identify with me personally, I could still identify what it was about. Metallica were having a dig at the TV evangelists, like Jimmy Swaggart, who seemed to rule American television every Sunday morning. The lyrics, “Make a contribution and get a better saint,” definitely rang true on this song.

Closing out “Master of Puppets,” are the songs “Orion” and “Damage Inc.” “Orion” is a very interesting instrumental which wouldn’t be out of place on a prog-metal album, but it is not out of place on this album either. It builds you up for the great closer that is “Damage Inc.”

In any case, one thing this album proves is that one can be a talented musician and still play thrash metal. All four members do their jobs so well. James is  decent singer but an exceptional rhythm guitarist. While I don’t put Kirk Hammett on the same level as Vai, Van Halen or Malmsteen, he is still a great lead guitarist and I do disagree with those who call him “overrated.” Lars Ulrich proves his drumming skills here because not many drummers can play with such ferocity and then change tempo mid song and I can see why bassist, “Cliff Burton” was so badly missed after his tragic death later on in 1986.

Track Listing:

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

Metallica

James Hetfield- rhythm guitar, lead vocals

Kirk Hammett- lead guitar

Cliff Burton- bass

Lars Ulrich- drums

Master of Puppets is the last album made with Cliff Burton- R.I.P. Cliff

Cliff’s untimely death wasn’t the only tragedy that befell Metallica in 1986. During their live set in Washington DC, a young man was stabbed to death. There were stabbings at other concerts that year including Miami Sound Machine but of course the main stream media paid less attention to those. This is another thing that makes “Master of Puppets” so great, the fact that it was able to rise about the anti-metal feeling at the time and be the great album that it is.

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