Metallica – ‘Master of Puppets’
It usually takes most rock fans a while to enjoy metal music. As much as acts like Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin may have had some great tunes, both bands played a dark update of what the British Blues Boom was doing a few years earlier making it a definite acquired taste. When talking about the core ethos of metal, Metallica distil every tenet the genre holds dear into eight tracks on Master of Puppets.
Before releasing this masterpiece, Metallica had already built up an empire of thrash music, giving birth to the genre on Kill Em All and refining themselves further on Ride the Lightning. Despite never getting played on the radio, Master of Puppets is still as balls-to-the-wall as the thrash genre will ever get.
Kicking off with the song ‘Battery’, the band pick up where they left off, opening up with a swell of harmonised acoustic and electric guitars before James Hetfield’s main riff hits the listener right between the ears. While Lars Ulrich’s drum beat is a bit disorienting, this track is a pure adrenaline rush from the moment it starts, as Hetfield sings about the need to tear everything apart in his sight.
Although Hetfield isn’t the most complicated lyricist in the world, his neanderthal approach to vocals suits the music he plays, like the title track’s encapsulation of the decadence of a destructive lifestyle. Having seen the effects of drugs in the metal scene, ‘Master of Puppets’ captures the sound of addiction more viscerally than many wordsmiths could muster.
Throughout the song, the music tells the dark story of a drug trip, from the jittery angst of the verses until the mid-song guitar duet gives the listener the sensation of a drug high. Once the sonic euphoria wears off, Hetfield’s delivery intensifies, crying out for someone to fix him before Kirk Hammett responds with an excellent guitar solo.
Metallica wasn’t looking to be one of the biggest radio-rock acts in the world on this album. No song on this album is necessarily radio-friendly, with the shortest track clocking in at well over five minutes. As much as the songs might seem like a lot to take in when looking at the lengths, they never feel boring throughout that long runtime. As intimidating as a song like ‘Master of Puppets’ might seem at eight minutes, the band switch up the formula every single time, giving the listener a different hook to latch onto. Whether it be a new riff, an insane drum fill, or a tuneful harmony section, there’s never a moment to feel bored across the record’s runtime.
Despite metal’s connotations with the devil, most of the songs deal with the natural evils that afflict humanity, occasionally dipping into fiction like the homage to HP Lovecraft ‘The Thing That Should Not Be’. Across tracks like ‘Disposable Heroes’, the band paints a graphic picture of the dangers of war, with Hetfield playing the role of the lonesome soldier left to die on the battlefield with his rifle as his only friend.
Hetfield isn’t alone in crafting metal perfection on this record. Though Lars Ulrich isn’t formally trained behind the drum kit, his maniacal approach to the skins on tracks like ‘Damage Inc.’ makes for some of the most intense moments the genre has ever seen. These tunes also contain some of the most tasteful solos that Kirk Hammett has ever put to tape. While some songs feel like they’re verging on the edge of chaos, Hammett’s almost mathematical approach to his instrument makes everything feel right.
However, if there’s a secret weapon in Metallica’s arsenal, it must be Cliff Burton. Being a far more experienced player than the rest of the band, Burton mans the bass on every song with relentless energy, being equally in tune with metal intensity as he is with musical complexity. Throughout each track, Burton plays with the arrangement with his bass, either locking in tight with Hetfield’s rhythm guitar or making mini symphonies like the intro of ‘Damage Inc’, which Burton was inspired to write based on a Bach chorale.
Throughout the entire album, the band aren’t at the peak of their power until ‘Orion’, an instrumental comprised of some of Burton’s greatest moments. Based on his sketches, this tune has an excellent dynamic build than the rest of the record, culminating in one of the most musically complex sections of Metallica’s career. Starting with Burton’s bass riff, the band sculpt a metal version of a symphony from scratch culminating in Burton performing a bass solo before returning to the main riff.
While some low lights, such as ‘Leper Messiah’ and ‘Damage Inc.’, are weaker by comparison, they aren’t by much. Despite the fantastic thrash tracks that have come before them, they feel pretty by the numbers for Metallica at this stage, albeit with some interesting lyrics about organised religion on the former.
Master of Puppets is a crowned jewel for Metallica’s thrash metal cannon. Although most of the tunes on Ride the Lightning have a slightly similar tone to this album, this is the sound of Metallica cutting the fat of their original mix and making something that’s all killer from start to finish. From here, the thrash world belonged to them, and it was up to their contemporaries like Megadeth and Anthrax to keep up with the pace.
