[We are informed that this review also appears on horrormagazine.it signed by Alessandro Carrara and on ciao.it signed by disu.]
For metal, the '80s were one of the most prolific periods of the genre: every era has its milestones, and Master of Puppets by Metallica is certainly one of these.
Considered by many as a masterpiece, listening to just a few seconds of the first track is enough to realize you are dealing with something very different from a simple good thrash metal album. At that time, right after the explosion of the new wave of British heavy metal and its export to California by a young and promising Danish tennis player named Lars Ulrich, all bands were engaged in advancing this discourse towards increasingly complex harmonic and contrapuntal structures, sometimes losing the energy and rage of the new metal, all speed and violence. This is certainly not one of those cases: the album exudes, in addition to enormous technical and compositional mastery, a spirit of rebellion against everything and everyone, as immediately seen from the cover, which depicts the main theme of the album's lyrics: the puppeteer, an almost superhuman entity that manipulates people to achieve its goals, in the various Battery, Master of Puppets, Welcome Home (Sanitarium), Disposable Heroes, and Leper Messiah, the antagonist is the family, the society of the "normals", drugs, the government, militarism, and religion (or rather, those who exploit religion for commercial purposes). Exceptions to this conceptual thread (almost like a concept album) are The Thing That Should Not Be, an evidently Cthulhu myth-related song, and Damage Inc., a programmatic manifesto of the band's sound, somewhat like Whiplash from the debut album.
The reasons for this choice are mainly found in James Hetfield's adolescence, author of most of the lyrics, raised in a family belonging to a very obscurantist religious group. From the purely musical side, one can see the elements already present in the previous album, "Ride the Lightning", brought to maturity: the use of acoustic guitars in prologues or interludes, the harmonization of guitars in the solo parts combined with extreme thrash rhythms both in terms of execution speed (the metronomic speed of the title track is 220 beats per minute!) and fingering complexity, and a surprising compositional density (always taking the title track as an example, in an eight-minute song we have more than twenty different rhythmic parts, irregular bars, two solos, a tripartite fast-slow-fast structure typical of classical concerts). All this makes the repertoire of this album a challenge for any guitarist, drummer, or bassist who wants to play this material.
It's impossible to overlook the importance of Cliff Burton, as a composer and musician, in this album: in fact, for many, Metallica's downfall will begin right from that unfortunate night on the icy roads of Sweden when the band's bus overturned, crushing this artist today almost ignored by the general public. In "Master of Puppets" the peak of inventiveness is reached in the instrumentals Orion and The Thing That Should Not Be, where it is possible to demonstrate how a bass can actually play as a solo instrument and guide the guitars from a harmonic point of view, something that in this otherwise barbaric epoch from a musical standpoint is considered impossible.
All this, of course, is not found in any thrash metal album, and this is perhaps why in 1986 Metallica's third album managed to sell more than a million copies without having a single or a video to drive the LP, a choice then dictated by the band's policy of not wanting to compromise with the "commercial" side of the music world, a decision that, alas, was revoked from the next album until reaching the levels we know today.
Ultimately, Master of Puppets is a must-listen for every genre lover and is also an excellent antidote for eardrums now stressed by what is sold today as metal.
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
01 Battery (05:11)
Lashing out the action, returning the reaction
Weak are ripped and torn away
Hypnotizing power, crushing all that cower
Battery is here to stay
Smashing through the boundries
lunacy has found me
cannot stop the Battery
Pounding out aggression
turns into obsession
cannot kill the Battery
Cannot kill the family
Battery is found in me
Battery
Crushing all deceivers, mashing non-believers
never ending potency
Hungry violence seeker, feeding off the weaker
Breeding on insanity
Smashing through the boundries
lunacy has found me
cannot stop the Battery
Pounding out aggression
turns into obsession
cannot kill the Battery
Cannot kill the family
Battery is found in me
Battery
Circle of Destruction, Hammer comes crushing
Powerhouse of energy
Whipping up a fury, Dominating flurry
We create the Battery
Smashing through the boundries
lunacy has found me
cannot stop the Battery
Pounding out aggression
turns into obsession
cannot kill the Battery
Cannot kill the family
Battery is found in me
Battery
02 Master of Puppets (08:38)
End of passion play, crumbling away
I'm your source of self-destruction
Veins that pump with fear
Sucking darkest clear
Feeding on your death's construction
Taste me and you will see
More is all you need
You're dedicated to
How I'm killing you
Come crawling faster
Obey your master
Your life burns faster
Obey your master
Master
Master of puppets I'm pulling your strings
Twisting your mind and smashing your dreams
Blinded by me, you can't see a thing
Just call my name, 'cause I'll hear you scream
Master
Master
Just call my name, 'cause I'll hear you scream
Master
Master
Needlework the way, never you betray
Life of death becoming clearer
Pain monopoly, ritual misery
Chop your breakfast on a mirror
Taste me and you will see
More is all you need
You're dedicated to
How I'm killing you
Come crawling faster
Obey your master
Your life burns faster
Obey your master
Master
Master of puppets I'm pulling your strings
Twisting your mind and smashing your dreams
Blinded by me, you can't see a thing
Just call my name, 'cause I'll hear you scream
Master
Master
Just call my name, 'cause I'll hear you scream
Master
Master
Master, master
Where's the dreams that I've been after?
Master, master
You promised only lies
Laughter, laughter
All I hear and see is laughter
Laughter, laughter
Laughing at my cries
Fix me
Hell is worth all that
Natural habitat
Just a rhyme without a reason
Neverending maze
Drift on numbered days
Now your life is out of season
I will occupy
I will help you die
I will run though you
Now I rule you too
Come crawling faster
Obey your Master
Your life burns faster
Obey your Master
Master
Master of Puppets I'm pulling your strings
Twisting your mind and smashing your dreams
Blinded by me, you can't see a thing
Just call my name, 'cause I'll hear you scream
Master
Master
Just call my name, 'cause I'll hear you scream
Master
Master
Ha, ha, ha
Ha, ha, ha
03 The Thing That Should Not Be (06:39)
Messenger of Fear in sight
Dark deception kills the light
Hybrid children watch the sea
Pray for Father, roaming free
fearless Wretch
insanity
He watches
lurking beneath the sea
great Old One
forbidden site
He searches
Hunter of the Shadows is rising
immortal
in madness You dwell
Crawling Chaos, underground
cult has summoned, twisted sound
Out from ruins once possessed
fallen city, living death
fearless Wretch
insanity
He watches
lurking beneath the sea
timeless sleep
has been upset
He awakens
Hunter of the Shadows is rising
immortal
in madness You dwell
Not dead which eternal lie
stranger eons Death may die
drain you of your sanity
face The Thing That Should Not Be
fearless Wretch
insanity
He watches
lurking beneath the sea
great Old One
forbidden site
He searches
Hunter of the Shadows is rising
immortal
in madness You dwell
04 Welcome Home (Sanitarium) (06:27)
Welcome to where time stands still
no one leaves and no one will
Moon is full, never seems to change
just labeled mentally deranged
Dream the same thing every night
I see our freedom in my sight
No locked doors, No windows barred
No things to make my brain seem scarred
Sleep my friend and you will see
that dream is my reality
They keep me locked up in this cage
can't they see it's why my brain says Rage
Sanitarium, leave me be
Sanitarium, just leave me alone
Build my fear of what's out there
and cannot breathe the open air
Whisper things into my brain
assuring me that I'm insane
They think our heads are in their hands
but violent use brings violent plans
Keep him tied, it makes him well
he's getting better, can't you tell?
No more can they keep us in
Listen, damn it, we will win
They see it right, they see it well
but they think this saves us from our Hell
Sanitarium, leave me be
Sanitarium, just leave me alone
Sanitarium, just leave me alone
Fear of living on
natives getting restless now
Mutiny in the air
got some death to do
Mirror stares back hard
Kill, it's such a friendly word
seems the only way
for reaching out again.
05 Disposable Heroes (08:21)
Bodies fill the fields I see, hungry heroes end
No one to play soldier now, no one to pretend
running blind through killing fields, bred to kill them all
Victim of what said should be
a servant `til I fall
Soldier boy, made of clay
now an empty shell
twenty one, only son
but he served us well
Bred to kill, not to care
do just as we say
finished here, Greeting Death
he's yours to take away
Back to the front
you will do what I say, when I say
Back to the front
you will die when I say, you must die
Back to the front
you coward
you servant
you blindman
Barking of machinegun fire, does nothing to me now
sounding of the clock that ticks, get used to it somehow
More a man, more stripes you wear, glory seeker trends
bodies fill the fields I see
the slaughter never ends
Soldier boy, made of clay
now an empty shell
twenty one, only son
but he served us well
Bred to kill, not to care
do just as we say
finished here, Greeting Death
he's yours to take away
Back to the front
you will do what I say, when I say
Back to the front
you will die when I say, you must die
Back to the front
you coward
you servant
you blindman
Why, Am I dying?
Kill, have no fear
Lie, live off lying
Hell, Hell is here
I was born for dying
Life planned out before my birth, nothing could I say
had no chance to see myself, moulded day by day
Looking back I realize, nothing have I done
left to die with only friend
Alone I clench my gun
Soldier boy, made of clay
now an empty shell
twenty one, only son
but he served us well
Bred to kill, not to care
do just as we say
finished here, Greeting Death
he's yours to take away
Back to the front
you will do what I say, when I say
Back to the front
you will die when I say, you must die
Back to the front
you coward
you servant
you blindman
Back to the front.
06 Leper Messiah (05:42)
Spineless from the start, sucked into the part
circus comes to town, you play the lead clown
Please, please
spreading his disease, living by his story
Knees, knees
falling to your knees, suffer for his glory
You will
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
Bow to Leper Messiah
Marvel at his tricks, need your Sunday fix
blind devotion came, rotting your brain
Chain, chain
Join the endless chain, taken by his glamour
Fame, Fame
Infection is the game, stinking drunk with power
We see
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
Bow to Leper Messiah
Witchery, weakening
Sees the sheep are gathering
set the trap, hypnotize
now you follow
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.
08 Damage, Inc. (05:31)
Dealing out the agony within
charging hard and no one's gonna give in
Living on your knees, conformity
or dying on your feet for honesty
Inbred, our bodies work as one
bloody, but never cry submission
Following our instinct not a trend
go against the grain until the end
[Chorus:]
Blood will follow blood
Dying time is here
Damage Incorporated
[End Chorus]
Slamming through, don't fuck with razorback
stepping out? You'll feel our hell on your back
Blood follows blood and we make sure
life ain't for you and we're the cure
Honesty is my only excuse
Try to rob us of it, but it's no use
Steamroller action crushing all
Victim is your name and you shall fall
[Chorus]
We chew and spit you out
we laugh, you scream and shout
All flee, with fear you run
You'll know just where we come from
Damage Incorporated
Damage jackals ripping right through you
sight and smell of this, it gets me goin'
Know just how to get just what we want
tear it from your soul in nightly hunt
Fuck it all and fucking no regrets
Never happy ending on these dark sets
All's fair for Damage Inc. you see
step a little closer if you please
[Chorus].
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Other reviews
By cliffburton86
Eight unforgettable minutes, which have made metal history, are making it and will continue to do so.
Simply the greatest masterpiece of Metallica...
By Nowitzky
Master Of Puppets gives us MetallicA in great, tremendous form, still at the pinnacle of their dawn.
This album is a gem in the musical landscape of recent years, a collector’s item.
By joe strummer
Despite not being technically excellent musicians, the four manage to write captivating songs, superior to other thrash groups.
Master Of Puppets is a masterpiece, though being of a genre not enjoyed by all, the allure of these songs is undeniable.
By metallara1
You’ll be left speechless right from the first track 'Battery,' which starts off pounding and determined at a crazy speed.
It’s impossible to find terms that could simplify in words the magic of their music, which made history and will continue to do so.
By andreus90
An album that kicked ass and wrote Metallica's history.
A song that really kicks ass and blasts the eardrums, a must-listen at maximum volume and to headbang until you pass out.