Let's make one thing clear right away; I literally don't give a damn that this album has already been reviewed multiple times on this site; I really don't give a fuck; and don't come bothering me if this is already the eighth time some jerk has decided to review this damn album; these are not my problems; if it bothers you, don't read it, no one forces you, but, you pieces of shit, don't come and annoy me! I've never understood this thing about how an album cannot be reviewed multiple times; but what the hell does it change for you?

That said, what I'm about to review (not trash, as some of you might have suspected upon reading my name) is considered one of the most important albums in rock history, a milestone of metal and a masterpiece by Metallica.

I partially agree with these statements, but only partially because "Master of Puppets" is not the "perfect album" that is considered by (almost) everyone, Metallica fans and not. "Master of Puppets" is a well-made album, with some great songs but with a flaw, that of being too unoriginal. "Kill 'Em All" invented speed-metal, "Ride the Lightning" (the band's true masterpiece) invented heavy-metal, but "Master of Puppets" invents nothing, absolutely nothing, it merely reiterates what was said in "Ride the Lightning"; at least it does it well.

The work begins with a sweet acoustic guitar, to which two more are added, creating an intro worthy of a milestone like this album, it is the intro of "battery", the first track of the album which, of good, really only has the intro, the rest is an insipid, useless and trivial song (well, trivial maybe is a bit exaggerated) that you would never expect from Metallica, and you would expect it even less as the opening song of an album like this! Let's not misunderstand, it's certainly not bad, it deserves a 6++, but honestly compared to certain masterpieces found in this album the difference stands out. But we must not despair, to lift our spirits comes a great metal piece, indeed, the greatest metal piece of the album, the title track, "Master of Puppets", more than eight minutes of pure power supported by a beautiful interlude and a fantastic solo that makes this piece even more fascinating and irresistible; 9. The third track, "The Thing That Should Not Be", a song based almost entirely on a riff, perhaps it exceeds a bit too much in heaviness, but despite this remains a great song, worthy of the best Metallica. 7.5...

And at this point we are ready for the first masterpiece, "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)" (9++), an incredible fusion of sweetness and anger with a very explicit and direct lyric. Ballad of the album; and this is why it’s normal to draw the comparison with "Fade to Black", legendary ballad from "Ride the Lightning". "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)" does not hold up to the comparison; this does not mean, however, that it's not a valid piece, far from it! In fact, it remains a brilliant piece, surely among the top 5 best pieces of Metallica's entire production and a rare gem of the album. We pass through "Disposable Heroes" (8.5), a great piece absolutely fundamental for the album for its power, for its captivating rhythm and for its legendary chorus; reaching "Leper Messiah" (8), another song based on an important riff, like "The Thing That Should Not Be" but with the only difference that "Leper Messiah" is better executed. At this point comes the second masterpiece of the album, an instrumental: "Orion"; which, certainly, does not match the record reached by "The Call of Ktulu" in "Ride the Lightning" but gets very, very close. A piece written by the legendary Cliff, who died on November 27, 1986, and also played at his funeral. Quite monotonous anyway, but it's one of the few times in rock history where monotony doesn't tire; and this is exactly the virtue of "Orion". Masterpiece, a full 9.5 really taken by no one.

At this point, the album could have ended like this, indeed, to be honest, it would have been much better; in fact, in the last piece, "Damage Inc." I have never found and still find nothing good; same speech as "Battery" (although perhaps "Damage Inc." is slightly better than the latter); and I know dozens and dozens of criticisms will rain down for this statement of mine because among other things it’s also a much-loved piece. It doesn't deserve more than 6.5. Not to mention that, as the closing of an album, this song really doesn't fit at all! And that's also why I said the album should have ended with "Orion".

Instead, this is how "Master of Puppets" ends, with an incomplete finale (incomplete like the first track, and, if you allow me, the fact that the album starts and ends with two flops affects the rating) that concludes a great album. Great, but not without flaws.

 

 

Tracklist Lyrics 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.

07   Orion (08:27)

Instrumental

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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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...


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 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 sweep picking

 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.

 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.