Master Of Puppets

i think The Black Album is the best!!

My vote is going to Master Of Puppets! Cliff Burton R.I.P.

The early Metallica was some of the greatest stuff ever released. My vote was either going for Ride the Lightning, or Master of Puppets. Puppets was great, but I don't know, Ride the Lightning I think wins.

I have to go with Master of Puppets, partially for sentimental reasons: my first introduction to Metallica was seeing them live in support of this album. Great music; great show. The band never achieved anything nearly this good after Cliff died.

Written by Black Mass on 03.05.2007 at 05:07

...the album that had the biggest impact when it was released, the album that made them who they became and who they are today, the album that solidified their fan base and their place in the Heavy Metal music world.

While I'm not really a fan of Metallica, I can say with confidence this thread, like most "battle" threads, has become a favorites thread. Obviously, nothing had the impact, according to Black Mass' definition, that their self-titled release had. Nothing. Sure, maybe 'Kill 'Em All' made their name, 'Ride the Lightening' solidified their place in Metal, and 'Master of Puppets' was their magnum opus, but it was 'Metallica' which had the biggest impact, made them who they are today, and solidified their fan base. (I take "impact" to mean the influence and affect on people; I take "who they are today" to mean the money grubbing, lame composers they are today; and I take "solidified their fan base" to mean that it garnered them the most fans, though probably angered many.)

I don't really know how this is arguable. I'd say even 'Load' and 'Reload' are right behind 'Metallica' and they even charted better too. But I guess it just comes down to opinion as all polls do.

//Although not the best Metallica album, i voted kill em all. that was a very important record because that set the tone for thrash metal and even to heavy metal as a whole to come. That album had so much attitude and most importantly, they were making a statement. We are Metallica and we are bringing this new genre called thrash metal, and its gonna punch you right in your face and your gonna take it//

Written by Metal_Militia on 15.04.2008 at 22:39

//Although not the best Metallica album, i voted kill em all. that was a very important record because that set the tone for thrash metal and even to heavy metal as a whole to come. That album had so much attitude and most importantly, they were making a statement. We are Metallica and we are bringing this new genre called thrash metal, and its gonna punch you right in your face and your gonna take it//

Heavy Metal as a whole? I'm pretty sure "Heavy" Metal was quite solidified as a genre by 1983. Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Judas Priest, Motörhead, and Iron Maiden to name a very few. And by the way, I'd consider Slayer's debut to be a lot closer to contemporary Thrash Metal than Metallica's. 'Kill 'Em All' was almost total NWOBHM worship. Almost to a point where it made me sick!

Written by Clintagräm on 15.04.2008 at 22:54

Written by Metal_Militia on 15.04.2008 at 22:39

//Although not the best Metallica album, i voted kill em all. that was a very important record because that set the tone for thrash metal and even to heavy metal as a whole to come. That album had so much attitude and most importantly, they were making a statement. We are Metallica and we are bringing this new genre called thrash metal, and its gonna punch you right in your face and your gonna take it//

Heavy Metal as a whole? I'm pretty sure "Heavy" Metal was quite solidified as a genre by 1983. Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Judas Priest, Motörhead, and Iron Maiden to name a very few. And by the way, I'd consider Slayer's debut to be a lot closer to contemporary Thrash Metal than Metallica's. 'Kill 'Em All' was almost total NWOBHM worship. Almost to a point where it made me sick!

//Ask any of the major artists who play heavy metal that came after metallica, and a lot of them will say they were influenced by that album in one way or another, no matter what genre of metal they play//

Written by Clintagräm on 15.04.2008 at 22:13

While I'm not really a fan of Metallica, I can say with confidence this thread, like most "battle" threads, has become a favorites thread. Obviously, nothing had the impact, according to Black Mass' definition, that their self-titled release had. Nothing. Sure, maybe 'Kill 'Em All' made their name, 'Ride the Lightening' solidified their place in Metal, and 'Master of Puppets' was their magnum opus, but it was 'Metallica' which had the biggest impact, made them who they are today, and solidified their fan base. (I take "impact" to mean the influence and affect on people; I take "who they are today" to mean the money grubbing, lame composers they are today; and I take "solidified their fan base" to mean that it garnered them the most fans, though probably angered many.)

I don't really know how this is arguable. I'd say even 'Load' and 'Reload' are right behind 'Metallica' and they even charted better too. But I guess it just comes down to opinion as all polls do.

Exactly! So many seems to misunderstand these kind of topics. There really is no question here, the black album is their most important!

As in the first post:
"And by that I mean the album that had the biggest impact when it was released, the album that made them who they became and who they are today, the album that solidified their fan base and their place in the Heavy Metal music world."

= Metallica (The Black Album)

Written by Clintagräm on 15.04.2008 at 22:13

Written by Black Mass on 03.05.2007 at 05:07

...the album that had the biggest impact when it was released, the album that made them who they became and who they are today, the album that solidified their fan base and their place in the Heavy Metal music world.

While I'm not really a fan of Metallica, I can say with confidence this thread, like most "battle" threads, has become a favorites thread. Obviously, nothing had the impact, according to Black Mass' definition, that their self-titled release had. Nothing. Sure, maybe 'Kill 'Em All' made their name, 'Ride the Lightening' solidified their place in Metal, and 'Master of Puppets' was their magnum opus, but it was 'Metallica' which had the biggest impact, made them who they are today, and solidified their fan base. (I take "impact" to mean the influence and affect on people; I take "who they are today" to mean the money grubbing, lame composers they are today; and I take "solidified their fan base" to mean that it garnered them the most fans, though probably angered many.)

I don't really know how this is arguable. I'd say even 'Load' and 'Reload' are right behind 'Metallica' and they even charted better too. But I guess it just comes down to opinion as all polls do.

I agree with your assessment on this thread degenerating to favorites, rather than answering the question.

I would say it's mildly debatable, though as to which is most important.

"Metallica" (Black Album) was the most important to the band and their place in the world (and size of their bank accounts), but "Kill 'Em All" had a big hand in kick-starting the emergence of the thrash movement, which was in-turn partially responsible for helping spawn more extreme metal.

Ultimately I'm giving the nod to "Kill 'Em All" for it's role in the burgeoning thrash movement. I'll take the album that helped shape extreme metal rather than the radio-friendly hard rock which lined their bank accounts.


My favorite, "Master of Puppets" is probably the fourth most influential.

Master of puppets, no doubt at all !!!!

my favorite album is "Ride The Lightning" but i voted for "Master Of Puppets" cause it deserves it.

Black Album is more important for the mainstream but "Master Of Puppets" is more important for the development of metal.

I voted Ride The Lightning. The question was, the most "important" Metallica album, and, well, while Master of Puppets is possibly the better of those two releases, Ride The Lightning was most definitely more important to me, since it inspired me to play guitar and listen to metal, and I could only imagine how many headbangers were inspired by that album as well. In terms of sheer importance, I'd say Ride The Lightning > Master of Puppets > Kill 'Em All > Justice because it was the album that took them to the top of the existing thrash metal scene and made them leaders in the metal world. And it rocks so relentlessly to boot!

Although my absolute favorite album is Master of Puppets, I voted Ride the lightning 'cause on this album they showed a very mature sound for which I (we) love it. And Master of Puppets in some ways inherited the style from it.

my favorite album by metallica is ...and justice, but i chose ride the lightning because of what K?ulu had said in the post before mine.
but as a fan of metallica, i honestly think that every album was a good album. yeah black, load, reload, st. anger and so on wasn't AJFA, RTL, MOP, or KEA. but every album had good songs on them.

Definitely Ride The Lightning.
KEA and MOP have some better individual songs but too much filler and AJFA is mostly bad with some brief good moments.(Everything after those 4 isn´t even worth mentioning)

Written by Warman on 15.04.2008 at 23:19

Written by Clintagräm on 15.04.2008 at 22:13

While I'm not really a fan of Metallica, I can say with confidence this thread, like most "battle" threads, has become a favorites thread. Obviously, nothing had the impact, according to Black Mass' definition, that their self-titled release had. Nothing. Sure, maybe 'Kill 'Em All' made their name, 'Ride the Lightening' solidified their place in Metal, and 'Master of Puppets' was their magnum opus, but it was 'Metallica' which had the biggest impact, made them who they are today, and solidified their fan base. (I take "impact" to mean the influence and affect on people; I take "who they are today" to mean the money grubbing, lame composers they are today; and I take "solidified their fan base" to mean that it garnered them the most fans, though probably angered many.)

I don't really know how this is arguable. I'd say even 'Load' and 'Reload' are right behind 'Metallica' and they even charted better too. But I guess it just comes down to opinion as all polls do.

Exactly! So many seems to misunderstand these kind of topics. There really is no question here, the black album is their most important!

As in the first post:
"And by that I mean the album that had the biggest impact when it was released, the album that made them who they became and who they are today, the album that solidified their fan base and their place in the Heavy Metal music world."

= Metallica (The Black Album)

It does ask for the album relevant to "their place in the Heavy Metal music world." I think this could easily be answered as Kill 'em All or MOP, since those two were probably the most important, influential and relevant to metal. The s/t is pretty much irrelevant to everything but the most mainstream metal bands to follow, if it solidified their place anywhere it was a new place outside of the metal world. Although it certainly made them what they are today.

I'd have a hard time with "MOP" being most important - perhaps it's importance was magnified because they were touring with Ozzy at the time, which gave them a ton of exposure.

Musically, it's a great album, but as far as growth goes, it's basically "Ride the Lightning Part Two"...

Both albums kick off with an energetic thrashin' opener -Fight Fire With Fire/Battery - before launching into a longer, more epic title track - Ride the Lightning/Master of Puppets.

After that both slow it down with a trudging anthem - For Whom the Bell Tolls/The Thing Which Should Not Be - before slowing down even further into a quasi-ballad which both then erupt at the latter half of the track - Fade to Black/Sanitarium.

Both started off side two with another full throttle track - Trapped Under Ice/Disposable Heroes before slowing it down again with another midspeed piece - Escape/Leper Messiah.

The only adjustment is the last two tracks, where they through the fans a curve ball.

Moving the thrastherpiece from the 7th slot (Creeping Death) to the 8th (Damage, Inc.) and moving the instrumental from the closing spot (Call of Ktulu) to the 7ths (Orion).



It's a great album, but doesn't show near the evolution they underwent from "Kill 'em All" to "Ride the Lightning", nor the changes again exhibited afterwards, going from "MoP" to "...And Justice."

Basically, as solid as it was, it was a pretty safe album.

It's my favorite to listen to, but in importance I'd probably rank it 4th, behind "K'EA", "Metallica", and "RtL."

for us fans ride the lightning for them black album ..they became rich

"Master of Puppets" is for me along with "Ride the lightning" and "Metallica" the most important album in their career. The first mentioned album is my choose.

Greetings havoheJ

I can't understand why most people vote for MOP or RTL as the most important album.. Metallica black album is the most important album in terms of gained fanbase and marketability, not music or technicality wise.. If you heard Black album then listen to MOP or RTL, surely you'll forget about Black, but most of us really went into deep Metallica after hearing "Black" album.. Measuring importance is how it would impact if this album was not even created, will it be the same Metallica as to where they are right now? The black album was not a perfect album (i know most of us will agree), but the hit songs they made were enough to make that defining moment for their success and domination, not just in the metal world...

Written by [user id=35295] on 09.10.2008 at 01:31

I can't understand why most people vote for MOP or RTL as the most important album.. Metallica black album is the most important album in terms of gained fanbase and marketability, not music or technicality wise.. If you heard Black album then listen to MOP or RTL, surely you'll forget about Black, but most of us really went into deep Metallica after hearing "Black" album.. Measuring importance is how it would impact if this album was not even created, will it be the same Metallica as to where they are right now? The black album was not a perfect album (i know most of us will agree), but the hit songs they made were enough to make that defining moment for their success and domination, not just in the metal world...

this is metallica dude, not Cradle of Filth. metallica always used to talk about how they were never going to sell out and "we'll never stop, we'll never quit, cuz we're metallica" and all that nonsense. there was pandamonium when they cut their hair and when lars ulrich was spotted wearing gucci clothes instead of their former flannel and jeans. metallica and marketability go together now but in no way is the black album their most important album.

I always liked the Raw Metallica.. so my vote is for Kill 'em all

Ride The Lightning gets my vote. It was their first album that was just that little bit more complex; i.e. longer tracks, more varied riffs, more structured and meaningful solos, etc.

Kill 'Em All was just simply a thrash album.

Their best however IMO is ...And Justice For All.

Kill'em All is their most important album IMO...thash till the bone.
But, you know, The Black Album made them rich and worldwide famous.

obviously, either Master of Puppets or their self-titled... Master is pretty much hailed as the best album EVAAH!1 while the black album marked a major turning point in their career, and helped create the sound of 90s and 2000s Metallica.

i choose Master though, it was their highest point, everyone who is a metalhead knows it, and Dream Theater fucking covered it. need i say more?

I think it was Master of Puppets. But if we talk about popularity worldwide, it would be Black Album.

Master of Puppets was the most important because 1.) of its ubiquitousness among the rock community in general and in the metal community in particular. In the late eighties, if you want to a party at the house that had guitars in it and someone put this album on, the guitars would be picked up by random people and almost every song would be played along to. Everyone knew it, many learned it beginning to end. Not so the other ones. Prior to the black album, If someone owned only one Metallica album, it was a safe bet it was MoP, and 2.) Master of Puppets was the album that brought the musical respectibility of metal to "serious" musicians. You could talk to classical musicians (violin and such) and mention MoP and often find one who not only heard of it, but admired it. MoP broke ground in music, made inroads in unexpected places, and became popular. The black album was merely popular.