Metallica - Master Of Puppets
Tracklist
01. Battery02. Master Of Puppets
03. The Thing That Should Not Be
04. Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
05. Disposable Heroes
06. Leper Messiah
07. Orion
08. Damage, Inc.
Line-up
James Alan Hetfield - vocals, guitars
Kirk Hammett - guitars, backing vocals
Lars Ulrich - drums
Clifford Lee Burton - bass, backing vocals
James Alan Hetfield - vocals, guitars
Kirk Hammett - guitars, backing vocals
Lars Ulrich - drums
Clifford Lee Burton - bass, backing vocals
Additional info
Produced by Metallica and Flemming RasmussenEngineered by Flemming Rasmussen
Recorded, Sept.-Dec. 1985 at Sweet Silence Studios, Copenhagen, Denmark
Mixed by Michael Wagener at Amigo Studios, North Hollywood, CA
Assistant mixing engineer: Mark Wilzcak
Mastered by George Marino at Sterling Sound
All lyrics by Hetfield. All arrangements by Hetfield/Ulrich
Cover concept: Metallica and Peter Mensch
Cover illustration: Don Brautigam
Back cover photos: Cliff - Rich Likong / Kirk - Ross Halfin / Lars - Rob Ellis / James - Ross Halfin
Rating:
9.3
9.3
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Rating:
9.3 |
Master of Puppets is a master class in structuring an album, The tracks and the way they're ordered is near perfection. A landmark album. Master Of Puppets is a timeless classic, A hybrid, Which features the best characteristics of many different kinds of metal. Many people consider it one of the greatest albums of all time and for good reason. Read more ›› |
Guest review by
Cal Wolvington
Cal Wolvington
Rating:
8.3
8.3
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Rating:
8.3 |
I know I am in the minority here, but I don't care. Coffee is not as bad for you as everyone says it is, ten million Coldplay fans are wrong and Master Of Puppets is not Metallica's best album. This album is considered to be a classic and it is a great effort, but it is no Ride The Lightning. Master Of Puppets may have become more popular than Metallica's first two albums and it may be every critic's darling but that alone does not make it a better album or the greatest thrash record of all time. What matters is the music itself and therein lies my problem with considering this album a mind blowing masterpiece, which it is not. Read more ›› |
Rating:
9.0
9.0
Guest review by
Iced Iñigo
Iced Iñigo
Rating:
10
10
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Rating:
10 |
A classic between classics and the top of Metallica like a band. The album that made history, the cd of the cds, the best album of the best band. The album that any person who wants to know what is that world called Metal music needs to have, and listen to. From the intro of "Battery" to the last guitar riff of "Damage Inc." the cd is just perfect, incredible and all the adjectives you want. In this album Metallica composed the song of songs: "Master of Puppets", astonishing. 8 minutes 38 seconds of pure Metal. The virtuosity on composing of Metallica appears clearly in that song. In Master of Puppets [maybe influenced by Black Sabbath] some songs are really dark and paranoid like "The Thing that should not Be". A ballad is also included, which is called "Welcome Home [Sanitarium]" and Metallica still includes in this album an instrumental track: "Orion" [with an intense and melodically brute bass line, perfectly played and composed by bass-God Cliff Burton] Read more ›› |
Staff pick by
BitterCOld
Found in 256 lists
BitterCOld
Thrash
Mar 03
This Master of Bangers dropped 4 years ago today when Eddie Munson died fending off the evil bats of the Upside Down in Stranger Things Season 4... Er, wait, scratch that.
This Master of Bangers dropped 40 years ago today, refining and honing the formula developed by their landmark prior release.. From the lulling acoustic intro before Battery gives way to battering your eardrums through the fading seconds of Damage, Inc, this was one hell of a statement album. Ride The Lightning made some waves, but Master Of Puppets was a tsonic tsunami that even the more mainstream of metalheads listened and took note. Happy 40th.
This Master of Bangers dropped 40 years ago today, refining and honing the formula developed by their landmark prior release.. From the lulling acoustic intro before Battery gives way to battering your eardrums through the fading seconds of Damage, Inc, this was one hell of a statement album. Ride The Lightning made some waves, but Master Of Puppets was a tsonic tsunami that even the more mainstream of metalheads listened and took note. Happy 40th.
Top lists
Comments page 7 / 7
Comments:
205
Visited by
4387 users
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Posts: 1068  |
Posts: 1068 Written by Alakazam on 16.06.2022 at 17:36 You don't like Battery and Damage Inc? 
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Posts: 1218 Written by gavdann on 17.06.2022 at 11:50 Listening to Reign In Blood first out of the two messed them up for me. Battery has the intro and outro going for it that under-stays its welcome and even that track was played better by Dave Lombardo. Damage Inc has one nice interlude riff and that's it.
---- I may not have the largest collection but I certainly have the absolute best 
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Posts: 90  |
Posts: 90
Some thoughts: Fight Fire with Fire is a far better opener than Battery, being far more agressive and having more interesting riffs. I used to consider Battery their most over-rated 80s song because I find the main riff to be so generic and the vocals unconvincing, despite everything else about the song being great (the intro, the way it changes from acoustic to electric, the bridge, the awesome riff at the end), but the thing is, this is such a well written song, and that is the main strength of this record compared to other thrash classics. There are plenty thrash records that are better at thrash-metal than Master of Puppets (including Ride the Lightning and Justice), yet this is the at the same time one of the best records in rock music; the mistake is seeing it a thrash record, when really it's more like a metal record which rests on a thrash foundation. It might just be the best structured album in all modern music, with the exception of A Love Supreme from Coltrane. I would not consider the slower songs here as heavy-metal, because ironically they are too heavy. Like compared to the heaviest of heavy-metal, Black Sabbath, The Thing that Should not Be and Lepper Messiah are completely different. I would consider The Thing that Should not Be a strange case of rythmic doom and Lepper Messiah more like a sludge-metal song, I mean, it's closer to sludge than anything I heard from Mastodon. The Thing that Should not Be is an excellent song. It's not generic by any means, it's minmalistic in a way that perfectly compliments the progressive nature of the title track. It has the right kind of riffs that work with a minmalistic, repetitive structure. It's not a weakness of the album, but a strength. While there are other records better at trash-metal, this album might actually contain the best thrash-metal sonf of them all: Dispossable Heroes. That song is a monster.
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Posts: 194
The title track is LEGENDARY! "Battery" and "Damage, Inc." - cool, fun songs. A very good album, but gets a lot more attention and praise than it deserves.
---- Glory to the Nation!
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Posts: 20
This could be perfect if It didn't have The Thing Should Not Be. that song is extremely repetitive And some songs here feel a bit long like on Ride the Lightning.
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Posts: 49
I was already a Metallica fan for life by the time Master of Puppets came out.I already knew that they were destined to a great band that was going to be around for years to come. I gave Master of Puppets a 10. It's a perfect album. It gave birth to so many great Metallica songs that never get old. I listen to this album in it's entirety at least once a week. There's nothing bad to say about it.
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Posts: 847  |
Posts: 847
(Nearly) the same comment as on RtL. Extremly good album and IMHO together with RtL the best of Metallica. 9/10 because every song is very good to masterpiece but it has ONE instrumental (read my awkward RtL comment to get this). After this it went from good, to okay to s**t...
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Posts: 1068 Written by InfernalOverkill on 09.09.2025 at 00:01 Orion is utterly fabulous though. 
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Posts: 5659 Written by gavdann on 09.09.2025 at 10:17 Definitely, and one of my favorite Metallica songs.
---- I thought the two primary purposes for the internet were cat memes and overreactions.
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Posts: 6703 Quote:Quote:Written by John_Doe on 09.09.2025 at 10:25 "Orion" is actually my favorite song on this album, the title track following just behind.
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Posts: 5659 Quote:Quote:Written by AndyMetalFreak on 09.09.2025 at 11:48 Disposable Heroes is also great, another favorite of mine.
---- I thought the two primary purposes for the internet were cat memes and overreactions.
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Posts: 847 |
Posts: 847
Don´t get me wrong. It´s not like I am skipping those. All instrumentals on the old Metallica records are very good. It´s just that I´m always missing something in instrumentals (obviously) and therefor can´t give it a 100%.
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Listened thousands albums from all genres but nothing changed my mind - G.O.A.T.
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Posts: 1837
Aside from the very skippable Disposable Heroes and the very bad Leper Messiah, it’s a good album. In terms of their excessive proggy stuff id say …And Justice For All tops it tho.
---- Need a break from headbanging? Restore your street cred by visiting my hip-hop list! Tha Swagnum Opus: A Selection Of Hip-Hop For The Curious Metalhead
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Posts: 9581
Ride The Lightning gets my nod when it comes to Metallica.
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Overall, it's RTL all the way for me, but don't get me wrong, this album features what I'd consider two of their best songs, the title track and "Orion".
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Posts: 5659 Written by Samot on 14.11.2025 at 18:20 I disagree. 80s Metallica deserves all the appreciation and love they get. If there is an album of theirs i find overrated it's Death Magnetic.
---- I thought the two primary purposes for the internet were cat memes and overreactions.
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Posts: 1068 Written by No False Steele on 14.11.2025 at 19:40 
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Posts: 208
It didn't age a single day. Trash metal masterpiece 
---- 'The thoughts of dead babies Wiped away with my semen'
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Posts: 1837
Oh boy 40 years! Another excuse for me to spin Kill Em All again!
---- Need a break from headbanging? Restore your street cred by visiting my hip-hop list! Tha Swagnum Opus: A Selection Of Hip-Hop For The Curious Metalhead
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Posts: 1287  |
Posts: 1287
My personal Top 3 songs from the album: Master Of Puppets Battery Orion
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