If Metallica MasteMaster of Puppets is the third studio album by American thrash metal band Metallica. The album was recorded in 1985[2] and released by Elektra Records on March 26, 1986[1] in North America.
The album proved to be a modest commercial success upon its release, reaching number twenty-nine on the U.S. Billboard 200. However, with the band's increasing popularity from the release of ...And Justice for All, awareness of the album has increased, and according to the RIAA, it has sold over six million copies in the U.S. alone. It was the last album the band recorded with bass player Cliff Burton, who was killed in a tour bus crash six months after it was released. Of Puppets
One of the defining albums of thrash metal, Master of Puppets is arguably Metallica's best album (as well as their last with bassist Cliff Burton). Focusing on the concept of power and abuses thereof, this is a collection of complex, intelligent music, played at about a hundred miles an hour. Not that these are short songs; this eight-song album clocks in at over an hour, which makes it all the more impressive that not one moment on this recording is boring. In tackling various approaches to their subject, Metallica is insightful lyrically as well as musically: "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)" is from the point of view of an institutionalized inmate and "Disposable Heroes" is the perspective of a soldier. If all you've heard of Metallica is what's been on the radio recently, check this one out. You're in for a surprise.
--Genevieve Williams
