Review of Metallica’s Master of Puppets – Dust It Off!

I know what you are thinking. Brian, how can you possibly have a Metallica CD just sitting on your shelf collecting dust and not being played? I have an answer for that, I have hundreds of CD’s. Usually I grab a couple of random CD’s each week to play in my car but I’ve been on a Metallica kick recently with the news of their new CD coming out on September 12, 2008 titled Death Magnetic. So I decided to Dust One Off and give a listen to Master of Puppets.

The very first time I heard of Metallica, I’m embarrassed to say, was on the way to an Ozzy Osbourne show on the Ultimate Sin Tour. The opening band was Metallica. My friend Bill who rode to the show with me popped the cassette tape in (yes that’s right, I’m old) and started to crank it up. A little harder than I was used to, but I liked it. I didn’t know how much I liked it until I saw them live. That night Metallica opened with the first song on the album, “Battery” and blew me away. It didn’t take me long after this concert to purchase my own copy and proceed to wear it out. (Cassette tapes will wear out)

Well I now have it on CD and when you pop it in, the first track “Battery” sets the tone perfectly for the album. It reaches out and grabs you by the throat! After you hear this first song you have to be asking yourself, “Do I have the balls to move on to track number two?” You’re already worn out from head banging and rockin out to the first song, but we press on with “Master of Puppets” which starts out really fast, then slows down and features a blistering guitar solo by none other than Kirk Hammit. Track number three is just plain hard and heavy. How can it not be with a title like “The Thing That Should Not Be” , it just sounds metal.

Track four “Sanitarium” sounds just like the title, I would call it creepy. Starts out slow and finishes very strong. Some bands like Limp Bizkit have covered it but as the saying goes, often imitated but never duplicated! Tracks five and six “Disposable Hereos” and “Leper Messiah”, get back into some serious rockin. A lot of albums tend to dwindle off after the fourth or fifth tracks (which are usually the hits) but this album holds on with the songs making you want more!

“Orion” is the next song and it is an instrumental. I’m not real fond of instrumentals but this has some great guitar work and helps you take a breather from all the head bangin you’ve done so far. Just when you think you’ve had enough, watch out. “Damage Inc” is the last track on the album so hold on to your seats, it’s really fast!

The bottom line is “Master of Puppets” in my opinion, cemented a place for Metallica in hard rock history. If this CD is sitting on your shelf, please do yourself a favor and “Dust It Off”, but make sure you do some warm-up exercises for your neck. You will thank me in the morning.

Pre-order your copy of “Death Magnetic” today through Amazon!

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[tags]Metallica, Review of Master of Puppets[/tags]