Metallica had a bit of an issue when it came to following up their sophomore album “Ride the Lightning”. And it was simply this. The band had done such a remarkable effort of stepping up their game compared to their debut album “Kill ‘em All”, that to do anything less than stretch that brilliance once again would have created a vacuum so large that they may never have been able to escape from it. And I think I can say that with confidence when looking back over what occurred. That massive maturing of the band’s music and playing and singing on “Ride the Lightning” had already put light years between themselves and the other thrash metal bands that were actively pursuing them at the time. “Kill ‘em All” had been a terrific debut full of the thrash the band had become known for, but then they released “Ride the Lightning”, and the world changed, theirs and ours. For goodness sakes, lets shovel “Fight Fire with Fire” and the title track and “Trapped Under Ice” and “Creeping Death” into the steam engine and watch it explode with speed from the output. But where the hell do “Fade to Black” and “The Call of Ktulu” come from?! Those two tracks on their own set the band apart from what the other thrash bands were putting out, and combined with the rest of the album it made Metallica the band suddenly setting the agenda. This was wonderful for their profile and for their fans. The band played the Monsters of Rock festival at Donington, and toured the US and Europe on the back of their burgeoning success.
Now though – how do you follow that up? They had created something special with “Ride the Lightning”, and album that set them as the benchmark for the thrash bands they had come up with, and the ones that would follow. To create an album that was of a similar style and standard would have been an ideal situation for most bands in their situation. And sure, if that was what they created, the band would still have been on an upward trend no doubt with sales and popularity. But would they have become the band they eventually became if that was what they had offered up? No. What Metallica had to do was to find yet another level of unparalleled excellence, one from which they could solidify another pedestal to be climbed.
The album began as a product of writing sessions between James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich before the band’s other two members, Kirk Hammett and Cliff Burton, were brought in to begin to flesh them out. According to interviews with the band members of the years, assorted guitar riffs would be assembled and reassembled into song-like structures, before being fleshed out. The band would then come up with a subject matter for the song along with a title, after which Hetfield would write the lyrics to correspond to that. The band then moved to Sweet Silence Studios in Copenhagen to record again with producer Flemming Rasmussen. The band brought advanced demos of all of the songs noted for the album apart from “Orion” and “The Thing That Should Not Be” which had further work to be done. The band spent three months in the studio perfecting their album, working under the assumption at the time that it would just be another record. Little did they know that they were working on an album that was anything BUT just another record. It became the album that would influence almost everything that came after it in one way shape or form. It became one of the biggest selling albums of all time. It simply became “Master of Puppets”.
In the same way that the band’s previous album brought you into the album unaware of what was about to happen, so too does this one with the opening track. "Battery" is a monster of an album opener, lulling you in as it does with its clear guitar, almost classical in its performance, before the single drum beat and riff burst the song out of its malaise, before the flay into the frenzied start of the song proper. From this moment, the thoughts about whether or not Metallica could step it up again and go to that next level in both maturity and retaining the thrash that they started out with are answered. Because what an opening this is, the speed is at thrash level quantities, and the anger and fury that comes not only from the instruments but from Hetfield's vocals raging his own lyrics is outstanding. Even the breakdown in the middle of the track, perhaps to give everyone a chance to regather themselves after the opening onslaught, is heavier than most bands best days, and then the climb back into the fire and the charge to the end of the track. There have been some incredible amazing opening tracks on albums – this band had one of them on their previous album, and would do so with their next album as well – but this is hard to top. I'll never forget from my final school year the number of times you could sneak this album onto the stereo at a party or on a bus trip, and people would comment on how lovely the opening bit is, and then start screaming for the album to be replaced the moment the song cut in to its heart. One of the greats.
And then... well. A masterpiece. No pun intended. "Master of Puppets" is arguably the finest heavy metal song ever composed and performed. Everyone knows the start of the track, indeed can’t help but mimic it as it occurs - ‘bah. Bah-bah-baaaaahh'. Every part of this track is a crafted work of art. Lyrically and vocally, it not only hard hitting in its portrayal of the drug addict and how it becomes your master, the ruler of everything you do, but is so beautifully expressed and painted by Hetfield’s words, it becomes impossible to not sing along with every word. They are pointed, they are framed perfectly, all of which makes it so singable. And then the breakdown in the middle again is so fabulous, it gives Hetfield and Hammett and Burton the opportunity to express their abilities not just in hard riffing metal styles but in other tones, something of course that they have proven before. And then the returning chant of “Master... master”... that mirrors that from “Creeping Death” on the previous album, before dropping into the speed raging solo from Kirk that explodes out of the blocks and takes us into the back half of the song and final verse and chorus, still speeding along (no pun intended) to the crushing conclusion, where we are finally met with the maniacal laughter from James to fade out the song. “Master of Puppets” immediately caught my attention and imagination when I first heard it, and along with "Fade to Black" was the first song to draw me into the Metallica fold. Why? Probably the fact that Metallica could mix this brilliant high energy fast guitar and drum aggression with the amazing clear melodic guitars that make the middle break of this song and so much of "Fade to Black" from the previous album - and all without tarnishing the quality or the integrity of the song. This track has everything, and I will still sing every damn word at the top of my voice with the correct amount of aggression every single time it comes on.
That beautiful moody, spine tingling quiet and foreboding opening guitar strum signals the beginning of the next amazing track. "The Thing That Should Not Be" is a different animal entirely from the opening two tracks. A rumbling, creeping bass line and guitar riff sludges along with Lars' mid-tempo drum work to create an unbelievably atmospheric song. I especially love Lars’s drumming in this song. The off beats and the rolls around his kit are perfectly positioned and timed to help draw the mood throughout. James’s lyrics in this song are again dark and drawn, and the way he changes his tone throughout is a major part of the brilliance of this song. It isn’t all in one emotional tone, he moves between them depending on the feel of the lyrics. The expression towards the end when he sings “Drain you of your sanity, face the thing that should not be!” is intensely fabulous. If it is possible for a Metallica song to be underrated, this is one of them. And then following on from this, to close out the first side of the album, is another classic in "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)". It is one where Metallica broke the mould on song composition. Again! Once more, it has elements that set it apart from your everyday run-o-the-mill heavy metal song, without losing the roots of what they created. The intro to the song in many ways, it defines how Metallica (at this point in their career) stood apart from all other metal bands. The moody opening again that creates a building atmosphere around the topic of the song itself, of the protagonist trapped in his asylum, and trapped in his own paranoia and growing insanity. And the music along with James’s vocals move in waves that mirror the changing moods and hysteria of the song and its subject. The increase in the anger and tone as James approaches the pre-chorus and into “Sanitarium! Leave me be – just leave me alone”, and the way the vocals and music sway from rage and back to a plea to just leave me alone. All of that is so cleverly intertwined through the song that it is sometimes easy to miss how important it is to bringing the emotional depth to the track. A killer way to finish side one. And with that start, there is no way they could back it up on side two. Is there?
"Disposable Heroes" opens side two of the album in a panicked frenzy, bringing out the best in brilliant riffage, supersonic drums and anguished, angry vocals. It’s another building track, this time with that heavy fast riffing to take us into James’s vocals. And the way that the music again rises with the greater feeling that calls from his vocal cries, the riffing becomes more frantic to mirror the growing anguish of the lyrics, until you reach the chorus that is spat out with venom. The war cry of "BACK TO THE FRONT!" And “You will do what I say when I say”, “You will die when I say you must die”, “You coward, you servant, you blind man”. And especially of course "I WAS BORN FOR DYIIIIIIING!" It is spine chilling stuff, and still brings goosebumps whenever I listen to the album. There's nothing much left unsaid here. It is powerful and moving and freaking heavy as fuck. And if that wasn’t enough, if that wasn’t confronting enough, if that wasn’t rhetorically bombastic enough, then let's head into "Leper Messiah", because again this doesn't leave anything to the imagination on the subject matter of the song. The off time of the opening riff and drum combination that then sticks into the hard core two-four timing seems simple but is so effective in crashing into the start of the lyrics, bringing the attitude and dripping discourse with it. There’s no working into this track, the disdain is immediate, the emotional outpouring from James is mirrored in the lyrics - “Spineless from the start, sucked into the part”. Heavy hitting lyrics, that bash you with the horrors of the televangelists of the era, not missing a beat as James hammers home the debauchery of it all. And then the song moves into overdrive, the speed increases, Lars’s double kick moves into overdrive, and Kirk belts out another solo for the ages, before we power back to the standard timing to complete another piece of the “Master of Puppets” puzzle.
Then comes "Orion", the instrumental of the album, and it almost steals the show. The fade in of the bass is guttural, the rhythm section of bass and drums brings us back into focus before the guitar riff hits, and we are away! This is truly an amazing piece of music, the ebb and flow throughout is mesmerising, the song building and flowing all the way through, changing its mood as it does, and utilising every member's talent in the process. Cliff Burton's sensational bass playing is the crux of the song, that bass riff underneath throughout, and is the mainstay through the initial breakdown in the middle of the track. It is the star attraction of the song without a doubt. James and Kirk's guitars are fabulous, especially mournful through the middle section, before breaking out into the solo section that follows that takes us out to the conclusion of the song in headbanging style, while Lars' drumming holds everything together for the entirety of the track. “Orion” is a magnificent not only on this album but in Metallica’s career.
With everything that comes before it, there is little chance that the final song on the album will be able to match it and complete this album the way it deserves to be, is there? Well. "Damage Inc." isn't most songs. Indeed, it concludes the album with brutality, speed and power, reminiscent of the band's earliest work, and yet with a maturity and focused brilliance that is difficult to surpass. There's no time to breathe through this track, with Lars ripping through drum rolls as the others blaze along on their guitars with ridiculous triplet picking. James is at us from the outset, with “Dealing out the agony within, charging hard but no one’s going to give in”. This is heavy and fast thrash of the highest order. Even when it halts a little into the bridge, the riffing doesn’t, in fact it gets even more frantic in a confined space, with James about to explain himself in a more settled way, “We chew and spit you out, we laugh you scream and shout, all flee with fear you run, You’ll know just were we come from (Damage Incorporated)”... and then fuck me we come to the fastest soloing of the album, as Kirk throws all the toys out of the cot and drives the song back to the most amazing speed thrash metal you could imagine. Sure the other songs here reek of a maturity of the speed and thrash metal roots from which the band emerged, but it's pretty much thrown overboard here as they shred their way through the final five and a half minutes of the album, just to remind everyone that they can still do it. And then it is over. And you are so charged up, so mentally and emotionally driven to the edge of sanity, that you have to turn the album over and start again from the very beginning.
Lyrically, there have been few albums that have been so coherently and explicitly and expressively belligerent as “Master of Puppets”. Hetfield's lyrics paint portraits here that are impossible not to see in full Technicolour vision. In the good old days of vinyl, which we are pleasingly returning to, when you could open the gatefold or pull out the insert, put the record on the turntable, and sit cross legged on the floor and read and memorise all of the lyrics on the album, I would at times not necessarily take in the full power of the lyrics, but just make sure I knew every word to sing along to. But on “Master of Puppets” it is impossible to steer away from the stories being told by the amazing invective thrust upon you. Even just taking a few lines from each song is not enough to give the full picture, but it is a start.
"Lashing out the action, returning the reaction, weak are ripped and torn away"
"Pain monopoly, ritual misery, chop your breakfast on a mirror"
"Messenger of fear in sight, dark deception kills the light"
"Whisper things into my brain, assuring me that I'm insane"
"Barking of machine gun fire does nothing to me now, Sounding of the clock that ticks, get used to it somehow"
"Marvel at his tricks, need your Sunday fix, blind devotion came, rotting your brain"
"Fuck it all and fucking no regrets, never happy endings only dark threats"
The band is at the peak of their theoretical powers here. Not only that, but Hetfield's vocals also are the finest on this album than any other - they have matured from the high pierced screams from the first albums, and have not devolved into the lower register he was forced to take once he blew out his vocal chords on later albums. This is where they are at their best, and it falls in with everything else this album provides.
I had returned to school for the start of Year 12, on one of the first days of February 1987. About 16 months earlier I had begun my quest towards discovering the love of heavy metal music. On this particular day, we were discussing what we had all done on our summer holidays, when one of our number said he had heard of this band called Metallica, and had read good things of them. Another of our group concurred that he had heard similar things, and that we should try and get some of their music. It was then that the first informant did a deal with his accomplice, suggesting that if one of them went out and bought an album called “Ride the Lightning” that he would go out and buy the album entitled “Master of Puppets”. And so it was agreed. That morning conversation, sitting on plastic school chairs gathered in a circle underneath the trees in a corner of the seniors common area, is still crystal clear in my brain. I can still see and hear it all now. Within the week, through the magic of two people each buying a vinyl album and the rest of us throwing blank cassettes at them to record them for us, we all had these albums, and a life long love affair with two brilliant albums had begun.
How do you properly review an album that isn't just one of my favourite releases of all time, but is as much a part of who I am and who I have become over the years? Music takes on different roles for different people. Many people just like music and enjoy it when they listen to it. It means more to me than that. I would go so far as to proclaim that “Master of Puppets” changed my life. It allowed me to accept that I was an awkward teenage geeky nerd and that that was okay, which allowed me to accept as I grew to be an awkward twenty-something geeky nerd to slightly awkward forty-something husband-father geeky nerd, to the much older awkward geeky nerd I am today. It became an album that I could listen to no matter what mood I was in, and it would almost instantly transform me. If I was down, it brought me back to equilibrium. If I was joyous, it accentuated that even further.
I have lived and breathed, headbanged and moshed, air guitared and air drummed, and air-raid siren sung this album for almost 40 years now, and it never gets tired and it never gets old. It formed a major part of my final school years, my short-lived university years, my work life, my marriage and my family life. The band I was once a part of played four of these eight songs, and probably would have played all of them if we'd been together longer. Whenever my small circle of lifelong friends comes together, this album ALWAYS gets played. Always. It brings out some of the best moments of my life, because it always seemed to be played at those moments.
It goes without saying that I have been playing this album again this week. It is not an unusual occurrence. Some albums always get played at some stage of every year and this is one of them. But this past week I have been playing it often, and playing it loud. I have once again sung every word, air guitared every riff, air drummed every Lars Ulrich drum set. I never stop being amazed at what I hear, what this band produced on this album, WITH this album. It never gets old. It might sound a little like I’m fanboying a bit, but we all have albums like that. And honestly, if you don’t see and hear the outstanding qualities of this album, I’m really not sure why you are listening to this podcast.
This remains for me one of the finest three albums ever written and recorded. It is an all time classic and an absolute masterpiece.
1 comment:
Wow. How can I not go and buy Master of Puppets after that recommendation. I will have a copy by this afternoon.
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