Master of Puppets [Vinyl]

Standard vinyl package 1-470844 is a regular
weight 33-1/3 rpm vinyl disc in single pocket
Stoughton jacket with insert.
Hailed as a masterpiece
by critics far outside heavy metal s core audience, Master
Of Puppets sold over half a million copies at its time of
release without any major video/radio airplay, making it
the band s first record to be certified Gold by the RIAA. It
has since sold over six million copies in the U.S. alone. It
was the last album the band recorded with bass player
Cliff Burton before his death later that year. The album
has also frequently been tagged by critics as one of the
most influential heavy metal albums of all time.
Yet by bookending the album with two slices of thrash
mayhem ( Battery and Damage, Inc. ), the band reigns
triumphant through sheer force of sound, of will, of malice.
The arrangements are thick and muscular, and the material
varies enough in texture and tempo to hold interest through
all its twists and turns. Some critics have called Master Of
Puppets the best heavy metal album ever recorded; if it
isn t, it certainly comes close. (All Music Guide)

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 100 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. DCC's 24-karat-gold version of this title offers superior sound quality for a higher price than the standard-issue CD. --Genevieve Williams