Master of Puppets is Metallica’s third album. It might be the most influential Metal album of all time. It’s absolutely at the top tier of them anyway. I remember when it first came out, I absolutely loved it! It was the two first albums, Kill ‘em All and Ride the Lightening combined and with much better production. But that’s not really a fair comparison either. The two first albums leaned more toward Speed Metal and Master of Puppets is no doubt Thrash Metal. Maybe to the first album in that genre in Metal history, but certainly the most acclaimed by history.
I hindsight I’m not so lyrical about it anymore. There are a few songs that are outstanding and among the best song form Metallica ever. You know which ones I’m talking about right. There’s not denying that the opening track Battery is one of those defining moments, as is the title track Master of Puppets. The latter might be the best from the band – ever! There’s also one of my personal favorites of all time – Disposable Heroes! Oh! And there’s Damage Inc.!
But…you know it’s coming don’t you..? There are also songs on Master of Puppets the doesn’t come close to those giants. Not in my world anyway. I never really saw the hook and appeal of Welcome Home (Sanatarium) and even less so on Leper Messiah which I find really boring to be frank. I get the thing with the Instrumental Orion even if I don’t really like to listen to it that much. It does not have that “hook” och “hit quality” as the title track or Damage Inc. You could see it as a well composed classical piece though.
My guess is that Orion is mostly the product of Cliff Burton although both James Hetfiled and Lars Ulrich is credited as well. There’s a rumor, or a theory that that this is a song that has no beginning or end. It fades in and fades out and the part we’re hearing is the only part we’re allowed to hear, although it a forever ongoing piece of music.
The songwriter constants on Master of Puppets is of course Hetfield and Ulrich. They’re somewhat the songwriting duo and alpha leaders like Lennon/McCartney or Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley. No comparison of their abilities or success is made. Burton is credited on a few and I think his influence was major, and Kirk Hammet is also involved in the majority of the songs.
