Album Reference File
----------------------

mbAlbumId: fed37cfc-2a6d-4569-9ac0-501a7c7598eb
mbReleaseGroupId: 3d00fb45-f8ab-3436-a8e1-b4bfc4d66913
allMusicId: mw0000667490
title: Master of Puppets
artist: Metallica
genres: (N<6)
  - Rock
  - Pop
  - Folk, World, & Country
styles: (N=1)
  - Chanson
moods: (N>40)
  - Aggressive
  - Angry
  - Boisterous
  - Brash
  - Energetic
  - ... and >30 more
releaseDate: 1986-03-03
label: Elektra
rating: 0
review:
    Master of Puppets Review by Steve Huey 
Even though Master of Puppets didn't tak
    e as gigantic a leap forward as Ride the Lightning, it was the band's greatest a
    chievement, hailed as a masterpiece by critics far outside heavy metal's core au
    dience. It was also a substantial hit, reaching the Top 30 and selling three mil
    lion copies despite absolutely nonexistent airplay. Instead of a radical reinven
    tion, Master of Puppets is a refinement of past innovations. In fact, it's possi
    ble to compare Ride the Lightning and Master of Puppets song for song and note s
    triking similarities between corresponding track positions on each record (altho
    ugh Lightning's closing instrumental has been bumped up to next-to-last in Maste
    r's running order). That hint of conservatism is really the only conceivable fla
    w here. Though it isn't as startling as Ride the Lightning, Master of Puppets fe
    els more unified, both thematically and musically. Everything about it feels blo
    wn up to epic proportions (indeed, the songs are much longer on average), and th
    e band feels more in control of its direction. You'd never know it by the lyrics
    , though -- in one way or another, nearly every song on Master of Puppets deals 
    with the fear of powerlessness. Sometimes they're about hypocritical authority (
    military and religious leaders), sometimes primal, uncontrollable human urges (d
    rugs, insanity, rage), and, in true H.P. Lovecraft fashion, sometimes monsters. 
    Yet by bookending the album with two slices of thrash mayhem ("Battery" and "Dam
    age, Inc."), the band reigns triumphant through sheer force -- of sound, of will
    , of malice. The arrangements are thick and muscular, and the material varies en
    ough in texture and tempo to hold interest through all its twists and turns. Som
    e critics have called Master of Puppets the best heavy metal album ever recorded
    ; if it isn't, it certainly comes close. [In 2017 the band released a massive ex
    panded edition of the album with a variety of physical package options, the most
     ambitious of which was an exhaustive box set that included a hardcover book, ou
    ttakes and previously unreleased interviews, three LPs, ten CDs, a cassette, two
     DVDs, a lithograph, a folder with handwritten lyrics, and a set of six buttons.
    ]
year: 2008
