Published on May 30, 2003
Brilliant.
I love the cheesy photo of James Hetfield playing the guitar
with teased hair on the CD inlay of this release. It always puts
this CD in perspective for me. When this release came out, Quiet
Riot was still popular. Poison had released
Look What The Cat Dragged In and Cinderella’s
Night Songs was popular. In the midst of all that, Metallica
released the standard by which thrash metal releases ought to be
judged. Megadeth’s
Rust in Peace and Anthrax’s
Among the Living are right up there in the pecking order,
but I give the edge to
Puppets. I love
Peace and
Living – – they are great releases, I mean no disrespect,
but Metallica perfected it with this release.
The acoustic guitar opening on “Battery” always has struck me as
a diversion. The first time I heard this, I thought, “Huh? I
thought these guys were heavy?” Then at the 37 second mark, the
electricity begins. By the 1:06 mark, when Hetfield introduces the
main riff, I’m sucked into this song. The lyrics blast away, my
favorite lyrics being:
Then the instrumental slower section starts. Ulrich nails his
patented quick snare fill and then guitarist Kirk Hammett is off to
the races until the 3:46 mark when the band launches a trademark
thrash interlude. Another Ulrich snare fill and my jaw is on the
floor.
In my opinion, Metallica doesn’t get better than “Master of
Puppets.” Hetfield’s lyrics are cryptic but give the listener clues
what they are about, “chop your breakfast on a mirror” being the
most obvious. This song has never lost its edge. It’s one of those
songs that you can hear something new in each time you hear it. A
masterpiece.
What better way to drag the listener by the gonads than to
follow the blistering title track with a slower, more
groove-oriented track like “The Thing That Should Not Be.” I have
no idea what Hetfield is singing about. I defer to the other great
minds on the internet for what this song might be.
If you put “Metallica Lyric Theories” in google.com, the first
hit is the Insanity Palace of Metallica (IPOM), a great website. If
you look for theories about “The Thing That Should Not Be,” you end
up
here, where
you can read a lot of interesting theories. My favorite, on this
page, is this theory:
A few tracks later, the war-themed “Disposable Heroes,” (with
the chilling lyrics “You will do what I say, when I say” followed
later by the lyrics “I was born for dying.”) continues the
intensity of this release. The intensity of the band is amazing,
playing aggressively for over eight minutes.
The final two songs, the instrumental “Orion” and “Damage Inc.”
are two of my favorite songs of all time. “Orion” fades in with
Ulrich playing a solid backbeat. The interlude slower section of
this song is sends chills down my spine. Following that opus,
Metallica heads to the climax of this release: “Damage Inc.”
doesn’t make it into the band’s set list any more. That’s too bad.
The song is a template for the perfect thrash song. The interesting
guitars, including Hammett’s frantic guitar solo, Ulrich’s
amazingly fast drumming, and Hetfield’s potent lyrics: “We chew and
spit you out / We laugh, you scream and shout / All flee with fear
you run / You’ll know just where we come from.”
And then, just like the snap of a finger, this release is over.
I press “Play” to restart the cycle.