MY CD RACK: Metallica - Master Of Puppets [1986]

Genre: Thrash Metal

My opinion & thought: In my opinion, this is the best Metallica's album. They are the true Thrash Metal champion, the metal music era's leader of the 80s. With classical musical arrangement elements mix into the heavy metal music, makes it became a classic & succeeded in the mainstream music scene.

Stands out track(s): Master Of Puppets, Welcome Home (Sanitarium)

Master of Puppets is the third studio album by American heavy metal band Metallica. The album was recorded in 1985 and released by Elektra Records on March 3,1986 in North America.

Now widely considered a classic of thrash metal, the album proved to be a modest commercial success upon its release by reaching #29 on the U.S. Billboard 200, making it the very first thrash metal album to crack the Top 40. With the band's rising popularity from the release of Metallica, awareness of the album has increased, and according to the RIAA, it has sold over six million copies in the U.S. alone. It was the last album the band recorded with bass player Cliff Burton, who died in a tour bus crash six months after it was released.

Tracklisting:

#	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Battery"	James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich	5:13
2.	"Master of Puppets"	Hetfield, Ulrich, Cliff Burton, Kirk Hammett	8:36
3.	"The Thing That Should Not Be"	Hetfield, Ulrich, Hammett	6:37
4.	"Welcome Home (Sanitarium)"	Hetfield, Ulrich, Hammett	6:28
5.	"Disposable Heroes"	Hetfield, Ulrich, Hammett	8:17
6.	"Leper Messiah"	Hetfield, Ulrich	5:41
7.	"Orion"	Hetfield, Ulrich, Burton	8:28
8.	"Damage, Inc."	Hetfield, Ulrich, Burton, Hammett	5:30

Reception:

Upon its release, Master of Puppets was immediately commercially successful, selling 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.

According to Allmusic's Steve Huey, Master of Puppets "was the band's greatest achievement." "Some critics have called Master of Puppets the best heavy metal album ever recorded", Huey noted. Master of Puppets has featured on several "greatest albums of all time" lists. The album is present in a list dubbed "The All-TIME 100 Albums" and published by TIME magazine in November 2006. In TIME critic Josh Tyrangiel's opinion, "Metallica didn't bother with hooks or pop discipline" in writing Master of Puppets. Metal Rules rated the album as being number one in a list of the "Top 100 Heavy Metal Albums" published in September 2003, whereas IGN also rated the album as being at first position in a list of the "Top 25 Metal Albums" issued in January 2007. It is included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, and Q magazine counted it among the 50 heaviest albums of all time. In 2003, the album was ranked number 167 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.