While RTL is an awesome album, Master Of Puppets (for me anyway) is just a bit better. It's a more interesting album musically and the lyrics are definitely better. The album is very cohesive thematically and is just awesome from begining to end. I just don't find any real low points in this record at all.

Even though I've listened to this album countless times over the years, I just don't ever seem to tire of it.

Master is THE perfect album!!!!! Every song is GREAT!!!!! It took thrash/speed metal and added elements of progressive rock and took Metal to new heights. This was a day one purchase for me - as soon as school let out, I was up to Kemp Mill Records to pick up Master on Cassette. And it's been a repeat play to thsi day!!!! Probably my favorite Metallica CD.

Master is good, but I also think that it might be the most overrated album in the history of heavy metal. I guess I don't like the new found pseudo-progressiveness of most of the songs. I listen to Metallica to hear thrash. If I want prog-metal, I'll listen to prog-metal! Still, I like MOP a lot. "Leper Messiah", "The Thing That Should Not Be", and the title track are all classic Metallica.

[quote="Schbopo"] I also think that it might be the most overrated album in the history of heavy metal.

.

With Metallica, I never got too much into them and always thought they were kind of boring/mediocre compared to alot of thrash bands but theor first few Ive always been able to pull away some good thrash I like, before the went into wanking prog.

Kill Em All is my favorite (next to the Creeping Death EP), great raw thrash debut with some great songs on it like Jump In The Fire, Seek and Destroy, Phantom Lord and Whiplash.

RTL is actually what I believe to be their quintessential release mixing both what they would become on their next few albums and what they were perfectly, plus it has Fight Fire With Fire and Creeping Death, nuff said.

MOP is the most overrated album in metal, the majority of it is just wankingly long managing to go every bit of nowhere in a span of almost 6 minutes (or more a piece). If you ever wondered what it sounded like to masterbate with an instrument, just give this one a spin. That said though, Leper Messiah and Disposable Heroes are a couple good take away tracks

Oddly enough I didn't get into Metallica until Load came out, as far as early Metallica I listen to a lot of old demos with Dave Mustaine. I agree with you DC on what you said.

MASTER OF PUPPETS -- that was a biggie! I remember reading an article on the band in "Circus" magazine about a month before the album's release (possibly the first such feature they had in that mag) where I learned of the album's title and street date. I counted the days till that thing hit the streets, I squirreled away my school lunch money for a week or two so I'd be able to buy a first-day-of-release copy. It was probably the first time I did that.

Once I got the album home, I was not disappointed. That album kicked my ass around the block, and it still does every time I play it. From the opening salvo of "Battery" to the closing crush of "Damage Inc.," this is as close to Metal Heaven as you can get.

M.O.P. also belongs to a select group of albums that I have owned in all three major formats (LP, cassette, and CD) over the years. I played my cassette so much that I burnt it up, bought a vinyl copy to replace that, and finally when I got a CD player in the early 90s it was one of my first CD purchases.

One painful memory involving this album is that when Metallica came thru our area in mid-86 opening for Ozzy's ULTIMATE SIN tour, my parents wouldn't allow my brother and I to go, so we spent that night in our basement rec room, blasting our Metallica tapes and wallowing in misery. (I remember one of us looking at our watch and saying "dude, they're probably going on stage right now... DAMMIT!" Haha.) It was even worse going to school that Monday and seeing all the kids walking around with brand spankin new Metallica t-shirts they'd gotten at the show. My bro and I were like "How dare they? Metallica is OUR band!"

So I never did get to see them live w/Cliff Burton, sadly. But fortunately the music lives on forever.

Master Of Puppets I think has to be the top Metallica album. Even though some people dont like the songs Leper Messiah or The Thing That Should Not Be, I think those songs are great and fit perfectly on this album. This is something you just put on and listen all the way straight through. Disposable Heros is my favorite Metallica song ever! Orion is another favorite even though its an instrumental it somehow feels like it has words. Theres a lot of emotion within the music itself. Damage inc. will just rip your face off. Great album!

Liked "Master of Puppets" more back then.

Even though I loved Metallica and considered myself a thrash-head by the time this was released, I hadnt yet started to spend alot of money on thrash yet, just a few here and there. I played this for my friend who I had introduced to Metallica a year earlier and by now he was insanely hooked on thrash. I just started making pretty good cash for an 18 year old and soon him and I spent the summer of 1986 stock-piling LP after LP of literallly ANY thrash we could get our hands on. Sure I couldve spent my money more wisely but at 18, this was all I was Into........METAL!!!I was into all the thrash back then, and even though they werent as fast as alot of bands (especially the german thrashers), the power and heaviness and Hetfield's energy was unbelievable.

I went to Seattle ,Washington that summer and I saw Judas Priest in Tacoma. Before the concert they were playing warm-up metal like Ozzy, Scorpions, etc... and when they played Master Of Puppets, the place went wild like the show had begun. This was pre-concert warm-up!! wow!!! Everyone I talked to down there was bitten by the Metallica bug and the only cure was more MoP. That's when I knew they were huge, but not too huge, more like underground huge.

Anyway, the album still continues to amaze me, then and now.

'Master of Puppets' is my favorite Metallica album, I love every track on this album and til this day it remains a favorite metal release.

I find this album to be almost flawless from the opening track 'Battery' to the closing track ' Damage Inc.' I just thought was a perfect album.

Kirk Hammets solos were fantastic, the band did not compromise their integrity by going a commercial route and more importantly did not forget to bring tunes to the party.

James Hetifield at this point has become a very compelling frontman and his lyrics are very good, and the subject matter has improved and matured.

Cliff Burton, an incredible bassist and also very creative force in the band, and Lars who never sounded so good or powerful on any of the previous albums out does himself.

I also loved the time changes on the album and this album remains a special album in my memory and my life.

I bought Master Of Puppets on the day of release, was waiting impatiently for the store manager to unpack the box so I could buy it...then I broke quite a few traffic laws getting back to the house to throw it on the turntable.

It definitely got quite a bit of rotation. From the very first time I listened to the album I realized that I was a much bigger fan of Side Two. My favorite track then (and now) is Disposable Heroes, think it's one of the most impressive arrangements Metallica put together. Leper Messiah of course is classic. Orion was a pleasant surprise, the mid-section of that song is gorgeous. And Damage Inc. was a great way to end the record. I bet I've listened to side two quite a bit more than side one over the years.

Side one doesn't thrill me so much anymore. Battery was a bit of a letdown after "Fight Fire With Fire", I wanted something that insane again. In fact the title track is really the only song I absolutely "love" on this side. I find The Thing That Should Not Be to be incredibly dull...just didn't quite nail the style. Sanitarium is an okay tune...but it pales in comparison to Fade To Black. I wasn't as critical of the album back in 1986, but it seems that the older I get the more this album shrinks in status...however I've never gotten tired of Ride The Lightning.

After the one-two punch of Kill 'Em All & Ride The Lightning it would have taken quite a feat to top those records. I know many people feel that MOP does that...but I can't subscribe to that view.

Master Of Puppets singles

Master Of Puppets - Single



Track Listing

Side A
Master Of Puppets

Side B
Welcome Home (Sanitarium)

This was the first single released for the album. It deals with drug addiction.


Battery - Single

This was the second single released from the album. It deals with someone releasing their anger.

Welcome Home (Sanitarium) - Single



This was the last single for the album. The song is based on the book/movie "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest," discussing the darker side of metal hospitals and the abuse the patients receive.

Metallica - Cliff 'Em All


As a tribute to their former and dearly loved bandmate, Metallica released Cliff 'Em All. Cliff 'Em All was a video release of early shows of the Burton-era Metallica. It consisted of bootlegged concerts ranging from early 1983 to late 1986. It is an awesome look at the bands' undisputed high point. A point of time, that sadly, didn't last as long as it should have.

My rating:
9/10

CLIFF'EM ALL is a great video. I bought it as a new release back in '87 and watched it literally hundreds of times. (I still have my old VHS copy and amazingly it's in remarkably good shape -- they built'em to last back then! Haha). I never got to see the Cliff Burton lineup of the band live (to my eternal regret) but at least I can live vicariously through these tapes recorded by "sneaky Metallifux" (as the band referred to them on the back of the video box).

'Cliff 'Em All' excellent release and like Freddy still have my VHS version will have to upgrade this to DVD one day.

Awesome video. I remember when I first saw that I learned about a whole bunch of stuff about Metallica I never knew about.

I'm a little bit behind on this discussion, but I definitely wanted to chime in.

In the fall of 1985 my listening habits were devoted to the likes of Judas Priest, RATT, Motley Crue, Def Leppard, KISS, Ozzy Osbourne, AC/DC & various pop groups. I owe much of my "Metal" upbringings to the high school tennis team that I played on. That's right, the HIGH SCHOOL TENNIS TEAM! The only thing that made those away matches interesting were the copious amounts of heavy music blasting out of one of the various ghetto blasters (Circa 1980's term for boombox) . Looking back on those trips, it's kind of amazing that our coach let this top 10 state ranked team have our moments of distraction before our matches. Then again, those privileges were revoked on the way home, had we lost any of those matches.

One of my best friends on the team, Chris Kinsey (who I also share a birthday with) was one of my earliest sources when it came to finding out about anything metal. One weekend he brought home an album that would redefine the genre (IMO). That album was none other than "Ride The Lightning" . Fast forward to 1987....

Kill 'Em All: It actually took me a while to listen to Metallica's debut album, and I can't explain the reason for that. Perhaps it was the alarming album cover? Regardless of the fact, I lower my head in shame for what can only be considered my heavy metal faux paus of that decade. When I finally found the gumption to pick up this masterpiece, I was still in full blown tape mode. I never was a vinyl guy, and well, I didn't have enough money as a teenager to purchase those expensive C.D's. I was lucky enough to actually find a version of the album under the "Megaforce" label, though I know I wasn't able to appreciate that moment of Metallica history back then.

"Ride The Lightning" and "Master of Puppet" were on such a high pedestal back then for me, I wasn't sure that "Kill 'Em All" had a chance to surpass either album. The first thing I remembered was how low Jame's voice was. I would like to say that it took me a little bit of time to adjust to his vocals, but that's not what got me into the band in the first place. I remember not really digging "Hit The Lights' for the first time, but then being totally blown away by "The Four Horsemen". Certainly I appreciate "Hit The Lights" much more now, but just maybe that's what set's apart the first two songs? "Hit The Lights" is a balls to the wall tune that is relentless, whereas I always felt that "The Four Horsemen" was a song, inside of a song, etc...Kind of like the guy behing the guy, behing the guy (for you Swingers fans). In other words, as special as "Hit the Lights" is, I think it pales in comparison to "The Four Horsemen", which can't be said about the first two tracks on Metallica's next two albums (which feed off each other).

Though, Ive always liked tunes like "Motorbreath" and "Jump In the Fire", I thought the album didn't really start to gel until you got to Cliff's wonderful opus, "Anesthsia Pulling Teeth". It wasn't a track that I gravitated to early on, but the more I understood of Cliff's importance to the band, the more special that song became. "Whiplash" was always one of my favs, and the love for that song grew, when "Cliff 'Em All" came out, as my fascination grew regarding the Dave Mustaine days (his lone moment on that video), and his influence within the band. In fact "Cliff 'Em All" was the beginning of my obsession with the band. I had heard them for the last two years via speakers, and now I finally had the good fortunes of seeing the visual. Needless to say, they had me at hello, or should I say, "Adrenaline starts to flow...." (you know the rest).

"Phantom Lord" was another tune that I didn't gravitate towards right away, though I love it all these years later. "No Remorse" was a tune I liked, yet it's interest was bolstered after seeing it performed on "Cliff 'Em All" as well. Next comes "Seek & Destroy". There really is nothing much to say, other than stating how anthemic this song has been for the band over the years. Brilliant song, with absolutely brilliant lead work by Kirk. The solo is easily my favorite on this album, and top 5 among Metallica songs. Metal Militia closes the album nicely, yet probably falls in the ranks of one of the songs that I listen to the least today. That doesn't mean that the song is bad, only that when you're talking Metallica songs, you're still talking pecking order.

In all, "Kill 'Em All" totally rips, and though I would have to place it third behind that of "Ride The Lightning" & "Master of Puppets", there's absolutely no shame in that. I will repeat something that Jason Newsted said during the Metallica "Black" album days. If there ever were three "Heavy Metal" albums that belonged in the Smithsonian, they would be the three aforementioned.

Like I stated before, I tend to flip-flop between Master... and Ride the Lightning as my favorite Metallica release. In my opinion, there are no bad songs on either release. MoP sounds just as great to my ears today as it did when I first heard it back in high school. Back then, I wanted to name our street hockey team "Damage, Inc.", but was shot down. Would've been cool though.

Here's my Master of Puppets story. 5 years ago, my wife & I were on our honeymoon on the Greek Islands. One night, we were sitting in an open bar/cafe on the water and all they played was metal. I was loving it. Anyway, all this great music is being played in the background while everyone sat around smoking, drinking and conversing. Then we heard the opening riff to the song 'Master of Puppets' and everyone in the cafe perked up. Horns were thrown into the air, the long-hairs started thrashing and air-guitars were rocked. It was so cool to see such a spontanious display of respect to a great song and a great album. It's a memory that will stay with me forever every time I hear that song.

Haven't seen Cliff 'em All in years. My old roommate had it on vhs. I wouldn't mind getting that one on dvd someday.

I saw bought this video when it first came out and I must of seen it 50 times over the next couple years. I think I know the whole thing by heart. I havent seen it in probably 16 or 17 years, but Ive seen clips here and there. Legendary.....

Metallica - The $5.98 E.P.: Garage Days Re-Revisited


Track Listing:
1. Helpless
2. The Small Hours
3. The Wait
4. Crash Course In Brain Surgery
5. Last Caress/Green Hell

After the untimely death of Cliff Burton, Metallica set out to find a new bass player to replace the irreplaceable Cliff. After trying out 30 hopefuls, the band decided on former Flotsam And Jetsam bassist Jason Newsted. To introduce fans to the new bass player, Metallica recorded an E.P. of New Wave Of British Heavy Metal and hardcore punk covers. It is refreshing to hear Jason play some basslines while the band still played thrash.

Overall, good covers,but nothing mind blowing.

My rating:
7/10

Good cover album - I am glad that I have them on CD with the release of Garage, Inc

THE $5.98 EP was a fun album, and a good way for Metallica to break in Jason Newkid before exposing him to the rigors of a full blown album release. I was already somewhat familiar with Diamond Head thanks to Metallica's cover of "Am I Evil" a few years prior, but I believe that this album was the first time I'd ever heard of Budgie, Killing Joke, or Holocaust. I was dimly aware of the Misfits at the time but don't think I'd actually heard them at this point either, so the double shot of "Last Caress/Green Hell" was likely my first exposure to them as well. The classic "I got somethin' to saaaaayyyyy... I killed yo'baby todayyyyyy...." couplet became the soundtrack to much drunken underage mischief over the next couple of years.

I bought this EP on vinyl in Germany while I was there on a student exchange trip in August of 1987. My friend Glenn and I were VERY excited when we walked into a record store in Frankfurt and found this on the new release rack. Prior to our trip one of us had read in a magazine that Metallica were possibly going to release a European-only single or EP during that Summer, as they were going to be touring the Euro festival circuit at the time. When we saw "$5.98" we thought "Dude, this is it! This is the album we read about!" so we each bought a copy, thinking how cool we were going to be when we got back to the States because we'd be the only kids on the block with new Metallica material. We expected to make a killing selling taped copies of the EP to all the kids at school. Imagine our disappointment when we returned to the U.S. and found out that the EP had also been released back home during our absence. So much for our get rich quick scheme.

In another Metallica related move that I regret to this day, while my pal and I were in Germany, the band played at a "Monsters of Rock" festival in Nuremberg (along with Deep Purple, Dio, Helloween, Pretty Maids, Ratt, Cinderella, and possibly one or two other bands I can't remember off the top of my head). As soon as we saw a poster advertising this festival,we freaked and said "DAMN! We gotta go to this! How do we get there?" ... after asking around a bit we were told that Nuremberg was about 100 miles from where we were staying, and as fate would have it, the show was happening the day before we were due to return to the U.S. We figured that would be cutting it a bit close, so we opted not to go, figuring we'd probably wind up too lost, broke, or drunk to make it back to Frankfurt in time to catch our plane home. Needless to say, I still kick myself regularly for that decision to this very day.

A year or two afterwards I found a cool vinyl bootleg called AM I EVIL? that was recorded at that festival gig, so at least I have an idea of what I missed out on. Here's a pic of that bootleg:




By the way, it always annoyed me that Metallica let THE $5.98 EP go out of print for a number of years before finally re-packaging it as part of the GARAGE INC. collection. I still have my vinyl of this but never got hold of a copy of the "9.98 CD" version, which is quite collectible nowadays. I know a guy who has a bootleg version called GARAGE DAYS AND MORE that was released when the "real" album was out of print -- it includes the five tracks from this EP, various other b-sides from the 80s/90s, some demos from the Black Album and I believe they even even tacked on the live performance of "One" from the first time Metallica played at the Grammy Awards. Interesting stuff.

I love Garage Days...LOVE IT. It was so nice to hear Metallica "let their hair down" and just have some fun. The joke on the album cover was "not very produced by Metallica", once Justice came out it left me wishing they had "not very produced" that one as well.

This was one of the last great "spontaneous" things Metallica ever did. After this point nothing would fly that hadn't been worked on, glossed over, examined under a microscope, perfected, packaged, promoted and gotten the LARS stamp of approval. At some point between this release and Justice...they forgot how to have fun. (except for the Justice b-sides, which are killer).

The real meat and potatos of this EP are the middle tunes. The Small Hours, The Wait & Crash Course In Brain Surgery. Utter perfection...period. The Small Hours sounds like the most awesome garage band in the world. The Wait is one of the coolest tracks they recorded, they stumbled upon a very interesting sound that they would never re-visit. I love the little solo that Jason does during the mid section. Crash Course is just sheer awesomness...sadly, the bass intro heard here by Jason was the highlight of his entire career with Metallica....he was never heard again. LOL

Oh how I wish Metallica had explored this loose vibe a little more instead of diving off the deep end of convolusion with their next album.