Puppetz turns 26!

Listening to a good heavy metal album is like getting your ass kicked by a really big man. It's going to hit hard, and it's not going to stop until the job is done and your head has no idea what just happened to it.



And it's not going to let up after it starts. Master of Puppets is an 8:32 second ode to drug addiction, played at 220 beats per minute. It only slows down long enough for a haunting dual solo to remind you that regardless of their egos, Metallica can *play*.



While most metal bands would go for the obvious choice and reference Tolkien all day (I'm looking at you, Led Zeppelin), Metallica has a thing for H. P. Lovecraft. Makes for a far heavier record if one doesn't have to explain how prancing elves with flutes are metal.



Subtly, Master of Puppets is also a concept album. Every song references power and control, and the misuse thereof. Imagine being a prisoner simply because other people say you're sick, with no hope for escape, no way out. Welcome Home (Sanitarium) is cold and haunting song, and it powerfully conveys the situation of the inmates.



Although any respectable thrash band has a song about war, Metallica somehow managed to avoid both glorifying war *and* focusing simply on the brutality. Once again proving their songwriting skill, Metallica emphasized not the actions, but the men involved, bringing what could have been a lyrical gorefest back down to a level that few can argue with.



Leper Messiah displays Metallica's continual taste for social commentary. Sounds odd today, but back in the 1980's, televangelism was huge. And, unfortunately, not only were the tv preachers hugely popular, but it seems many of them had a scandal of some kind, often involving the money that people had sent them.

And lots and lots of hookers.



Many thrash bands depend on their lyrics. Sure, they've got great riffs, and they've got the skill, but the songs themselves depend on the lyrics to make up for a lack of musical art. Metallica decided that instead of letting anyone say that about them, they'll simply write an 8:25 lyricless metal piece, proving rather elegantly that their lyrics are not the only thing they've got mastered.



One of the other wonders of Master of Puppets turning 26 is that Metallica can still physically play these songs 26 years later. These guys are pushing 50, and they can still thrash harder and faster than bands half their age. Crap, look at the Rolling Stones when they were 50! Metallica has aged *very* well, and their music is standing the test of time.