Metallica - Master of Puppets

It's no secret that I'm not that much of a fan of Metallica anymore. Been that way for years. I don't know if I lost interest, outgrew them, etc. I have select tracks I do like from Black, Load, and Reload. But in terms of studio albums, nothing beyond. (Garage Inc and S&M are kind of outliers to me) I think it's safe to say, the albums I listen to are Puppets and Justice. Having played bass and guitar (and grew up playing piano), I had fun playing Metallica tunes cuz frankly, they were fairly easy. 

But why those two and not Kill 'em All and/or Ride the Lightning?

For me, a lot of it has to do with sound. I love the sound of the Black album. I feel Bob Rock (producer) did good on them. Gave them a metal sound, but I would learn later, the thrashiness and complicated riffs disappeared. Still, the Black tour showed/proved that the thicker sound (I call it 'thicker') works for the old stuff. What gets me on Kill is James young voice! Same with Ride, plus, there are some stinkers on there that I don't care for.

What's interesting to note, my 'faves' on Masters tended to move around. I remember really like Leper Messiah and Orion. But neither were pushed by the band, instead they seemed to favor the title track (duh), Battery and Sanitarium, which as a high schooler, I didn't really care. At least at first. Later, I'd learn to like Sanitarium but it helped that a friend had his preferences and at times, showed me the light. I think I was in my 30s when I came to the realization that Battery is an awesome tune. It's got the energy and aggression that equals Slayer and (later) Pantera. It's possible that things were going on in my life where Battery sounded attractive finally. And it's also possible that my guitar playing was (finally) evolving. 

Another track I preferred as kid was Disposable Heroes. In the end, the only track I really don't care for is Damage Inc.

I hate to be part of the crowd that says Master is their best album. The gatekeepers like to bicker over their 1st 3 albums. They seem to respect Justice but those old farts are all about Cliff Burton over Jason Newsted. Where I'm a Newsted fan and just accept that Cliff was the bass player. He did his thing. That's probably an entirely different topic I won't bother to babble about. (No offense to the late Cliff Burton)

I still don't quite know what it is about Master of Puppets that I ended up liking it. When I was getting into metal in middle school (coming from a few years of punk), Metallica wasn't what I was expecting. It's hard for me to explain what I thought metal was supposed to sound like. I was listening to it in the car when driving around a couple weeks ago and I was thinking, "this album is quite good".