1986年，Metallica的第三张专辑《Master of Puppets》推出，这张专辑赢得了比上两张专辑更为出色的成绩，把Metallica推上了重金属的顶峰。随后，乐队随同Ozzy Osboume进行全美巡回演出，通过Metallica高速的吉它和弦、飞快的吉它Solo、变化多端的鼓点，越来越多的人开始认识Thrash Metal的威力，Metallica成为最收欢迎的重金属乐队之一。
这张专辑在滚石杂志选出的500张历代最强专辑中排名第167位。
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Master of Puppets is the third studio album by the American heavy metal band Metallica. It was released on February 24, 1986, and was the band's last album to feature bassist Cliff Burton, who died in a bus crash in Sweden while touring to promote the album. The album peaked at number 29 on the Billboard 200 chart. It was the first thrash metal album to be certified platinum, and on June 9, 2003, it was certified six times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), having shipped six million copies in the United States.
Master of Puppets was released to rave reviews from music critics and has been included in several publications' best album lists. Its driving, virtuosic music and angry political lyrics drew praise from critics outside of the metal community. The album is widely accepted as the band's strongest effort at the time, and serves as one of the most influential thrash metal albums of all time. Many bands from all genres of heavy metal have covered the album's songs throughout the years, including tribute albums as well. Since the beginning of the SoundScan era in 1991, Master of Puppets has sold 4,578,000 copies.
The cover art depicts a cemetery field of white crosses tethered to strings manipulated by a pair of hands in a blood-red sky. The album's cover concept was invented by Metallica and Peter Mensch, while the cover artwork was painted by Don Brautigam, who had worked with bands such as AC/DC, ZZ Top and The Rolling Stones. The original artwork was later auctioned at Rockefeller Plaza, New York City for the price between $20,000 and $30,000.
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by Steve Huey
Even though Master of Puppets didn't take as gigantic a leap forward as Ride the Lightning, it was the band's greatest achievement, hailed as a masterpiece by critics far outside heavy metal's core audience. It was also a substantial hit, reaching the Top 30 and selling three million copies despite absolutely nonexistent airplay. Instead of a radical reinvention, Master of Puppets is a refinement of past innovations. In fact, it's possible to compare Ride the Lightning and Master of Puppets song for song and note striking similarities between corresponding track positions on each record (although Lightning's closing instrumental has been bumped up to next-to-last in Master's running order). That hint of conservatism is really the only conceivable flaw here. Though it isn't as startling as Ride the Lightning, Master of Puppets feels more unified, both thematically and musically. Everything about it feels blown up to epic proportions (indeed, the songs are much longer on average), and the band feels more in control of its direction. You'd never know it by the lyrics, though -- in one way or another, nearly every song on Master of Puppets deals with the fear of powerlessness. Sometimes they're about hypocritical authority (military and religious leaders), sometimes primal, uncontrollable human urges (drugs, insanity, rage), and, in true H.P. Lovecraft fashion, sometimes monsters. Yet by bookending the album with two slices of thrash mayhem ("Battery" and "Damage, Inc."), the band reigns triumphant through sheer force -- of sound, of will, of malice. The arrangements are thick and muscular, and the material varies enough in texture and tempo to hold interest through all its twists and turns. Some critics have called Master of Puppets the best heavy metal album ever recorded; if it isn't, it certainly comes close.