• Track Listing

There was a time when a heavy-metal masterpiece would be celebrated, heard and bought by the masses, not just by avowed metal heads—and "Master of Puppets" is one of the quintessential examples of such a crossover triumph. Metallica’s 1986 breakthrough shot to #29, turning millions into first-time head bangers with "Battery," "The Thing That Should Not Be," "Damage, Inc." and more including the storming title track, one of their most indelible and intense creations. "Master of Puppets" has been newly remastered and arrives here on CD or 180-gram vinyl (with download). The embossed expanded edition adds a 28-page booklet and unissued live 1986 performances of all the aforementioned songs plus "For Whom the Bell Tolls," "Ride the Lightning," "Seek and Destroy," "Am I Evil?," "Whiplash" and more. You also get a Metal Magazine interview with the late Cliff Burton, demos of "Master of Puppets," "Battery" and more, James Hetfield "riff tapes," rough mixes and more. Everything expanded for the expanded edition is expanded yet again for the big boy here: the deluxe box, which boasts the remastered album on 180-gram vinyl, a previously unreleased soundboard recording of their 1986 Aragon show in Chicago on double 140-gram vinyl (all this vinyl includes download cards), the remastered album and previously unreleased band interviews on CDs, previously unreleased rough mixes, riff tapes, demos and outtakes on CDs, previously unreleased 1986–87 soundboard recordings from New Jersey, Virginia, California and Germany on CDs, Jason Newsted’s audition (wow) and, on cassette, a 1986 Stockholm concert (that fan recording also comes with MP3 download). Finally, the DVDs take you to Detroit, Denmark and Japan in ’86 (mostly unreleased) and include previously unavailable MTV features and interviews. Is this a contender for the greatest heavy-metal album of all time? Well, they wouldn’t give this kind of treatment to anything less! Blackened.