I was walking my dog the other night listening to Metallica’s Master of Puppets album. I stopped after two songs because while the guitar riffs were killer, the sound was too thin. I figured it was due to Spotify’s compression, or maybe it was the limitation of the recording technology at the time. On a whim, I decided to listen to Slayer’s Reign in Blood album, which was released around the same time as Master of Puppets. Reign in Blood was heavy. I also revisited Anthrax’s Among the Living album, and it also has a much fuller sound than Master of Puppets.

For funnsies, I also listened to a couple of tracks from Godflesh’s Streetcleaner and Big Black’s Atomizer albums. Neither of those bands had the budget that Metallica had, and they used a drum machine rather than a drummer, and yet those albums are both far heavier than Master of Puppets.

What the hell was going on?

I’m not deep in Metallica lore, so I don’t know the story behind the recording of Master of Puppets. Still, I know that the band made a point of being sober during the recording sessions and that the album was produced by Flemming Rasmussen, who also produced Rainbow’s Difficult to Cure album. Possibly it was Metallica’s aesthetic? …And Justice for All is infamous for all but muting Jason Newsted’s bass playing.

I suppose I could hear if anything changed on their Metallica album, but I confess to being too thrashed out to care.