Hear Metallica’s Rugged ‘Master of Puppets’ Demo
A new, super-deluxe box set will chronicle the making of Metallica’s influential Master of Puppets LP, showing how the songs developed from riff fragments into the thrash epics that make up one of Rolling Stone’s 100 Greatest Metal Albums.
The collection’s “Riffs, Demos and Outtakes” disc contains three riffs, two “writing in progress” versions (including a 12-minute cut) and two fully formed demos of the title track, a cutting takedown of drug culture. The band has now released the rugged final demo version of the tune, recorded in late June 1985, which is closer in length to the officially released version recorded later that year. In addition to rougher production values, James Hetfield alters a few lyrics and Kirk Hammett plays a more unwieldy guitar solo.
The box set, which comes out November 10th, also features a remastered version of the original LP, an instrumental, rough mix of the album captured in the studio, several concert recordings from both before and after the release of the album, a book, pins, reproduced lyrics and more. The collection also includes a cassette recording of the band’s final concert with bassist Cliff Burton, who died in a bus accident in September 1986, as well as recordings in the months that followed when they welcomed bassist Jason Newsted into the group.
“There’s been some additional emotion with this reissue,” drummer Lars Ulrich told Rolling Stone earlier this year. “You pause and think of all the craziness, but also how fortunate we are to still be out here doing it.”