The Devil's Music : Master of Puppets and the Great Heavy Metal Debate
Before I reviewed Nirvana’s misunderstood classic album In Utero, I spent an hour watching a video interview with its renowned producer Steve Albini. Although Geffen Records spent over a decade telling people he’s an unmanageable hermit with eccentric, unmarketable music taste, it’s now how he came off at all. Albini appeared to be a genuinely passionate guy with original, sometimes groundbreaking ideas on what makes music good.
The interviewer asked him at one point to discuss his relationship to Nirvana’s drummer and now iconic Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl and Albini immediately claimed he was one of the best he worked with. He said Grohl’s tastefulness, tact and dynamic sense were underrated. That he understood when to scale back and when to pound hard. He understood the arrangements and dynamics of a song.
This part musicmanship is too rarely discussed.
There’s a suspiciously overwhelming consensus among metalheads about what makes a good song: virtuosity. The better a musician can play his instrument, the better a song is. Now, it might be true of you’re a musician yourself and the only reason why you’re listening to music is to learn how to play it, but I believe it is also the great debate we’re collectively refusing to have. Virtuosity alone does not make a song good.
There’s an overwhelming among of poorly written and executed songs in metal (and music) at large to prove this. There’s a reason why twelve years old boys can play Enter Sandman and Holy Diver. They’re not complex, difficult or forward thinking. I’m a big fan of Norwegian YouTubers Pagefire who make extreme metal subgenres tutorials, who seem to be struggling with that same reality with every new video they release: that it doesn’t take a whole lot of effort.
The Pagefire guys are pretty self-depreciating, but each time face an overwhelmingly positive response. People love the songs they create. They qualify them as some of the best songs these extreme subgenres have to offer and they aren’t wrong. Shooting and editing the videos takes probably much longer than writing the thematic songs, but it doesn’t make them any less good. Virtuosity can enhance a song, but it is not a perequisite to quality.
In order to better understand what makes a metal song work, I’m going to deconstruct one of the greatest consensus builders in the history of the genre: Metallica’s seminal hit Master of Puppets. There’s a weird culture of elitism in metal that people adhere to because it is a style obsessed with integrity. Everyone loves Master of Puppets, though. Even people who can’t play guitar. When it plays in a room, everybody starts bobbing their heads.
EVERYBODY.
What makes Master of Puppets so universally loved? It’s a song that has obvious virtuosity, but there’s so much more to it. Let’s break it down.
A memorable guitar riff: I’m sorry guys. Hate all you want, but the life blood of metal isn’t guitar solos. It’s riffs. The quality of guitar riffs will either make or break a song. James Hetfield is a riffing genius and there are so many great ones on Master of Puppets, it assaults you from every angle. Pop has melody and metal has guitar riffs. A great metal song is remembered by the quality of its riffs. That’s why so many talented bands are quickly forgotten.
They don’t have a riff that sticks to you. Master of Puppets is just one example. Now think of iconic metal songs: Testament’s Electric Crown, Pantera’s Walk, Dio’s Holy Diver, Judas Priest’s Electric Eye, what’ the first thing you remember about these songs? That’s right. The riff comes first because it’s simply, catchy and built to be memorized. If Master of Puppets was such a monster hit and Metallica was so popular, it’s because of their unequaled riff writing.
Emotional Depth: This might seem like a cop out answer, but it’s not. Art is an emotional medium. There’s a reason why Yngwie Malmsteen is a frustrated genius with only a cult following of guitar enthusiasts. Nobody gives a shit about his technical mastery. They want to connect to specifics feelings and Master of Puppets communicates these feelings lyrically, sonically and kinectically: the frustration and despair of the addicted mind.
That’s why it’s such a great fucking song to vent to. Because James Hetfield wrote it to vent against his building alcohol problem. Performance is one of the oldest forms of art and delivery is integral to how Master of Puppets is perceived. James Hetfield comes out sounding so truthful because it’s a problem he was living through. If you want other examples of great emotional delivery, Killswitch Engage is a band that really nails it.
Structure: I think this is where virtuosity starts playing an important part and where metal stands above other genres. Songs that dare being longer than the conventional 3-4 minutes need a structure that makes narrative sense. In Master of Puppets you have an initial salvo of rage and frustration/a low point/defiant surrender and a grant finale that really leaves you in charge of understanding how it ends. It’s a journey you’re going through.
Changes of tempo and layering of different philosophies is great, but it has to make sense. It has to tell a story. For all the hollow guitar wanking they’re guilty of, it’s something Dream Theater is actually doing well. For example, The Glass Prison is a never-ending song that tells an awesome story. The technique is a mean to take the audience on an emotional journey (whatever this emotion is) and not and end in and of itself. Master of Puppets understands that.
Solos: Listen, solos are great. I don’t understand them, but I love them as much as the next guy. You don’t need to understand them in order to appreciate them. In metal, a solo is the apex of a song. Its emotional climax. When you’ve reached the solo, you’re on top of the mountain. You came. It’s a convention of the genre that is not always necessary (i.e slam) but always appreciate when done right. I don’t hate virtuosity. I just think it’s not all there is to it.
Lyrics: I didn’t always think this, but at 37 years old I do: lyrics are the least important part of a song. They should DEFINITELY be important to the person who sings them. Because they need to be delivered in heartfelt way, but the least specific they are, the better. I don’t care what a person lived through, I want to supersede my own emotions over their metaphors. James Hetfield does that with his brilliant puppet master metaphor.
I love this slam band called Disgorge and whenever I play a song, people ask me how I understand what they’re saying. My answer is always the same: It doesn’t fucking matter. The awesomely brutal delivery is all that counts. Singer and patron saint of cavemen Angel Ochoa could be saying “pee pee” and “poo poo” for three minutes, I wouldn’t care. It’s the raw, unrefined expression of anger that I love. I’m really comfortable never knowing what he sings about.
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That’s it guys. This article is in no way a knock on tr00 br00tal guys who spend years mastering their instruments. My point is that metal (and music) is not a meritocracy. If you like something that’s straightforward and thoughtless, it’s because there are some of the elements I’ve named above in it. A song is not automatically good because it’s hard to play and a song is not automatically bad or stupid because it’s straightforward.
Stay brutal, love what you love and there’s more to metal than cramming the most notes possible in four and a half minutes. Fuck whoever tells you otherwise.
