Master Of Puppets

“Master Of Puppets” is the third studio album by Metallica, released in 1986 by Elektra Records. Recorded in Denmark at Sweet Silence Studios with producer Flemming Rasmussen, it was the band’s last album to feature bassist Cliff Burton, who died in a bus accident in Sweden during the album’s promotional tour.

The album’s artwork, designed by Metallica and Peter Mensch and painted by Don Brautigam, depicts a cemetery field of white crosses tethered to strings, manipulated by a pair of hands in a blood-red sky. Instead of releasing a single or video in advance of the album’s release, Metallica embarked on a five-month American tour in support of Ozzy Osbourne. The European leg was canceled after Burton’s death in September 1986, and the band returned home to audition a new bassist.

“Master Of Puppets” is widely considered to be one of the greatest and most influential thrash metal albums of all time, and is credited with consolidating the American thrash metal scene. In 2015 it became the first metal recording to be selected by the Library Of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry for being culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant.

This is the original Canadian cassette from 1986. It plays great, but the lettering on the B-side of the cassette shell is fading, check out the photos.