METALLICA Releases June 1985 Demo Version Of 'Master Of Puppets' Title Track

October 17, 2017

A previously unreleased demo version of METALLICA's song "Master Of Puppets" can be streamed below. The track was recorded in the garage at The Carlson House in El Cerrito, California in late June 1985 and is taken from the upcoming reissue of METALLICA's seminal third album, "Master Of Puppets".

The "Master Of Puppets" reissue will arrive on November 10 via METALLICA's own Blackened Recordings. The LP has been remastered for the most advanced sound quality and will be available in various digital and physical configurations. The reissue is available for pre-order at Metallica.com where fans can see the full package details and track listing. Those who pre-order the standard album will receive an instant download of "Disposable Heroes (Remastered)". Those who pre-order the expanded or deluxe editions will receive an instant download of "Disposable Heroes (Remastered)" and "The Thing That Should Not Be (Live at the Aragon Ballroom, Chicago, IL - May 25th, 1986)" .

The "Master Of Puppets" reissue will be available physically as a Standard LP, Standard CD, 3 CD Expanded Edition, and Limited Edition Deluxe Box Set and digitally as a Standard CD (available to stream and download),a 3 CD Expanded Edition (available for download only),and a Digital Deluxe Box Set (available for streaming and download). The Expanded Edition will include previously unreleased demos, rough mixes, interviews, live tracks, and a 28-page booklet. The Limited Edition Deluxe Box Set will include a 108-page hardcover book including never before seen photos, outtakes and previously unreleased interviews, three LPs, ten CDs, a cassette, two DVDs, a lithograph, a folder with handwritten lyrics, and a set of six buttons.

Watch James Hetfield unbox the reissue below.

"Master Of Puppets" was released on February 24, 1986 and was the first album METALLICA recorded after signing a major label deal with Elektra Records.

The set only reached No. 29 on the Billboard album chart but has sold over six million copies in the U.S. since.

It is the last record to feature bassist Cliff Burton, who was killed later that year in a tour bus crash.

Several songs from the album are still staples of METALLICA's live set, including "Battery", "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)" and the title track.

Many fans consider it METALLICA's finest album, a fact that the band acknowledged by playing it in its entirety on a European tour in 2006.

"Metallica: Back To The Front", the definitive story of "Master Of Puppets" and the tour that followed its release, hit bookstores and online sellers last September. A very special Collector's Edition of the book was made available two weeks earlier through Metallica.com and MoonriseMedia.net.

"That album, it's interesting, because from the moment it was released, it never went away," METALLICA guitarist Kirk Hammett said last year while promoting the book. "It still has not and there are no signs of it going away at all."

"It was still rebellious," METALLICA frontman James Hetfield said. "Back then, it was still the four of us in a van out to conquer the world."

"I really feel that a lot of the music on 'Master Of Puppets', we pulled it out of a deep place," Hammett added. "A lot of it, it's just so emotional, from the music to the lyrics to the guitar solos to even the arrangements. It's so dramatic."

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