Metallica- Master of Puppets (1986)

 I suppose this, while not as widely popular as the bestselling Black Album, would be the Metallica album of choice for the cognoscenti. This is partly, of course, because it's the end of an era, being the last album to have been released before the shockingly premature death of Cliff Burton, an absolutely crucial member of the band and songwriter; subsequent bassists would not have anything like his influence. What Metallica would have gone on to do if he'd lived is one of the great "what ifs" of metal. The band would go one to achieve further great things, but there's an obvious discontinuity.

There is, conversely, a continuity from Ride the Lightning to this, not least in the production. But this album shows a real progression. "Call of Ktulu" was a superb piece of musicianship; "Orion" is sublime. And such standout tracks as "Battery" and "The Thing That Should Not Be" are among Metallica's best work. There's no filler here, and throughout we have the perfect blend of deep musicianship and restrained songwriting. The songs are long, often complex, but never over-long or pretentious.

This is, for me, the finest metal album of the '80s.