Lost Not Forgotten Archives: Master of Puppets - Live in Barcelona, 2002

Back in the early years of the millennium, progressive metal veterans Dream Theater honoured several of their favourite bands by playing their records from start to finish. These renditions include Deep Purple's Made in Japan, Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon and Iron Maiden's The Number of the Beast. Lost Not Forgotten Archives: Master of Puppets - Live in Barcelona, 2002 obviously features the band's homage to the legendary thrash metal quartet that might be the most commercially successful genre band ever.

It might be debatable whether one prefers Metallica's gritty originals or Dream Theater's more playful renditions of the material. Nobody can however deny that the eight songs played here are executed with technically stunning musicianship. The drum play by Mike Portnoy is dynamic, playful and tight all at once and easily outperforms Lars Ulrich's efficient but simpler style. John Myung is able to replicate Cliff Burton's style easily which is remarkable on its own but sadly fails to add his own note to the original material. John Petrucci on the other side has to vary constantly between gritty riffs and melodic soloing and accomplishes these transitions with remarkable ease that underlines the fact that he is one of the greatest guitarists in the world. James LaBrie's vocals sound surprisingly gritty as he is clearly enjoying himself while performing this unusual material. His vocals might not be as unique as James Hetfield's original performances but the vocals are nevertheless the most positive surprise on this release. Perhaps he should focus on thrash metal on his next solo album. Jordan Rudess has the difficult job to add keyboard sounds to support John Petrucci on guitar while the original material didn't have any of that. While the keyboards add new touches here and there, they are simply stated rarely employed and overall rather unnecessary. The production is raw which benefits the grittier sounds but it's slightly irritating during announcements and crowd recordings.

At the end of the day, some elements here sound better than in the original versions such as the dynamic drum play and outstanding guitar work. The vocals are on the same high level which comes as this release's most positive surprise. The bass guitar play and the keyboards could however sound slightly more adventurous. The final result is certainly worth the attention of both Dream Theater and Metallica fans. I'm a fan of both bands and didn't expect to like this bootleg as much as I do. It has a lot of replay value and it's very interesting to compare it to the original material. Check this release out on Spotify and buy the record if you end up liking it as much as I do.

This cover is damn near perfect. But I still had to give it a score under 50% because of one thing: The vocals. James Hetfield would kill himself just so he could spin in his grave. The singer, James LaBrie, is obviously trying really hard to be something that he's not. And I don't know why he would even make that attempt, seeing as how it'd have been in this album's best interest for him to sing in a lower register, rather than one so high it's out of his range.

He sounds like a southern grandma with a long, nasal drawl as he screams the word "Battery" at the top of his lungs. He sounds like a crying baby when he belts out the words, "master of puppets, I'm pulling your streeeeeeeeeighnnnnsssss [sic]!" It's just not listenable. James LaBrie is why Orion (the instrumental) is the best song on this cover album, by far.

And it's really sad that this is the case. It's not like this cover is otherwise unsalvageable, and in no way are the vocals just another dog turd on the front lawn. The cover is really, really good. For those who think that Mike Portnoy (a god) would be out of his element playing the drum parts of Lars Ulrich (not really a god), think again: He restrains himself reasonably well while still tastefully using some of that foot speed in places where Lars originally couldn't. Same goes for John Petrucci on the guitar. He ups the ante, adding on to a already impressive effort by Kirk Hammett and James Hetfield. John Myung plays almost exactly as he did on the album, but he's a bassist, so that's essentially what he's supposed to do. I'm not quite sure what it is that Jordan Ruddes did, but I guess it worked. My one gripe as far as instrumentation goes is that the guitars and keyboards occupied the exact same part of the mix, meaning that they were fighting for auditory space while still managing to be indistinguishable from one another.

Good cover of a good album. Terrible vocals, though. 49/100.

Dream Theater is a veritable musical chameleon, able to take on countless styles, themes and atmospheres. Lining up their catalogue feels completely natural, rather than forced and stilted - it's in this way that they are truly a "progressive" band that never binds itself to any single style and keeps challenging itself, setting aside the often-exaggerated accusations of pointless wankery leveled at some of their music.

It's in this spirit that we have Dream Theater's full live cover of Master Of Puppets by thrash metal's most well-known [Gods or clods, depending on who you talk to]. To sum this release up in four words, coming from who is, by his own admission, a die-hard Dream Theater fan: you don't need it.

Unlike the Number Of The Beast cover album where there were neat little touches here and there, this is pretty much a carbon copy of the original for the most part, with less punchy production and some tasteful use of Rudess's keyboard to fill in the gaps left by reducing Hetfield and Hammet's lead/rythm team to a single guitar. Petrucci's playing is immaculate for the most part, albeit lacking much of the punch of the original thanks to the 'official bootleg' style of production. Myung is about as audible as Cliff was on the original recording (Read: not very). Portnoy is solid as ever, no complaints there. The instrumental section of the band is what makes this release a treat to own for me.

Ah, James LaBrie. I'm one of the few who quite likes his vocal performance, but many DT fans know to approach the Six Degrees/Train Of Thought touring era recordings with a bit of caution - his voice was at a low point there before it swung back up to its old splendor with the Octavarium/Systematic Chaos tours. This recording, however, shows him at his worst - comparable to Once In A Livetime. I can't tell if he has a cold, if he's just tired (This is the second set in a second show of a two-night stand in Barcelona) or if he's trying to do a "tuff dood" thrash voice - but whatever it is, it didn't work. Battery lacks the convincing bite that Hetfield added to his lines, and Leper Messiah sounds less than powerful - but the title track is sung well, and James does seem to get a second wind on Damage Inc. for a nice finish to the cover set. He unfortunately drags the score down a few notches; if his vocals had been Score-quality, I can see myself giving this release a 70, even an 80.

Well, what you see is what you get: it's 2002-era Dream Theater performing Master Of Puppets in its entirety. Sound good to you? Seek it out, because DT's instrumental take on the album is worth a listen for the intrepid DT fan. Doesn't interest you? Don't bother, because the actual album is pretty much just that.

I'm not against covers, if a band can cover another band it shows a certain kind of versatility, and that's pretty sweet. But this is a fucking waste of hard drive space. It's a good cover, don't get me wrong. Sounds just like Metallica. That's the thing though, why not just get a live version of Metallica playing the CD? It would sound essentially the same, but not shitty bootleg quality and with audible vocals by a man for and by whom they were written.

I was expecting Metallica with that Dream Theater tinge to it. What I got was precisely the album's music, played by Dream Theater (whoopdee fuckin doo) and a fucking sing a long involving the whole crowd to the lyrics. You can make out Labrie's voice (he doesn't do the harsh vocals thing very well) on the parts where not everyone in the audience knows the lyrics, but even then it sounds like the PA is facing a wall that's 3 feet away.

Don't waste your time. I gave it a 30 only because it *is* a well done cover (what can you expect from Dream Theater, though?). The shitty quality, combined with the fact that they're playing an album to which everyone knows they lyrics makes it recycle bin material.