Under The Influence #44: Vault on “Master Of Puppets” by Metallica!

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again. For us, “Master Of Puppets” is the finest Metallica album around. The third studio record from the Big Four titans and tragically the last with bassist Cliff Burton who died in a bus accident in Sweden during the tour cycle. Recorded in Copenhagen Denmark with Flemming Rasmussen (Blind Guardian, Morbid Angel) it become the first Thrash Metal album to sell six million copies and marked 1986 as a seminal year for the band. A highly influential release, there probably wouldn’t be a Machine Head or Trivium without it.

Vault comment: “VAULT has a lot of influences through many rock genres like Hard Rock, Grunge, Thrash Metal, Stoner rock… and from underground bands to big names of rock. (“As some know, we started off in 2015 as a grunge band and slowly progressed into heavy metal, where today we take most of our inspirations on Thrash and Sludge metal bands” – Bruno Romero). Picking only one album to name it the band’s “major” influence is a hard job, but Master of Puppets by Metallica is a piece of work that cannot be lefted out on the band’s list of musical inspirations. (We could name some least known albums that inspired us, but picking such a classic makes it easier for whoever is reading this know what we’re about (or at least a part of it) – Bruno Romero). Before the idea of forming an actual band came up, the four members used to gather and play some classics of the metal history, and Master of Puppets held the band’s attention for some good time. (It was an album that we were all familiar with and that we really liked, so we decided to try to play the main track Master of Puppets. Sounded liked shit at first, but we kept practicing – Bruno Romero). Eventually, the  focus on metal kinda faded away, and grunge came up to the  band’s taste. Then, the band was actually born and the first authorial songs were written. After a couple of years, VAULT got back on playing Master of Puppets on rehearsals, and decided to move from grunge to Heavy Metal, making heavier songs and combining the fast riffing (inpired on MOP) with more slowed  down tempo riffs (which the band was already used to). Now, the band is releasing the EP “Dread Within”, and although it doesn’t sound exactly like MOP, it’s got the same lyrical themes and similar riffing. Favorites songs of the album: Master of Puppets, The thing That Should Not Be and Orion. Main aspects that influenced us: Vocal style, guitar tones, lyrical themes…”