Metallica's "Master of Puppets" is a thrash-metal song — perhaps the quintessential thrash song. Fast, galloping, about 700 riffs and several of the best solos in metal history. Slipknot aren't a thrash band, they're a conglomerate of nu-metal groove, death-metal rage, and alt-metal melody — which is to say that if Slipknot were the ones who wrote "Master of Puppets," it would sound a helluva lot different.
To put that theory to test, a TikTok user named Devin Taylor who posts as "@fountane" made a video that demonstrates what the 1986 hesher epic — now more popular than ever due to its high-profile placement in Stranger Things season four — would be like if the Iowa Nine put their uniquely bludgeoning, down-tuned spin on it.
In short, holy shit this fucking rips. Taylor's guitar tones and drum style are a scarily accurate rendering of Slipknot's singular sound, from the chainsaw riffage to the double-bass pounding, and he basically does exactly what he proposed in the video's caption — play "Mater of Puppets" the way Slipknot would. The structure of the song isn't really any different, but it resonates in a completely different way than the original.
Fucking rad. Listen to it below via TikTok.
@fountane If slipknot wrote master of puppets it’d be better than this, but here’s my take! #slipknot #metallica #masterofpuppets #studio ♬ original sound - Devin Taylor
