Interview by Jason Schreurs
Jason Landrian, guitarist/vocalist of San Francisco doom/thrash two-piece Black Cobra, doesn’t hesitate when we ask him for his Classic Platter. Like many metal lifers, Landrian goes straight to Metallica’s epic and legendary 1986 metal opus, Master of Puppets.
Landrian: When people ask me about this, I always come back to the first few Metallica records, which were the staple of my youth and, if I have to choose, Master of Puppets is my all-time favourite record. It’s not something I listen to much anymore, but it’s one album that I almost have memorized. It had such an influence on me, and [Black Cobra drummer] Rafa [Martinez] and I both bonded over how much we love those Metallica records when we first started the band. This record, specifically, was the one that grabbed me and made we want to start playing guitar. From start to finish, it’s an amazing album.
I’ve never played guitar, but was it intimidating to try to match James Hetfield’s precision rhythm work, and then Kirk Hammett’s wild, out-there soloing? Was there a bit of “how the hell am I going to do this?”
Oh, absolutely! That’s the thing, it was so, not really intimidating, but trying to figure out how the hell they did it. The writing on that record is the pinnacle of everything they’ve done. I think …And Justice for All is an awesome record, too, and Ride the Lightning, and even the Black Album…
Oooooh….
Yeah, which I know is a touchy subject for some people… So, yeah, Master of Puppets was intimidating when I first started learning guitar, but I still tried and it’s actually one of the few guitar tablature books that I bought when I was a kid, and I think I still have it somewhere. I was always a bigger fan of James’ playing, not that I didn’t like Kirk’s, but I guess his playing was always a little more intimidating, so I never really cared about the solos; I just wanted to riff, you know?
Some of the best riffs ever written are on that album.
Definitely. Even when you see them play those songs live now, like when they play the title track “Master of Puppets,” they’re doing everything with downstrokes and that’s hard! James’ right hand is impeccable, man. He can play so fast with that hand, and so precisely, and it’s amazing to listen to, and to watch the speed that they are going at. A lot of bands at that time were striving for that, and Metallica just hit it on the nose with that record.
Do you remember the first time you heard it?
Oh, man. I must have been 12 or 13, somewhere around there, definitely in my adolescent years. It was after I’d already heard stuff from the Black Album, and I’d heard “One,” and I wasn’t super into music at the time, or was just starting to get into it, so when I heard Master of Puppets and Ride the Lightning, they blew me away. I remember the first time I heard the first song on Ride the Lightning, “Fight Fire with Fire,” and that double-bass drum break on there; it was crazy. My young mind was blown away. But, yeah, all of that stuff… “Damage Inc.”?! Man, they really made an impression on me and it was so abrasive and different from what I had heard or been exposed to by that point, that I was like, “Oh my god, this is amazing!”
And definitely the height of Cliff Burton’s musical life as well. He was just on fire on that album.
Yeah, especially “Orion.” That bass line of his is so iconic. Whenever they show a photo montage of him or something, that bass line is always playing and, rightly so, it’s an amazing song. Those middle three albums, Ride the Lightning, Master of Puppets and …And Justice for All, were the pinnacle of Metallica’s songwriting; they all had almost the same song layout, how the albums had the sort of ballad-y song in the middle, or the instrumental song near the end. It was just so perfect. Those three records are almost on the same level, and I love them almost equally, but I have to say Master of Puppets is my favourite.
If we’d been able to throw Dave Lombardo into the mix instead of Lars Ulrich, would the whole Reign in Blood/Master of Puppets argument finally be settled?
Could be, man. I don’t know, Reign in Blood… it’s hard to fuck with that record, too. I touched on Slayer a bit later and ended up hearing Metallica first…
My point is, if we could take Lars out of the equation, would there be no contest? I guess what I’m trying to ask you is this: is Lars the weak link?
I’ve heard people say he’s a shitty drummer or whatever. I don’t think he’s nearly as bad as everyone tends to think. His ability aside, he wrote a lot of the songs on those early Metallica records, him and James together. And when you think about it, without him on drums those albums would be so different. From a playing aspect, maybe Dave Lombardo, well, not maybe… sure, Dave Lombardo is the better drummer, but at the same time with the creativity that Lars brought those records with his playing, I don’t think they’d be the same with anyone else. So I don’t think he’s the weak link on any of those records; if anything, at the time I thought, “Oh my god, he’s an amazing drummer.” And I still think he’s great on those records. I don’t think any of those records have a weak link at all; everyone brings something to the table and without any of those components those records would be so different. Especially Master of Puppets.
Black Cobra‘s most recent album, Invernal, came out in 2011 on Southern Lord Records. They are currently on a US tour.
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