Master of Puppets is the third studio album by American heavy metal band Metallica. It was released on March 3, 1986 through Elektra Records and was met with high critical reception. Master of Puppets is now considered a classic thrash metal album by fans, critics, and the band members themselves alike, and is considered one of the greatest heavy metal albums of all time. It reached #29 on the U.S. Billboard 200 album chart and was the band's first Gold record for sales of 500,000 copies. This was done without any radio airplay or the release of a single or music video.