"This was something else. I could feel it in every part of me." What it was like seeing metal legends Metallica in their early days, according to fellow thrash veteran and Death Angel frontman Mark Osegueda

This year marks 40 years of Metallica's groundbreaking, genre-defining third album Master Of Puppets. It was a record that confirmed the Four Horsemen as the most exciting, boundary-breaking band to have emerged from the storied Bay Area thrash metal scene, and four decades on, its legacy and influence remain as strong as ever.

Speaking in the new issue of Metal Hammer, Mark Osegueda, frontman of fellow Bay Area veterans Death Angel, speaks warmly of hearing Master Of Puppets for the first time and seeing Metallica live during their early days.

“I saw Metallica for the first time on the Kill ’Em All tour at the Keystone in Berkeley," he reveals. "I was 14, 15 at the time. I’d heard the [No Life 'Til Leather] demo and was blown away, but this was something else. I could feel it in every part of me."

Mark goes on to state that Metallica's second album, 1984's Ride The Lightning, was a hallmark moment for the thrash movement, and that the record made it clear that Metallica were something special.

“People in scenes can be suspicious but Ride The Lightning was such an immense album for everybody in that scene," he says. "The Bay Area still viewed them as our guys: ‘Holy shit, they’re carrying the torch magnificently.' They were kind of the elder statesmen, even though they were the same age as most bands.

“The first time I heard Master Of Puppets was in my friend Vijay’s car. Rob from Death Angel was sitting shotgun and I was in the back. Vijay put it on and I just tripped out – it started with an acoustic guitar, but then it burst into Battery, and the sheer aggressiveness of that song was incredible. Everything about it blew me away. And the record just kept going. We listened to it back to back three times in a row. I think Vijay was driving us to the record store so we could pick up our copies.

“Kirk Hammett had produced our demo, so we felt a real kinship with Metallica. He played us songs in advance, little demo bits and whatnot. It was inspiring to us – you could hear the craftsmanship. Like the title track, how they put the different parts of the song together so seamlessly. We wanted to write songs like that."

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Mark also pays special tribute to Cliff Burton, Metallica's beloved bassist for their first three studio albums who was tragically killed in a tour bus crash in Sweden in September 1986, just a few months after Master Of Puppets' release.

“All the guys were cool, but Cliff was the most down-to-earth guy you’d ever want to meet," he notes. "There was no separation between him and the fans, other than when he was onstage. He liked the things you liked, and if he disliked something he’d talk you into disliking it as well. He was just a wonderful guy."

Mark adds that once Metallica got the opportunity to support Ozzy Osbourne on tour in '86, it was clear that they were destined for bigger things.

“The point where they got the tour supporting Ozzy, that’s when you think the only way is up for them. They were gonna be the next ones. But they also made it seem like it was attainable for everybody else in that scene. It lit a fire under everybody else to be more productive and try and find your own voice as much as possible.

“To me it felt like they’d never top that record, and to a certain extent I don’t know if they have. It’s the most aggressive greatest record of all time.”

Read more about the legacy of Master Of Puppets in the new issue of Metal Hammer, out now.