The Thing That Should Not Be

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"The Thing That Should Not Be"
Cover of Master of Puppets
Cover of Master of Puppets
Song by Metallica
from the album Master of Puppets
Released February 21, 1986
Recorded Sweet Silence Studios Copenhagen, Denmark September-December, 1985
Genre Thrash metal
Length 6:37
Label Elektra Records
Producer(s) Metallica, Flemming Rasmussen
Master of Puppets track listing
  1. "Battery"
  2. "Master of Puppets"
  3. "The Thing That Should Not Be"
  4. "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)"
  5. "Disposable Heroes"
  6. "Leper Messiah"
  7. "Orion"
  8. "Damage Inc."

The Thing That Should Not Be is the 3rd song from Metallica's 1986 album Master Of Puppets. It was composed by Kirk Hammett, James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich, however one of the main riffs was used previously by Dave Mustaine on his version of Mechanix on the 1984 album Killing Is My Business... And Business Is Good!

The song, like The Call of Ktulu, was inspired by the stories of H.P. Lovecraft, particularly the novella "The Shadow Over Innsmouth", on which the lyrics of The Thing That Should Not Be are predominantly based. Otherwise, the song borrows heavily from the general Cthulhu Mythos lore, including references to (Cthulhu) beneath the sea, the Crawling Chaos Nyarlathotep, and an adaptation of the mad Arab's couplet from the fictional Necronomicon ("Not dead which eternal lie/Stranger eons death may die").

"The Thing That Should Not Be" fits in with the theme of the album by having the person whom this song is about becoming one of "The Things That Should Not Be".

[edit] Covers

Metallica
Members
James Hetfield - Kirk Hammett - Robert Trujillo - Lars Ulrich
Former members: Cliff Burton - Dave Mustaine - Ron McGovney - Jason Newsted
Discography
Albums and extended plays: No Life 'Til Leather - Kill 'Em All - Ride the Lightning - Master of Puppets - Garage Days Re-Revisited - ...And Justice for All - Metallica - Load - ReLoad - Garage Inc. - S&M - St. Anger - Some Kind of Monster - Ninth studio album
Videography
DVDs and videos: Cliff 'em All - 2 of One - A Year and a Half in the Life of Metallica - Live Shit: Binge & Purge - Cunning Stunts - S&M - Classic Albums: Metallica - The Black Album - Some Kind of Monster - The Videos 1989-2004
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