Maya Neelakantan, an 11-year-old guitar prodigy from India, has wowed audiences once again on America’s Got Talent, this time ripping through Metallica’s “Master of Puppets” during her appearance in AGT‘s quarterfinals on Tuesday night (August 27th).
We previously reported on Maya crushing Papa Roach’s “Last Resort” for her AGT audition back in June, but she upped the ante in the quarterfinals, taking on an altogether more complicated and technical track.
Metallica’s lengthy epic “Master of Puppets” is widely considered their greatest musical achievement. Even for an accomplished guitarist such as Maya, it’s a real test — especially in a condensed, instrumental form as she performed it on AGT.
Backed by a house band of metal musicians and wearing a huge smile, Maya stood centerstage and took over lead guitar duties, steering the track through its iconic central riff and chorus before taking the spotlight for some wild shredding. She even played Kirk Hammett’s subdued solo section, hitting a pedal to make her Flying V axe temporarily sound like an acoustic guitar.
Needless to say, the judges were impressed.
“That was like Van Halen reincarnated,” said Howie Mandel before adding, “You wouldn’t think it would come from you. You’re a surprise. You’re amazing!”
Even frequent dissenter Simon Cowell gave Maya high praise and also took a moment to acknowledge the source material. “A big thank you to Metallica for giving you that song, that doesn’t happen very often,” he said.
During her onstage interview, Maya acknowledged Metallica and the Cliff Burton family for making the performance possible.
Maya continues her AGT ascent after previously catching our attention — and that of some notable metal guitarists such as Tool’s Adam Jones — over the past couple years with her YouTube videos, including an amazing 22-song Tool medley. She’ll find out if she advanced to the next round of AGT when voting results are announced Wednesday night (August 28th).
Below you can watch Maya Neelakantan play “Master of Puppets” on America’s Got Talent.
Editor’s Note: AGT’s video originally stated that Maya was 10 years old, but it’s since been updated to reflect that she turned 11 since her initial audition.