UMUR
"Masters of Moral - Servants of Sin" is the fourth full-length studio album by Austrian death metal act Pungent Stench. The album was released through Nuclear Blast Records in January 2001. The band split-up in 1995 after touring in support of their third full-length studio album "Club Mondo Bizarre for Members Only" from 1994, but reunited in 2001, so "Masters of Moral - Servants of Sin" is their first release in 7 years. There´s been one lineup change since the predecessor as original bassist Pitbull Jack (Real name: Jacek Perkowski) has been replaced by Reverend Mausna (Real name: Mario Klausner). Drummer Rector Stench (Real name: Alexander Wank) and lead vocalist/guitarist Don Cochino (Real name: Martin Schirenc) complete the trio lineup who recorded "Masters of Moral - Servants of Sin".
Pungent Stench evolved a lot on their first three albums, from goregrind, to death metal, to groove laden death´n´roll, but on "Masters of Moral - Servants of Sin" their sound is predominantly death metal oriented. The lyrics and imagery of the band are still gory and filthy (sexually depraved) which song titles like "Rex paedophilus", "Mortuary Love Affair", and "Loot, Shoot, Electrocute", are a testimony too. There´s still the occasional nod towards groove laden death´n´roll on the album, but nowhere near as dominant as that element was on "Club Mondo Bizarre for Members Only".
"Masters of Moral - Servants of Sin" features a decent sounding production job and solid musical performances, but the songwriting is not the most memorable, and certainly doesn´t reach the heights of the band´s early- mid 90s material. "Masters of Moral - Servants of Sin" is one of those releases which is entertaining while it plays, but pretty soon forgotten when it´s over. It´s not a bad quality release, but just a pretty standard quality release for the genre, and a 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.