UMUR
"Masters Of Evil" is the debut full-length studio album by multinational heavy metal act Denner / Shermann. The album was released through Metal Blade Records in June 2016. Denner / Shermann was formed in 2014 by original Mercyful Fate guitarists Michael Denner and Hank Shermann. They are joined here by Snowy Shaw (King Diamond, Mercyful Fate, Therion) on drums, Marc Grabowski (Demonica) on bass, and Sean Peck (Cage, Death Dealer) on vocals. It´s the same lineup who recorded the "Satan's Tomb" EP from October 2015. "Masters Of Evil" features all new original written material, and no tracks from the "Satan's Tomb (2015)" EP.
Stylistically the material on the 8 track, 41:42 minutes long album pretty much continues the hard edged heavy metal style of "Satan's Tomb (2015)". Lead vocalist Sean Peck is a versatile singer with the skills to sing both high pitched screams and more raw and butch US power metal styled vocals. The rhythm section is tight and well playing too, and the guitar tag team of Michael Denner and Hank Shermann are of course legendary. They conjure up one hard edged heavy metal riff, harmony lead theme, and blistering melodic guitar solo after another. While there is a lot of great guitar playing featured on "Masters Of Evil", it´s not a "guitar" album though, and especially the vocals are given every bit as much room in the soundscape as the two string instruments. The drums are also pretty active while the bass is a bit less audible in the mix.
The material is well written and relatively catchy. The lyrics on the album are of the occult kind, which song titles like "Angels Blood", "Son Of Satan", "Pentagram And The Cross", and "Escape From Hell" also bear witness to. That of course can´t help to create associations to the two guitarist´s former act Mercyful Fate. A connection which is further strengthened by looking at the front cover artwork to the album, which has many similarities to the front cover artwork of "Don't Break the Oath (1984)" by Mercyful Fate. And while Sean Peck is generally a very different sounding vocalist to King Diamond, the music on "Masters Of Evil" also features many similarities to Mercyful Fate.
"Masters Of Evil" is overall a well produced album, although the snare drum has a cardboard sound to it, that could have prospered from a more organic tone. All in all it´s a high quality release by Denner / Shermann and the promise which was present on the "Satan's Tomb (2015)" EP is fulfilled here. Fans of both hard edged heavy metal and US power metal should find lots of enjoy here. A 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.