MASTER — Master (review)

MASTER — Master album cover Album · 1990 · Death Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3/5 ·
UMUR
"Master" is the eponymous debut full-length studio album by US (now Czech based) death/thrash metal act Master. The album was released through Nuclear Blast Records in 1990. The album was heavily promoted by Nuclear Blast Records in heavy metal magazines around the time of it´s release and also generally received favorable reviews. Founder and frontman/bassist Paul Speckmann was simultaniously a member of death/thrash act Abomination and had also been part of the proto death metal act Death Strike. Definitely a very influential character on the Chicago death and thrash metal scene of the eighties/early nineties.

Master was his most "death metal" sounding project, even though the music on the album also features a lot of thrash metal traits. The vocals are raw and semi-growling, the drumming features a lot of double pedal work, and the riffing is simple and brutal. Tracks like "Pledge Your Allegiance", "Unknown Soldier", "Mangled Dehumanization" and "Funeral Bitch", which are all placed on the first part of the album, are some of the better tracks on the album, while some of the tracks on the latter part of the album aren´t as effective or memorable. The Black Sabbath cover of "Children of the Grave" isn´t particularly successful either. The sound production is powerful and raw and help bring out the best in the tracks.

I´m slightly biased about the album and how I see it in an overall perspective. The tracks that are great are really great old school death metal with a thrashy edge and they greatly appeal to me, but I guess too many of the tracks on the album come off as middle of the road material and ultimately "Master" is usually an album where I only listen to the first 4 or 5 tracks before it comes off again. Still a 3 - 3.5 star (65%) rating is warranted.
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