Little breaks can be a good thing, for example I am now back from a year long hiatus from reviewing. Rather interestingly this first review I have chosen is from Master who themselves have had a bit of a break between this latest 2024 album Saints Dispelled and their rather lackluster 2018 effort Vindictive Miscreant. Let’s hope that this new album has given the band time to evolve, or at least develop something which isn’t just a rehashing as is so often the case with bands with such large outputs as Master.
The legendary Paul Speckmann of course heads up the fray with his thundering bass and Thrash tinged OSDM vocals. ‘Destruction In June’, the opener actually does have a fresh air about it. Big riffs, powerful vocals, little hooks and metallic stalwart drums. These traits purvey in ‘Walk In The Footsteps Of Doom’, an altogether snappier track with some real Master flare for fans of Death Metal and Thrash alike, honestly one of the stronger songs on the album. Bringing further hooks is ‘Minds Under Pressure’, this song has big modern Thrash energy, catchy yet pretty simplistic, it does beg the question though, could this album be more catchy? If you think of the relentless repetition of say Unleashed it’s a winning formula, I’m all for it and it’s perhaps the only thing missing here.
After the more filler track that is ‘Find Your Life’ it’s time for the second half of this album, well sort of, if you count the bonus tracks, which for the purpose of this review I am. Sadly ‘Marred And Diseased’ is also a little bit lacking. That said it’s lacking in comparison to some of those blistering opening tracks, it’s by no means bad, simply not as good. Thankfully the acoustic, somewhat peaceful intro of ‘The Wiseman’ serves to break things up, allowing just enough breathing room for the record to become interesting once more. It’s also a pretty strong track, pulled along mostly by the groovy guitars and beating drum patterns, it kind of gives off Sepultura Chaos A.D. vibes, crossed perhaps with a bit of Sodom. Essentially the final track is ‘The Wizard Of Evil’ which again isn’t bad but nothing compared to the start of the album. There’s also this really odd point where it fades out and then back in again. Unnecessarily long song for what it is really, passable but not massively exciting. The final two bonus tracks pass without much impact, and equally so do nothing more than add to the length of the record.
Overall I think the break has served some good for Master. This is without a doubt a stronger effort than Vindictive Miscreant, and whilst Saints Dispelled does have some flaws it is generally pretty decent. Arguably it’s more memorable than a lot of modern OSDM that is pumped out these days and does at least show why Master should be held in high regard. Honestly it’s just nice to have bands like this still kicking around and still pumping out good quality material, long live the Master!
(8/10 George Caley)
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