Rating: 9.3

Country: USA

Release Date: 2007

Record Label: Twilight-Vertrieb

Track list:
1. The Final Skull
2. In Control
3. Beaten For The Possibility
4. Slaves To Society
5. The Darkest Age
6. Cheater
7. Anarchy Nearly Lost
8. The Room With Views
9. Remnants Of Hate
10. The Last Chapter
11. World Police

Band Website: Master

Master - Slaves To Society

Paul Speckmann - Bass/Vocals
Ales Nejezchleba - Guitars
Zdenek "Zdenal" Pradlovsky - Drums

Always outspoken and disarmingly candid, Paul Speckmann's belligerence and boisterousness has not attenuated with the passage of time. On Master's umpteenth outing, Slaves To Society, this bellicose brazenness manifests itself in gratuitously explicit form- an act of fellatio clumsily censored by a superimposed “banned by society” bar. The none-too-subtle and clumsily-positioned tag, which utterly fails to obscure the bawdy imagery, is a concise and damning indictment of current policing and censorial procedures- the truth is in plain view, why bother tucking it (sloppily) under the rug? Master have always been a singularly unique proposition, an unabashedly political band that dodges the perilous pitfalls of sermonizing CNN Metal and total anarchic nihilism. A salvo against complacency, lassitude and hypocrisy, Master are first and foremost a commitment, a call-to-arms, an incitement. It also helps that they've regurgitated forth some of the most impassioned, incendiary death/thrash ever.

After having lost their way somewhat in the Let's Start A War/Faith Is In Season years, Speck unveiled a frighteningly immediate and awesomely spirited outing with last year's Four More Years Of Terror (as with all his pronouncements, Speck is not shy with his intentions). This record surpasses even that monument of malevolence, a breakneck exultation of all that is Master, Funeral Bitch and Death Strike. Unreservedly Speckmann from first note to last, this somehow manages to infuse new vitality into a formula that seemed to be wearing threadbare in Master's years in oblivion. If Four More Years Of Terror didn't completely dispel any of your reservations, Slaves To Society assuredly will. Speck has returned from his songwriting nebula, and this is surely the BEST Master album since On The Seventh Day ..., and each subsequent spin suggests that this one even eclipses said masterwork to rank alongside Master.

If this is your virgin experience with the band, enjoy the initiation, it is a baptism into a long and fulfilling relationship. All the requisite accoutrements of a Master record are accounted for- the doggedly single-minded beats, the non-stop, primal Discharge-flavored riffs, the gravel-throated, strained and severe vocals, the unashamedly caustic lyrical matter, the infectious holler-along hooks, the neck-snagging rhythms and deliberate, pronounced pacing. Speck has developed a style that remains affirmatively first-wave in approach, wielding the simplistic and frank formula to songcraft that has been his muse from his earliest days, but he welds this sensibility with a more contemporary feel for rhythmic phrasing and breaks that, to my mind at least, should assure considerable crossover appeal with a younger demographic.

Take the opening barrage of “The Final Skull”, for instance, which couples a mind-melting Discharge-esque main riff with throbbing, pounding kick drums and a devastating break, or the title cut (which is even accented with pinch harmonics, the soup-du-jour of all young rapscallions), a perfect synthesis of sinewy hardcore and vintage Master moves, the likes of which can be identified in everything from Terrorizer to Nasum. Consolidating this transition into greater accessibility is a heightened sense of melody- the solos that punctuate the record are succinct and tuneful, while “Cheater” even features hyperspeed harmony sections. Make no mistake, Master are still one of the most unforgiving propositions in death metal, but this time around the martial severity is expressed in (slightly) more approachable form. All of this, of course, crystallizes into what is surely the best death metal album of 2007 thus far, and a landmark in one of the most storied careers in heavy music.

October 22th, 2007