Master - The Witchhunt - Album Review

Master is a Death Metal Band from Chicago, Illinois (originally), Uherske Hradiste, Moravia, Czech Republic (now)

The members are:

Paul Speckmann - Bass and Vocals

Alex Nejezchleba - Lead and Rhythm Guitars

Zdenek Pradlovsky - Drums

The Witchhunt, album track listing :

1. The Witchhunt -  04:16

2. Plans of Hate -  03:11

3. Another Suicide - 04:34

4. Waiting to Die - 05:40

5. The Parable - 03:37

6. God of Thunder - 04:49

7. Remove the Clowns - 05:42

8. Raise Your Sword - 05:40

9. Wipe Out the Aggressor - 04:41

10. Manipulated to Exterminate - 06:05

11. The American Dream - 03:32

Master, deities of the US death metal scene to many, have come up with another ferocious slab of noise here on their twelfth (is that right?) full length release. For those unfamiliar, Master play a very straight ahead version of death metal that is reminiscent of the beginnings of the genre- take Motorhead, Venom, early Slayer and mix them together, inject some dianabol et voila: you have Master.

“The Witchhunt” and “Plans of Hate” whip up a storm of blurring speed riffs and drums.

“Another Suicide” does exactly the same. The guitars, bass and drums sound real- no sound replacements here. The bass drums sound like actual bass drums! The riffs come thick and very fast. Ultimately, that is the strength of this and indeed any Master album: the riffs. They are catchy, myriad and always heavy. The time changes are textbook, the vocals unusual (more Cronos than Corpsegrinder) and the band are so tight that the songs are just a wall of noise.

“Waiting to Die” starts slow with added drama and then gets over the wall and starts running. Politics fuel the themes here. I'll leave you to work out which side of the fence Master are on.

“The Parable” brings back the machine gun approach of earlier tracks and never runs out of bullets.

“God Of Thunder” is pure Motorhead worship and sounds nothing like Kiss, in case you were concerned. “Remove the Clowns” is speedy with a nice change after the intro that takes the band into more punky territory while “Raise Your Sword” brings a slower death metal feel initially before ratcheting up the speed and feel to early Venom metal levels.

“Wipe Out The Aggressor” is finely crafted with discernible hooks and changes.

“Manipulate to Exterminate” and “The American Dream” finish proceedings with a seeming will to demonstrate all the facets of Master's sound. The former is lengthy, complex and features twists and turns aplenty, along with dynamics within the song (it is all still loud- but some bits are louder than others). The latter goes for the jugular and rips it out- a ball of energy and fury that puts an emphatic exclamation mark on this release.

Simply put, Master are the best out there at this type of thing. Veterans that still rage better than the pretenders to the throne- long may they reign.

Words by : Richard Maw

The Witchhunt will be avialable to buy on Sept 27th 2013 via FDA Rekotz.

Thanks to the label for sending us a promo to review.

Check The Band From Links Below

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