Masters Of Disguise
The Savage and the Grace
Limb Music
2015
Masters Of Disguise, are not really, a band that could boast originality as one of their main traits, as on both their albums they have pretty much included a cover of wait for it… “Savage Grace” and they totally rip of their name and imagery (Knutson) from wait for it “Master Of Disguise”. Ehm, they basically, consist of the whole of Roxxcalibur, who performed as Savage Grace during the 09-10 shows with the drummer changed, for unknown reasons. And fair enough them instrumentalist, must have grown accustomed to playing the songs of Savage Grace, so it has sort of rubbed onto them a bit, but the singer, Alexx Stahl, is not as impressively over the top as Christian Logue or even Mike Smith. He’s pretty adequate but sings more conventionally, not going for those extremely ear piercing high, bursts, that made Savage Grace, so beloved. He sounds a bit like a more capable Hansi Cursh (I guess being German sort of gives him that sort of accent and teutonic heroic quality in the voice, but, I can’t say I’m totally losing my mind over his performances.
The band too, in general goes for somewhat more reserved and slightly more melodic and intricate arrangements, but they do base their outlook, on the foundations laid by Savage Grace in the 80s. So their faux 80s attempt, is valid enough, without however being as cutting edge or original, as Savage Grace, were back in the day... or indeed as paranoid and over the top... as they were.
“Judgement Day” is a pretty epic sounding intro, that at two plus minutes could have actually been the basis of a song, with some pretty cool riffs in there… and heralds the arrival of “The Enforcer” a fairly enjoyable and fast paced track, that does sound like Blind Grace or Savage Guardian, because of AS. Hell, I mean even them guardians were sort of speed metal, early on, so, it’s not a totally invalid comparison, only MOD, are a bit more influenced by the sound of American metal, overall... it’s just the vocals, that make it sound, German.
“Conquering the World” is decent but gravitates more towards mid tempo and passes, without really making a huge impression, either good or bad.
“Knutson II: (Only a Mother’s) Love is Forever” is lovingly paying tribute to the Savage Grace Mythology and seems to continue, the “For Now and All Time (Knutson’s Return)” sort of story-line from the first album (of MOD) based on the character of Officer Knutson. It’s pretty good in fact, in an old school type of way.
“Heavens Fall” is another attempt at speed metal, which is pretty generic but has a nice bridge/chorus, which keeps it from slipping entirely into infamy.
“New Horizons” is slowing down things considerably, trying to go for a more atmospheric approach. Again, it’s got a nice riff and probably some of Stahl’s better singing on the album, even with the accent and all.
The band’s take on Savage Grace’s “Sins of the Damned” is fairly faithful and overall fair, but not as vitriolic and charged as the original…
“The Scavenger’s Daughter” is an attempt to go for an even slower pace, with acoustics and all and a generally vicious, sadistic atmosphere, but it fails to impress much.
“Barbarians of the Gate” is a muscular mid-tempo with epic verses and a decent chorus, that sort of paves the way for a pounding during “War of the Gods (Part I)” probably one of the most involved songs of the album, with persistent riffs and a tempo that doesn’t really rise above the median, yet still sounds quite epic and feels quite longer than it actually is, a little shy of seven minutes...
Last but not least, there’s a cover on Flotsam & Jetsam’s “Hammerhead” that again is done, in the band’s style, instrumentally close enough, but production wise not as great, rhythmically at least. Still I must say that in this instance I totally dig this cover, probably because of the somewhat “heavier” and more masculine vocal performance...
Masters second album is a good speed/heavy oriented effort, that tries hard to replicate the Savage Gracy style, with a few new spins, along the way and doesn’t fall too short of its intends... but still it’s so painfully cliché and copycat, that I simply cannot appreciate it as much as the original band... I mean if in most of the bands you’re in you cover a lot of songs and assume, some other bands “style” and identity to the point where you are almost a tribute… it feels a bit like f3$#^$#g, with a borrowed di<k and lets not even bring the crazy doc/(Dick Santee, Christian Logue, Christopher Black or Ricardo Santini) into the discussion!
It’s not the album itself that I find bad, as a matter of fact, if you like old school heavy metal, a lot, feel free to add a point or two, but it’s the lack of originality and vision that I find disturbing... the number of tributes and copycats is sky-high and while some of them are decent, it’s very rare that any of those, holds a candle to the “real thing”...
The band too, in general goes for somewhat more reserved and slightly more melodic and intricate arrangements, but they do base their outlook, on the foundations laid by Savage Grace in the 80s. So their faux 80s attempt, is valid enough, without however being as cutting edge or original, as Savage Grace, were back in the day... or indeed as paranoid and over the top... as they were.
“Judgement Day” is a pretty epic sounding intro, that at two plus minutes could have actually been the basis of a song, with some pretty cool riffs in there… and heralds the arrival of “The Enforcer” a fairly enjoyable and fast paced track, that does sound like Blind Grace or Savage Guardian, because of AS. Hell, I mean even them guardians were sort of speed metal, early on, so, it’s not a totally invalid comparison, only MOD, are a bit more influenced by the sound of American metal, overall... it’s just the vocals, that make it sound, German.
“Conquering the World” is decent but gravitates more towards mid tempo and passes, without really making a huge impression, either good or bad.
“Knutson II: (Only a Mother’s) Love is Forever” is lovingly paying tribute to the Savage Grace Mythology and seems to continue, the “For Now and All Time (Knutson’s Return)” sort of story-line from the first album (of MOD) based on the character of Officer Knutson. It’s pretty good in fact, in an old school type of way.
“Heavens Fall” is another attempt at speed metal, which is pretty generic but has a nice bridge/chorus, which keeps it from slipping entirely into infamy.
“New Horizons” is slowing down things considerably, trying to go for a more atmospheric approach. Again, it’s got a nice riff and probably some of Stahl’s better singing on the album, even with the accent and all.
The band’s take on Savage Grace’s “Sins of the Damned” is fairly faithful and overall fair, but not as vitriolic and charged as the original…
“The Scavenger’s Daughter” is an attempt to go for an even slower pace, with acoustics and all and a generally vicious, sadistic atmosphere, but it fails to impress much.
“Barbarians of the Gate” is a muscular mid-tempo with epic verses and a decent chorus, that sort of paves the way for a pounding during “War of the Gods (Part I)” probably one of the most involved songs of the album, with persistent riffs and a tempo that doesn’t really rise above the median, yet still sounds quite epic and feels quite longer than it actually is, a little shy of seven minutes...
Last but not least, there’s a cover on Flotsam & Jetsam’s “Hammerhead” that again is done, in the band’s style, instrumentally close enough, but production wise not as great, rhythmically at least. Still I must say that in this instance I totally dig this cover, probably because of the somewhat “heavier” and more masculine vocal performance...
Masters second album is a good speed/heavy oriented effort, that tries hard to replicate the Savage Gracy style, with a few new spins, along the way and doesn’t fall too short of its intends... but still it’s so painfully cliché and copycat, that I simply cannot appreciate it as much as the original band... I mean if in most of the bands you’re in you cover a lot of songs and assume, some other bands “style” and identity to the point where you are almost a tribute… it feels a bit like f3$#^$#g, with a borrowed di<k and lets not even bring the crazy doc/(Dick Santee, Christian Logue, Christopher Black or Ricardo Santini) into the discussion!
It’s not the album itself that I find bad, as a matter of fact, if you like old school heavy metal, a lot, feel free to add a point or two, but it’s the lack of originality and vision that I find disturbing... the number of tributes and copycats is sky-high and while some of them are decent, it’s very rare that any of those, holds a candle to the “real thing”...