Master: Saints Dispelled (2024, Hammerheart Records)

Master is back with his furious combination of death and thrash to deliver one of his best albums to date.

The masters of death/thrash Master are back with their new album Saints Dispelled, the fifteenth studio album of their long career as one of the totemic artists of the genre that has seen them grow exponentially over time while they have remained as one of the references of the underground thanks to his total dedication in each of his albums. The trio led by vocalist and bassist Paul Speckmann has always been synonymous with quality and that is something that the band has managed to demonstrate in each of the albums they have released to date.

Destruction In June opens the album with a frenetic riff and infernal drums by Peter Bajci. The galloping guitar rhythms are the work of Aleš Nejezchleba who, once again, is in charge of offering an authentic and devastating sonic display to the six strings. It is closely followed by Walk In The Footsteps Of Doom in which the guitars double to make way for the powerful bass and the otherworldly voice of its leader Paul Speckmann who dedicates himself to the cause at all times to perform what is probably his best voice acting to date.

Thrash metal takes a backseat with the arrival of the album’s title track, Saints Dispelled, thus releasing the death metal beast that Master carries within. The gates of hell open wide to give way to sonic chaos that takes the form of a three-headed demon led by the outstanding Aleš Nejezchleba on guitars. Master takes no prisoners, he takes everything before him and destroys everything in his path. The drums make an appearance again on Minds Under Pressure before Speckmann once again regurgitates his cavernous voice in a true death/thrash anthem that will go down in history.

The second side of the album starts with the thrasher Find Your Life in which its members show their most forceful and heavy side without leaving aside the aggressiveness that characterizes Master, this is something that becomes even more visible with the arrival of Marred And Diseased, which at times reminded me of the earliest Venom. Catchy rhythms and cutting voices make this side somewhat more decaffeinated but just as interesting as the first. Just as The Wiseman saves the most interesting parts of the album, which also contrasts with the rest of the compositions due to its technicality, the devastating The Wizard Of Evil is responsible for closing the album in style without leaving anything alive in its wake.

Master returns to the studio after the notable Vindictive Miscreant (2018, Transcending Obscurity Records) with an excellent successor like Saints Dispelled (Hammerheart Records) that in general terms far surpasses his previous works and puts it at the level of albums like the classics Faith Is In Season (1998, System Shock) or his iconic album On The Seventh Day God Created… Master (1991, Nuclear Blast), thus managing to confront his new creation with two titanic beasts like the aforementioned, emerging totally victorious. A new chapter for Master with which we celebrate his glorious return.