Year: 2022
Label: Shadow Kingdom Records
Rating: 7,8 / 10
Couple years ago I wrote a review on the previous album of this US band which I liked, but not enough to go beyond the Blitz section. The new SAVAGE MASTER album is better, so it's worth turning your attention to them with the help of a full review!
SAVAGE MASTER has been around for exactly 10 years, which, on the one hand, is not much. On the other hand, the band has already released 4 albums and 2 EP's, and its members started their way in music in the late 80s–early 90s. Therefore, they know their business. A special feature of SAVAGE MASTER is the appetizing vocalist Stacey Savage, who embodies everything that a woman in metal should be: predatory appearance, ardent temperament and a complete, categorical absence of all this academic/gothic/operatic bullshit which characterizes many female vocalists of Heavy Metal bands. That is, she isn't another pretentious cunt who has been singing NIGHTWISH covers in front of the mirror through all her life and joined the band just to show off her peasant coprano. Truth be told, Stacey quite often signs all over the place, and you probably won't hear her falsetto even if here life would depend on it. But that's the way it should be; this kind of singing sounds most natural and sincere, especially if we are dealing with Heavy Metal of the kind that SAVAGE MASTER plays.
And they play mostly rhytmic material in the vein of old JUDAS PRIEST or ACCEPT, although taking into account the retro themes, where apocalyptic fantasy and satanism are combined, the band from time to time has to go down to heavy-doom parts a-la PAGAN ALTAR or, for example, CAUCHEMAR. At the same time, SAVAGE MASTER does not sound retro at all. Again, they have a natural and sincere sound, where there are certain mistakes that only give the music a more lively character. It is quite possible that the album was recorded live in studio, even if through digital equipment. The power of the instruments is felt by your whole body, especially when it comes to clanging and rumbling drum section. SAVAGE MASTER's songs are reminiscent of old furniture: perhaps they lack grace, but they are made of infinitely reliable parts, fastened so tightly that you won't crush them even with a sledgehammer. They have fewer outstanding moments than I would like, but still a lot – in each track there is at least an interesting chorus, which by the standards of modern heavy metal, is already a worthy achievement.
English (UK) 
Крыўская