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Paul Speckman needs no introduction and together with Alex Nejezchleba (guitar) and Zdenek Pradlovsky (drums) he has recorded this new (12th) Master album. More old school 'straight ahead' death metal than this is almost impossible to find if you ask me.

The songs sound like Motörhead on speed with a devilish Slayer attitude, early Venom influences and a portion of U.S. death metal. Add the sickening vocals of Paul (Cronos on pills) to it and you have the sound of Master. The riffs are catchy, the drums sound authentic and the songs are fast most of the times. "Waiting to Die" is a more mid-tempo song however and reminds me a bit of Asphyx, but with "The Parable" the tempo speeds up again. The song "God of Thunder" sounds like a death metal version of a Motörhead song and Slayer and Venom aren't far away in "Remove the Clowns". With the tenth song the tempo slows down again in the beginning, but then turns out to be a typical Master song where all the regular ingredients pass by.

With this album the pioneers of death metal show us that they still are far from redundant. The Master is back!

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