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Artist: MASTERLAST
Album: Mastery of Self
Year: 2006
What happens when five people from New York, U.S.A., get
together to make some music? Well, the examples are
countless, and today I found another one to be added to
that group. Masterlast is a five-piece hailing from...
New York, U.S.A. (bet you didn’t see that one coming huh?!),
who says to make some kind of mix between industrial and
metal. Now, since we are always interested in
industrialized metal on Industrialized Metal, we decided
to give this band a try too. The debut album is called
“Mastery of Self” and it is released somewhere in 2006.
This album brings you over 40 minutes of music, spreaded
out over 11 tracks. And, I must say this isn’t bad.. at
all! Take some slices of nu-metal, a little hardcore and
some rock and mix it with some (great!) industrial
drumming and female vocals and you’ll get the idea. The
first band that came in mind when I listened this album
was... the Guano Apes! Guano Apes?! Yes, indeed. The
vocals sound pretty much like them, and the rocky
attitude all over the album kind of confirms this. But,
to say that this is an industrialized Guano Apes clone
would be a little harsh. Because, Masterlast also has
some more modern influences (think the way Otep is
bashing their way into the minds of the metalfans) and
don’t be surprised if you hear a little rock ‘n’ roll
riff here and there too! ‘I Ache’, the first track of
the album, is a good example of the experimental
attitude of this band. Take some fast industrial
drumtracks (which can even be related to d-beat drumming
here and there!!) and add some clean and distortion
guitars to the song, all overruled by brutal and clean
female vocals. Opening tracks like these make you want
to listen to the rest of the record immidiately, if you
know what I mean. ‘Run Far From Me’ on the other hand is
a song of the different kind. Metalcore and even a
little screamo reign this song, which exists of a
nu-metal pre-chorus, a HC chorus and ock/emo kind of
couplets. The most easy listening song of the record,
but don’t be afraid to fall asleep, because the chorus
wakes you up every time. ‘On The Line’ is quite
surprising too, with accoustic guitars and some
hyperactive drumwork. There is an excellent guitar riff
hidden in the chorus, which is kind of catchy too.
‘Highmax’ might be the most industrial track of the
record, with excellent industrial drumming, some weird
guitarwork and some electronic addings on it. It will
not surprise you that this turned out to be my favourite
track of the record. Talking about that record: “Is it
an original one in your opinion?”, I hear you ask. Hmm,
I would say yes... And good stuff? For real! Masterlast
masterclass!
Vote: 85 / 100
Review by: Gerardo |
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01. I Ache
02. Wake Up Today
03. On The Line
04. Think Of The Day
05. Whore Myself
06. Think Far From Me
07. Monkeys
08. Highmax
09. Challenge You
10. Shut Your Way Out |
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