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Paul Speckmann’s old school death metal beast Master, an important band in the foundations of early death metal, returns with The New Elite, yet another slab of, you guessed it, old school death metal. Not much changes from album to album with Master, as Speckmann and company stick to their tried and true formula of mid-paced gallops, riffs piled upon riffs, a bottom heavy, rough production, and Speckmann’s nasally inflected growl.


Probably incapable of producing a bad album whilst employing this formula, Master occasionally rise above better than average death metal with taut songwriting and musicianship, as was displayed on 2010’s The Human Machine, and Master largely continue in that vein with The New Elite. Both albums are pretty similar with, more or less, interchangeable songs, but The New Elite has a slightly rawer sound to the production and a heavier reliance on near d-beat pacing than that of The Human Machine.

The New Elite rarely varies in songwriting and delivery, however, and, in lesser hands, the approach would be rather boring, but Master lay on the crushing heaviness with enough catchy riffs to carry the day and produce yet another solid album of straightforward death metal. In short, there are no surprises with The New Elite.

(released July 10, 2012 on Pulverised Records)

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