SAVAGE MASTER "Myth, Magic and Steel"

SAVAGE MASTER

“Myth, Magic & Steel”

Some bands have to be experienced live. SAVAGE MASTER is one of those bands. I’ve seen them three times at various metalfests and each time their set was a highlight of the show. Alas, the energy they have on stage does not translate to album form, at least if “Myth, Magic & Steel” is anything to go by.

Led by vivacious warrior woman Stacey Savage, the band plays a kind of NWOBHM/ 80’s power metal kind of style with a lot of horror and sword&sorcery influence. Many bands are cruising these waters and SAVAGE MASTER doesn’t stand out too much above the pack. I like a raw and organic production, but there are times when this sounds like it was a one-take on rehearsal night. The drums don’t have much pop and Stacey sounds like she’s singing into a tin can. Now she is not a female vocalist in the mode of the wannabe opera stars fronting the Goth metal bands and should not be held to the same standard, but I was expecting something a little better than what I got. She is so much fun on stage that listening to the album can’t help but be a bit disappointing.

The songwriting quality here is variable. The title track, “The Devil’s Ecstasy” and “Lady of Steel” are fast epic metal kind of in the OMEN/ATTACKER/MANILLA ROAD mode and work pretty good. They experiment with longer and doomier cuts like “The Owl” and “Crystal Gazer”; both songs seem longer than they actually are, not a good sign. Last lengthy track “Warrior Vs. Dragon” has some of the best riffs but ends on a head-scratching note with two minutes plus of acoustic boredom. Very inconsistent material here, recorded in cheap fashion...I needed SAVAGE MASTER to be a bit more, well, SAVAGE.

An awesome live band but capable of a lot more on record.

SHADOW KINGDOM RECORDS