Artist: Master
Album: Slaves to Society
Label: Twilight-Vertrieb

The names Paul Speckmann and Master are legends within the death metal underground. Having been involved in legendary acts such Funeral Bitch, War Cry, Deathstrike, Abomination and Krabathor, before bands like Possessed, Death (who received the album deal from Combat originally intended for Master), Massacre and other Death Metal legends, Paul was already established firmly in the underground. Never getting the notoriety Master deserves, Speckmann has always stuck to his guns and played death metal devoid of trends or other influences.

This is another fine release from Master devoid of blast beats, pig squeals and cookie monster vocals that can get extremely boring. Master just keeps getting better on every new release and Slaves to Society is proof of that. Brutal old school death metal is what this album is about. Raw, whiskey soaked, Lemmy (who influenced Speckmann in his early days) meets death metal vocals with a thunderous bass, Alex Nejezchleba’s intense riffing from and Zdenek Pradlovsky’s drumming that never slows down for a breather is the name of the game on Slaves To Society.

Paul has changed his vocals somewhat on this album, going from a growling maniac on earlier albums to an easier to understand raspy vocal delivery on Slaves to me is a definite improvement. Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoy the old albums but I prefer the style of vocals presented on Slaves. He has never been afraid to speak his mind; the lyrics presented here prove that he never plans to stop either. He definitely shows his disgust of the American government, and the way they treat the rest of the world. All those, including myself, who share the same opinions of this shitty country’s ways of screwing things up for everyone else including us will identify with the lyrical content. Raging from start to finish, this is a seriously intense album that should be in any death metal junkie’s collection! Definitely buy this one. Better yet, buy all of the releases. They are all great albums and will leave your neck sore for a long ass time! It’s time Master gets the attention they deserve!