MASTER

I have been dying for this one to hit the site. I picked it up on Bandcamp last week and have been listening to it almost nonstop. I even made my first dabble into the world of vinyl. I liked it so much; I simply couldn't pass up the opportunity.

I, probably like most people, had never heard of Teeth of the Sea. I've since checked out their back catalogue. Pretty solid and certainly more conventional psychedelic stuff and I'll be sure to give it the attention it deserves once my devotion to Master has subsided.

So what is Master? Well for starters, I am not sure whether it is a concept album or not. It is largely instrumental and what vocals there are, are often distorted or highly esoteric. Not surprising given the nature of the genre. There are a few passages repeated throughout, but in large part each track is perfectly capable of standing on its own. That said however, the wall the pieces fit together as a whole suggest a much greater thematic relationship. I'd agree that it is one on that basis.

Master is my first brush with seriously industrial music and I've found myself liking in considerably more that I imagined I would. The tone of the album is incredibly dark, the beats are rhythmic and mechanistic and everything is cold. What little brightness there is comes from the trumpet, but that too is distorted, tarnished and faded into the mix. The trumpet itself is actually a mainstay of the band, not a tack on. I was surprised. It seems to me a very curious fixture for an industrial album, but it works. Overall, I would compare the style of Master to that of Welcome to the Machine (my favourite track), by Pink Floyd. Save for the up tempo and adroit delivery. The menace is there though, right down to machine sounds, I'll be it with a little more horsepower.

I liked this album from the heavily distorted vocal German introduction to the final fade out. Teeth of the Sea's previous work is much less electronic than Master. They managed to find an excellent heterogeneous mix here though. Along the way the band manages to cross the vast distances between death metal and club music and somehow make it feel coherent. My favourite track is the closer, Responder, which errs on the electronic side, but it is the most upbeat (relatively speaking) track and it clears the air after the weight of Master very nicely.

I would be totally remiss giving this album anything less than five out of five, so I will do just that. I recommend it highly to psychedelic fans and fans of dark ambient music. Metal fans should also enjoy this, but not in the same way you would Iron Maiden. Really though, this impressively diverse and immaculately assembled album is truly essential in my mind. Highly recommend, and timely, if you are looking to go high concept this Halloween.