“Strike Master” has one of the most technical and interesting intro of the zillion albums I’ve reviewed. A sabbatish sequence with a leading bass making interesting lines that fill in the song; a full of fillings, and almost free, drumming that highlights the bass passages with guitar lines using few, but powerful notes. As I use to say, a very deceptive cadence for it leads to a regular Thrash Metal song full of Anthrax’s quotes with very strong and catchy chorus and leading riff. Strike Master are a band with very neat instrumentals, I have to say that. The bridge that takes to the guitar solo, and the short, but effective solo in “No Future” are precious. Songs are full of precious bridges and guitar licks that embellish them.
Besides the neat and precious instrumentals, Strike Master also know how to be ferocious. “Boy in the Hole” has those regular plot twists in songs like 1980s bands loved to make, but with Strike Master’s resourceful touch with a bass that does more than pulsating through the songs. The trick Strike Master play on us is some almost unnoticed sequences into songs. Maybe a weird chorus, an outstanding bass lines, or some guitar passages. They all have in common of being short. That’s why some of them are unnoticed. “As I March” has some of them. The best of it, there are also tracks with the regular full of wrath Thrash Metal feeling as “Anti Aereal Witchunt Battery.”
The thing to pay attention on this debut, and self-titled, album is the instrumentals. Strike Master’s musicians are of a different level. Who knows a Thrash guitarist that uses arpeggios? Well, Strike Master’s does. Another thing is that “Strike Master” doesn’t have a linear songwriting, what makes me turn up my nose at some Thrash Metal bands. Songs in “Strike Master” have a pretty good variation such in speed as cadence and in melody. This is a feature that drives the attention Strike Master so far. Pay attention to the phrased-bridge sequence in the beginning of “Chant of Falcons” which leads to the guitar solo and then to the chorus. Amazing!
Strike Master “Strike Master” was released in 2017.
Track Listing:
- Follow Me
- No Future
- Boy in the Hole
- As I March
- Urban Phantasms
- The Mortarist
- Anti Aereal Witchunt Battery
- Chant of Falcons
- Machines of Mercy
- Born Horrible
Watch “Follow Me” video here:
I’m just a lucky guy who has chosen metal to live with for a long time. Metal changed my life for good. It made me more confident and stronger. Metalheads are naturally far away from the mass mediocrity and don’t accept impostures from anybody else. Metal is more than music, it’s a life changing oportunity!