Author: Rok Klemše
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Venue: Orto Bar / Ljubljana / Slovenia
Concert date: 26.01.2009
Attendance: 50
Ticket price: 18,00€
We’ve barely stepped into the new year and our concert stages are already groaning under the weight of a whole lot of foreign and homegrown heavy metal acts, the lion’s share of them at gigs run by the tireless Umazani dihurčki. This time they put a smile on the faces of old-school death metal fans with the Strike Your Idols Down 2009 tour, featuring the legendary American-Czech death metallers Master, led by the godfather of death metal himself, Paul Speckmann. Master brought three support bands along: hardcore outfit Deaf Noise, death metallers Vermin and melodic death metal crew Pariah. With all due respect to the openers, who at the end of the day earn their bread like everybody else, you’d have a hard time finding a worse lineup of support acts for a band like Master. I’ll spare you the torture of the plain bad to, at best, mediocre musical moments that dragged on way too long up there, and that way I can elegantly dodge the criticism these three warm-up acts deserve, heh.
Around eleven o’clock we finally got the often unfairly overlooked giants of death metal, led by the legendary Paul Speckmann. Speckmann founded his first band, Death Strike, back in 1983, and two years later it was renamed Master. Alongside Death, Possessed and Morbid Angel, they count as one of the very first death metal bands ever, and Speckmann belongs right up there with the holy trinity of death metal godfathers: Chuck Schuldiner, Jeff Beccari and Dave Vincent. Soon after founding Master, fed up with labels and other circumstances, Speckmann left the US and settled in the Czech Republic. Master even broke up for a while and he played in other bands, but in 1998 they came back with the album Faith Is in Season. The year before last they dropped another excellent “comeback” record, Slaves to Society, and this year they returned to our stages for the third time. And from the moment Master took the stage to the last second of the last song, it was one pure shot of old-school death metal schooling. Paul’s heavy Venom and Motorhead influences show, as he beats the bass without mercy, and when he hunches over the slightly raised mic he looks like some kind of death metal pietà. There’s no mercy to be found with Master, because the formula is simple but damn effective – short to mid-length songs, infectious riffs, chaotic death metal solos, polka-beat drums and distorted, rattling bass. And over it all, Paul’s venomous, brutal growl. Master served up a perfect cross-section of their career, with songs from the first record all the way to the latest, from the classic Master to the opening banger from Slaves to Society, The Final Skull.
When you experience a Master bomb attack live, one you could compare to the bombing of Dresden, you can easily feel the strong spirit of authentic eighties death metal. And it’s a shame Master are mentioned in the same breath as the other pioneers of the genre far too rarely. But maybe it’s even better that Master stay right where they are – in the underground… and in that underground they’re nothing less than the lords and masters.
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Setlist
1. What Kind Of A God 2. The Line To Kill 3. Master 4. Shoot To Kill 5. Slaves To Society 6. Judgement Of Will 7. All We’ve Become 8. Collection Of Soul 9. Return To Vietnam 10. Unknown Soldier 11. Funeral Bitch 12. The Gold Mine 13. The Final Skull 14. Cut Thru The Filth 15. Let’s Start A War 16. Whatever Wherever Forever 17. Special Skills —encore— 18. Pay To Die 19. Follow Jesus
Photo Gallery
