MASTER — On The Seventh Day God Created... Master (review)

MASTER — On The Seventh Day God Created... Master album cover

Album · 1991 · Death Metal

3/5 · 2018-11-13
UMUR

"On The Seventh Day God Created... Master" is the 2nd full-length studio album by US death metal act Master. The album was released through Nuclear Blast Records in the fall of 1991. Master had a relatively long and complicated history before releasing their eponymously titled debut full-length studio album in 1990. That album earned them great underground success though, and they were more or less at the top of the world (well...in relative terms) at this point. Since the release of the debut album both drummer Bill Schmidt and guitarist Chris Mittleburn have left the band. They are replaced here by new drummer Aaron Nickeas and Cynic frontman/guitarist Paul Masvidal (who handles guitars on the album). Band founder Paul Speckmann is the only remaining member from the lineup who recorded the debut album. He handles vocals and bass on the album. John Tardy from Obituary makes a guest vocal appearance on "Latitudinarian" and "Submerged In Sin".

Stylistically the music on "On The Seventh Day God Created... Master" continues the old school death metal with strong thrash metal leanings of the debut album. The song structures, riffs, and playing style are predominantly simple and at least to some degree catchy. It´s hard to imagine that it took very long for a capacity like Paul Masvidal to learn the guitar parts for this album. His solos are also more simple and raw than what we´re used to hearing from him. The drumming is pretty simple too and a bit one-dimensional. Clicky double kick drumming almost constantly throughout the album, and only few tempo changes. Speckmann´s vocals are somewhere between growling and raw more thrash metal oriented vocals.

"On The Seventh Day God Created... Master" opens with a decent trio of tracks in "What Kind Of God", "Latitudinarian", and "Heathen", but it´s like the band can´t keep the quality of the opening tracks up throughout the album. There´s nothing terribly bad on the album, but quite a few of the tracks are unremarkable. Master´s version of the American national anthem "America The Pitiful" is one of the few other standout tracks on the album.

The album was recorded at Morrisound Recording in Tampa, Florida in August 1991, and features a rather time typical Morrisound production. It´s not as bass heavy as most of the other productions out of the studio from that time, but there´s still no mistaking where the album was recorded. It´s not a particularly well produced release though and especially the messy guitar sound and clicky kick drums don´t sound too great.

Upon conclusion "On The Seventh Day God Created... Master" is probably an album that´ll please fans of the band´s debut album, but viewed within a broader death metal reference frame, it´s not the most interesting release on the scene, and considering the amount of death metal classics released in 1991, this one drowns in mediocrity. A 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.