Review by Michael on December 19, 2023.

Master has always been a musical definition of anachronism for me. No matter which trend was hip, Paul Speckman stretched off his middle-finger to that and did his usual mixture between death and thrash. Sometimes it was more successful and sounded a little bit better and sometimes it was just okay but he didn't care about other people opinions and stayed focused on what he could do best. And now, in 2024, he is going to release his 15th (!) full-length album Saints Dispelled out via the Dutch Hammerheart Records which contains eight regular songs and two bonus tracks.

So what's new on Saints Dispelled? Nothing! But that is good and the musical quality of the music fell nicely on my half-deaf ears. What the listener can expect is a mixture of old-fashioned death-thrash with a lot of punk vibes which got stirred up together and out came a very tasty mixture of old-school metal. A song like 'Walk In The Footsteps Of Doom' makes so much fun listening to (and don't let yourself get led astray, the track has nothing to do with doom) because the breaks and the musical arrangements are pretty crazy and so much back to the 80s when punk and metal still were closer to each other. Fuck, I wanna go do some pogo right now! With 'The Wiseman' they even bring some oriental flair to the album. Introducing some slight Arabic motifs (and something that sounds like an old Nintendo game in the background) the song becomes a cool punkish-laden Autopsy-like track with a lot of doomy parts between speeding from bridge to bridge. The boundary between death and thrash is often very blurred so that the songs don't sound that one-dimensional. In 'Find Your Life' there is this low-tuned basic riff that clearly has its roots in death metal but the guitar solo is very much Slayer-inspired and the drums especially are galloping and pacing and quite different from death metal. What you can clearly state is that in each of the songs there is this very special rock n'roll attitude that sounds very entertaining. Check 'Marred And Diseased' – this is the Motörhead meets UFO song Master wrote. The song lives up from some really goddamn casual solo and a fantastic fuck off attitude. Damn, this solo – Doctor, Doctor!!!!

In my introduction I said that Master means anachronism form me – this doesn't only concern the music but also the production. You don't find any modern sounds here and it also feels like a throwback into the 80s / early 90s. The sound is a little bit muffled but it all feels pretty natural like nothing got readjusted during the recording process. This is a pretty good 15th album and shouldn't disappoint any Master fans. Maybe some more Speckman disciples can be caught with that.

Rating: 9 out of 10

Review by Felix on July 25, 2020.

Thy Numinous Darkness, the sophomore album of Aegrus, was released in 2017. It’s a good album, no doubt at all. But wedged between the masterpieces Devotion for the Devil and In Manus Satanas, it is not easy for the material to get the attention the album actually deserves. I have heard that insiders call this phenomenon the Quorthonic “The Return…” syndrome. In other words, in view of two very strong competitors, nuances play a bigger role than they usually do. For example, the opener 'Embodiment of Chaos' starts with ice-cold guitar sounds, but the beginning makes a promise the song cannot fully keep. It’s a good piece, but a surprisingly soft break is quite annoying. Bone-shaking openers of other black metal classics are like a diabolic explosion of power, just think of Behexen’s “By the Blessing of Satan” or Marduk’s “The Hangman of Prague”. In comparison, the first song of Thy Numinous Darkness appears relatively faceless. However, it is still better than the closer of the album. Its title ('Transcendence') indicates the more or less airy and gliding approach of this instrumental. The song marks a surprisingly weak ending of an album of a great band, but who is free from sin?

However, Aegrus also dish up true diamonds of the genre. 'Black Goat Manifest' celebrates six minutes of pure sin with an irresistible, catchy yet merciless chorus and an absolutely flawless overall impression. The guitar finds the perfect black melodies with instinctive certainty, the tempo changes work excellently and neither vehemence nor velocity are missing. Not to mention the constant nagging of lead vocalist Inculta. Seemingly obsessed by Satan himself, he spits out his evil poetry in a masterful manner. This piece and the title track show the full potential of Aegrus. The duo belongs to the best formations of the genre in Suomi – and to be among the best Finnish bands means to be among the best of the world, right? 'Thy Numinous Darkness' (the song) starts almost dreamy, but it turns out to be a pitch-black torpedo that flexes its muscles while high-speed rhythms ensure that the cold and slightly depressive melody lines have a horrifying impact.

These two tracks stand out, but all songs between the opener and the closer jump over the imaginary 80%-hurdle with great ease. 'The Black Stream of Death' is based on an almost rocking guitar line, nevertheless, it unfolds a more than profound darkness. To listen to Inculta while he is crying in agony during the slowest part of the song is nice – and the dominating, more furious sequences are even better. 'Dark Essence' is driven by a great, berserk guitar that shows an immaculate mix of brute force and harsh harmonies. This song is good enough to survive a calm and almost meditative instrumental section – and the opener taught us that this is no matter of course. Additionally, it cannot be taken for granted that the vinyl glitters with a fascinating production. The album sounds opaque enough to create a cruel atmosphere, but it also does not lack the necessary share of transparency. In its best moments the material appears as thick lava that cannot be stopped.

The colourless artwork and the entire design of the 12” are very convincing, even though I am too old for posters. Given this situation and the fact that six out of eight pieces hail Lucifer in a very competent manner, the laborious start and the relaxed end of Thy Numinous Darkness are all the more regrettable. Anyway, as mentioned above, it’s a good or even a very good and recommendable album. Nonetheless, its neighbours have a slightly larger garden, even though the scarecrow of Aegrus (have a look at the artwork) is well done - and it wants you to lend an ear to its album.

Rating: 8.2 out of 10