MASTERS OF DISGUISE - The Savage And The Grace
April 14, 2015, 8 years ago
(Limb)
In a music makes strange bed-fellows way, the last incarnation of US metallers Savage Grace was comprised almost entirely of Europeans, eventually usurping the name, before adjusting it to the current moniker. They've kept another link to the past, snaggle-tooth grinning, nefarious act motorcycle cop Knutson, who adorns the album artwork. Following the instrumental “Judgment Day” video, it's a burst of soaring, high end vocals and speed metal intensity. Throughout, the pace is a staccato riffing gallop, inter-spliced with searing guitar solos/breaks.
“New Horizons” fades out as the guitarist blazes into the sunset and there's definitely some Wolf Hoffmann (Accept) in the guitar tones of “Conquering The World”. By contrast, “The Scavenger's Daughter” begins acoustically, before the full band kicks in, but the tempo never rises above a laughter-filled ballad. “Sins Of The Damned” is an old Savage Grace number (off the '85 debut, Master Of Disguise, get the connection?) and a letter perfect cover of Flotsam & Jetsam's “Hammerhead” closes things out. First law of economics, American exports eventually are overtaken by foreigners and thus imported back to North America. In this case, that's a fair deal.