Master of Disguise

Savage Grace's debut record Master of Disguise is a critically overlooked speed metal gem that oozes with charisma. The Californian quintet offers nine energetic songs with a concise running time of thirty-five minutes. Some reissued versions of this classic record include five bonus songs from the early extended play The Dominatress that offer even more value for money. Be careful though, since some remastered versions have replaced the original drum tracks with samples.

I'm usually not too fond of speed metal because many bands perform it in an overtly aggressive way with predictable and repetitive musicianship and exchangeable and gruff vocals. That isn't the case here however. The musicianship is fast but very skilled. The guitar riffs are tight, pitiless and energetic while the guitar solos find the perfect balance between melody and energy. The rhythm section is quite energetic with a vibrant audible bass guitar sound and playful drum patterns that are give the opportunity to shine on multiple occasions. The vocals are youthful, passionate and melodic and will please fans of early heavy metal, glam metal and even punk rock alike.

The record includes numerous highlights. The opening ''Bound to Be Free'' does its title justice and kicks things off with liberating chemistry, energy and speed. ''Fear My Way'' on the other side is an excellent heavy metal song with inspired guitar play and passionate vocals that must work even better on stage than on record. Title track ''Master of Disguise'' opens with an excellent drum solo before bumblebee bass and electric guitar sounds kick in which are followed by mad screams and laughter to kick off what might be the record's most aggressive cut. While most speed metal bands sound negative in their aggressive approach, Savage Grace sound like they were enjoying themselves a great deal while recording this cult classic in the mid-eighties.

The cool cover artwork with the charismatic cop, the naked lady and the beautiful motorcycle already show what kind of cool, energetic and pitiless music awaits. Contemporary social justice warriors might throw a fit by just looking at it but this record is for people who want to have fun instead of discussing social issues to death. Savage Grace's Master of Disguise is a melodic, playful and timeless album somewhere between heavy, speed and thrash metal stylistics with a few glam and punk stylistics thrown in. The final result sounds absolutely unique, grows with every spin and hasn't lost any of its charm in three and a half decades and counting. It's a shame that the band's career failed to develop after this convincing debut or else this group would be considered among heavy metal's most influential veterans of the eighties. Check this forgotten gem out, crank up the volume and party with your friends like there is no tomorrow.

I have no idea how this record is not as famous as Walls of Jericho, Battalions of Fear, and some other records like them. It is surely not any worse than the aforementioned two, that I know. Not many albums scream "original, authentic, irreplaceable 80s heavy/speed" more than this one. It does take good rhetoric to justify giving an album 100% that barely anyone talks about, but I feel like 100% is the minimum I would give this masterpiece. What makes it really outstanding? A better question would be "What doesn't?". Somehow, the band managed to create something extremely memorable without reminding you of some other band and ruining it with something that would annoy you. It is original, authentic, creative, skilled, and a blast to listen to.

Highlights are extremely difficult to choose, as every single song is a masterpiece of its own. Whether you are into slower, or mid-paced songs that are more melodic, or you are into fast screamers that blast through your speakers at the speed of an F1 car in the longest straight line of a racetrack, this album will not disappoint you. There are examples to both, and they are all excellent. Some of the best moments include "Bound to Be Free", "Master of Disguise", and "Sons of Inequity". However, I could have mentioned three other songs from the album, for they are just as good. It just comes down to whatever you enjoy more.

What makes the album that good though? It has to do with the musicianship. These guys really knew what they were doing, and their songwriting skills were way ahead of their "competition". This album has its own character and identity, without borrowing it from another release that inspired the members earlier on. The riffs are extremely colorful, advanced, and melodic. On top of that, the solos are even better. Those solos have been extremely well thought out and well written. No matter which guitarists you listened to before, I can guarantee you that these solos will impress you.

The pauses, pace-changes, fills, bridges are used very creatively throughout the record, so you can be assured there is not a second of filler in here. The drums are also on point, the double bass is clearly audible throughout the whole album, and there is a lot of it. Vocalist Mike Smith covers a lot of ground on the tone scale, and he does it with ease. There is literally no weak link in the album, all members are on the same, high level of musicianship. No matter how hard you try, you will not find one second that would be weak, boring, or uninteresting, that's how great this band is performing on this LP.

The production is great. This album doesn't need a crystal clear, close to perfect sounding at all. The dirtiness of the drums and the roaring, wild sound of guitars are perfect for this record. You can rarely ever hear this kind of sounding, as most bands in the genre tried to make the production as clear as possible. For example, Blind Guardian or Scanner. Their records are flawless, but that's not the only way it can be done. This experiment of mixing the dirty, almost thrash-like sounding with speed metal turned out extremely well.

Master of Disguise is an incredible record. How can you resist giving it 100%, when it is creative, well-written, unique, enjoyable, and original? For me personally, this is one of my favorite heavy/speed records now. It is just impossible to see what is missing from this album. Most likely nothing. It has everything it needs to have to impress the fans of the genre. If you are a speed or heavy metal fan, and you have not heard this before, you are missing out. You have to listen to this because it will make your musical journey a hundred times more meaningful than it is now. Whatever you listened to before, you will consider this record something special.

Finland is the land of the thousand lakes, but in fact there are many more lakes. Evil Adolf spoke of a Reich that would last thousand years, but in fact it broke down after just twelve years. The eighties are the decade of the thousand (thrash) classics and here we can use this number rightfully. Nevertheless, some albums of this time have failed to reach the status as a classic. Maybe for some people the debut of Savage Grace belongs to the milestones of the heyday of speed and thrash metal, but from my point of view, the album was never able to convince me of the skills of the band.

“Master of Disguise” does not only focus on thrash and speed, there are also some more melodic, power metal compatible elements (and some of them are borrowed from Steve Harris…). “Sins of the Damned” is a typical speed metal piece with hunting guitars and a strong chorus, but its ridiculous “ahahaha” intermezzo marks a moment of shame. It happens many times on this album that main composer Christian Logue wants to demonstrate his ability to write impressive melodies, but I am sorry to inform you that he sometimes fails. The solos section of the title track, for instance, delivers nothing but feeble, melodic tones that fail to create something great. Lead singer Mike Smith also intends to enrich his vocals with melody lines and some high-pitched screams, but his voice is too thin and too ordinary to challenge the big boys of the genre. Sharpness and meanness, the typical ingredients of an adequate thrash voice, are completely missing. Of course, Savage Grace never understood itself as a thrash formation, but does it make sense to sing lines like “Fists full of anger… The crack of the whip fills the day” without a iota of rage?

The biggest problem of the vinyl is its dull sound. Either the budget of Black Dragon was too small or the band just failed in the studio. Everything sounds flat and ill-defined. Thus, the album is not able to develop a solid portion of pressure and, even worse it suffers from a slightly rumbling sound which stands in sharp contrast to the rather sensitive melodies Logue wants to present. To say that “Master of Disguise” is neither fish nor fowl would be a little bit too much, but listen, for example, to the verses of “Sons of Iniquity”. There is nothing but a pounding drum and a tinge of guitars that accompany the mediocre voice of Smith. But okay, the whole number is a disaster, bloodless, unimaginative and finally equipped with a weak chorus.

All in all, the first full-length of Savage Grace has some positive aspects, for example the first regular song (“Bound to be Free”) or the comparatively catchy chorus of “Betrayer” and the majority of the remaining songs do not cause any damage. However, this result was not convincing back in 1985 and it also has not grown over all the years. So I cannot recommend this work to all the young metal freaks who like to discover some bands of the eighties. Sometimes I ask myself how many maniacs out there like to do so. Hopefully at least thousand.

My introduction to Savage Grace, was their second album After the Fall from Grace. I was beyond impressed with the majority of that album. The speed, the intensity, the mastery in every aspect of the songwriting and whatnot, all completely blew me away. I enjoyed it so much that I quickly had to get my hands on this album, Master of Disguise, however I was completely unprepared for such a volcanic monster of an album that this is. This album, is without a doupt one of of the earliest metal albums I can call pure speed metal, having been released in 1985. This stuff is blazing fast for its time, completely off the charts and groundbreaking.

Aside from the wicked speed throughout here, completely ahead of its time, this album deluges you into some masterfully crafted metal here. Everything here is extraordinary and incredible. The songs are downright catchy, and there's crazy hooks and leads to be heard throughout all of them. The riffs are pretty out of this world at times and original, and then the solo's are just lightning fast and extremely technical. The dual guitars are like unstoppable gatling guns exploding in your face. A lot of the work here is extremely melodic, "Into the Fire" being a great example. Then there's songs like "Fear My Way" and "Sons of Iniquity" that have a Walls of Jericho/Ride The Sky syndrome in them; the solo's just don't seem to stop coming and they're just completely explosive and awesome. Expect some very fast drumming that was usually only heard in Thrash at the time. Lots of nicely executed double bass drumming slamming down left and right. Same can be said about the bass guitars, which is just as fast as the rest of the band. Outside of Thrash and some singles and demo's here and there from various bands, this is hands down one of the fastest early 80's metal albums I've ever heard, and one of the best to boot.

A major comparison you can make to their next release, After the Fall From Grace, are the vocalists. Here we have Mike Smith, who sounds extremely similar to James Rivera at times (of Helstar, and dozens of other great bands). He's extremely aggressive, and executes his vocals perfectly with the music. Also, the comparison with James Rivera just goes to show Smith has an incredible range as well. He can hit extremely high notes and carries them across the void at ease. Guitarist Christian Logue who does the vocals for After the Fall From Grace, is extremely good as well. He's probably best compared to an off-spring of Geoff Tate, using a lot of falsetto. He too fits with with this style pretty well also. In the end, it probably depends on your tastes for who you favor more here. Myself being an avid James Rivera, Harry Conklin, Eric Adams, fan (just to name a few), in the case of Savage Grace's lightspeed and aggressive style here, I would go with Mike Smith. His aggression over Logue gives this album its explosive energy, and tips off the iceberg for me.

There's also quite a difference in style and sound comparing the two albums. This one being a little more straight forward, though that doesn't go to say this album is just "simpler". Its different in its own way. Probably more melodic, easily overall faster and more aggressive. Because of this, I've come to favor this album over their next a little more. While After the Fall From Grace is still definitely pure speed metal, it feels a little held back and somewhat experimental compared to this. Regardless, if you like this album or their second release, it'd be essential to check them both out.

The production is pretty solid overall for its time. Each instrument is pretty clear and easy to here. Nothing overpowers anything here, including Smith's vocals. This is definitely not at the level of Iron Maiden etc productions, still being a little raw, but its nowhere near the level of say, Helloween's Walls of Jericho.

Overall, this is heavy metal with an ultra lightning fast kick to the balls. Easily one of the earliest speed metal albums I've ever heard, and surely set some standards and a perfect example for later bands to follow. On top of that, this album is just downright explosive and top notch in every way. This is an absolute must buy for metal fans of practically any kind. If you've heard After the Fall From Grace and loved it, you should already have this, and vice versa! Fans of Agent Steel, Attacker, Helstar, and basically all Speed and early Power Metal out there won't be able to contain the droolage over this. Ultimately recommended!

“…the thunder echoes, flashes light the sky, bells of death ring in glory…”

This is more like it…frantic, tousled, full of life, Maiden on crank. In fact, considering that Powerslave was Maiden’s offering at this time (1984 when Important originally released this lp), it's quite possible they were amazingly out-Maidening Maiden. Kenny Powell and John Birk take a walk and the band goes ballistic with nine plowing tracks that have little in common with their lighter and partially stray debut ep, The Dominatress. There’s a ton more bedrock nwobhm on this lp than the ep and the musicianship is close to impeccable. Lots of dual guitar mating creates the flowing overlapping density, and despite the archive info about Mark Marshall playing on the record, it’s merely Christian Logue’s guitar antics superimposed during production and is why the string fluency can seem surgically parallel. Marshall wouldn’t come ‘til ’85.

This brilliant album begins with “Lion’s Roar”, a short bludgeoning instrumental with more “Am I Evil” pounding than you can shake a stick at and almost seamlessly forms the ferocious top track “Bound to be Free” that deceitfully shies away from the Maiden influence I’m spouting. The chorus is the best on the lp, and with the increase in velocity comes a thicker sound, all chinks in the armor fused shut. There’s little difference between Birk and new voxman Mike Smith, a possible exception being Smith’s ability to match the music’s now-electrified speed, but it’s unknown if Birk could’ve done the same. Full frontal Maiden gallops “Fear My Way” onto the map, fretboard travel abound and is impossible to miss. “Sins of the Damned” is exhilarating with its non-stop tempo, wicked solos and some great harmonized vocals adding an epicurean fold to the venture.

Side two holds song diversity a little more dear, not that you’d find it right away with the speed-warped title track kicking it off. Idleness wouldn’t be found until the more methodical “Betrayer” and its heroic chorus churns through like a slow-turning drill. Running in the middle of the two previous tempos is “Sons of Iniquity”, meanwhile “No One Left to Blame” throws the switch once again, literally bringing the end of the lp up to speed. Every track brims with the fluency, confidence and effortlessness of a black belt and convey the band’s NWOBHM-induced thrash message as if telepathic.

In an early attempt at a hidden track, a minute-long, rather uneventful near instrumental follows “No One Left to Blame” that has to be played on 45 rpm.

Out Maidening Maiden you say? While Smith doesn’t possess the overshadowing vox of Dickinson or the attitude of Di’Anno, and as a whole Maiden graces their records with more varied range, I’d say they’re pretty darn close to the deed. This is available on cd (sometimes commingled with their debut ep), so give it a whirl and judge for yourself. You won’t be disappointed.