Reviews: Vandenburg, Master Massive, Blacktop Mojo, Messerschmitt (Simon & Bob)

Vandenburg: 2020 (Mascot Records) [Simon Black]

So in 1987 the unknown guitarist Adriaan van den Berg suddenly found himself in one of the biggest global bands of the decade as the reinvented pop-rock version of Whitesnake suddenly became absolutely huge overnight – the band to which he had loaned the anglicised version of his name to forgotten to the footnotes of the past. In the last decade or so and with Whitesnake firmly in his past, attempts were made by Vandenburg to resuscitate the band and borrowing a trick from his erstwhile mentor Coverdale, the 2020 moniker attempts to establish the brand with a new line up and approach for this decade.

Part platform for Vandenburg, part supergroup the line-up is pretty much a who’s who of European HR/M with bass duties being undertaken by Randy van der Elsen of Tank fame, Koen Herfst (Epica and Doro plus guest turns from Rudy Sarzo and Brian Tichy. As you might expect, it’s a straight down Hard Rock album – a bit like Whitesnake, but without the excessively charismatic singer - although to be fair erstwhile Blackmore’s Rainbow lungsman Ronnie Romero does a passable job here. The overall sound is good, with some nice production from the expert knob-twiddling of Bob Marlette – what lets it down is the very average sounding end result which doesn’t feel like a band with a mission.

The challenge I have with this album is that although it’s a solid enough Hard Rock album, with well-structured songs and robust workmanlike performances from the musicians, it feels very formulaic and has little to add to a crowded marketplace. Compare this to the ground bursting thirst for growth and energy from the likes of Dynazty’s recent opus, and this feels tired, staid and two decades out of time. 5/10

Master Massive: Black Feathers on their Graves EP (ViciSolum Records) [Bob Shoesmith]

Master Massive from Sweden simply describe themselves simply as “Heavy Metal”, suitably generic and avoiding categorisation which gives them a pretty broad scope – and they need it. It's not a stretch to say they will inevitably be adopted by the Prog/Metal fans as the title track Black Feathers on their Graves is an epic 18 minute long opus with several passages of tempo and style along the way and epic is probably the most apt word to describe it. If you had told me I was about to listen to a rock song lasting that length of time I would have probably rolled my eyes and reached for the Jack Daniels… but surprisingly given my limited attention span, it's a belter of a track (if you have the patience to stay the course!)

The E.P has three tracks in total the Black Feathers title track, Pictures In The Sand comes in at a still hefty 11 minutes and the final Castles In The Air a mere lightweight at 3 mins 49 which does beg the question that if Master Massive added one more track and were brave enough to separate out BFOTG they’d have a whole album of material, but hey, that’s their shout. E.P it is. When you hear the opening bars of Black feathers on Their Graves there’s chuggy classic rock guitars, a great vocalist in Marcus Karlsson, who bares more than a passing resemblance to Graham Bonnet from Rainbow. The Deep Purple similarities don’t end there either, all the songs are underpinned by a lush platform of Hammond organ very reminiscent of Jon Lord or Don Airey and more than a hint of Blackmore-ish guitar licks. The track takes you on a long and winding journey but is so magnificently well played it keeps you listening and listening. I can assure you I am not normally cut out for long winded prog self-indulgence but this Deep Purple meets Porcupine Tree leviathan is very listenable.

Master Massive are magnificent musicians and can write immense and yes, epic tracks (did I mention the 18 minutes thing?). Prog fans are going to love it as is and classic rock fans will equally love it (in sections). I’ve not heard such high-quality musicianship in a while but really…if they could maybe even halve the length of the tracks – as there's so many great passages in one track, like on Castles In The Air they’d be global! 9/10

Blacktop Mojo: Static EP (Sand Hill Records) [Simon Black]

I’ve not had the pleasure of listening to these boys before, so despite three albums already in the bag these Texan Southern Rockers were a new experience for this old hack. This 4 track EP is a good place to start – it’s short, soulful and on the button. Kicking off with the dark and moody The End you can quickly tell that there’s far more going on here than good ‘ole hard rockin’ Southern Blues, with some psychedelic bass swirls and some subtle acoustic guitar layering creating an hypnotic feel to the music. Watch Me Drown follows the mood – opening in a lighter vein but quickly taking a sombre turn - this is a dark and agonising place, with huge dollops of post-grunge that owes far more to Soundgarden than anything the South is traditionally famous for - in our little sub-cultural world at least. Leave It Alone feels more like it’s from the Stoner camp, but then they surprise you with the Southern Steel guitar sound and the EP-closer – Signal’s Gone opens with a single acoustic guitar and Matt James soulful and heart rending voice building up the mood, as the rest of the string instruments creep in, building to a surprising but subtle cacophonic crescendo that I can really see working well live. This is top notch stuff. We may not be able to see these guys up close and personal any time soon, but they’re on the bill for a live stream with Clutch on the 27th May, which in this day and age is something to look forward to. 8/10

Messerschmitt: Consumed By Fire (Self Released) [Bob Shoesmith]

Hailing from Remscheid in Germany Messerschmitt describe themselves as ‘speed metal’ but they are good old fashioned thrashers. What we have on Consumed By Fire is 8 tracks of fast and furious 80’s style thrash metal in the style of very early Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, Testament and Anthrax. No 21 st century mixing of styles, no death grunts, no niche sub-genre creating here. If you’ve seen the movie ‘Murder in the front row’ about the formation of the Bay area thrash scene (which I can thoroughly recommend), Messerschmitt would have been totally in their element in that area at that time. From the get go you can just feel the denim cut off jackets and mayhem.

The thing with bands that go all out for a genre, there are clichés that the audiences they are looking for, will want. Messerschmitt will tick all those boxes. The opening track Fairchild sets the scene for the remaining seven tracks perfectly. It flies out of the starting blocks and doesn’t give up before passing the speed baton to the title track Consumed By Fire. If Slayer had released these tracks they’d already be festival favourites. But the Messerschmitt boys are not just all about speed. They are accurate and capable musicians who don’t just put their long-haired heads down and press the accelerator. They capture the vibe and occasionally chaotic style of their forefathers from the Bay area but keep it precise and polished, which takes some skill, bit a no time do they lose their roots. There are also the occasional slower segments, such as half of The Vanishing Strains (with a real For Who The Bell Tolls feel) the start of Masterful Bloodshed, and most of the monster I Crave To Die. But if a full-on thrash is your thing try and keep up with Arms Of Havoc. 

Vocalist Maik Jegszenties performs in German accented English which is ok and probably a preference of the record company but I wouldn’t mind hearing it in German? I really enjoyed the retro thrash feel of Messerschmitt, they seem to love what they do and, importantly their media doesn’t bombard you with angry faces and fist clenching stereotypes. I really hope that they keep that vibe. 7/10