Artist: Mass
Album: War Law/Metal Fighter
Type: Album
Label: SPV

‘Metal Fighter’ got my vote purely for the album cover. This re-release of their 1983 album is actually an improvement on that other horrid release I reviewed last month, but it’s still not flying the flag for excellent heavy metal by anyone’s standards. Mass have improved - they are playing better as a unit, but still rely on chord-based riffs rather than the fretboard shredding kind, but the lead work is much more out there and in your head; we always like a ripping solo! Still loving their early Judas Priest influence, checkout ‘Breakout;’ you also get some vintage Twisted Sister there too. But they seem to have gotten into David Lee Roth era Van Halen (‘High Heel Thrills’), some tunes have that feel on the vocals and melody, although not on the guitar work and there is a cracking intro to this song! I did think ‘Fire from Hell’ was going to be a copycat ‘Run to the Hills’ by the drum intro; at least the plagiarisms had gone by 1983, but I still find it hard to pin down Mass as being a band comfortable with their sound and style. Pretty much like Malice, as they too could not decide on their musical direction, but Mass do it on the same album! We wont even bother with the extra light cover of ‘Born to Be Wild’ - the late 60’s version had more meat to this! ‘Outlaw’ surprises me and becomes probably the outstanding track of Metal Fighter. All in all, an improvement. Still not perfect, but not a terrible listen this time around! (PM)

I was a little unkind about the reissue of Mass’ 1980 album Angel Power, bandying around phrases like “absolute rubbish” and “second rate pub band”. So is the Swiss metallers seventh album War Law going to be subjected to a similar level of cruelty? Absolutely not! The production might be a tad sparse and the song structures a little simplistic but War Law is a really enjoyable slab of primal metal. Originally released in 1984, War Law epitomises so much of the spirit of the heavy metal music that I grew up with. Strongly influenced by the pioneers of the NWOBHM, but with an added European flavour, tracks like ‘War Law’ and ‘Devil’s Gate’ are full of excitement and energy. The plagiaristic tendencies of Angel Power have been dispensed with and all the members of the band have increased their mastery of their instruments. ‘Loud And Proud’ has a Saxon feel in its verses and War Law would not seem out of place in the company of classics such as Denim And Leather and Strong Arm Of The Law. So with War Law Mass were a band reborn, improved almost beyond recognition from their earlier efforts. A shame then that by the time they had really found their way the end of their career was already in sight. (CK)

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