Master – Master LP

(Description from Hammerheart)

Legendary Death Metal debut! Cutthroat and aggressive Death Metal with some Thrash tendencies!

Do you want to hear one of the first death metal albums? No “Scream Bloody Gore“ by Death and “Seven Churches“ by Possessed aren‘t thenly ones. Back in 1985 Master’s creator Paul Speckmann had already compiled the classic songs for this debut album. Eager to get them on record, the band’s management was convinced what Combat Records was offering wasn’t enough, and so nothing happened. Unfortunately not until 90’ did most get the pleasure of hearing the tracks, when they were (re-)recorded for Nuclear Blast! Master really never has been recognized as the world class innovators they truely are, but many bands have mentioned them as a huge influence. The funny things is that most music in the death metal genre resembles Master’s classic work. We as fans, as well as the other bands owe a lot of respect to Paul and Master and what he helped to create.

It is hard to put it’s greatness into words, this album just has an unexplainable unique atmosphere, not present on most death metal albums released since. Paul Speckmann treats the listener with very distinct and harsh vocals. More harsh even than his vocals are his lyrics, very wellwritten, from a sarcastic/cynical point of view. As for the riffs, man is the guitar tone heavy as hell and way ahead of it’s time.

Basically there are no real flaws, the only thing that had always upsets me, is that it doesn’t last longer. Best songs on here have to be, well all  of them. And sure as hell no Death Metal collection is complete without these legendary songs! So we hope we are doing this legendary album justice, because as soon as we listened to it upon its release, it became a personal favorite. We know any fan of death/thrash, old school death, or just death metal will love this.

Tracklist: 

1. Pledge of Allegiance
2. Unknown Soldier
3. Mangled Dehumanization
4. Pay to Die
5. Funeral Bitch
6. Master
7. Bass Solo
8. Children Of The Grave
9. Re-Entry and Destruction
10. Terrorizer
11. The Truth

Release date: February 27, 2026