It's somehow incredible how some music artists are able to read and adapt themselves in the constantly mutating world of music industry, showing a remarkable understanding of not only what may work or not work, in the contemporary music scene, but also a certain cleverness in maintaining their artistic identity, without having to compromise their vision and sonic roots.
This is most certainly the case of Masters Of Reality, an American Rock collective that has been abstaining themselves from releasing new studio albums for 16 years, since their previous 2009 album called Pine Cross Dover.
True to be told, the commander-in-chief of Masters Of Reality, Chris Goss, vocalist, songwriter and guitarist, is the only remaining original member of the band, since their 1989’s eponymous debut album and has been, since the early days of the band, the true driving force of the energetic Desert/Psychedelic Rock's distinctive sound that Masters Of Reality has chiseled, through the years, as their own artistic business card.
Now, after a long wait, Goss has finally decided to resurface Masters Of Reality through a brand new album called The Archer, a fascinating, kaleidoscopic record that incorporates layers of 70's Psychedelia, Funk, Acid-Rock and Desert-Rock, among the 9 tracks included in Masters Of Reality's new album.
The album title, in many ways, is very apt to the whole idea of the record, where the songs, thanks to the intensity of their songwriting and the sonic depth expressed by the whole collective (Goss is accompanied, on The Archer, by drummer John Leamy (who worked previously with Goss on Pine Cross Dover, 1999's Welcome To The Western Lodge and 2001's Deep In The Hole), bassist Paul Powell and guitarist Alain Johannes), really feel like nine musical arrows shot to the moon, the same moon depicted on The Archer's album cover.
Goss is very clever to draw, in his songwriting, nine lyrical vignettes that feel very immediate and instinctive, mostly pointing in their topics to, what Goss himself defines, "an invisible ruler of fate", where the listener is free to identify this superior, perhaps mystical divine figure, just when paying attention to those human beings crossing our lives, who, unbeknowningly to us, can change our destinies in a very impactful way.
One of the greatest beauties of The Archer, as an overall record, is that Masters Of Reality continue to evolve their often pigeonholed as Heavy Rock Guitar Riff sound in different directions, morphing their musical language in a more multi-faceted one at a slower pace, allowing their sonic path to become more dreaming, hypnotic, pleasantly erratic but still constantly cohesive as a collective, with fascinating results.
The songs included in The Archer, together with original, strong musical arrangements and inspired songwriting, also show the growth of Chris Goss’s vocal style, measured and paced carefully with the mood of the lyrics and the sonic tempo of each track, denoting an artistic maturity that most certainly helps to elevate the quality even further the Masters Of Reality's new album.
A very welcomed return to the music scene from a remarkably inspired collective.
The Archer is out now and it is available to be purchased via Mascot Label Group / Provogue
