Master Charger – Unity in Black Review

Unity in Black is the sophomore album by Nottinghamshire-based heavy stoner rock band Master Charger.

For those unfamiliar with the sounds of Master Charger picture this; Blue Cheer force fed a diet of heroin and cocaine cut with Sabbath, before being punched in the throat and left to die. If debut album “Southbound N’ Supercharged” was the agonising death that followed, then “Unity in Black” is the breaking out of Hell, riding a Harley that runs on hate and burnt out valves, intent on nothing but revenge.

As soon as the first riff from opening track “Super Death Charged” kicks in, you know Master Charger aren’t here to fuck about; they mean business. straight from the opening depraved shout of “GOD DAMN IT” from vocalist and lead guitarist John Parkin, you know you’re going on this ride until the bitter end and there’s no stopping it. Both the riff and the chorus will kick through your skull and embed their selves in your head until long after you’ve finished listening to the song. With the opener over, and the words “and no one knows just how low I’m gonna go” resonating within you, the rest of the album is perfectly set up.

Next track “So High Yet So Low” opens up with a monolithic riff, with a tone reminiscent of the engine to the Harley I mentioned at the start of the review, before bursting into a heavy blues solo. It’s at this point when you realise how good Unity in Black is going to be.

The title track provides the first break to the crushing guitars starting with a clean, evil-sounding minor riff, coupled with some nice bass licks. This doesn’t last for long, however, as distortion creeps up and engulfs the riff for a few bars, before throwing it away completely and replacing it with ideas of its own, which include nothing but uncompromising power. The music in the verse wouldn’t have found itself out of place on Master of Reality, which is a compliment of the highest calibre.

The album continues much in the same fashion, in terms of providing you with impeccable riffs with drums complimenting them perfectly, the bass adding thickness to the already ultra-thick tone. This album is far from a one-trick pony though. There are two shorter tracks on the album; “Blighted” and “Deal With it” both of which fall short of the two-minute mark and owe more to Black Flag than Black Sabbath. “Shadowmass” utilises a cleaner vocal which is more exposed in its verses, it is underlay by a drums/bass oriented piece of music, with a quiet, sinister guitar part and bits of feedback, before a chorus as evil as Satan himself bursts into the fold, making this song the doomiest on the album, and a strong contender for the best song.

“Violent Wand” was the subject of a previously released EP from the band, which was deemed good enough to re-record for the album, which tells you all you need to know about that song. Brimming with sex and violence, it fits perfectly. “Greedfeeder” rumbles on, with its three-chord repetition drawing you in and not letting go.

“I Ride With Vengeance” is the best song on the album. Starting with a cool-as-fuck riff with tight minimalistic drums that you might find Ginger Baker using on a song too good to be on a cream album. The groove is hypnotic and you find yourself getting excited as the song unfolds and you know it’s coming back. My lord, that guitar part comes straight from the Gods.

The final track on the album, “Journey Through All Tomorrows” starts off as a bluesy ode to heavy psychedelia, before starting the final assault of the unrelenting and unstoppable music we’ve been experiencing. The track fades out after just over 8 minutes, but Master Charger aren’t finished yet. A hidden track begins after only two minutes of silence, a single, heavy, heavy, heavy chord repeated and doom-laden; the ride isn’t over yet. The track plays until it hits a solo which plays the song down into feedback, then the next phase of the song. Reminiscent of early Paradise Lost, with an eerie vocal, the doom finally breaks free in a ghostly fashion; macabre and haunting. This gives way to the album’s final assault; ending with the words “the blackest days are mine” before disappearing into a petrol-fumed cloud of feedback.

This thing is tuned lower than Dopethrone, but uses a tone straight from Iommi‘s vault; a combination which punches you in the face over and over and over again – in a good way. Master Charger are building up a loyal local fan-base, and after signing a distribution deal with Swedish label Black Vulture Records, and with an album full of great songs and no fillers like this, you might just be seeing more of Master Charger in the near future.

Overall, this is a fresh and original cross-breed of Doom, and 70’s inspired “stoner rock” and a must have in your record collection if you’re a fan of either genre, or the music that preceded them.

What happens when an unstoppable force collides with an immovable object? Master Charger.

-Ricky Draycott

Key tracks: I Ride With Vengeance, So High Yet so Low, Super Death Charged

https://www.facebook.com/mastercharger

http://mastercharger.bandcamp.com/

Originally written for hevisike.com