Denner / Shermann : "Masters of Evil"

Here is the full length from the two ex- Mercyful Fate guitarists. Former King Diamond drummer, Snowy Shaw is playing drums on this and I'm a little confused why he didn't at least take care of the vocals in the studio as he is a better singer than this guy from Cage, who coated their first EP in a ton of cheese. Singing lyrics like 'we drink the angels blood" this should sound dark not like frilly pirate shirt wearing power-metal. The bottom line is obviously this guy isn't King Diamond, nor do I expect them to find some one to rival King Diamond, I just want something better than what this guy does. The problem with wasting time to put out mediocre metal is this is prolonging the Mercyful Fate re-union that may or may not come after King releases his next album. They do capture an ounce of the theatrical flare with a shade of darkness on "Son of Satan" , but most of this is lost when they launch back into to the more power metal like gallops. To Sean Peck's credit he hits some very Ripper Owens like notes.

There is a little more thrashing attack to "the Wolf Feeds at Night". Lyrically this is really rough. The riffs on this album are an improvement from the EP. When their singer goes into a more Ozzy like tone, he sounds much better. Once again the guitar solos are the most ripping aspect of their music. Shaw's drumming is good, the mix is a little weird his kick sound could have been given more love. "Pentagram and the Cross" is a less impressive display of their legendary status, as it's like pumped up hard rock. The title track is more metallic. The drumming fills the chorus perfectly and it sounds like the bass player is pretty on point when he emerges from the edge of the mix. Though when everything drops out later on in the album so his tone lays bare, it's kinda shitty, but it might be more of an issue in how it was eq'ed.  I guess this answers the question of what would Candlemass sound like if Ripper Owens started singing for them is answered here. Peck goes after some of the higher notes in his register with a strained grit that reminds me a little more of  Matt Barlow.

There is a darker guitar tone to the opening of "Servants of Dagon". The mood is not maintained for long and begins to fall apart at the chorus. They at least get more aggressive on "Escape From Hell". Lyrically it's another less thoughtful moment as it deals with drag racing against the devil. The main riff reminds me of "Painkiller". The album ends with "the Baroness". Five minutes into this one they try to pull off a melodic section similar to "Melissa" and it goes horribly wrong. This is however better than the ep, but can't come close to even touching King Diamond's least inspired solo work,so I'll give it a 7.5.