Review Summary: Knockabout Act.
A note for the reader: I am reviewing the original version of the album which contains 12 songs, disregarding the numerous bonus tracks.
There’s an arc in The Sandman comics book telling a story of a young novelist who struggles with a severe writer’s block while trying to write his second book. Desperate young fellow confides in an older colleague, who charitably grants him a priceless gift: a living breathing muse! The wonderful mythical creature is kept in chains and forced to provide her captor with an endless supply of inspiration. The young writer asks the old master why he would willingly give such a powerful being away, instead of keeping the muse all to himself. The old guy grudgingly explains that the readers just don’t care about his books any longer, muse or no muse. His name doesn’t sell in this day and age, no matter how inspired his writing may be.
Alas, we’re not in the eighties anymore, so an album released by an aging metalhead in 2007 was not likely to generate a lot of hype as well. Nevertheless, the fact remains: after a string of rushed and unremarkable albums stretching back to the late nineties, Udo Dirkschneider sounds vigorous and inspired again! He probably knows that his reach will be limited, but if there is an album that should have brought U.D.O legions of new fans, that is certainly “Mastercutor.” I would say that Udo’s inspiration manifests in several ways here, only a few of which are constantly present in nearly all his modern records. I’ll start with the more obvious aspects and then move to those that are more interesting and unexpected.
Firstly, it is a particular kind of pleasure to listen to old-school metal songs with modern production. In my opinion, sonically U.D.O will reach their peak a few years later, on “Rev-Raptor” (2011). That album sounds like ironworks in progress, clanging and grinding like several finery forges working in sync. The problem is that I can barely distinguish one song on that album from another or remember anything from it. On “Mastercutor” the sound is sufficiently meaty, allowing for the riffs to have the necessary power and impact without suffocating the softer passages or blurring out the nuances. At the same time, unlike on the above-mentioned “Rev-Raptor” or a few albums that preceded “Mastercutor,” the songs stay in your head long after you’re done with the album.
Still, strong production values and catchy songs are enough to make a good album, but not a special one. Perhaps the most important thing about “Mastercutor” is how
singular it is. It is not just a collection of songs that Udo happened to write during the time that passed between this record and the previous one, but a proper, fully realized album. Every element here is a part of a bigger picture. The headbanging fun of the title track, the Eastern flourishes of “The Wrong Side of Midnight,” the straightforward message to fans in “We Do – For You,” the electronic undertones of “Master of Disaster,” the simple symphonics of “Tears of the Clown” – it all fits together to create an album with its own, very distinctive face. Most of the time, it’s the face of a savage beast snarling at you from the darkness that seemed completely peaceful just a few moments ago.
Indeed, the album radiates palpable menacing aura most of the time, with “The Wrong Side of Midnight” being one of the most prominent examples. The song is based on a rather simple riff, but it perfectly conveys the feeling of urgency and barely suppressed danger which grips and engages the listener. Other songs follow suit, such as “Walker of The Dark” with its slowly pounding riffs and nearly growled “I am the walker!” pre-chorus, or the faster but equally sinister “Master of Disaster” which suddenly releases the tension with a rather melodic chorus.
Udo’s vocals are another important aspect here. His voice is an acquired taste, and always will be, but you can always be sure that he will deliver the right emotion for a song. The same is true for this album. Udo sounds downright vulnerable on the ballads, basically opening his heart for all to see. And then, when the time comes to sing a line like “Drinking human liquid / better when it’s cold,” you can clearly hear his voice dripping with poison. Mr. Dirkschneider’s singing can be a limiting factor sometimes, but here it serves wonderfully to expand the overall ominous atmosphere of the record.
One more important point is that the album stays strong from the beginning to the end. A lot of U.D.O records tend to run out of steam towards their second half, but that’s not the case here. There’s one or two weaker tracks here and there, but mostly the album retains the power, and the carefully unfolding finesse of “Dead Man’s Eyes” or the hard-hitting rock’n’roll of “Crash Bang Crash” is just as important for the album’s overall success as the songs that precede them.
It seems like U.D.O had a clear vision of what they wanted to achieve with “Mastercutor", which helped to create an unexpected masterpiece. Udo’s muse is flying free, and although mostly it tends to prefer safer heights and familiar grounds, this time it randomly decided to soar up into the sky.
