Band : Mass
Album title : Fighter
Label : Retroactive Records
Distributor : Plastic Head - Bertus
Release Date : 26/01/2011
Release : CD

You might never have heard this album, were it not for Retroactive Records.  This is actually an album Mass recorded after signing a deal with A&M Records, an ill-fated deal, because the album was never released up to know, due to legal issues.  Now, almost 30 years after being recorded, it is finally released.

Whereas with Messiah  I preferred their second release, with Mass it’s just the contrary.  I’ve reviewed the other re-release by Retroactive Records of their ’84 Unchained’ album, and actually there wasn’t much to be said about it.  This album on the contrary was definitely worth waiting for.  If this had been released as originally intended in the eighties, I’m sure this album would have had a lot of airplay.
The songs might sound a bit raw or unpolished now & then again, but do take into account that this stuff was written and recorded when the band members were actually still teenagers.  Nevertheless, it’s appealing stuff, with lots of energy in it.

This is definitely a release that had it come out when it was supposed to, could have raised the popularity of this band to new standards.

90/100

Erik Morren.