| CD REVIEW Master Reset |
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Band : Master Reset This Heraklion based Greek quintet was founded in 2007 by singer Michael Stavrakakis and guitarists Stathis Lianos and Yannis “John” Vardas (the latter also responsible for brutal and backing vocals), whom as a trio started to write songs from a combination of ideas, many of which eventually made it to their debut album. Just as a trivial bit of info, all of the guys already had experiences in other bands [Stavrakakis has performed with Mind the Gap and After Dark, and Vardas is a truly versatile musician having dabbled in various Rock, Metal, Pop, Funk, Fusion and Electro bands such as Jo Jo And the Band, ImproElectronics, Jos Zwaanenburg Project, Oddity Overcooked, Reflections Revert, Mind the Gap, and more], but got together for a common musical and lyrical goals. Oh right, in the meantime all members live in different cities due to their day jobs, but they exchange ideas thanks to the Internet, add to each others' ideas in the same way, and of course get together on a regular basis to rehearse. In early 2009 the founding trio was joined by drummer Alexandros Drakos Ktistakis (another experienced musician having played with Jazz greats such as Antoni Jackson, Bireli Lagrene, Eric Marienthal, Frank Gambale, Mike Miller, Greg Beily and quite some others) and in March the guys were recording drum tracks and bass (playing duties divided among the two guitarists) in different studios (one being the Heraklion based studio owned by Alex Haritakis, known from Rotting Flesh and Ceptic Flesh, and Fundracar). With those recordings in hand, the guys then traveled all the way to Swedish based Fredman Studios, where in two weeks and in a co-production between famed producer Frederik Nordström, Henrik Udd (these two also mixing the recordings), and the band itself, the guys recorded all other elements of the album, which was then given an ultimate finishing touch in the mastering at Stockholm's Tailor Maid Studios by non other than the renowned Peter In De Betou. Later in 2009, Haritakis completed the band by joining in on the bass. In the first part of 2010 the band did its first gigs, and were dumbfounded by the positive reactions from the audiences. From reactions of record labels they'd sent the album to, they'd learned that their style of diverse music [let's call it an Alternative Metal with Progressive elements, the “Alternative” standing for a changing extra element coming from Drum 'n' Bass, Funk, Pop, Extreme Metal, and an occasional extra from Jazz in the drumming)]. Oh...you wanna hear something funny? In their quest for studios to record at with the intended quality, the guys found out it was not only best not to record in Greece, but that eventually it would even be cheaper to record in Gothenburg! That beside, you need to get to know what the band sounds like, eh? Well, you only need to surf to (www.) myspace.com/masterreset to find 5 full-length songs and an edit of an additional 6th. Additionally, there's a clipped version of one track, put onto an animated short video, which was made y the same artist whom visualized the band's ideas for the cover and booklet artwork (each of which portraying the inner feel of the track's lyrical content). What with the variety of styles included, I'm sure that some purists will pull up their noses for this, but I'm equally convinced that a lot of music fans will love the band exactly because of its slight stylistic variations. In the end, the clean lead singer is the agent which glues the whole together! Although the album has only just been released, MR have already a lot of songs left from their original writing sessions as a trio. No leftover stuff, though! They simply didn't make the album because the CD medium can after all only contain a certain amount of music. Although the CD could have contained 28 more minutes worth of music, the band chose for 13 songs which went together best...something in which I personally feel they succeeded masterfully! 92/100 Tony. |