Blind Saviour - The Master Plan
Blind Saviour –CD Review
The Master Plan
CD Info
2016
Self Released
11 tracks
English Lyrics
7.5/10
I have reviewed a couple of metal bands from the small Mediterranean country of Malta before, and was surprised at how rich the metal scene is in that country. I became interested in a new power metal band from there when a favourite singer of mine from another Maltese band took the helm. The lovely and amazing Rachel Grech fronts Blind Saviour now, and they have a brand new debut album out that is bound to kick some ass in some Euro power metal circles. It’s called The Master Plan, and it rocks.
As Blind Saviour’s Facebook page says, the album is about a post-apocalyptic world where the future of humanity is at stake. The album is speedily-paced and rollicking and very well-performed. It’s a great example of just pure, fast power metal.
Track one, “Beyond the Portals” is an instrumental piece that ends with a very foreboding “boom”, leaving the listener wondering what the hell just happened. Of course that boom is the sound of impending doom, the nuclear bomb or whatever turns the world upside down and nearly destroys humanity. It was quite effective.
The story unfolds from there. Track two, “Reign of the Robot Clans”, lets us know more about what is happening: robotic oppressors have infiltrated the earth and are running an unpleasant show here. As the story unfolds, a classic good vs evil scenario develops and a mysterious, literally blind hero comes rises to save the day.
Musically, there is a lot going on here in The Master Plan. As I mentioned, this is a very fast-paced album and that impresses for sure. The guitar work, performed by Aldo Chircop and Campos Gellel, is excellent, and very tightly performed, as are the keys, also performed by Aldo. There are some fantastic guitar solos on the CD and some very fancy fingerwork evident throughout. Compositionally, the whoever does the main composing for the band certainly knows how to do an effective intro, because there are lots of them here that work really well.
The highlight for me, however, is hearing Rachel Grech sing again. She never disappoints. Her vocal lines are complex, and she is more than capable of singing fast passages with a lot of power. Her style is a bit different here than it was with her previous band, but it works and I’m just glad to be hearing her again with a killer band backing her up.
The Master Plan definitely shows that Blind Saviour has a lot of strengths as a band. They are fast, they are catchy, they have great compositions, and their individual musicians are obviously a talented bunch. If I had any critiques of the album over all, I would say that perhaps their song structure could use some more variation, though they have two quite long songs that did this, track six, “Dawn of Victory” and the epic ending piece, “Revolution”, which clocks in at nearly twelve minutes. And while the vocal lines are catchy, I felt some improvement could be made on the hooks in a few songs.
At the end of the day, though, this is a release very worthy of listening to – even if it’s just to hear Rachel performing again! I can’t say enough about her! I think this is a promising debut album for a very promising band.
