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MasterBIOGRAPHYMaster (1983-present): a Death Metal band from Chicago, Illinois, USA. T his version of Master was the main band for Paul Speckmann (bass/vocals), a known personality in the American death metal underground. Originally named Death Strike, he act was formed after the demise of his earlier band, Warcry. In 1985, Speckmann renamed the band Master and obtained a record deal with 'Combat Records'. An album was recorded but was shelved due to issues with the label. The recording sessions for the album were released in 2003 by 'Displeased Record' as Unreleased 1985 Album. In 1990, the band signed with the German label 'Nuclear Blast', a label who also had Speckmann's other group, Abomination, under contract. Master finally released their self-titled debut album in 1990 under the membership of Chris Mittelbrun (guitars) and Bill Schmidt (drums) along side Speckmann. 'Nuclear Blast' did not approve of the album, however, and it was later re-recorded with Aaron Nickeas on drums and Jim Martinelli on guitars and released as Speckmann Project in 1991. Master returned to publish On the Seventh Day God Created... Master in 1992, featuring Paul Masvidal on lead guitar. Although Master's music would be old-school style American death metal, not much different from other such bands, they nonetheless met approval with the death metal fans on their first two albums. Read All... ⏬ Collection of Souls (1993) saw the string section replaced with guitarists Jeff Kobie and Brian Brady stepping in to assist the returning Nickeas and Speckmann. After this recording, however, Master did not re-sign with 'Nuclear Blast'. Instead, the band went on hiatus, in search of a new record label. When they finally signed with 'Pavement Music', Sage Gonzalez (guitar) and Sage Johnson (drums) joined for Faith is in Season (1998) before the line-up was reformed (and shrunk) with Speckmann hiring Ronald Reagan (guitar; No not the dead president) and Harry Truman (drums; also a stage name and not a dead president) for Let's Start a War (2002) on the 'System Shock' label. During the late 1990s and early 2000's Speckmann focused on several other projects, including the resurrected Abomination. In 1999, he joined Czech death metal band Krabathor and subsequently relocated to Czechia. After the so-called Unreleased '85 Album, Alex Nejezchleba and Zdenek Pradlovsky would replace "Ronald Reagan" and "Harry Truman" respectively. This line-up would remain through the release of The Spirit of the West (2004) now on the German label 'Twilight Vertrieb', Four More Years of Terror (2005), Slaves to Society (2007), The Human Machine (2010), The New Elite (2012), The Witchhunt (2013), An Epiphany of Hate (2016) and Vindictive Miscreant (2018). Ruston Grosse (drums) and Pat Shea (guitars) would join for Widower (2019). The Alive in Athens live album (2020), 1985 Demo and Seventh Day Demo 1990 compilation (2023), Pieces compilation (2023) and Saints Dispelled (2024) followed. Read Less... ⏫
Dashboard for Master
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