MASS - review added 28th April 2010
Album Review: Sea Of Black (2010)
For fans of: Hard Rock... and an ocean of darkness
Boston hard rockers Mass - Louis D’Augusta on vocals, Gene D’Itria on guitars, Michael Palumbo on bass, and Joey “Vee” Vadala on drums - formed way back in in 1980. Over the years they have toured with acts like Hanoi Rocks, Molly Hatchet, Winger, Stryper, Cheap Trick and more, been signed to RCA Records, had a video in rotation on MTV and even hit the Billboard chart.
Sea Of Black is the band's second release on Escape Music and follows 2007's Crack Of Dawn. The new album again sees Martin Kronlund at the production helm.
The sound is mostly hard rocking, er, hard rock with a few ballads and other lighter moments thrown into the mix. In places Mass sounds like a mash-up of Judas Priest and Whitesnake. In others there are nods to modern rock, plus numerous softer AOR bands. The result is varied and will cater to many tastes. The musicianship is all perfectly agreeable, although the production perhaps lacks clarity in places.
Best track by far is the simply superb 'All The Years Gone'. It's so catchy it deserves a pat on the back and a small rosette. Other decent efforts include the classic-sounding 'Coming Home', the darkly upbeat 'All That I Needed', the slightly-sickly ballad 'More Than A Friend', the leftfield 'Justify', and the slow emotive 'Till Me Meet Again'. As you can probably tell, the album as a whole has plenty of good moments, although few of them are amazing in the general scheme of things.
Overall, Sea Of Black is a good solid album that's worth a purchase. It isn't going to change the world, and Mass aren't about to become the best thing since sliced bread, but they can still be proud of what they've achieved.
Check out... Track 2...
Track List:
01. Falling From Grace
02. All The Years Gone
03. Right Side, The
04. Coming Home
05. Thru The Rain
06. All That I Needed
07. More Than A Friend
08. Justify
09. Ashes To Ashes
10. Till Me Meet Again
11. Captain Jack
12. Sea Of Black
Label: Escape Music
Artist's website(s): Mass , MySpace
