Label: Self released
Date: December 16th, 2022
I am not one of those who has accounts on many musical platforms. To be honest, I don’t like technology that much and it often requires money. For the new era I am pretty dumb but I don’t care. Computers, video games, programming, entire IT world for me is another dimension. Facebook and Instagram are enough for me but when it comes to bands I search Encyclopaedia Metallum and YouTube. They are my main sources of information.
This time, that wasn’t enough. Masser cannot be found anywhere, so I am writing this review without knowing anything about the band except what was in the e-mail. This was one tough task.
As I know so far, Masser is a one-man project done by Gideon Waxman from United Kingdom. Musical part of the album was all done by this young man. When it comes to one-man projects, my opinion is pretty divided but as technology progressed so did this way of making music. I don’t know if that’s only my opinion or my, a bit traditional, way of admiration for music but one-man projects can be bad. Really bad. But we grow, our perspective is going further so I truly admire those multitalented young people who are doing all of this work alone.
Album “Chain of Gifts” can be appealing to people who are impressed by the music of Hans Zimmer, Gojira and Dream Theater. When I saw that I will have to deal with a band that has an even small part of metalcore in its music I was disappointed. But I never judge a book by its covers so I listened to the album multiple times and I must admit that I like it.
As I said, I’m not so impressed by metalcore but progressive and atmospheric parts are excellent and really creative. Syncretic as it is “Chain of Gifts” can be used as music for movies, video games or TV series, because that’s exactly that kind of music.
Melody is not hard to listen. It’s metallic just enough to increase adrenalin and turn on the volume for many emotions. I can’t tell which songs are dominating which genre more because Mister Waxman put the effort to make these songs as complex as possible. My favourites are definitely the atmospheric effects, because they give a special dimension to the entire album. It feels like you are in some enchanted forest but it is not a burden for ears. Anyone who listened to Hans Zimmer once knows what I am talking about. There is something special about this music made for digital purposes. That music can be categorised as popular because musicians must follow the interests of audience and new trends in music. Beside that popular side, metal used in movies and games is often excellent!
Tons of times I heard someone started listening to metal because they heard some heavy metal song here or there in a movie or a game. We all know about “Beavis and Butthead” or “Mortal Combat” and many more. I am not into the video games so much but music by Masser is already knocking on that door, I can tell for sure. Masser is ready to be part of that world. In the era of video games and commercials we need more people like him. I think it has a good purpose and can be one of good sources for many genres of metal. So “Chain of Gifts” really passed the exam and proved that this kind of music can be approved by weirdos and video game haters like me.
