the mass . reviews PERFECT PICTURE OF WISDOM AND BOLDNESS: "The barrier between metal and jazz has been pierced again. Like Chicago's Yakuza, the Bay Area thrash outfit The Mass augment their high-speed, staccato riffing with fluid, almost (dare I say it) harmolodic saxophone lines from vocalist Matt Walters. There are times when Walters launches into screeching, post-Ayler solos, in the manner of Steve Mackay on the Stooges' Fun House or Bruce Lamont on Yakuza's Way Of The Dead; the just-under-90-second "Gas Pipe" is the most extreme track on the disc, from this angle. But most of the time he does something far more interesting, adapting the cyclical, repetitive riffs of thrash metal for the saxophone. This is a change from the last album, City Of Dis, where the saxophone was as prominent as the songs were crude; Walters floated atop the primitive guitar-bass-drums crunch like Ornette Coleman fronting Napalm Death. The moody "Meditations On The Some Carcass" is the biggest leap forward for the band, stylistically and technically; it layers a bleak sax solo atop a doom-metal death march, to excellent, almost psychedelic effect. For the most part, though, Perfect Picture Of Wisdom And Boldness is an unsubtle, skull-cracking record that owes as much to My War-era Black Flag as it does to intricate, knuckle-popping thrash. Walters has no interest in stopping the moshpit so listeners can admire his nimble finger technique. Fans of the Flying Luttenbachers, Paul Flaherty, and whatever's passing for underground punk rock these days will all find something here to inspire hours of spastic contortions." -- Phil Freeman, The Wire (UK) Oct 2005 Rock Sound (UK), Nov 2005 Terrorizer, Nov 2005 CMJ, Oct 2005 Lords of Metal, Oct 2005: review | interview Digital Metal, Sep 2005 Metal Review, Sep 2005 Metal Coven, Aug 2005 Interview, Buried Cry 2005 Montag Press UK, Aug 2005 Rift Rock, Aug 2005 Vampire Magazine, Aug 2005 FishComCollective, Aug 2005 Smother.net, Aug 2005 Unbound Zine, Aug 2005 3rd down Sea of Tranquility, Aug 2005 Absolut Metal, Aug 2005 Tartarean Desire, Aug 2005 CITY OF DIS: Metal Maniacs, Aug 2005 Interview Metal Maniacs, Jul 2005 Review F5 Wichita, Mar 2005 Crimes Against Art, Mar 2005 Uranium Music, Mar 2005 Metal Coven, Jan 2005 Lords of Metal (Netherlands): review | interview East Bay Express, Jan 5 2005 Rebel Extravaganza, Dec 2004 MetalReview, Dec 2004 44.1 kHz, 2004 Losing Today (UK), Jan 2004 Raw Nerve (UK) DisAgreement online (Luxembourg) Oct 2003 San Francisco Bay Guardian (scroll down) Show review Feb 2003 San Francisco Bay Guardian "It's been a good year for the still-nascent sub-genre of hardcore punk, which favours light-speed riffing, shrieksome vox and jazzy tempo shifts. Excellent albums from The Locust, Daughters and The Blood Brothers have indicated a possible way out of rock's current trad trough. Oakland, CA's The Mass lack the futuristic, synthoid edge of those bands, but their sax-assisted Crimson-meets-Slayer hybrid is a lot of fun. The bloodthirsty verve with which they go about their angular stories is balanced by excellent musicianship and a keen sense of dynamics. Fripp'd love it."   -- review of City of Dis in Uncut Magazine (UK), December 2003 "As though reacting to the faceless nature of contemporary music, this debut from Oakland, California's Mass takes the trend for musical strip-mining to its logical conclusion: raping twenty years of trends to create a fierce, angular hybrid that speaks to the cynic in us all. No-Wave, post-punk, thrash metal and math-rock are crafted into a sheet of purposely 'difficult' avant-garde fury; yet, strangely, 'City of Dis' is by no means distancing. Instead, this is pure dissent, a statement that verges on the political yet avoids parody or empty moralizing. It's what we always imagined punk was really like, a blast of fetid air blowing away the cobwebs of conformity. The Mass speak the truth, no matter how uncomfortable it is."   -- review of City of Dis in Logo Magazine (UK), October 2003 "Calling all fans of Fantomas, The Dillinger Escape Plan or Mr Bungle, there is a new band in town. The Mass owes most of their sound to the previously mentioned bands. Not the three minute rock standards from them , oh no., it's all jagged rhythms and mad sax breaks. The strangest thing about 'City Of Dis' is the fact that it sounds cohesive. It's not easy listening, but then I suppose it's not meant to be. Dog Fashion Disco have a more pop mentality, whereas The Mass probably owe more to Frank Zappa's weirder moments - I mean, how can you not love an album that contains a song called 'We Enslaved Elves To Build Our Death Machine�? To wrap it all up in a nice box, The Mass are a euro metal (but from Oakland CA), art rock, jazz fusion, death metal, pop group. Got that? Good."   -- review of City of Dis in Rock Sound (UK), November 2003 S/T: "More instrumental than vocal in vocation, the Mass is a creature stranger than that appearing on the cover (of the CD). The first track's rhythm moves like an unruly mob with an I-don't-give-a-fuck attitude without precedent. A wild, out-of-control ride testing the limits of the ridiculous and useless. For some, a radical vision of humanity without purpose and for others, the pure product of the highest degree of derision and perhaps even genius. The Mass has the talent of challenging and perplexing you. Definitely eccentric, but above all, exploring a new sound somewhere between Shellac's math-rock, Sweep the Leg Johnny's deranged-indie, Masada's free-jazz and the hard rock of Judas Priest. You never quite know how to categorize or process this music, but somewhere you find a niche for this heavy, virulent world which unexpectedly surrounds you."   -- review of s/t EP at killwhat.com <http://www.killwhat.com> (France) translated by Chris Schreiner "The Mass are a lot of things mixed together: Metal, free jazz, blues, punk, and rock. Reminding me of Mr. Bungle without the grasping for trying to be purposely bizarre and eccentric. Four talented musicians who's undying love for metal approach the songs on their own terms, in order to keep it interesting for them. No rules, no boundaries. This ep has gone highly underrated as it remains too strange to really even show up on the radar. The opening metal riffs to "Mostly Michael Schenker" are fabulous and even find the singer indulging in a trail of high sung parts like King Diamond. kick ass. In the very same song, about two minutes later, we find a doodling saxophone and carefully picked guitar. We don't get too much of a rest before the band is back pounding on their instruments again. I won't give away the ending, but it's quite thrilling."   -- review of s/t EP at sincere brutality <http://www.sincerebrutality.com> "Angry guitar riffs and screams followed by...a saxophone solo- This is the unusual music of The Mass, whose love of metal is matched by their love of smooth jazz. The screams are sporadic, and the jazz injections happen without warning, making this album excitingly unpredictable."   -- review of s/t EP at impact press <http://www.impactpress.com> aug/sep 2002