White Shadows

Description

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MASTER MASSIVE was originally founded in the early 90s by guitar wizard Jan Strandh, who created the band out of the ashes of his predecessors ZANITY and ACT. With this new album, the band also decided to move forward with the three-vocalist concept, including Tony Niva (ex-LION’S SHARE, ZANITY), Viktor Gustafsson (LETHAL STEEL), and Marcus “Masken” Karlsson, who sang on the previous release “Black Feathers On Their Graves”. On top, Anders Ericson (ex-BEYOND TWILIGHT) will continue as their live guitarist. „When the album was fully composed, I came to realize that it had become very dynamic and that it would be extremely demanding for a singer to deliver all the different falsettos I had in mind“, explains Jan Strandh. „Masken was already on board, and we met regularly to go through the vocal parts. It was actually him, who mentioned that Tony would suit certain sections. I contacted Tony, and it turned out he was eager to give it a try. Max then played me the singer Viktor Gustafsson, who had just moved to Skövde. I thought he had an interesting timbre and a powerful, beefy vibrato. We got in touch with him, and he said yes. Now we had three singers who could do different things: Tony, who always gets the most difficult and highest parts – immensely musical and virtuosic. Masken, with his convincing, powerful, and massive distorto – extremely good with lyrics. And Viktor, who turned out to be a total dark horse, able to sing in a witchy, almost ugly way and then switch to singing beautifully and emotionally. All three singers have agreed to join the band. We’re from different generations, we have different preferences, but what we share is a pounding heart for heavy metal.“

The songs on „White Shadows“ have been written and created over the past years, showing a huge variety and great balance between epic long tracks and catchy, but dark 80s metal hymns. „After experimenting with various large-scale formats – „The Pendulum“ (a metal opera) and „Black Feathers On Their Graves“ (almost a symphony) – I wanted to write shorter, faster songs with higher intensity and tempo“, describes Jan Strandh and adds: „The songs have also become more extroverted than before. An important factor has been inviting Max Warnby into the process. He has instilled confidence in the songs and manages to keep the interest alive when I start doubting too much. Writing songs is a sensitive process. For example, I never use drum machines in our demos since it kills the interest in the song. Instead, I record a stereo track of guitars and then add real drums on top of that. Songs that are difficult to arrange sometimes have to sit untouched for months before we return to them, all to avoid killing the vibe. My wife usually says that I use doubt as a working method – better to reject than to approve, so to speak. One advantage these days when composing is that I can stay focused on making the music both entertaining and unique, without it becoming too simple.“

The sound of MASTER MASSIVE is unique. You can hear MERCYFUL FATE, but also CANDLEMASS and early FATES WARNING and QUEENSRYCHE. „I’ve listened a lot to those bands, especially Mercyful Fate
(„Melissa“ and „Don’t Break The Oath“), and later also Fates Warning („Awaken The Guardian“). Originally, I come from the symphonic rock tradition, with bands like Queen, Genesis, Jethro Tull, and Black Sabbath. My playing style comes exclusively from the guitarists in these bands. The palm muting so characteristic of heavy metal, I got from Martin Barre of Jethro Tull, the vibrato from Brian May of Queen, the melodies from Steve Hackett of Genesis, and the riffs from Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath. I had a fondness for the slightly heavier songs, so when punk arrived and, a little later, the NWOBHM, there was no doubt about what kind of music I wanted to make.“

The lyrics on „White Shadows“ got inspired by life, movies, books – everything that caches the attention of Strandh and gives him inspiration. „I’ve been interested in music, films, and storytelling my entire life, so I have many influences. I’m not a Christian, but the bible is still a strong influence, partly through Jesus Christ Superstar. I’m not an academic, but Shakespeare is absolutely amazing. I have a fascination with science fiction, for example Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. I admire many British lyricists, such as Kate Bush and Peter Gabriel.“

There is a lot to discover in „White Shadows“. It is an album that is timeless, that needs full attention and will once in the future be named along with many classics. „We had big ambitions for the album. We decided that there shouldn’t be a single weak song or meaningless note. Even so, it surpassed our expectations. One of the feelings we wanted to capture in our sound was a natural groove, the kind you hear in older artists and in classical music. To achieve this, we chose to make a record entirely without a click track. Johan was the perfect drummer for the challenge, and once everyone who plays and sings on the album had added their parts, the result became far more fluid, alive, and dynamic than we could have imagined.“

Expected release date: July 17, 2026.