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Another rerelease from Transcending Obscurity Records, this time of Master’s 2012 album The New Elite. Coming on the heels of the terrible The Human Machine, I was expecting this to suck, but it is actually a vast improvement. For one, the production is actually decent, not embarrassing, and the guitar sound and playing are light years ahead of the previous album, with some actual heaviness and some quality leads. The drums even sound improved, much better than the cardboard box-hammering from The Human Machine, and it’s hard to believe this is the same lineup. Speckmann’s vocals are still shit, but at least here they are not mixed so far forward. The songwriting, overall, is an improvement, if not a huge one, and not all of these tunes sound identical. This one is actually worth hearing.