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A long-running band, Master has been churning out albums regularly for a while now, though it's been six years since Vindictive Miscreant. Their thrash-tinged death metal mostly gives the way to death-tinged thrash metal on Saints Dispelled. You'll still find songs that are more death metal oriented, but a big chunk of the album is filled with thrashers that even sport a thrash 'n' roll vibe here and there. Speckmann's signature vocals, an acquired taste some might say, are still present and as usual, just hearing them you know you're listening to a Master song. Lots of very old-school guitar work on this one, sometimes making me wonder how far back they went in terms of influences as I felt a bit of a '70s heavy rock thing was going on during some short passages. They also play it more modern on occasion, my least favourite stuff though it's usually saved by another old-school-style solo or riff popping up to save the day. Saints Dispelled is an album that shows that Master aren't resting on their laurels and can mix things up to keep their offering fresh, yet without alienating long-time fans. Good stuff.