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SAVAGE MASTER
Dark & Dangerous

Shadow Kingdom (2025)
Rating: 8/10

“Night flight bells are ringing, awaken in the Devil’s domain, Midnight, hear the creatures singing, under the Master’s Reign” – the perfect lyrics to kick off another album from Stacey Savage and her cloaked clan of metal barbarians.

Ever reliable, Kentucky’s Savage Master once again tiptoes through the cold corridors, flits between damp dungeons, echoes off crumbling castle walls and provides steady metal sorcery in abundance. This time round though the sound seems more accessible and, dare I say it, radio friendly. But don’t panic fans, this is still Savage Master transporting you back to the bedrooms of the mid-to-late 80s where metal posters peered from the walls and rock sounds wafted from the late night radio show.

Now, if you are not familiar with Savage Master, then it’s time to don your cloak and venture forth into the night. Brave, yet weary travellers will encounter sublime lead work, zippy riffs, thunderous drums and bass and Stacey’s snaps. The guitar sound drives this vehicle as if it were a tank mowing down horses of the drooling undead.

The atmosphere created from opening song ‘Warriors Call’ pretty much sums up the Savage Master sound; rich in images of fantasy and fluidly phantasmal, it just rumbles with a nostalgic vigour. John Wayne Littlejohn’s drums are timely chimes of galloping doom, working in tandem with the burly bass lines and fiery riffs. You’ll find yourself somewhere between King Diamond, Cauldron, Virgin Steele and Warlock all encased within a musty waft of damp leather and smoke.

The album is awash with steely gallops. Tracks like ‘Black Rider’ and ‘Devil’s Child’ are often predictable but always entertaining in their bewitching stride. And then there are more mythical and measured compositions, namely the plod rock of ‘Devil Rock’ and ‘I Never Wanna Fall In Love’ which is cherry-picked straight from 1988.

Stacey isn’t the most powerful of vocalists but she remains mesmeric with her snaps, guiding us through the dimly lit passageways to the soundtrack of her enticing words. Ballad ‘Cold Hearted Death’ may surprise or disappoint some diehard fans, but I adore it as I find myself lighting 13 black candles and opening a window to let the silky window drapes blow in the wind as if Count Dracula has just flown the nest. It’s dastardly gothic, devilish and Stacey exhibits a Joan Jett sort of voice as she lavishly sways to the plod of the drums and archetypal yet warm guitar chords.

In the past, I’ve always perceived Savage Master’s music as a bit better than average, but with Dark & Dangerous the band have truly tapped into the mists of the 80s and provided a batch of quality tracks I’m totally hooked on. The shadowy ‘Screams From The Cellar’, the nifty Iron Maiden-esque ‘Never Ending Fire’ and the thrashy ‘When The Twilight Meets The Dawn’ all hit the sweet spot. Savage Master has finally drawn me into their web and I’m thrilled.

Neil Arnold

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