Mass-War Law

SPV
1984/2010

Not to be confused with the American band of the same name or the German band who recorded one album ten years ago. This Mass also hailed from Germany, but they formed back in the mid-70's and ended up doing 8 albums between 1977 and 1986. War Law is their second to last release. This is fairly standard metal, but if I heard it without knowing the year it was recorded I would guess about 1979 or 1980. So they were a little behind the times as metal in general was getting heavier and branching by 1984. Still there is something to be said for the fairly catchy brand of music that Mass embraced. They remind me of times of a cross between late 70's Judas Priest and maybe a heavier version of KISS. Being where they are from there may be some early Accept influence mixed in there too. The slightly dated sound is probably what kept them from being as well known as other bands who moved ahead with the times. Still there they were cranking out this slightly under produced music that still has enough kick to be likable. I guess that was the key for them. The fact that they ignored trends and went with what they liked. Dated or not it was still pretty good. This new re-issue includes a bonus track "Playing in a rock -n- roll band" from 1978.