The Mass Concert History

"The barrier between metal and jazz has been pierced again. Like Chicago's Yakuza, the Bay Area thrash outfit The Mass augment their high-speed, staccato riffing with fluid, almost (dare I say it) harmolodic saxophone lines from vocalist Matt Walters. There are times when Walters launches into screeching, post-Ayler solos, in the manner of Steve Mackay on the Stooges' Fun House or Bruce Lamont on Yakuza's Way Of The Dead; the just-under-90-second "Gas Pipe" is the most extreme track on the disc, from this angle.