Provogue [Release date 28.3.25]

The new Masters Of Reality album The Archer’ is the band’s first release since 2009.

It’s an esoteric album which smoulders, occasionally sparkles, but too often settles on a peripheral approach suggesting unfinished ideas.

Perhaps the feeling of mystification mirrors the elusive art work and the meaning of the album title, explained by founder member and band leader Chris Goss as; “Whoever one perceives as their invisible ruler of fate.”

Goss himself seems caught between the tides of musical flux, and he sometimes relies on shifting sonic textures to make its mark.

There are moments of bluesy desert rock with angular riffs and ethereal psychedelia without quite slipping into jam band mode.

By contrasts ‘It All Comes Back To You’, the vivid ‘I Had A Dream’ and the closing ‘Bible Head’, all broaches an Eno/Bowie style electronica, both vocally and atmospherically.

It’s also an album that has something of a fragmented feel, not simply because of the subtle shifting genres, but more in the way some tracks sound far more developed than others.

The title track is an understated opener with a subterranean ethereal feel with mixed back vocals, while the evocative lyrics of ‘I Had A Dream’ are spun out over retro buzz tone opening, before a strong Bowie style rhythm and David Byrne influenced vocal help build an unresolved tension.

You might argue the latter is the most complete piece on the album and certainly benefits from the change of tempo.

Goss’s chameleon like vocal presence is illustrated by the Neil Young sounding ‘Chicken Little’, which has a sludgy doomy blues foundation, while ‘Mr. Tap n’ Go’ is a mix of lumbering bass, power chords and gnawing guitar riffs which contribute to an edgy electro feel.

He adds rapped out animated vocals and finishes on a repeated “run children run” portentous refrain.

Barely 4 tracks into the album, the listener might be searching for a musical barometer, if not the sort of guiding light aluded to in the album title.

‘Barstow’ provides the moment when the music breathes, on a string-led piece with an earthy vocal, some welcome clarity of diction and a beefed up by a choral line with a piano motif.

It’s got an eerie feel, which evokes the need to escape a desert town and suddenly slips into a Perry Como ‘Catch A Falling Star’ refrain and a psychedelic guitar break which might have come from an early Love album.

‘Sugar’ reverts to a Neil Young vocal style over a mellatron sounding backdrop with powerful changes.

And sticking with a retro feel, ‘Powderman’ drops us into a descending John Lennon ‘Mind Games’ era intro, with a mixed back vocal bathed in echo and reverb and a long drone.

It’s another point on the album where the songs seem to drift rather than deliver clarity or punch.

No matter, on balance ‘The Archer’ is not too far from hitting its intended target. It gives the impression of a ring rusty boxer, bobbing and weaving his way towards the centre of the ring.

By the time of the languid funk of ‘Bible Head’ – encompassing a fuzzy riff, a shrieky wall of sound and a perfunctory ending – Goss sounds as he’s thinks he’s done enough in his comeback.

The Archer’ undoubtedly reveals more with repeated plays and much like the album concept itself, the core elements can be found by the listener who pays attention.

One part a splurge and one part a coherent statement of intent, ‘The Archer’ offers a teasing musical glimpse of the Masters Of Reality future musical direction. ***

Review by Pete Feenstra

Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

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