By the cover art, lyrical content of this CD and the MASTER-ish logo of MALAS (an interesting side note, this band MALAS also call Chicago home) you would be under the impression this was going to be some srt of Metal hybrid of HAMMERFALL meets MASTER and you wouldn’t be half wrong! What then is the other missing piece to his equation you ask? The answer is MASSACRE. The music of MALAS is more MASTER inspired than I think may have been intended, albeit with better lead work throughout, so much so that at times both the leads and the rhythms of this act remind me of a thrashier MASSACRE.The vocals of MALAS are also in step with this description, almost like a dual personality in their sound. By this I mean track 01-05 the bassist / singer has an approach that is sort of close to Speckmann but actually leans more toward Karl Willits of BOLT THROWER with his trademark general monotone delivery and use of reverb. Then however with tracks 06-10 the vocals seem to have morphed into that of almost exact sounding version of Kam Lee!? At different points of this disc I was seriously wondering if I was going to hear vocalist Erik Pertl bust out a ‘Worrrllld Eattaaarrrr!’ or a hellish take of ‘From Beyonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd!’ Contact: 1950 W. 21st Street, Chicago, IL 60608 USA or www.malas.biz or Utterly Somber P.O. Box 08419, Chicago, IL 60608 USA.