An occult future-mystic arc traced from the Xe-filled orb in the right hand toward the staff in the left vexes the probe-holder, there he sits craned over his sandstone throne mulling the fate of precious blue ether for the (bio-)masses. Laser-cutting their gem of a hundred facets, each a votum to an unknown deity, two forces merge in transport across estranged networks and eerily sprawling highways as Snohomish, Washington-based heavy metal duo Vision Master will into ear an unconventional journey per this rousing debut full-length album. ‘Sceptre’ is a mutant palette of taste and tradition, a monstre for the sake of smartly utilizing all available tools in craft of a cohesive and richly stated storytelling device. A dark fantasy sci-fi scenario driven by an eclectic yet pure enough to know better approach to heavy metal tradition, this debut is not a sudden gust of wind but the product of self-driven, raw talent honed into substantive craft over the course of decades. Ingenious and wry at every turn, this’ll have to be one of the more thrillingly complete and inspired weirding heavy metal records in recent memory.

Vision Master formed circa 2019 between guitarist/vocalist and main songwriter Dan Munro and bassist/drummer Reuben Storey (Christian Mistress, et al.) both of whom more-or-less got their start in the early 2000’s with Funerot, a weirdo crossover-thrashing crew best known for their Razorback-released debut. While we’ve gotten plenty of imposing vision and detailed, stylized works which convey the artistry of Storey in the years since 2010 (Lords of Quarmall, Horrible, Quayde LaHüe) with this band we kind of get a flood of Munro as an increasingly charismatic frontperson and mouthpiece for the band. He’d already shown an intense range of metalpunk and heavy rock theatrics on the vivifying, sometimes thrashing jib of their first four song EP (‘Orb‘, 2021) but on this new album we find that palette covering exponential bounds in order to tell an increasingly complex story. When I’d reviewed that first EP I’d already been impressed: “The care and enthusiasm put into each of these four songs shows within even a casual listen and the energy supplied by the duo’s performances becomes infectious when left on repeat for a few spins at a time. Throw in an extra handful of leads and a few hits of harmony and it’d all really light me on fire.” and for this debut LP I’d say they’ve lit my skull afire not only in terms of more expressive vocal directives but in the always firing-off guitar work and meticulous yet organically achieved rhythms which strut, ride, and burn their way through what feels like a several generations intensified glom of weirding 80’s heavy metal, early power/speed metal, metalpunk and lighter shades of classic black metal for coloration as well. — For their sanity, we’ll call it “heavy metal” knowing full well this is a wild outlier with a strong personality driven sound.

Wizarding hard magick. — Each song on ‘Sceptre‘ creates a vivid, descriptive scene within a well-built world where occult high fantasy and science fictive notions collude, generating a gritty freely shaped feeling which has a deadly motor behind its rhythmic momentum. At times we get a glimpse behind the veil, such as the (early) Voivod-esque “Knife in a Velvet Glove” where we see the next-level stoked semblance of their influences. What keeps us from calling ’em “worship” or pointing out any too obvious points of influence in their work comes with the direct conversational style of Munro‘s charmingly far-out narrative knack and how this lines up with the not-so conventional blurring of lines between sub-genre in constant effect. The right sort of heavy metal wizard can do anything well, eh, from steeled march to existentially crestfallen doom and right down to balladeer level stuff and this is how ‘Sceptre‘ won me over to start, flitting from the jaunty Slough Feg-esque rant n’ run push of “Wet Net” through the easier heavy rock swings and boogie-worthy closure of “Gossamer Sky” and on toward the groan of the ‘Psalm 9‘-era Rick Wartell feeling refrain in second half of epic metal barge “Walls of Bone”. While all of their work falls under one narrative umbrella these songs carry a meticulous yet not at all self-conscious array of choices.

Some of my favorite records simply strike out on a tear, indulge in the energy of heavy metal’s pre-speed metal exuberance of rhythm while making serious use of the bass guitar, the best example probably being Brocas Helm‘s ‘Black Death‘ or nearby and when I hit a piece like “Sandstone” on a full listen of ‘Sceptre‘ it takes me to a similarly exciting place, the sort of instrumental scrabbling (punk as it might be here and there) which pricks the ear all the more apt to hear what the vocalist is on about. In fact while we’re in the thick of Side B it only seems the energy has kicked up rather than down as several shorter pieces hit an explosive pocket at that point, “Arc Terminal X” managing to feel like the apex of the narrative’s action at that point; Though the “Knife in a Velvet Glove” b/w “Walls of Bone” might’ve ended up my favorite thread on the full listen the finale of “Beyond” strutting into “Thin Veil” was just as strong a moment, recalling the earlier work of the band in some respect as it features some of the narrative snarl we’d gotten from Munro on ‘Orb‘, almost dipping into a Megadave gnash before the album wails and kicks out.

The stench of… Vision Master stinks of personality, of raw-cut but tightly needled together work that cannot help but weird out in an ambitious and fantastical flood which captivates in passing and rewards a closer-held ear. Brimming with infectious trait their debut full-length offers a maddening rush of high energy heavy metal storytelling, over the top but contained in such a way that it holds coherent and surely held together as a listening experience with brilliant momentum. Air guitar out… lyrics taped to the wall… ‘Sceptre‘ isn’t just a good time for those prone to nerd out on the details but simple a great debut album that’d planted its sharpest brainworms in me from the first listen and still seems to be holding up countless spins later. A high recommendation.

---