Mass

Formerly known only to Spaceboy and C Average fans, the Mass’ City Of Dis was released on a small UK label in 2003 to little fanfare, so it is with scarcely containable glee that Maryland noise-pusher Crucial Blast re-releases the debut full-length from this Oakland, California art-metal quartet with revised artwork and bonus CD-ROM video footage. With such far-flung musical influences, the Mass performs the impossible: to weave all of them into a multifaceted tapestry of sound that will entice fans of everything from Carcass to Frank Zappa. After ample grindcore mayhem, "La Porc” skips along to Stoner Witch-era Melvins with a John Zorn-ish saxophone. The humorously titled "Trapped Under A Ice” is punk-ish prog like a metal version of the Planet The with sax, while "Hex By Hex” heaves jagged chunks of Pantera riffage amidst the lilting melodies of 31 Knots. The must-hear "Major Strip” packs in the most elements of all: its intro nods to Biblical Proof of UFOs, then shifts to Fantômas worship with crazy, Mike Patton-esque vocals and hilarious gang choruses like a Mr. Bungle tribute band. Ex-Estradasphere saxophonist John Whooley is the linchpin here: one moment he’s dipping into King Crimson’s Larks Tongues in Aspic, the next he’s mimicking an unhinged John Coltrane or Charlie Parker. He also plays relatively mellow intermezzi that are dead ringers for San Diego’s Creedle, circa When the Wind Blows, and then phases into In the Wake of Poseidon-era Crimson, all mushed together with the creative hardcore stylings of Time In Malta. By the album’s closer "Marca Dos Invernos,” however, he switches to his jazziest notes to underline the band’s doomiest metal. Highly recommended for Secret Chiefs 3 devotees, City Of Dis is not only the best release of the year, but any album over the next eight months will be hard pressed to even come close to this.