The sound of MASTER MASSIVE is unique. You can hear MERCYFUL FATE, but also CANDLEMASS and early FATES WARNING and QUEENSRYCHE. „I’ve listened a lot to those bands, especially Mercyful Fate („Melissa“ and „Don’t Break The Oath“), and later also Fates Warning („Awaken The Guardian“). Originally, I come from the symphonic rock tradition, with bands like Queen, Genesis, Jethro Tull, and Black Sabbath. My playing style comes exclusively from the guitarists in these bands. The palm muting so characteristic of heavy metal, I got from Martin Barre of Jethro Tull, the vibrato from Brian May of Queen, the melodies from Steve Hackett of Genesis, and the riffs from Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath. I had a fondness for the slightly heavier songs, so when punk arrived and, a little later, the NWOBHM, there was no doubt about what kind of music I wanted to make.“ The lyrics on „White Shadows“ got inspired by life, movies, books – everything that caches the attention of Strandh and gives him inspiration. „I’ve been interested in music, films, and storytelling my entire life, so I have many influences. I’m not a Christian, but the bible is still a strong influence, partly through Jesus Christ Superstar. I’m not an academic, but Shakespeare is absolutely amazing. I have a fascination with science fiction, for example Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. I admire many British lyricists, such as Kate Bush and Peter Gabriel.“ There is a lot to discover in „White Shadows“. It is an album that is timeless, that needs full attention and will once in the future be named along with many classics. „We had big ambitions for the album. We decided that there shouldn’t be a single weak song or meaningless note. Even so, it surpassed our expectations. One of the feelings we wanted to capture in our sound was a natural groove, the kind you hear in older artists and in classical music. To achieve this, we chose to make a record entirely without a click track. Johan was the perfect drummer for the challenge, and once everyone who plays and sings on the album had added their parts, the result became far more fluid, alive, and dynamic than we could have imagined.“
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