Savage Grace formed in 1981 and in 1982 they featured in Metal Massacre 2 with a song I haven't heard called Scepters of Deceit. They have been a very dynamic band with 2 albums and 2 ep's they have brought the metal scene, I don't know that much about their Master of Disguise album, except that it's their best and I have heard it many times. Here I apologize but I do not own the Master of Disguise album but will have a review and sound samples if anyone out there has the cover scanned please send it to me. Savage Grace blends various styles of speed metal and power metal thus somehow being one of the best bands from the LA scene. I do know that their released a picture disc called Ride Into the Night but haven't heard it. Their albums have been re-released in Europe but I have had trouble getting them. Also I would like to thank Jesus Sanchez for helping me scan these LP covers.


Lineup:


Christian Logue - Vocals/Guitars
Mark Chase Marshall - Guitars (1986- )
B. East - Bass
Mark Marcum - Drums (1986- )
Mike Smith - Vocals (1984-1984)
John Birk - Vocals (1983-1983)
Kenny Powell - Guitars (1983-1983)
Dan Finch III - Drums (1983-1984)




The Dominatress (1983)

An EP that had some creativity, personally this EP could have been better, it sounds raw with not many changes.

1)Fight for Your Life
2)Curse the Night
3)The Dominatress
4)Live to Burn
5)Too Young to Die

The song 1 is just not good, not many changes ad it tells you what you'll expect from this EP. Curse the Night makes a change the lyrics are interesting and the chorus just tell you how much Savage Grace can do if they want to. Live to Burn has that similar style were they actually have a chorus that is memorable, the rest of the songs are just simple. The solos are not that bad, Live to Burn has a good one, but mainly Savage Grace does have good rhythm and handle the changes in the drums adequately. As a debut album it lacked much but it must have been that the band was young.

Rating: 80
listen to a minute of "Curse the Night"




Master of Disguise (1985)

This album was the best from Savage Grace they made a mix of power metal and speed metal, they had another vocalist which made the band sound really different from their first release.

1)Lion's Roar
2)Bound to be Free
3)Fear My Way
4)Sins of the Damned
5)Into the Fire
6)Master of Disguise
7)Betrayer
8)Sons of Iniquity
9)No one Left to Blame

With the track of Bound to be Free it tells you how the rest of the album will be like. Fast paced, with great drumming and bass playing, they combine in a way that it sounds very powerful and besides the voice makes it sound very strong speed metal. In their previous album they had none of this, more riffs are added, complex ones and guitars that can sound hign pitched. Solos are great and I think the climax of this album is Master of Disguise. It begins with a drumming solo and again a super fast song with many arragements that prove perfect. They still have some of the style in lyric writing when it comes to the chorus. Fear My Way and Betrayer are slower but yet in the same style. Savage Grace sticks to their power in their bass and their guitar work can be very fast or just simply to let the string vibrate and then change into something else. In the whole most songs make the album great it's not like Fifth Angel were they had incredible songs and some that were not to complex enough. The lyrics in Master of Disguise are superb, in the chorus it says the following "I'm the devil, the Master of Disguise", these sort of lyrics are the ones I like, if you get to listen to Tokyo Blade's Night of the Blade you'll see what I mean. Too bad this style remained only for one album, it was great.

Rating: 100
listen to a minute of "Bound to be Free"
listen to a minute of "Master of Disguise"





After the Fall from Grace (1986)

More of an approach to their first release but this one is more complex and very variated. Their Drums-Bass combiantion of Master of Disguise is not as sound as before, but still very fast, and with that great guitar work of Logue.

1)A Call to Arms
2)We came, We Saw, We conquered
3)After the Fall from Grace
4)Trial by Fire
5)Palestinia
6)Age of Innocence
7)Flesh and Blood
8)Destination Unknown
9)Tales of Mystery


I got this album in San Francisco when I heard it I thought it as more like to the first one, many elements were the same mainly how they sounded. The vocals were also alike, but the music was more complex, some changes had occured only Logue and East remained from the original band. These album has more changes in the style than the rest song 2 is fast like in their last album but song 3 has a different rhythm. Some songs sound like battle themes specially A call to Arms and the beggining of Trial by Fire. Trial by Fire at the beggining sounds more like speed trash with satanic lyrics but the music changes much. Age of Innocence is another great song, composed by B. East, makes those changes in the chorus with the drums that are so characteristic of Savage Grace. I would also say that some of their music might sound like Omen mainly in the first one, due to Powell. The band is Fast paced and melodic standing strong on their melodies.

Rating: 94
listen to a minute of "After the Fall from Grace"
listen to a minute of "Age of Innocence"



Members



         Christian Logue                              B. East                         Mark Chase Marshall                            Mark Marcum


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