Three years after their
RCA
debut,
Mass
returned on the
Enigma
subsidiary
Medusa
Records with a
John Rollo
-produced EP of six songs entitled
Take You Home
.
"Pedal to the Medal"
still has that '80s compression and big sound behind
Louie St. August
's intense upper-range vocals. The band
New England
's drummer,
Hirsh Gardner
, did the pre-production demos, taking that
Mike Stone
/
Todd Rundgren
sound with him.
Gardner
was retained as "production assistant" as the band and
(of
Kinks
,
Quiet Riot
fame) crafted these smart tunes into a solid effort.
"Can't Get Enough"
rocks with more passion than
labelmates
Poison
, a driving
pop-metal
number which gets the nod as the standout here.
"Holy One"
is the runner-up, with some of the best
Gene D'Itria
guitar runs over a
Black Sabbath
"Children of the Grave"
-influenced riff. Not a
Christian rock
band per se,
does command "You must follow sweet Jesus" in
"Holy One,"
this song containing the most mayhem: guitars, drums, bass, and voice in a restrained kind of chaos. The group continued to work with producer
in the '90s, though they only released one song in that decade,
"Under the Gun,"
on
The Best of the Boston Music Showcase
. In the new millennium, two more
Rollo
songs were released on their
Best Ones
compilation, and they renewed their work with
Michael Sweet
from
Stryper
as well. The sound on
is solid, but it's just the foundation for what these gents would craft years later. Important because it notes their starting point with
and shows development, as
would turn into one of the finest
hard rock
bands ever out of New England through a combination of persistence and staying the course with the music they believe in. ~ Joe Viglione