Masters Of Reality – The Archer | Album Review

Hugely influential and extremely niche, one of the godfathers of desert rock pulls another arrow from the quiver and draws the string, hoping to hit the target.

Chris Goss is an influential figure in the sphere of music we refer to nowadays as ‘Desert Rock’ and ‘Desert Blues’ despite downplaying his influence and role in the formation of this particular kind of music. The multi-instrumentalist from Syracuse, New York, has had a long career on both sides of the studio: performer and producer, featuring in the credit’s of many albums of the past couple of decades including such iconic releases by bands including Kyuss, QOTSA, Stone Temple Pilots, Melisa Auf Der Maur, Mark Lanegan, Mondo Generator and The Desert Sessions project.

Having such a rich and impactful musical legacy, it is a wonder as to how Mr Goss and his own project, its name taken from a misprinted copy of the highly influential Black Sabbath album ‘Master Of Reality’, have remained so elusive to the vast majority of people.

After listening to the album several times you can begin to understand this to an extent. The fusion of blues rock with what would later become the desert rock vibe popularised by QOTSA mixed in with quirky hints of avant-garde inspired by the likes of the iconic Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart makes for an intriguing listen which you will either ‘get’ or won’t. Some points on this release are really clever and land well, others just have you scratching your head or have you sat there with a bemused expression on your face as the oddity performs for its duration.

Album opener ‘The Archer’ has a good ‘retro’ flair to it with the subtle Hammond organ, shuffling percussion and rich, velvety overdriven guitar tone but vocally it doesn’t do much to catch your attention and it is an overall muted musical affair which doesn’t quite seem to set the expectations of the listener well, nor does it get the listener invested into listening to the full album. Follow up track ‘I Had A Dream’ is a little more upbeat and would have served as a better opener. All the quirkiness of Rated R by QOTSA is on display for the listener and you can start to see how Goss and his approach to songwriting helped shape the musical compositions of Josh Homme: the off-kilter syncopation and catchy fills, the hypnotic rhythm work and the subtle organ lines which crest at the right times. It works well and does give a bit more kick for the album going forward.

‘Chicken Little’ is an avant-garde take on the classic Southern US blues, following the same song structure you would expect but with a much softer edge, almost like lounge music in parts. The vocal delivery is quite energetic in parts but what really seals the deal is the sweet-ass bitchin’ blues solo. That pushed overdrive screams out beautifully and credit where credit is due, this track is a well composed and delivered effort. ‘Mr. Tap n Go’ has all the hallmarks of something from the cutting room floor of the iconic Desert Sessions series of recordings. It’s got a rawness to it along with that oddity which only a mammoth Peyote and Pot bender can quite explain. It would have made for a more noticeable and intriguing album opener and lead single but it works well for where it is placed in the running order, helping keep momentum instead of curb stomping it.

‘Barstow’ marks the halfway point of the album and the more avant-garde quirks return to take the reins of the musical direction. The annoyingly catchy repeating motif provides the main backdrop of the song, spliced with the occasional arpeggio and its really distracting as you listen to it, detracting and distracting from the largely lifeless vocals. There’s a good piano and guitar trade off spot in the track which breaks things up a little but it largely remains bizarre and lifeless until the final third of the song wherein it finally comes to life with some slick bluesy leads and a bit more energy in its rhythm section. ‘Sugar’ brings back the bluesy flair and it’s clear that within this approach, along with the more up-tempo but grounded moments of the previous tracks where Goss’ compositions and sonic manipulations work. At the same time you could also liken it to the more hallucinogenic inspired Beatles numbers from the bands later years so make of that what you will. It’s either genius or vapid and mind numbing, and that lies with the listener to decide.

‘Powder Man’ continues this trend of late 60’s avant-garde inspiration. The organ and acoustic guitar interplay works well to provide a solid foundation for the track to build upon and the almost gospel vibes in the haunting backing vocals augmenting the arrangements give it an extra dimension but it still feels rather listless as you listen to it. ‘It All Comes Back To You’ has a rather dramatic and dark feel. The haunting whirl of synths, haunting refrains, angular guitars sounds great throughout the track and as it progresses through the ominous verse into the chorus, it opens up and expands into a more vibrant sound which hits with a faster pace and a brighter edge to the melodic qualities. With shades of QOTSA in how it sounds, you can see where Goss and Homme share musical ideas and are widely acclaimed in the Desert Rock/Blues sound. It is a surprising track which picks you up once again and actually engages you and makes you notice what Mr. Goss is capable of in the penultimate moments of the album.

Sadly, that capability is once again dropped on its head on the closing track ‘Bible Head’. A bizarre psychedelic-funk inspired song which is quirky by nature and has a rather irritating hook to it just loops round and round. Overdone and fuzzed out to the extreme guitars, and not in the good sounding way litter the track in spots, with a vocal performance which sounds quite terrible, demonstrating once again the multiple moments of inconsistency on this release.

The spirit of ‘Desert Rock/Blues’ is wild expressionism which plays by its own rules.

Back in the days when Kyuss were building up to their iconic release ‘Blues For The Red Sun’, they were known for just jamming out in the desert with generators, gigging and playing for crowds of likeminded people until the juice ran dry on their gear. These infamous jam sessions were of prime interest to MTV at the time and the channel back then in the 90’s was actually a music one which played actual music and did features on musicians. Kyuss refused MTV’s approach to come film one of these sessions, sticking to the idea that it ‘wouldn’t be the same’ if the TV cameras were there to capture it. It might have exploded their popularity but at the same time it would have attracted people to come to these events who were just there because it was deemed cool to be so.

This playing by its own rules thing its a double edged sword. Yes, you stay true to your own ideas, making the music you want to make and having it sound how you want it to sound, but there’s a fine line in the sand and rocks which divides genius and insane. In the case of desert rock, that line is usually covered in footprints due to someone tripping on peyote running away from the giant monsters only they can see, but the line is there… Masters Of Reality may have been one of the core inspirations for the sound of Desert Rock/Blues, a hugely influential part of the scene for the past few decades, but that does not prevent them from dropping a howler.

Extremely expressive but infuriatingly inconsistent, The Archer hit the outer ring a few times with the 9 arrows in their quiver, but the vast majority of them fell extremely short of the target, sticking out of the dirt at various angles with no real reason as to why such a simple shot which has been made hundreds of times before could fall so short.