Touring the UK this April, Masters Of Reality has just announced it will be preceded by their first new album in 16 years with The Archer to be released Mascot Records.The album will be available digitally on 28th March and be available physically on CD & LP from 11th April. To celebrate, the band has revealed a new song ‘Mr Tap ‘N’ Go’, that you can check out here at RAMzine.
“The Archer is whoever one perceives as their invisible ruler of fate,” explains Chris Goss, driving force behind Masters Of Reality. “Often, the archer is very visible to those who pay attention. Maybe some even think he is the dictatorial god. Or even a conjured entity. But all can agree that the archer has impeccable skill at hitting the target.”
When it was released in May 2024, the single ‘Sugar’ was their first new music in 15 years. Hypnotic, poignant, and vulnerable, it builds from a stirring melody into a grand, orchestrated swell of emotion, with Goss’s ethereal yet soulful voice floating over the top of it.
The characters that occupy ‘The Archer’ are the nameless and faceless people that one sees at times or regularly observes driving on whatever road we’re both on briefly. “Everyone has a story. And their own story is the most important thing in the world to them,” Goss said. “No one is special. Everyone is heading towards, or actually in, their own Gethsemane moment- a New Testament narrative that exemplifies the cold realization of one’s fate. Sweating blood is more common than most can imagine.”
“This album intentionally broke away from the heavier riff rock that we dominated for over three decades,” Goss revealed. “I hope one can see Nina Simone just as powerful as a heavy blues force, in her emotion, rebellious attitude, raw presentation and not just Gothicised blues riffs.”
He continued. “The stoner and desert rock riffing was a reason for Masters Of Reality to break away on this record and present our blues in a different light for a minute. Blues isn’t a three-chord riff progression. It’s life itself. I can easily provide a thousand heavy riffs at the drop of a dime. But I dare any self-proclaimed heavy riff band to have the balls to throw the curve ball that we’ve thrown with this album.”
“’Mr Tap ‘N Go’ is a bloodthirsty vaudevillian dancing monster entertaining the planet with a syringe in one hand and a child in the other. “The unauthorized veterinarian trying to scramble all of us animals into sick acceptable submission. And he remains invisible to a large portion of the zombified walking corpses left in the world,” he sid.
The arrival of ‘The Archer’ – Produced by Goss and featuring guitarist Alain Johannes, drummer John Leamy, and bassist Paul Powell—heralds the welcome return of Masters Of Reality for the band’s many fans.
Future-facing, Goss has declared he is going to take 2025 with both hands. “The challenge of creating the dynamic range of the new music is a bit daunting at the moment because we haven’t done these songs live yet. But I believe once we’re in rehearsals with a bit of sweat, we’ll have a blast. A weird, sometimes melancholic blast but that’s what the blues is; Laughing at both the devil and our own human folly at the same time.”
Tracks featured on The Archer are: ‘The Archer’, ‘I Had A Dream’, ‘Chicken Little’, ‘Mr. Tap n’ Go’, ‘Barstow’, ‘Sugar’, ‘Powder Man’, ‘It All Comes Back To You’ and ‘Bible Head‘.
The album can ordered here.
For more about Masters Of Reality and the forthcoming UK tour visit RAMzine here.
