Louisville, Kentucky, is the last place I think of when I think of great metal bands. Louisville gave birth to one of my favorite NWOTHM bands, Savage Master. I first heard Savage Master in 2014 with their debut album, Mask of the Devil. After seeing them open up for Christian Mistress on their last tour, I was a fan immediately. It was cheesy, it was over the top, and it was fun. All the things I love, so I was onboard.
With three albums in their career, I was stoked. I LOVED this band and often saw them whenever they’d pull into Atlanta. Things were great until the release of 2022’s Those Who Hunt at Night. The album didn’t jive with me, and I didn’t like it. This is where being a music journalist is complicated.
I wrote a less-than-favorable review of the album, and maybe I channeled my inner Lester Bangs a bit too much. The point is that I may have overdone it. Apparently, it was bad enough to warrant them banning me from all their social media platforms and completely cutting ties with me. This is not the first time this has happened, but it didn’t faze my fandom for Savage Master.
I got a press email announcing that Savage Master was returning with a new album called Dark & Dangerous. I was excited to listen to this one to see if they would connect with me again. The album opens with a mellow, haunting instrumental before going into “Warriors Call.” Holy shit. My Savage Master is back, and I was reeling.
Savage Master, this time around, seems to be pulling from a few different artists that I’m used to hearing from. This time, I can listen to some Judas Priest (The Edge of Evil). I heard a bit of a Rush influence in the infectiously catchy “The Edge of Evil.” On “Screams From the Cellar,” I listened to some classic Queensryche in there. Stacey Savage’s vocals are the strongest and most confident I have ever heard her, and I was absolutely gobstruck.
The showstopper is the closing track “Cold Hearted Death.” This is something that I found to be out of their element, but it was such a welcome surprise. The first thing that hit me when listening to this was Stacey Savage’s voice. Stacey has spent much time on the road, strengthening her voice. She sounds like a fucking powerhouse on this song and she sings with an emotion and passion that I have never heard her sing like. What can I say? I was blown the fuck away.
Dark & Dangerous is the album I hoped they would make. The growth of this band is unreal, and on this album, they sound like the true metal masters I always knew they’d become. The production, the song sequencing, the performances, and the level of drive and fire that they have make this an even more special album than I thought. Dark & Dangerous is Savage Master at their prime. This album will be a hard one to follow, but hearing them on it, I do not doubt that the drive and fire that fuels them will take them even further. Dark & Dangerous is a metal album. Twenty years from now, some dude will play it for his kid and say, “These were the classic days of metal, and Savage Master were a band to be reckoned with.’
Dark & Dangerous is a fantastic surprise for me in 2025 and has brought me lots of thrashings around my office. Savage Master may hate me, but I love them even more for gifting the world of Heavy Metal with Dark & Dangerous. Dark & Dangerous is escapism, like Dio’s Holy Diver or Iron Maiden’s Powerslave. Lyrically, the songs are full of imagery that makes me forget everything happening in the real world.
The aforementioned bands, while my favorites, all put out albums that left me scratching my head or even just making a stink face and saying, “What the fuck was that?” Well, Savage Master is no different. Like the others, they returned to form and put out what I consider to be the best album they’ve done so far. Dark & Dangerous has raised the bar, and if they use this album as fuel, they will have no issues reaching that bar.
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