"Perfect Picture of Wisdom and Boldness, the 2nd album from Oakland California's THE MASS further refines the band's unique brand of malevolent indie-thrash, oozing a crawling heaviness not apparent on earlier releases. Crushing, epic, and melodic...moving beyond the hyperkinetic seizures of the band's 2003 debut full length City Of Dis (released in January 2005), here THE MASS whip out blazing, staccato riffs and multifaceted vocal attacks that knife through complex structures and sludgy, epic elegies, as wicked saxophone melodies interweave with angular crunch and creepy nocturnal post-rock. Like a stuttering, bat-winged Bay Area thrash metal outfit arming itself with Louisville/Chicago schooled math-thug asymmetry, pounding dirges, and fierce,evocative mutant jazz flourishes while lobbing some whopping bonged-out grooves. THE MASS continues to evolve its cryptic heaviosity."
--Crucial Blast 2005
HISTORY: 2003 - Present
March 2003: THE MASS record debut full length album "City Of Dis" at Louder Studios in San Francisco with famed producer Tim Green (THE FUCKING CHAMPS, UNWOUND, DONNAS, MELVINS).
October 2003: UK label MONOTREME releases "City of Dis" in Europe/UK markets to critical fanfare.
September 2004: THE MASS embark on successful European tour with Monotreme labelmates LOWER FORTY-EIGHT.
January 2005: North American re-release of "City of Dis" on CRUCIAL BLAST, featuring revised artwork and live video footage.
January 2005: THE MASS return to famed LOUDER STUDIOS compound and, alongside wizard-like producer Tim Green, craft epic, dense, confusing-as-fuck second full-length release titled "Perfect Picture of Wisdom and Boldness." 8 songs, 56 minutes, much girth.
April 2005: THE MASS hit the road in support of THE FUCKING CHAMPS, touring the southwest and midwest. New friends are made, many beers consumed.
September 2005: CRUCIAL BLAST releases "Perfect Picture of Wisdom and Boldness" all over North America. THE MASS embark upon first-ever full US tour. Destruction and nationwide rioting ensue.
October 2005: UK label MONOTREME releases "Perfect Picture of Wisdom and Boldness" in Europe/UK markets. THE MASS return to Northern Europe/United Kingdom territories for planned, travelling live act of musical wreckage. Human heads melt.
March 2006: THE MASS plays it's first show with new bassist Andy Lund. The carnage continues.
Dec. 2007: THE MASS release "Holocene 6" EP. 4 songs of epic brutality recorded by Tim Green and available at CDBaby. Numerous Myspace comments ensue.
"The tunes are eruptive affairs, very consciously constructed in an art rock or prog vein but never lacking a certain fluid momentum all their own.The band members are virtuoso instrumentalists and can muscle throgh moments of artifice with ease. A particular song can invoke any variety of rock heavitude--ponderous headbanging, kinetic DC punk, hunched over grindcore, squalling free-noise breaks, wailing hard rock, and massively crunchy black metal riffage."
- Josh Wilson, SF BAY GUARDIAN
