photo by Ben Price
Baltimore, Maryland-based post-hardcore/noise rock outfit MAST YEAR has completed their debut album, Knife, and are preparing to release it in early April through Grimoire Records, who has issued the cover art, track listing, preorders, and lead single.
MAST YEAR was forged by bassist Darin Tambascio (Thought Eater, National Sunday Law) and guitarist Noel Mueller (Questioner, Grimoire Records), who started trading riffs online during the first months of lockdown in the Spring of 2020, after which they were joined later that Summer by Ben Price (At The Graves, Immiseration, Foehammer) on drums. In the Fall of 2021, they released a digital-only demo and performed live as an instrumental three-piece. In the Spring of 2022, Eric Rhodes (Genevieve) joined the band on vocals, bringing a jaunty and chaotic front-man vibe, placing the band’s genre-fluid sound in the realm of noise rock with metallic dregs of post-hardcore in the mix.
In the Summer of 2022, MAST YEAR performed live and honed the material as a four-piece, eventually recording the twenty-five-minute debut Knife in Mueller’s Tiny Castle studio (Yatra, Myopic, At The Graves) in August. The album was later mastered by Brad Boatright at Audiosiege (Obituary, Sunn O))) -16-) and completed with cover art by Rhodes and Mueller.
Rhodes writes, “I haven’t seriously fronted a band since I was a teenager, and I needed a mic to yell at. This music spoke to my noise rock nerve and got my blood flowing. So, I was excited to be asked to yell for the MAST YEAR.”
Mueller adds, “Knife is a unique snapshot of what MAST YEAR sounded like in a specific period of time. With Ben and Eric now writing material for the band, the next snapshots will sound different.”
Stream MAST YEAR’s “Knife” now at Bandcamp RIGHT HERE.
Grimoire Records will release Knife digitally and in a limited CD run on April 7th. Find preorders HERE and stand by for new audio previews to post over the weeks ahead.
Knife Track Listing:
1. Fukboi
2. Null
3. Weeping Tongue
4. Knife
5. Dark Web
6. In Tandem
7. Urizen
8. Loser
9. The Womb
10. Golden Winter
While much of Knife came from Noel Mueller and Darin Tambascio’s collaboration in 2020, Eric Rhodes and Ben Price are both incredibly prolific in the vein of dissonant and dark music, and their contributions to MAST YEAR are currently in the works. In the Winter of 2021, Price contributed a 10+ minute epic to the band’s catalog that will be included on a future release.
To celebrate the completion of this phase of the band’s journey, MAST YEAR is performing Knife live on April 8th at Baltimore’s The Ottobar, with support from Consumer Culture, Psyop, and Knub. Watch for additional live news to post over the months ahead.
MAST YEAR Live:
4/08/2023 The Ottobar – Baltimore, MD w/ Consumer Culture, Psyop, Knub
MAST YEAR:
Noel Mueller – guitar
Darin Tambascio – bass
Ben Price – drums
Eric Rhodes – vocals
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