The iconic Masters of Reality are set to release their first new album in 16 years with ‘The Archer,’ via Mascot Records. The album will be available digitally on 28 March and be available physically on CD & LP on 11 April. To celebrate, they have revealed a new song “Mr Tap ‘n’ Go,” which you can listen to HERE.
They will also be touring in April calling through The Netherlands, Belgium, the UK and Germany as well as Azkena Rock Festival (Spain) and Hellfest (France) in June.
Chris Goss is one of the elusive geniuses of American music. As the singer, guitarist and driving force behind Masters Of Reality, he’s spent more than 40 years charting his own musical journey, travelling from mystical blues to desert rock to psychedelia-edged beauty via all points in between.
Goss has positioned himself as one of the most important and influential producers of the last 30 years. The list of bands and artists he has worked with in that capacity is long and illustrious: Queens Of The Stone Age, Kyuss, Mark Lanegan, Foo Fighters, The Cult, UNKLE, Stone Temple Pilots singer Scott Weiland, former Hole bassist Melissa Auf Der Maur, even Hollywood star Russell Crowe. He’s the connective tissue which links so much modern music.
“The Archer is whoever one perceives as their invisible ruler of fate,” explains Goss. “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, 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,” he says. “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.”
Masters of Reality remains in a perpetual evolution. “This album intentionally broke away from the heavier riff rock that we dominated for over three decades,” he says. “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 Gothicized blues riffs.”
He continues. “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 says.
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.
Future-facing, Goss 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.”
