Chris Goss has been operating under the Masters of Reality banner for more than 20 years now, the band making its debut with 1988?s Rick Rubin-produced self-titled (aka The Blue Garden). Since then, Goss has proved the only mainstay, though for the last decade, drummer John Leamy has served as his creative partner in the band and there have been plenty of guests along the way, from Josh Homme and Nick Oliveri on 2001?s Deep in the Hole to David Catching and Brendan McNichol (both contributors to Queens of the Stone Age and other Palm Desert acts) on Masters of Reality?s latest, Pine/Cross Dover.

To say the album is long-awaited is an understatement. For more than a year, periodic release dates have come and gone with still no word as to when the record would actually be out. Goss, who initially pushed back the release because he wanted to keep writing, kept mostly silent throughout, leading to speculation as to the label situation with Brownhouse and Mascot Records. The upside is that although it?s only currently available in the US as an import, it?s still available. It?s been five years since Give Us Barabbas came out. A follow-up was long overdue.

And to that end, Pine/Cross Dover is an immediate success. Though opener ?King Richard TLH? doesn?t have the same striking sensation of ?The Ballad of Jody Fosty,? it also hasn?t had half a decade of me nerding out over it. Yet. One of the MySpace preview tracks for the album ? and for good reason ? it?s your quintessential latter day Masters of Reality track, with a lively rock progression and multiply tracked Goss vocals in the chorus. Of the two pieces of the album, divided in the track listing, liner notes and artwork as the separate entities Pine and Cross Dover, Pine strikes as the more straightforward. Even the darker, lonelier ?Absinthe, Jim and Me? is less druggy than the material on 1999?s Welcome to the Western Lodge, with a churning verse and distorted cabaret chorus. Likewise, ?Worm in the Silk? rests its head in a rich groove and hypnotic desert psychedelia.

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I literally dreamt last night that I got to see Masters of Reality. And what do I wake up to find on Blabbermouth but this press release which, semi-disappointingly, I wasn’t cool enough to get on the PR wire, containing an August 24 release date for the long awaited Pine/Cross Dover. From what I read below, it sounds like it’s going to be awesome. Oh, and in case you don’t make it all the way to the end (because it’s a long one), the new track “King Richard LTH” has been posted on the band’s MySpace page. I just listened to it. It’s very good.

Here’s the release:

Masters of Reality will release its long-awaited sixth studio album, Pine/Cross Dover, on August 24 via Brownhouse/Mascot Records.

Pine/Cross Dover was recorded at the Hacienda in North Hollywood, California and features guest appearances by Eagles of Death Metal bassist Brian “Big Hands” O’Connor and guitarist Dave Catching, as well as former Queens of the Stone Age guitarist Brendon McNichol, among others.

Masters of Reality leader Chris Goss stated about Pine/Cross Dover, “I did a rock ‘n’ roll record this time — I was able to exorcise a lot of different styles of music that are really important in my life. And not just Led Zeppelin, Cream, The Beatles, or Black Sabbath. It’s a lot of everything on this record. But proud to say, not one acoustic guitar — it’s all electric and very rhythm-oriented.”

The album’s origins can be pinpointed to a simple question. “It was in 2008 that Ed van Zijl, who is the head of [Mascot Records], wrote and said, ‘Do you feel like doing another record?’ So after a long period of recording it finally is done and I’m proud of it.”

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…Or “Cross Doubt,” more appropriately.

It seems that while my back was turned (blink and you’ll miss it), Mascot Records went ahead and pushed back the release date for the new Masters of Reality album, Pine/Cross Dover. Again.

I remember being so psyched last year around this time when the press release came in that Chris Goss was done recording and the CD would be out in July. Hell, I couldn’t wait. Then it was October, then December, then March, now it’s August. “24/08/2009″ to quote the Mascot site. Here’s the rest of what they had to say for themselves:

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