Deceased
Supernatural Addiction
[Relapse]
Oh dear. What a scorcher of an album this is. Lightyears away from the primitive, raw, Artillery-styled death/thrash of Luck Of The Corpse and even from the Venom-esque, mystic thrash metal of their last foray, this has to be Deceased’s boldest statement of intent yet!
Opening with an outrageously melodic Maiden-esque guitar hook, Deceased immediately make it known that they have reached a pinnacle as far as songwriting and ambition is concerned. A marvellous concoction of traditional heavy metal coupled with headnodding death/thrash riffing complemented by King Fowley’s unmistakable rasp and some particularly inspiring lead fretwork, the opening track “The Premonition” sounds fresher in delivery than anything they’ve recorded before.
While Fearless Undead Machines merely flirted with the nuances of heavy metal melody and structure, Supernatural Addiction furthers their growing fascination with melody and willingly adopts a profound melodic literacy, and without ever forsaking the aggressive, thrashy edge of their earlier material. With as much to do with Silver Mountain, Witch Cross, Warlord and Iron Maiden as Artillery, Razor and Sacrifice, this record blazes with melodic vigour without eschewing the headbanging array of thrash rhythms and riffs that brought Deceased to such acclaim. Deceased have consistently met with harsh detractors who claim that their work is ‘bland’ and ‘monotonous’, yet I feel that this album will no longer give these critics a chance to make such accusations. By layering unabashedly melodic lead guitar over frantic, hyperactive death/thrash rifferama, Deceased have produced a truly exhilarating celebration of all things old-school, without sounding dated in the least.
Whereas Fearless Undead Machines grew a tad irritating with its constant use of lengthy movie samples and thus stumbled a bit as a concept album, this record has eschewed all samples, relying instead on a lyrical obsession with the macabre, the sinister and the haunting to convey the dark edge of the music. Treading a lyrical path forged by the esoteric diatribe of Warlord and Mercyful Fate, the lyrics are indeed a delight to behold.
Each song possesses its own individual quality and a consistent barrage of energetic, frenetic hooks that sink into your subconscious and warrant continued presses of the repeat button. Quality is uniformly excellent throughout, and extremely varied, what with the speedy “The Premonition” to the more mid-paced mayhem of “The Hanging Soldier” to the insanely infectious and insidious three-riffed behemoth that is “Elly’s Dementia”, a haunting foreshadowing to more inspired Deceased material ahead. Torturous and eerie, truly a great end to an album of remarkable quality.
Where some of their albums might have faltered or proven to be inconsistent, this is Deceased’s pinnacle, an unashamed orgiastic offering of intelligent, truly dark, uncompromising METAL. Refusing to subscribe to any modern influences, Deceased have incorporated a whole host of old -school influences into their brew, yet created something truly ahead of most extreme music available today. Their best album, and an excellent purchase that everybody should note immediately. Deceased have gone from being a band that I enjoy to a band that I utterly worship, and I think you’ll be a convert soon enough.
[ a fucking 10! ]
© 2000 equimanthorn
Opening with an outrageously melodic Maiden-esque guitar hook, Deceased immediately make it known that they have reached a pinnacle as far as songwriting and ambition is concerned. A marvellous concoction of traditional heavy metal coupled with headnodding death/thrash riffing complemented by King Fowley’s unmistakable rasp and some particularly inspiring lead fretwork, the opening track “The Premonition” sounds fresher in delivery than anything they’ve recorded before.
While Fearless Undead Machines merely flirted with the nuances of heavy metal melody and structure, Supernatural Addiction furthers their growing fascination with melody and willingly adopts a profound melodic literacy, and without ever forsaking the aggressive, thrashy edge of their earlier material. With as much to do with Silver Mountain, Witch Cross, Warlord and Iron Maiden as Artillery, Razor and Sacrifice, this record blazes with melodic vigour without eschewing the headbanging array of thrash rhythms and riffs that brought Deceased to such acclaim. Deceased have consistently met with harsh detractors who claim that their work is ‘bland’ and ‘monotonous’, yet I feel that this album will no longer give these critics a chance to make such accusations. By layering unabashedly melodic lead guitar over frantic, hyperactive death/thrash rifferama, Deceased have produced a truly exhilarating celebration of all things old-school, without sounding dated in the least.
Whereas Fearless Undead Machines grew a tad irritating with its constant use of lengthy movie samples and thus stumbled a bit as a concept album, this record has eschewed all samples, relying instead on a lyrical obsession with the macabre, the sinister and the haunting to convey the dark edge of the music. Treading a lyrical path forged by the esoteric diatribe of Warlord and Mercyful Fate, the lyrics are indeed a delight to behold.
Each song possesses its own individual quality and a consistent barrage of energetic, frenetic hooks that sink into your subconscious and warrant continued presses of the repeat button. Quality is uniformly excellent throughout, and extremely varied, what with the speedy “The Premonition” to the more mid-paced mayhem of “The Hanging Soldier” to the insanely infectious and insidious three-riffed behemoth that is “Elly’s Dementia”, a haunting foreshadowing to more inspired Deceased material ahead. Torturous and eerie, truly a great end to an album of remarkable quality.
Where some of their albums might have faltered or proven to be inconsistent, this is Deceased’s pinnacle, an unashamed orgiastic offering of intelligent, truly dark, uncompromising METAL. Refusing to subscribe to any modern influences, Deceased have incorporated a whole host of old -school influences into their brew, yet created something truly ahead of most extreme music available today. Their best album, and an excellent purchase that everybody should note immediately. Deceased have gone from being a band that I enjoy to a band that I utterly worship, and I think you’ll be a convert soon enough.
[ a fucking 10! ]
© 2000 equimanthorn