Deadend In Venice - See You On The Ground

It is fitting that Germany's Deadend In Venice would find a home on a label like Rock n' Growl for their debut album, 'See You On The Ground.' One part melodic death metal, the other female fronted rock, Deadend brings another 'beauty and beast' band to listener attention. The music is energetic and a lot of fun to listen to (instrumentally it sounds a bit like Children of Bodom meets The Crown) with a blend of harsh snarls that sound like Johan Lindstrand from One Man Army and The Undead Quartet along with the clean harmonies of female vocals that are similar to that of the vocalist from Leaves' Eyes. Together, they provide an excellent contrast on tracks like "The Monkey In My Closet" with the harsh vocals taking the verses and the cleaner ones leading into the chorus and bridge to make them infectious as hell; sometimes they will switch formulas such as with "Long Way Home." From track to track listeners can really tell there is a large balance as the band tends to keep themselves in one particular element of sound, which may be a bit of a downside for the album, but at least Deadend seems very comfortable with their style despite a lack of experimentation.

With an intent of keeping each track heavy and catchy, Deadend strays away from the typical formula of growl n' sing melodic death metal bands that always seem to let the female singer have a ballad, or softer song, all to herself. The female vocalist here does get her own track, "Dirty Little Princess," but musically it sounds just as heavy as the other tracks with only a few softer moments with just the vocals, bass, and drums going at it during the verses. There is no piano or symphonic bits; this is just good melodic death mixed with rock n' roll, similar to that of groups like Unsun. However, aside from this gem, after hearing the first few tracks fans pretty much can get a clear idea of what to expect from Deadend. At the very least though they aren't getting a copy of Deadlock or Lacuna Coil, one of lead names in melodic death and rock with a mix of male and female vocals. Instead, Deadend in Venice do their best to strike out on their own path, and though it may not have taken them as far as they desired in fully fledged sound, their debut album is still a great leap and at least enjoyable for a few play-throughs for anyone who wants to give it a try.

  1. Hate Sweet Hate
  2. Personal Decay
  3. Brain Execution
  4. Long Way Home
  5. War
  6. Last Chances
  7. The Monkey In My Closet
  8. Dirty Little Princess
  9. Tomorrow Never Comes

Reviewer: Colin McNamara
Aug 2, 2011
Next review: Calcined - Thwarted

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