Deceased - Surreal Overdose

After what seemed like a six year hiatus (not including a myriad of splits and compilations), Deceased prove they are far from over with the first studio album since 2005. Originally formed in the late 80s, they're no strangers to metal and fans will most likely be overjoyed to hear they're cranking out some new material. It's apparent that time hasn't really changed their style as 'Surreal Overdose' still blends a heavy pace of thrash and death metal that lives up to the Deceased legacy from past years. For those who have never heard this group before, consider it a combination of old school thrash riffs followed by semi growled vocals that resemble more along the lines of a mix of Testament and Slayer. Tracks like "The Traumatic" and "Dying In Analog" hit hard and fast with the drums bearing down incessantly while overtaking everything else, save for when there is a pause and the guitars play a few solo moments with their thrash tinged excitement, going more for catchy chugs and notes than just downright skull pounding death metal. Then there are others like "Kindred Assembly" with a thicker sound but still feature a bit of catchy melodies. The vocals usually take the lead in the race of seing which will perform the loudest and fastest, but there are other times where the band will opt for more of a experimental phase such as distorting the vocals so much that they sound like they are being growled underwater.

Other experimental moments include the band's use of movie clips such as with the opening track, "Skin Crawling Process," near the end of the woman screaming with some creepy declarations of 'get out.' "Cloned..." uses drill saw samples and even a bit of vocoder use to get a 'sci fi feel' to the track and reflect the horror of the music without sacrificing any of the melody or heaviness of the music by making it cheesy. The band certainly tries to go for a darkened horror theme within the album while merging the ferociy of death metal and thrash, and this is reflected in the brief instrumental "Doom-Laden Aura." Slow and melodically surprising, it crawls along on just a few notes rather than blasting away full force like the other tracks. It gives off a much more gothic presence in its simplicity and serves as a great interlude/ opening for the final track, which is the complete opposite as far as the pace and musical structure goes. Still, overall Deceased haven't done a complete change in sound that will completely alienate their former fans (to hear them ten years ago is to pretty much hear them today). Fans should be quite pleased with this- new and old- as it is quite heavy but also catchy with no rehashing going on at all. Hopefully with new inspirations the band will not take another long hiatus and continue to crank out their albums at the usual expected pace (3 years or so).

  1. Skin Crawling Process
  2. Kindred Assembly
  3. The Traumatic
  4. Cloned (Day Of The Robot)
  5. Vulture Shock
  6. In The Laboratory Of The Joyous
  7. A Doom-Laden Aura
  8. Dying In Analog

Reviewer: Colin McNamara
Jul 25, 2011
Next review: Bodyfarm - Bodyfarm

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