Deceiver – Thrashing Heavy Metal

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Deceiver’s third full-length (term used very loosely) release, the second with guitarist Pete Flesh handling lead vocals, and their debut on Pulverized Records, is largely more of the same. Technical thrash metal with death vocals. How successful that combination is really comes down to taste within the genres. It’s not thrash, and it’s not death, which may attract fans of both, or neither. In particular it really doesn’t work on the slow, sombre The Dungeon (which also happens to be the most interesting track musically), but when the track speeds up, and for all the other tracks, it works about as well as the style allows. The thrash elements of the music are excellent, along the lines of Forbidden, with some excellent guitar melodies (Graveyard Lover). Apart from a couple of stand-outs (both mentioned already), the rest of the tracks are all in the same vein; fast and technical. But like the songs or not, the whole album is over in just 34 minutes, which is altogether too short for full album price.

Written by Andy Lye
More: Albums, Quick.Play Reviews, Thrash Metal, Deceiver