DECEASED - Surreal Overdose CD
Patac Records
Genre: Death Metal/Thrash
Rating: 5/5
There's a video of DECEASED's performance at the Maryland Death Fest from last year where they cover DIO's "Stand Up and Shout". (They ended their set with VENOM's "Black Metal" when I saw em in my town) King Fowley even calls DIO the Voice of Metal. I wouldn't argue with that one but I will say there are many unique voices in Metal. King Fowley is one of those voices. Better yet DECEASED is one of the few extreme metal bands that has their own trademark sound which is instantly recognizable. The band has been considered many things as far as genres go since starting out in the mid-80s. Personally I think they cannot be pigeon holed into any one genre since they are the essence of Extreme Metal. It's the DECEASED sound and that true believers is unlimited as long as King Fowley is around to show you how it's done. Once again he does on this their sixth full length, in a career that spans over twenty five years. Some metal media publications might have overlooked this as one of 2011's most anticipated releases. The fans didn't, whether it was the cover artwork released or King himself posting news as well as new songs on his Facebook page. DECEASED fans waited patiently and obviously without any worry that one of their favorite bands would go experimental on em. (Yeah I know I couldn't resist that line.)
On this one, their first new studio full length since 2005, from the very start it shows that time between releases is meaningless when it comes to DECEASED. They simply burst out at you with a wild aggression no matter what, just like all their past releases when in need of sonic devastation place CD in stereo and turn up volume. "Skin Crawling Progress" literally knocks you back with full on power provided by King's maniacal drumming and vocals, a constant theme with DECEASED. The songs rocks back and forth from thrash riff volleys, cut throat soloing and mid-paced speed death which is all classic, trademark DECEASED. You want all of that but in no way is Surreal Overdose a simple one trick pony. There's plenty of strategic breaks on here which keeps things exciting throughout. "The Traumatic" starts out with a melodic thrash hook then diverts into a death grinding beatdown. "Cloned (Day of the Robot)" kicks out a classic metal aura with an almost Oi Punk chorus but by mid-point is pure thrash death mania. There's even some keyboards added. Coolest surprise is the instrumental "A Doom-Laden Aura" which would also sound perfect opening a movie plus it sets up the final cut, "Dying in Analog". Every cut on here is decent but for pure epic coolness there's "Dying in Analog" which freeze frames plenty of classic 80's metal influences into an almost eight minute cut.
A few more important notes about Surreal Overdose. King Fowley returns to the his drum throne for the first time since 2001’s “Behind The Mourner’s Veil” EP. This full length is also the first to feature Shane Fuegel on guitar since joining in 2006. Fuegel and longtime DECEASED guitarist Mike Smith add plenty of dueling solos on here to satisfy longtime fans. They even toss in a few THIN LIZZY styled riffs and leads. Les Synder is still providing the thunder of his bass playing, now in his twenty-fourth year. All of this combines for one of the best releases of this year. Yeah I'm bias alright, not because I'm a fan but because I like great extreme metal that's interesting and doesn't follow the same old genre pattern. I'm always reading these formerly crayon scribbled notes by whiny writers in the metal media all crying about how they wanna hear bands progress. No you don't since all you wanna hear is easily digestible indie rock. This release is progression as in progressing towards even further greatness.
Label: http://www.patacrecords.com/
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