DEADLOCK
"Earth
Revolt" (Lifeforce; 2005)
Reviewed by Christopher J. Kelter
By the time I'd gotten around to listening to Deadlock's "Earth.Revolt" I'd inadvertently become aware of the German band's growing reputation for mixing Swedish melodic death metal, symphonic black metal, and metalcore into a sonic brew that created something fresh and new rather than something tired and stale.
"Earth.Revolt" features eight songs (not including an intro and an outro) that have traditional melodic death metal standards mixed in with epic structures. The guitars slash and burn their way through the mix while the un-credited keyboards alternately soar through the mix or quietly understate the proceedings to great effect. The guitars echo nearly all of the twin-guitar duos of the Swedish melodic death metal scene while, more often than not, the keyboards have the classical/gothic feel so expertly employed by Dimmu Borgir. The vocals are aligned more with the traditional hardcore/metalcore world.
"Earth Revolt" was produced by D. Richter and Sebastian Reichl. The production and mix are solid, but are occasionally muddled, which slightly takes away from the overall impact of "Earth.Revolt."
Deadlock: Johannes Prem on vocals, Sebastian Reichl and Gert Rymen on guitars, Thomas Huschka on bass, and Tobias Graf on drums. Keyboards and backing female vocals are un-credited but both play a critical part in the band's sound.
For more information visit http://www.xdeadlockx.com/.
Rating Guide:
A classic. This record will kick your ass.
Killer. Not a classic but it will rock your world.
So-so. You've heard better.
Pretty bad. Might make a nice coaster.
Self explanatory. Just the sight of the cover makes you wanna hurl.
Copyright © 2005 by R. Scott Bolton. All rights
reserved.
Revised: 09 Oct 2008 22:51:12 -0500.
