Blind Buy Surprise Albums Pt. 2: Deceased...: As the Weird Travel On

When I was not paying attention, I had heard the band name "Deceased..." thrown around. But I was not paying attention. My assumption was that this was just another death metal band and I would wait until either I had heard something more concrete or had a chance to look at them. Then I started actually paying attention a little more closely. It was clear I was missing out on something. There was an entire thread about the band on Metal Archives with universal praise. I read an essay critiquing impure metal on another site, which spoke glowingly of Deceased... being a band that was honest and pure and even dare I say true metal. That essay claimed one of the band's albums was a masterpiece.

It was at around that time that I had money to burn. I had just gotten my tax refund that year and was planning on buying a bunch of records over at Hell's Headbangers. I saw an album by Deceased... and decided to add it to the mix. Holy shit am I ever glad I did that.

Deceased... is not a death metal band, or at least they are not now. They have death metal influences, mixed with thrash metal influences, and delivered in a traditionaly metal style. They started out as a thrash metal band, evolved into a death metal band, and then combined everything to end up with a stunning mix of styles that seems odd at first but works incredibly well.

It's difficult to describe exactly what the sound is on this album, but traditional metal with some thrash influences and death metal-sounding vocals is probably pretty close. It sounds like a cross between Motorhead and Overkill with David Vincent of Morbid Angel on vocals. The riffs fly by at a breakneck speed with overlapping guitar leads and solos to keep things melodic and King Foley's smoky snarling vocals.

This is a great album by a great, underrated band. Check this album out as well as anything else by the band.