Maximum Metal Rating Legend

Deadsea S/T Company: Chrome Leaf Records Release: 2007 Genre: Thrash, doom, extreme Reviewer: Grim Gaijin

Will please metal fans on a very broad spectrum

CD covers make quite an impression, especially to this metal enthusiast that constantly search the many metal sub-genres for something new and exciting. Once I saw the Deadsea cover, I thought that it was going to be the one to satisfy my taste for psychedelic stoner doom metal. In ways it does, but Deadsea are so much more and the music contained on their self-titled 2007 release will please metal fans on a very broad spectrum.

The first song, Northwitch, starts off with a drone-like appeal and then breaks into a riff-fest for the next several minutes. With a mix of sludgy and clean vocals and a superb solo, Northwitch properly sets the pace for the rest of the album. The next song, Coming Home, begins with an ultra fast riff that reminds me of classic Hallows Eve as well as some Voivod-like riff action. Loaded with churning guitar, great melodies, and thunderous thrash moments, Coming Home once again shows the versatility of Deadsea. The next song, Killing Faith (Crying Death) is fast, thrashy, and is an all out metal attack. Although one of the shortest songs on the CD, its brutal guitar riffs will have you looking around for the nearest mosh pit. At just over a minute and a half, Assault, packs quite a punch as it explodes with blast beats, sick vocals and a late 80's thrash influence. The next song, Vampyre's Kiss continues to show influences of 80's thrash - in particularly Void Terra Firma-era Defiance - before it breaks down into a slower doomy acoustic section. However, before you can catch your breath, the pace quickens with some black metal style riffs to close out the song. The next song, Frozen Rivers, is the longest song on the CD, clocking in at just over 16 minutes long. After several minutes of an ambient intro, the psychedelic riffs kick in and prepare you for a very interesting doom song. However, at around the 11 minute mark, the thrash riffs take a dominant stance - intertwining with some progressive metal movements. The final song, The Morning Frost, is another long one as it is around 10 1/2 minutes long. It starts off with a 70's rock influence with some great acoustic guitars. Rush and early Yes influences can be heard throughout even though the song is laced with some great metal parts. However, at around the 9 minute mark, another Hallows Eve influenced riff blasts through the speakers to close out the final minute of the song.

Deadsea's self titled album is great in many ways. It shows many metal and rock influences from multiple genres of metal, as well as from different era's of music. I think that fans of any type of metal can get into the Deadsea as they have a certain ferocity that is necessary for many genres of extreme metal. I highly recommend this for fans of late 80's thrash, doom, and extreme metal in general!