I have no clue whatsoever about how I should even begin describing Deadsea. The band simply cannot be compartmentalized. They are genreless. There I said it. Not that they transcend genres or anything, but they have a knack of showcasing everything - including the kitchen sink and the dirty dishes inside. I'm sure this album was made with the sole intent of completely fazing innocuous reviewers like yours truly. I can imagine the Deadsea guys with ludicrous smirks pasted on their faces, just waiting to read about the mysterious mass suicide of scores of hapless reviewers (and the guy who keys in ‘Genre(s)’ on Metal Archives) on their RSS feeds. However, I are too kvlt to be fazed.

‘Made loud to be played loud’ declare the American trio and after playing the album with the volume on eleven, I’m mightily impressed. This self-titled album is Deadsea’s second effort after releasing an almost unnoticed debut, Desiderata. Sonically, these guys are like a more cohesive, death/thrash version of The Fucking Champs. Their unique amalgamation of a variety of metal genres starts from the very top of the album itself. In its very first two minutes, Northwitch plays host to death metal riffs – melodic and otherwise, straight forward catchy-as-hell thrashy bits, neoclassical scales, sludgy, fuzzed-out Iron Maiden/Slough Feg gallops and fluid, post-rock reminiscent segments. The song carries on with a heap of beguilingly thunderous riffs (think Mastodon, Celtic Frost for reference) amidst which there are short melodic bursts, while Adam Smith, guitarist and vocalist, effortlessly switches from growls to clean vocals and vice versa as and when required. Coming Home is an out and out headbanger having a chockfull of 180 bpm triplet death/thrash riffs that would give any riff from Deathrace King a run for its money. The bass play on the track (and the whole album actually) is very impressive, not to mention that it’s mixed perfectly and sounds doomalicious. The drumming is as competent as the bass playing. Moving on, Killing Faith and Assault continue to display the aggressive side of Deadsea, containing old school death metal riffs mixed with the thrash sensibilities of Coroner (technicality), Slayer (speed), Sodom (catchiness) and a good measure of thick, dripping sludge added to keep things neatly cemented.

Things become really interesting when the first of the last three tracks (making up a good half an hour of the album), Vampyre’s Kiss, begins. Despite starting like its violent predecessors, Deadsea manage to steer the song into melodic heavy/doom-laden territory which houses a languid, proggy, jazzy lead and is a mere sign of things to come. The next two songs, Frozen Rivers, clocking in at 16 minutes and The Morning Frost, a ten minute epic instrumental, are the two stand-out songs of this album for me. These two are much more melodic and have slowed down tempos with atmospheric touches thrown in. The vocals on the former reminded me of Roger Waters but the riffs have little to do with Floyd and are firmly metal in nature – whichever subgenre they may subscribe to. Both songs contain marvelous leads which play out like members of Opeth, Pain Of Salvation and In Flames kicking out jams 10 years ago.

But really, enough fuckin’ said. Just get this one and listen to it already. The vocals are fantastic, guitars sound great, the tone is fuzzariffic, the drums are hard-hitting and heavy as hell and the bass player is a monster. There’s something in it for any type of metal fan.

Label - Chrome Leaf
Year of Release - 2007