I’m sure many who first encountered the
infamous ‘’Raging Steel’’ will be in for quite a shock when they hear this,
their third effort, ‘’Deception Ignored’’. Deathrow started as a speed/thrash group, adventurous
and dynamic, and keeping certain aesthetics of the early Germanic thrash metal
sound, hinted in the sublime savagery, or the crude malevolence, but never has
a band been through such an anomalous change. ‘’Deception Ignored’’ is not a
step up from its predecessor, it’s not two steps up, not three. It’s a hundred
steps ahead its previous version. Over only one year, Deathrow enlarged their
arsenal to the size of a modern army, going through a most dramatic change from
what used to be an army no more sophisticated than Neanderthals, sharpening
their crude weapons. Don’t get me wrong, I quite enjoy ‘’Raging Steel’’
(although I can’t say the same thing about the debut album) in its ways of simplistic
butchery and dissection, lashing forth primal Teutonic speed/thrash, but this
is something else entirely.
The year is 1988 and there already a far
more complex band on the run: Megadeth. Even though Deathrow came later than
the US giants and released two records that
were easily outshined by its peers, ‘’Deception Ignored’’ is a massive ‘’Fuck
You’’ in the face of Dave Mustaine, making his skill with the guitar look like
a chimp toying with a harp. It’s still very early, considering that the major
influences that pioneered technical metal in general rose not until the
early/mid 90’s. Deathrow manage to even surpass those guitar freaks at their
own game. ‘’Deception Ignored’’ is an endless, prolific gate of riffs, keeping
you busy for every second that passes, with any sort of trick, technique or strategy
that you can think of. I’m flabbergast each time I hear the riffs, and I’m more
amazed that they’re fabricated purely out of raw material and technical prowess,
no pedals, no machines whatsoever; only savvy musicianship.
The riffs that ‘’Deception Ignored’’ spews
are absolutely arduous brain bogglers. Each riff, each note is static flash of
super-vigorousness, progressing simultaneously and incessantly, while both torturing
your brain muscles and ripping, shredding through heaps and heaps of flesh,
robotically slashing and trimming its way into who knows what. As fantastic as
each riff is, they’re also enveloping and totally captivating, precise and
decisive, and ridiculously melodious. ‘’Deception Ignored’’ houses many
thundering powerhouses of crushing, vivacious thrash, but it’s the subtle
fluctuations that go on in and above the strident bolts that bedeck the
compositions. Each song is an even more tiresome composition yet it’s also one
that’s even more entertaining, and the songs follow each other with no breaks
(expect for the one minute piano intro on ‘’Tricton’’), keeping busy with rapid
incursions all the time. ‘’Deception Ignored’’ is excessively decisive and
direct yet at the same time it’s exceedingly tricky and deluding.
The melodious side of ‘’Deception Ignored’’
offer both the possibly most technical side of thrash metal as well as
representing complex classical music. Many of the melodies that flow with the
stream of chugs are classical music notes played on guitar, and they sound
especially clever with the thin, metallic surface engulfing the tone. A hint
weaker, and the record might not have given off the anger properly and
consistently, and a bit more distortion only meant that the notes would have
all tangled and drowned amongst themselves. The vocal work on ‘’Deception
Ignored’’ is just as schizophrenic as the wonderful guitar patterns that adorn
it. They’re vicious but at the same time high-pitched and passionate when need
be and despite appearing at seldom amongst the current of compositions, they
make the best of it. With the songs following each other
consistently, and each song consisting of near a thousand notes(or even more
maybe), it is naturally hard to carve out the distinguished features of each
track, and I still have some trouble with it, but once you get to know the
songs, you’ll see each has its own character, and each one is a different
excursion of the many-faced apparition that is Deception Ignored.
‘’Events In Concealment’’ introduces a
mere eighth of what ‘’Deception Ignored’’ has in store for the listener, channelling
between verse and bridge structures with ease while formulating riffs that both
reek of Slayer, Exodus, Metallica and Deathrow’s own traits, semi-technical
barrages of strident lashes. ‘’The Deathwish’’ is all about sudden strokes and
lighting crashes that come and go like a tide sweeping across a try beach –
only much faster. ‘’Triocton’’ is the second opus of the album along with ‘’Narcotic’’,
gnawing the listener’s mind with visceral technicality and superior rays of
chaotic thrash melodies, with certain angular sections that highlight the
drums, and their accent giving beats. ‘’N.L.H.M’’ is relatively concise and it
fits harmonious, almost sombre melodies into the stubborn thrash texture,
bringing us both day and night within just three minutes, and ‘’Machinery’’ is
callous incursion of dynamic, exciting thrash madness, queer and jumpy rather
than completely tangled, but the brain suffers yet another exercise with ‘’Narcotic’’
as it’s dominated with rhythmic stomps, bobbing you up and down, featuring
almost bluesy guitar riffs. The fun parade is concluded with ‘’Bureaucrazy’’
yet another slab of brisk zig-zags and pulls, and with it, the hardest mind
exercise you ever had ends.
‘’Deception Ignored’’ is musically supreme
to any of its peers, and slam in the face of any who imagine they can make it
more complex. It’s the highest calibre of technical metal, and even its fellow
countrymen eluded it during the time it was released, it still reigns supreme,
at least for me. Despite the fact that I love it, and cherish it, it’s still
one test that I don’t frequently take, due it’s particularly tiresome nature,
and its sweltering spasm of riffs. ‘’Deception Ignored’’ is absolutelt
brilliant, flawless, overwhelming and inaccessible for those who are not
esoteric or zealous about its way. It’s peerless, but in a far more brain
tangling way than you think.
Highlights
''Events In Concealment''
''Triocton''
''Narcotic''
''Machinery''
''Bureaucrazy''
Final Rating
Legendary [10/10]
