I must say that I while I appreciated the idea behind Deceased as a
band, and King Fowley's incredible dedication to the scene, I always found
their sound lacking something. This band has been around forever, I heard their
first demos while I was helping my friend with a fanzine in high school! Finally,
it seems as though they hit the mark with this one. Based literally on the
Dawn of the Dead trilogy (as well as other zombirific movies), Fearless Undead
Machines is a total thrash metal horror movie soundtrack. It's also a
reminder of what we used to know and love when thrash was still present. What
i really like about this album is, to me, it sounds completely different than
the average cookie cutter album that seems to appear every week from a hundred
different bands. Relapse are to be commended for sticking by these guys, as I'm
sure they aren't the biggest sellers, and they are an acquired taste. The band
sounds tighter than ever before here, and the guitars play a MAJOR part in the
sound of this album. Bass can be heard as well, which helps to fill the dynamic
without downtuning to A. They also make no bones about citing Voivod as one
of their major influences, and this can be heard in quite a few riffs on the album.
Personally, I wish more bands would do this, as I feel that Voivod are one
of the most continuously underrated bands in metal...
If I have one complaint, it may be the drum sound.
The snare head sounds like it's made out of paper, and the ride cymbal might be the
loudest thing in the mix... But, I'm also attuned to these things a little more, and
they might not bother anybody else besides me. Plus, there are so many positive things
about this album, it's a whopping 67 minutes long, and most songs are over 7
minutes and GOOD! Not mindless repitition of riffs and such. I heard some
balking about the lyrics, which are pretty much right from the aforementioned
movies, and there seems to be a sound bite before each song, but hey, most
people don't complain about hearing satan repeated 6 gazillion times on side A...
To sum it all up, this is definitely the album to bring Deceased the attention
they deserve, and is on my list as one of the top ten of 1997.
9 out of 10
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