Deeds Of Flesh
Crown Of Souls (cd)
Wydane przez Unique Leader RecordsRok wydania 2005Kraj USANapisał Wouter7
While I am familiar with the Deeds Of Flesh backcatalogue up till "Path Of the Weakening", I haven't heard any records of theirs after that. It becomes clear that over the years that "Mark Of the Legion" and "Reduced to Ashes" were released Deeds Of Flesh have become better songwriters. Where their earlier outputs relied heavily on shock value and sometimes strayed into senseless blasting instead of solid songwriting, these problems now seem to be a thing of the past. In essence, while introducing a couple of new grooves and interesting rhythms, "Crown Of Souls" is firmly rooted in the framework Deeds Of Flesh have made their own over the years. Everything is low and distorted. Being the strictly guitar oriented band that they are, one can expect that there are a great variety of guitar riffs to be found. The effect of the riffs comes from the continuous transition from melodic rhythm to powerful crunching with almost solo-like components thrown into the mix. The bass and triggered, almost mechanical sounding drums are unusually high in the mix, and work together with the extremely down-tuned guitars to create a savagely percussive sound. Still, the problems of their earlier body of work remain present. While Deeds Of Flesh have always been a solid and consistent unit their music still misses that factor which holds back their material of becoming memorable in the old school sense. It's sad that after all these years which saw them improve on both technique as in songwriting - they somehow remained the identical atonal US death metal combo when stripped to its bare bones. However "Crown Of Souls" is another solid entry in the band's impressive discography. Highlights on this album are the title-track, 'Hammer-Forged Blade' and 'Crimson Offering'. The artwork by Raymond Swanland is perhaps one of the most tasteful renderings I have seen in a while. People who found everything prior to this appealing can blindly go and buy this album. Those unfamiliar with Deeds Of Flesh are advised to listen carefully before buying.
www.deedsofflesh.net
