Deceiver

Thrashing Heavy Metal

Pulverized Records 2009

Swedish heavy thrashers return with an aptly titled third and final album, called Thrashing Heavy Metal.  A crippling dose of heavy thrash metal is what one can expect from the 10 tracks found on this metallized disk.  The album opens on a doomy note which gives way quickly to some beefy thrash on The Tail of Whom Shadow's Fall.  A bludgeoning beat and fist-banging set of riffs plummets the track into a well thought out riff soup.  Graveyard Lover stands as my favorite track on the album as it is slower and less overtly intense but the catchy melodies and moody darkness lurking in the song capture me.  Sort of upping the intensity and meaty riffs yet treading similar territory is Come of Death Toxication.  Melodies burst in and retreat from every corner of this song.  Getting somewhat emotional and dementedly romantic is The Dungeon.  Finally the album reaches a climax of sorts on the title track.  Frenzied guitar mayhem reminiscent of early Slayer causes havoc as that aggressive style meets a more traditional and "classy" metal approach.  The songs start to blend together by album's end as there is not a lot giving them legs of their own to stand on.  Pete Flesh's vocals dwell in the grey area between death metal vocals and gruff normal throatings.  Deceiver has always sort of been middle of the road for me being neither spectacular nor horrid.  Their latest album has done nothing to change that opinion however it remains enjoyable and a testament of dedication to metal's most enduring artform, THRASH.