Deceased - Surreal Overdose

Deceased
Surreal Overdose
2011 Patac Records
Five long years after "As the Weird Travel On" (and for those keeping score, 20 big ones since the release of "Luck of the Corpse"), Deceased are finally back with the long-promised "Surreal Overdose" album. There have been some big changes in the Deceased lineup over the last few years, so let's get caught up on those first. Gone is guitarist Mark Adams, who left the band and never looked back. Mike Smith is still in the band, but just for writing and recording. No touring. Shane Fuegel is the new guy on guitar, formerly of Biovore. Les Snyder is still on bass. As for the drums, here's the biggest news of all... Dave Castillo is out, and King Fowley himself is back in. At least for recording. Live, he's still out in front on vocals. So now that you've got your scorecard filled out, let's move on to what's on this new album. As the core writing team of Mike and King is still intact, things don't sound much different. The death metal days are still long behind them, and it's still next to impossible to slap a label on Deceased other than "metal." If you really do feel the need to push the issue, then you should be able to pick out all kinds of elements in their sound... from classic heavy metal to real 1980s thrash (not that retro-rehash stuff... and King will probably backhand me one for mentioning the resurgence, even though I'm trying to make a distinction for all the fans in the younger set out there), to maybe a little doom with gloom. There's fast parts, melodic parts, frantic as all hell parts, moody and dark pieces, and all of it with the horror background (think "Twilight Zone") that Deceased have become known for. Bottom line, this is "metal," plain and simple. No apologies asked for and none wanted. Has it been worth the wait? Of corpse it has. Any hipster who picks this one up is in for an asskicking, plain and simple. No, really. Deceased will come to wherever they live and kick their ass personally. Because while Manowar may proclaim "Death to false metal!" Deceased follow through on those words. Always have, always will. In music, there are few bands you can trust to never let you down. Deceased are one of those few.