Deceased – “Fearless Un-Dead Machines”
You know, I’ve been tempted to get this little ditty for a few months now, and now I’m glad I did. These guys seem to be into the same horror stuff that fuels inspiration for a lot of my own fiction that I write. This CD, which boils down to a concept album, is based on the works of a few genius film makers, notably George A. Romero’s trilogy “Night of the Living Dead”, “Dawn of the Dead”, and “Day of the Dead”, and if you need to ask who he is, just put the shotgun in your mouth now for wasting our air, ‘kay? Also, Lucio Fulci, who brought us a great epic of sheer blood shlock in “Zombie”. Along with a few other films mentioned, the basic ingredients are thrown into a blender and mixed up into a tasty little hell-broth about the premise of corpses coming back to life to feed on the flesh and blood of the living. How cool can you get here?!? The effort starts off with a sample from “Night…” with the reporter talking about the “unburied dead returning to life and seeking out living victims” and slams you right between the eyes with opener “The Silent Creature”. I just want to take a moment here to congratulate vocalist/drummer King Fowley (who also handles keyboards) on his visual and emotional lyrics. Track 2 is pretty much a spoken word song, but when you listen to it, you can just imagine hordes of rotting corpses shambling up the street towards your house, howling in half-dead agony and sheer hunger. The whole album is captivating in both lyrics and music, and it’s a sad thing to say, but a lot of acts can only do one or the other and do it well. Of course, C.C. can’t do either (I know Mike, I know!). King’s vocals remind me a lot of a certain metal vocalist who also plays bass in a three-piece band who sings about a lot of that nifty devil stuff and Countesses of Bathorys and it sounds very convincing here as well. I’m not sure if he is influenced by Cronos, but it’s pretty near identical. Yet somehow, he manages more of an homage than a rip-off, which is hard to do. Haven’t heard too many Glen D. clones since he put his last album of….whatever. What the hell was he thinking? Asshole! Eight years of fandom and I get a NIN knock-off? At least the Misfits are still gods! Er, sorry about going off like that, I just can’t help it sometimes. One thing I love about the sound of Deceased here is their style of old-school death metal. Fans of early Death and possessed just might get a kick out of this musically- technical yet heavy and fast at times band. They’ve been around for a while, but if you’re new to this band, pick this one up first, you won’t be disappointed! Just don’t answer the clawing at the door, if it smells like something funky, don’t answer it! It just might be your uncle Louis, fresh from the slab! A definite must have album!