2004-05-30
Deviated Presence are a young German band, dealing in a complex, highly technical amalgam of death and black metal,
Since the album is self produced, the sound isn’t as crystal clear as major death metal bands such as (older)Dark Tranquility benefit from, but what they lack in sharpness of sound, they compensate with their technical prowess and deeply felt music.
Owning as much to Opeth as to At The Gates, the band creates multi textured guitar riffs, interwoven with slower, doom laden ones, the rhythm section is also extremely diverse, mid-tempo crunches turning into furious blast beats unexpectedly and violently, sealing the mix with some almost jazz-like bass lines.
A word of warning, do not expect to get the album during first or second, or even third listening sessions, this is one complex jigsaw puzzle, laying one complicated guitar riff after the other, mostly laying two such riffs simultaneously, as both guitar channels are used to achieve utmost complexity and diversity, a style brought to perfection by At The Gates RIP.
Vocals are a combination of death metal growls, higher pitched black metal ones, and clean passages as well, they somewhat lack finesse, but are right in their rawness in the over whole scheme of things here.
Awakening is one of my favorites here, starting off with some clean passages before sinking into a maelstrom, over 9 minutes long, of extra complicated death/black/doom metal.
Faced with a decent studio, with better production values, this CD would have held its own against progressive death metal’s finest, those willing to give this some hard listening, are in for a treat.
Alon Miasnikov
