Search - Deeds of Flesh :: Of What's to Come

A new era of Deeds?

Michael B. Priddy | DC, USA | 11/19/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"i've now listened to this recording 8 times in the past 36 hours. I was REALLY looking forward to this realease as Deeds is one of my very favorite bands. I have all of their releases except Path of the Weakening (which i understand many consider their best). Deeds has almost always done an excellent job of combining top musicianship, complex arrangements and great brutal songwriting.



My initial reaction to this release is disappointment. the first two elements in addition to an excellent production (some will appreciate that Mike's snare strikes are a lot less pronounced) are here but my feeling is the songwriting is lacking. much of the material seems like it was written to showcase playing skills. as Deeds "warned" us, there are actually guitar solos on this one and that's ok but Deeds worked fine without solos. while impressive musicianship is important, i'm having trouble grabbing onto any of the riffs or transitions making for a tiring listen. i'm also having a hard time identifying much content that sounds like any Deeds i know. this is a bit of a different style for them. there are some pieces here and there which resemble Inbreeding the Anthropophagi material but its otherwise not distinctly Deeds of Flesh. i dare say i hear hints of Suffocation, Decaptitated and Cryptopsy mixed in.



as the Hypocrisy album title 'Catch 22' suggests, a band's decision to continue making the same album over and over again versus going in a different direction (even if slight) is a difficult one. some fans may be lost either way. personally, i was hoping for a happy medium between the technicality of Inbreeding the Anthropophagi and grooving of Reduced to Ashes or Mark of the Legion. that's not what i got.



they haven't lost my fanship with this but i doubt it will ever be one my favorites. overall, the album is definitely worth having but falls quite short of perfection. i had trouble deiciding between 3 or 4 stars but settled on 3."