While there’s a strong case to be made that death metal that prizes sonic perfection over atmosphere and heart is missing the point somewhat, Deceptionist seem to be the tooth-rattling exception.
To a degree, the Italians’ sound is fairly typical of the post-deathcore set, with a gleaming, state-of-the-art production and drum sounds that make songs such as Through The Veil seem like the work of psychotic robots, rather than actual human beings.
Unusually, Deceptionist have both refined songwriting chops and inspired embellishments, which means that the all-out brutal minimalism of Quest For Identity and Sunshine is tempered by shrewd bursts of ingenuity, often in the form of programmed electronics but also in the riffs, which make telling nods towards Slayer and Morbid Angel. It’s a heady and mesmerising brew of nasty ideas, and it reaches a terrifying peak amid the title track’s blizzard of pinpoint industrial grind. Smart, memorable and startlingly extreme, this is death metal futurism at its violent best.
