The Deadists - Time Without Light (MCD)

Review
Chronicles of Chaos
6.5/10
30.09.2011

_Time Without Light_ could have been so much better. The Deadists could have been the next big thing after Entombed; and when I mention Entombed, I mean the band’s later death ‘n’ roll era, namely the time between _Morning Star_ and _Serpent Saints_ — former and latter included, although _Time Without Light_ shares some reference points also with Entombed’s 1993 EP _Hollowman_. Personally, I think these were, and still are, monstrous albums, in the utmost positive sense of the word.

The Deadists own the very same Entombed sound: the band’s music is met at the crossroads where metal, sludge, groove and rock ‘n’ roll converge, having that extra shot of ballsy hardcore. The band also owns an almost identical vocal etiquette to that of Entombed’s and quite the similar general approach towards music, alternating between the dead serious to the half-comical.

And yet, Entombed it is not. I am not sure what prevents this album from totally registering within the system, but while Entombed’s music is likable and rapidly absorbed, making the band’s music a piece of cake to embrace and adore, the Deadists are an alienated bunch, distancing the music from becoming fully engaging and enjoyable.

It’s either the slightly nonchalant or loose execution of the music, or the neutral stance of the band’s style — standing in middle ground, not breaking molds, not allowing itself to become biased towards a style, a genre, a specific musical agenda, a manifesto of its own — that leaves the listener with a bland, indecisive opinion toward _Time Without Light_. It could be both.

Nevertheless, this album comes as a positive surprise from a totally anonymous band, as if out of nowhere it popped, and as such it delivers a pretty intense and more than a solid excursion through an updated, post-postmodern version of Entombed’s sound and style. Being a sucker for Entombed and most of what this great band has released, I’m easily bought. So in a way I like this album, and the score it gets is based solely on its Entombed reference; and it’s definitely a grower.

Author: Chaim Drishner

Review
Diztorted
28.04.2011

Приметная среди множества модных в данный период времени молодая группа представлена нам к прослушиванию лейблом Slow Burn Records. Интересное сочетание тембров инструментов и стилизаций игры на них создают впечатление стоунера, но это обманчиво. При прослушивании сего опуса меня не покидало ощущение, что это материал в недавнем времени металлической группы, заигравшей альтернативу (а-ля известная всем трансформация музыки групп Entombed, Gorefest и др.).

Альбом небезынтересный, но по всем параметрам – повтор повтора… Тембровый окрас и звук в целом создают минорное настроение, но, к счастью, без депрессняка. Ещё хочу отметить, что гитарный звук не модный, что пришлось мне по душе

Review
Metal Italia
7/10

Tanto bella quanto inattesa la “scoperta” dei The Deadists! Il quintetto svedese, dopo aver pubblicato un EP autoprodotto ben quattro anni fa, torna oggi sul mercato patrocinato dalla Slow Burn Records (sub label della Solitude Production) con un lavoro composto da cinque nuovi brani e la riproposizione di “Blizzard Of Nails” come hidden track. I nostri si muovono in territori molto affini allo sludge più groovy, che ha come punti di riferimento principali i Pantera, ai quali vengono aggiunte partiture quasi psichedeliche mutuate dai Nebula, una certa sporcizia tipica del death metal svedese nonché una nemmeno troppo velata base hardcore che a noi ha riportato addirittura alla mente i grandissimi Cro-Mags. L’iniziale “Woven” e la successiva “Human Stain” sono abbastanza esemplificative di quanto appena detto: il mood è cupo, le chitarre sono sporche e distorte, mentre la base ritmica contribuisce a creare un groove immediatamente assimilabile a quello sprigionato dalla ex band di Phil Anselmo. I tempi sono quasi sempre medi, quindi se siete amanti dello sludge ferocissimo e martellante qui dentro non troverete pane per i vostri denti. “Infinite Self” è un brano dalle atmosfere umbratili, dove viene a galla l’amore della band per i Black Sabbath, omaggiati con un paio di riff semplicemente fenomenali; seguendo l’incedere del basso e la verve stoner doom delle chitarre ci si imbatte anche in alcune soluzioni ritmiche utilizzate dai Melvins di metà carriera, il che rende il tutto ancora più interessante. La successiva “Deeper Within” incrocia lo psych doom con lo sludge per un risultato finale discreto ma forse troppo prolisso e monodimensionale. La conclusiva “Chase The Giving” viene introdotta da un basso pulsante e da una strofa dai ritmi piuttosto nervosi. Il brano sale d’intensità con il passare dei minuti e i rimandi psichedelici della prima parte vengono trasformati in un assalto all’arma bianca di rara ignoranza che avrebbe fatto felice il buon Matt Pyke con i suoi High On Fire. Il quintetto svedese, insomma, prendendo un po’ qua ed un po’ là riesce a mettere insieme un sound piuttosto personale ed efficace, che saprà conquistare gli amanti dello sludge e dello stoner più sporco, ma che potrebbe piacere anche a qualche doom maniac dalla mente piuttosto aperta. Bravi ragazzi.

Author: Luca Filisetti

Review
Stormbringer
3.5/5
07.05.2011

Die zweite EP der schwedischen Stoner-Doomster von THE DEADISTS wurde bereits einmal Ende 2010 via Dead Tree Music digital-only zugänglich gemacht, jetzt haben die Russen von Slow Burn Records das Teil auch unter ihre Fittiche genommen und garnieren ihre CD Version mit den als Hidden Track gereichten, bislang unveröffentlichten „Blizzard of Nails“, was dieser Mini-CD eine doch üppige Spielzeit von über 33 Minuten spendiert.

Stoner und Doom sind sicher die Bereiche, wo sich die fünf Herren aus Göteborg am wohlsten fühlen, dumpfe, herunter gestimmte Gitarrenwände, die nicht selten an BLACK SABBATH erinnern, die tiefe, durchaus bedrohlichen Vox von Joacim Axelsson und ein permanent pumpender Bass lassen die fünf Songs (plus Bonus) trotz ihrer Schwere und zelebrierten Behäbigkeit runtergehen wie die abendliche Gerstenkaltschale. THE DEADISTS sind dabei aber keineswegs in irgendeiner Doomschablone unterwegs, dafür ist die Band zu anders, transportiert mehr Dreck, Staub und Rotz in ihrem Gemisch, hätten die early ENTOMBED je Doom angehauchtes geschrieben, sie wären wohl verdammt nah am Sound von THE DEADISTS herangekommen. Kompliment „Time Without Light“ ist eine echt coole Scheibe geworden.

Author: reini

Review
Sonic Abuse
23.01.2011

Over ten years ago now I was examining my local record shop with my customary vigour and I came across a little-known EP by a band called Slo Burn. The band turned out to be the elephantine project with which John Garcia followed Kyuss and the resulting EP (‘amusing the amazing’ if you fancy trying to track it down) was a mix of blues, stoner rock and blistering desert sun. It is apt, then, that this EP by this Gothenburg five-piece, which owes more than a casual debt to Garcia’s ground-breaking act Kyuss, is on the Slow Burn label (see, I got to the point in the end!) and that the spirit of Kyuss, albeit infused with the avant-garde sensibilities of Neurosis and the sludgy doom of Down, flies high (literally) on the five excellent tracks included here.

Sitting comfortably in the rarely-trodden landscapes of stoner, doom, psychedelic and pure heavy metal genres, the Deadists, I am pleased to report, are another of those wonderful bands who gleefully defy easy labelling, preferring to take those influences that seem appropriate to any given track and twist them to their own evil purposes. Take the crashing drums, ground out riffs and tortured vocals of first track ‘woven’ which could be loosely compared to the Melvins covering Black Sabbath in a cement mixer and you’ll quickly see the heavily-fuzzed ground that the Deadists enjoy. Dark, heavy and pulsing with a furious energy the riffs are heavy enough to level mountains while the drums sound like Markus Bolechowski Franklin has been injected with Animal’s DNA to make him perform with maximum vigour. Second track, ‘human stain’ certainly emphasises that Kyuss edge sounding comfortably like it could belong on ‘…and the circus leaves town’ although with a more metallic edge than the stoned synapses of Homme and Garcia could muster. Taking a break from smashing your skull into the floor, the band introduce a more subtle set of dynamics on the dark, malevolent ‘infinite self’ which offers up a vicious Neurosis streak offset by blackened doom tendencies all of which makes the 6 minute run time flash by in what feels like a minute. Of course, music as dense as this requires that a certain amount of attention be paid to it and several replays are well rewarded as you start to appreciate the subtle touches and nuances the band utilise in their music whether it be a slightly more developed drum riff or the phasing of vocals from left to right channel and the multiple riff and tempo changes also require several listens to fully appreciate how much is going on in the band’s music.

Hopefully, by now you will have realised that we rather like the Deadists here at SonicAbuse – certainly this is a record that doom fans, stoner fans and even the more open minded progressive metal fans can get behind and will treasure for months to come as the fourth track ‘deeper within’ comfortably demonstrated. Certainly there’s far more to this band than simple brute force and while there are a plethora of crushing riffs that will see even hardened doom fans flattened, it is the subtle shifts in dynamics and the building of tension, particularly on this track, that make this such a special effort. Joacim Axelsson-Sternkrans deserves special mention here also because his voice towers over the complicated music, never lost amidst the chaos and innovation and he also sings in quite a unique way; somewhere between Scott Kelly and Ian Mackaye with a corrosive bark that is always just on the right side of tuneful. Final track ‘chase the giving properties’ follows on nicely from the swirling blackness of its forebear with a sound not unlike Helmet’s stop-start riffing and post-hardcore bark and it draws this all-too-short EP to a suitably satisfying close. A bonus track, in the form of ‘Blizzard of nails’, merely forms the icing on a particularly succulent cake.

As you might expect, such a short EP leaves you with only one wish: to hear more. The band’s music is dark, intelligent and filled with plenty of satisfying twists and turns, all of which would suit the long-player format perfectly. The production, courtesy of Sven Jensen, is excellent – crisp and dry bringing out the band’s strengths without unnecessarily embellishing the sound and detracting from the live feel of the music. Indeed, raw and vital are two adjectives which ideally suit The Deadists, whose surging, vaguely seventies-inspired rock would benefit absolutely from a vinyl pressing. With impressive artwork and such a compelling sound, this is nigh on irresistible – a worthy and exciting purchase for any metal fan then.

Author: Phil