DEEDS OF FLESH
Crown Of Souls
(Unique Leader Records)
42:11min

With the highly technical, complex masterpiece “Mark Of The Legion” (2001) and the more compact, yet in my opinion absolutely fantastic “Reduced To Ashes” (2003) DEEDS OF FLESH have created some of their best works in the band’s history. Though the three-piece absolutely shuns solos or any kind of musical experiments the intensity and quality of riffs is simply astounding and fascinates me from album to album. DEEDS have never been one of the most brutal bands around or most inventive ones, but they have a firm musical stand, this dark crushing heaviness and feeling, their typical sinister vocals, and again and again that ripping riff that sticks in your head like a fly to a rotten corpse. These days this is almost an outdated musical formula and many bands have replicated this style, but DEEDS are still among the best, one of the most consistent active bands and manifest their status with each release. “Crown Of Souls” is no exception, nine songs of blasted, ever again slowed down, technical yet memorable brutal US – Death Metal that does not stray from the path the band started marching on back in 1994. They have their established, tried and tested way of composing, their own classic sound, since “Reduced To Ashes” also production-wise and though I feel the growing wish to hear a musical surprise from them, I feel this band will stay the same solid unchangeable rock they have always been. If you now label their attitude and music “one-dimensional” or “uniform” is your problem, I’m always delighted by each of DEEDS riff orgies, especially since they have clearer song structures and so I love this release as well. Highlights on “Crown Of Souls” are ‘Hammer-Forged Blade’ with this cool sword-drawing-sample, the fourth track ‘Forced Attrition’, which offers after a short prelude the best riff of the album and the closing track ‘Caught Devouring’ which devoured my mind with its sheer technical brilliance. Great uncompromising and though unsurprising still highly entertaining Death Metal album by a great, steadfast band whose unsophisticated direction you either admire or not. I definitely belong to the admirers and “Crown Of Souls” is an excellent continuation of its predecessor however I have to admit that I had expected a bit more of it. Sounds and info at www.deedsofflesh.net and www.uniqueleader.com!

Stefan Franke

Stefan Franke

Related reviews / interviews:
DEEDS OF FLESH - Reduced To Ashes (F. Cthulhu E.)
DEEDS OF FLESH - Inbreeding The Anthropophagi (Hacker )
DEEDS OF FLESH - Mark Of The Legion (Hacker )

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