The return of DETERIOROT is one of the most surprising events this year for me, and it is as powerful as it is unexpected. Frank’s detailed interview with main man Paul Zevaleta will inform you about the various difficulties and obstacles that lay before the completion of this new album, so I suggest you read that one as well if you haven’t done so already. “The Faithless” contains ten songs (plus an intro); among these are a slightly faster re-recorded version of ‘In Ancient Beliefs’ from the debut album bearing the same title and a SODOM cover version, namely ‘Outbreak Of Evil’. The first thing that struck me upon hearing these tracks was the fact that “The Faithless” is absolutely devoid of any contemporary influences, not even a tiny shred can be found, neither in the music nor the production – in short: no wimpy shit! Instead, DETERIOROT still deliver their uncompromising brand of well-crafted and utterly heavy Death Metal, enriched with delay-ridden leads and dismal melodic bits that coney a sense of foreboding doom, not unlike early BOLT THROWER (more on the atmospheric side of things than the actual riffing). Besides the similarities to the British band the heaviness could also be compared to that of GRAVE’s first album. In general, DETERIOROT always had a sense for arrangement and the use of eerie melodies that echoed the masters of both the Swedish and Finnish scene rather than Northern American bands of that time, the exception being maybe ROTTREVORE (who displayed a comparable massive heaviness), even very faint traces of very early Death / Doom like the EP and debut album of MY DYING BRIDE are present here (in ‘Alone And Cold’). The vocals, as mentioned in the other reviews on these pages, are still in the throaty and slightly guttural vein similar to the delivery of Ross Dolan. Productionwise, the overall sound is very near to that of “In Ancient Beliefs” (so don’t expect the face-melting buzzing rawness present on the 7”EP “Manifestation Of Unholy Spirits”) but according to the notes accompanying these advance tracks the whole album will be remixed again so an even thicker result can be expected. It is hard to pick up a favourite song off “The Faithless” as all tracks are on a high quality level, meaning that no filler tracks is present at all. The SODOM cover version ‘Outbreak Of Evil’ deserves a special mention: Even though the riffs are somewhat different to that of the rest of “The Faithless” it blends in surprisingly well, Paul even mimicked the strong German accent of the original version which gives this cover yet another special twist besides the roaring downtuned guitars. The actual cover artwork remains subject to specualtion at this point, hopefully it will reflect the quality and depth of the music and be more elaborated than that of the debut album. “The Faithless” will hardly convince those who stayed cold towards “In Ancient Beliefs”, those who cherished the band back then, on the other hand, will hail DETERIOROT for this very strong and totally convincing come back as it displays all the trademarks that made the band great without any cheap nostalgia which sadly seems to be granted very easily these days. All further info at: www.myspace.com/deteriorotofficial, www.xtreemmusic.org