A song titled "Northwitch" can't help but rock. It could contain harpsichord, a children's choir and yodelling and still rock. So DEADSEA get off to a good start by opening their eponymous album with a rumbling track by that very name, a track containing none of the aforementioned buzzkills. Instead DEADSEA present meat, potatoes and balls-to-the-floor metal, swinging between the phallic extremes of thrash and progressive, thus invoking both sides of the male psyche. The seven tracks of DEADSEA tend toward the complex and technical but--important to mention--also eye socket-kicking, invoking at various times CARCASS, IRON MAIDEN, CELTIC FROST, MASTODON, VENOM and OBITUARY.

The vocals are suitably aggressive without descending into self-parody, occasionally going clean for that extra gravitas. Dig the chorus of the hardcore mini-nugget "Assault," which consists of the constant growling of "ASSAULT!" A possible subtitle could be "Anthem for a Beatdown." Also of note is the blackened battering ram-turned-mystical voyage of "Vampyre's Kiss," possibly the final word on erotic vampire rape in metal. But don't quote me on that. The ominous atmospherics that open "Frozen Rivers" also shows the band's range; they go on to prove their prog and doom mastery with sixteen thudding minutes of expansive sonic geography. The last track, "The Morning Frost," further explores the outer limits of the DEADSEA sound: a long, epic and even pretty instrumental journey.

- Shragge

OFFICIAL SITE: myspace.com/deadsea

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