Welcome to the Orgy

If a missing link is needed between crust punk and death metal, or a shortcut through the long route taken by Napalm Death to connect the two, Deviated Instinct is the caveman you're looking for. "Welcome to the Orgy" (curiously omitting the song of that title) demonstrates that a small change in vocals is really all that separates the two in the late '80s. (Band members are pictured on the inside sleeve in Voivod and Bathory t-shirts, showing a little of their inspiration.) This compilation covers their first 7", the "Rock 'n' Roll Conformity" LP, and the aptly named "Guttural Breath" LP-- where the death metal aspect becomes apparent.

Deviated Instinct begins as a fairly standard, Amebix-inspired crust band. Musically, early D.I. owes almost everything to Amebix: lo-fi, mid-paced, bass-heavy, bleak and ugly metallic punk. Leggo, the original vocalist, even does a fairly good impersonation of the Baron on the "Welcome to the Orgy" 7" (first four tracks here), although his voice sounds a little more manic and slightly higher pitched. The most unique thing about this recording is the incredibly awful bass distortion-- it reeks of cheapness. It is oddly digital sounding and minus the fuzz that a distorted bass normally has, but mixed into the general lo-fi recording it somehow works in a "we have shitty instruments and we don't give a fuck" kind of way.

"Rock 'n' Roll Conformity" (tracks 5-16) is a slightly cleaner and more produced continuation of their sound. The production leans towards metal. Mid's guitar is more to the fore and Leggo's vocals are less like a bellow, a little higher and raspier and thrash-like than before. Overall, though, little has changed; the songs are still generally mid-paced with occasional lurches into thrash speeds, the guitar playing is solid but mostly simple, lyrics detail end-of-the-world scenarios and the stupidity of rock star hero worship (the "I will conform" chant-along bit in "Rock 'n' Roll Conformity" being one of the few moments of humor on the record). The strange bass sound is gone, replaced by the solid if generic burly bass most crust depends on.The title track, "Time and Tide", and the closing cover of Discharge's "Doomsday" stand out as highlights.

"Guttural Breath" marks the biggest change in D.I.'s sound. Leggo is gone and Mid has taken over all the vocal duties, and he is clearly a different kind of singer than Leggo. Whereas Leggo had a voice that drags the Baron von Aphid's shout half-way to Hellhammer, Mid is a guttural-but-intelligible vocalist in that late '80s death fashion. His voice reminds me mostly of Dave Vincent mixed with the punkish style adopted by Nocturno Culto on the later Darkthrone records (I'm thinking of the song "These Shores Are Damned" specifically). The music mostly remains the same, adding a little more speed and a little tighter riffs. However, one would not likely call this punk anymore-- it sounds closer to a stripped down Possessed record than to Crass-core. Check out the disc's final track, "(Behind) The Scaffold"-- an absolutely sick groove and a hook in the chorus for an album that generally runs on hopeless anger.

This is the Deviated Instinct disc to start with. You not only get a pretty good overview of their entire output (although there are a good amount of tracks not represented here, including the title track) but also reproductions of the cover art from all three releases. Crucial crust!