Deception Ignored

I’ve been trying to trace the causes for the sudden technical/progressive metal explosion of the late-80’s on both sides of the Atlantic, and although The West had its courageous semi-technical attempts made by acts like Have Mercy and Ulysses Siren earlier, the East sector failed to provide any tangible links before 1987 when Mekong Delta’s self-titled came splashing on the scene… provided that Living Death’s axemen were also a part of the Ralph Hubert gang, their main band simply couldn’t have been left behind, and consequently “Protected from Reality” also showed some technical/progressive prowess. Before you know it, new acts like Sieges Even and Target appeared before long to give their impressive share to the growing fascination with the more complex, more serious ways of expression.

Some of the old dogs also felt tempted by those new demands on the field, and Destruction and Deathrow were next to join the fray. It’s interesting that it all happened along the lines of the “third time’s the charm” scenario for all of them, Living Death included, as it was their third full-length that explored the less accessible, more mind-stimulating trajectories. For the band under scrutiny here their sophomore lightly suggested at more intricate arrangements to be elaborated on eventually on future works, but even the most vivid, Jules Verne-like imagination couldn’t have envisaged what proportions this elaboration took less than a year later.

The album reviewed here is a monumental achievement in the annals of metal; a mathematical, labyrinthine work of art that remained largely misunderstood at the time of release. The fanbase invariably warmed up to it in the years to come as I know quite a few people who worship at the altar of this ultimate deception with nearly manic devotion. Maybe some subliminal messages had been embedded into its multi-layered, mazey structure.

Speculations aside, the guys owed it to themselves to come up with something as outstanding provided that they obviously had the musical proficiency to pull it off. And again, they must have surpassed even their own expectations with this most engaging progressive freighter. So this perilous journey begins with “Events in Concealment”, an amorphous fast-paced technicaller which very early throws all expectations out the window; this won’t be an assembly of raging steels or “riders of doom”-like barrage anymore; this will be a new, much more complex affair, one that wouldn’t have been possible without the newcomer, the guitar wizard Uwe Osterlehner. The man elevates the fretwork to the stratosphere with one of the finest blends of melody and technicality encountered on the scene at the time on the mentioned opener. Despite the inordinate amount of intricacy added to the band’s arsenal there’s no loss of the previous energy, and although “The Deathwish” starts with a most tantalizing accumulation of gorgeous leads, the steel gallops that follow ensure another grand scale entertainment for the headbangers who will risk spraining their necks on the several hectic stop-and-go breaks, and will also listen in wonder to the constant supply of amazing melodic tunes. Milo has always been a fairly decent singer for a speed/thrash metal act, but here he outdoes himself with more emotional higher-strung performance.

“Triocton”, the mother of all progressive thrash instrumentals, comes third hence the sacred geometry lore reflected in the title, and it already ensures the perfect score this album will get regardless of what may follow suit. Its piano-driven intro is surely a sign of more interesting things to come, and when the band start shredding in the most demented, intricate manner imaginable a mere minute away, the listener will either end his/her fling with this effort on the spot, or will be hooked to it for life. These are meticulously arranged, mathematical formulas somehow turned into music, a flawlessly performed symphony with the weird time-signatures, the surreal hallucinogenic riff-patterns, the abruptly inserted speedy crescendos, the beautiful melodic additives all this so immaculately compiled together that for some this piece of art may be the end of the road in their quest for technical/progressive music. This is the pinnacle of the instrumental progressive music art form started on the works of Rush, Genesis, King Crimson and Jethro Tull, finalized within the span of 8-min by a bunch of unknown German metallers. Incredible, but a fact.

Believe it or not, the pleasant surprises don’t end with this overwhelming musical octopus although “N.L.Y.H.” is a much more immediate, also much shorter headbanger the guys moshing out without too much technical ado. Starts “Watching the World” and a pleiad of super-technical spirals will start weaving in and out, becoming faster and faster their march greatly helped by Milo’s standout passionate tirades and the virtuoso Shrapnel-like melodies their regular application threatening to overwrite the exquisite riff-patterns. Another larger-than-life behemoth looms on the horizon: “Narcotic”, a 9.5-min progressive thrashterpiece which bemuses the fans early with a vortex of shape-shifting amorphous rhythms which make their way through mazes of incredible melodies and slower balladic passages; the frequent alternation of pace may cause dizziness at times as well as the cannonade of brisk intricate guitars in the second half that may have inspired acts like Martyr, Theory in Practice and Nocturnus for their future exploits.

“Machinery” spends some time in meditative balladisms, but those will never be given enough time to develop into anything more tangible as the dense guitar acrobatics resume on full-throttle, the band shredding with the utmost precision, shuffling the tempos in an amazing jazz-like fashion, creating undecipherable labyrinths of both melodic and technical rhythms, Milo adding more to the unfathomable psychedelia with a brilliant high-strung stroke (“We’re just wheels in a great… machinery”) serving as the chorus. “Bureaucracy” will shoot all bureaucrats around the world with the final portion of fast technical riffage, the guys concentrating on the headbanging side, but don’t expect the music to come easy as there are enough mouth-gaping decisions to nullify half the metal constellation’s output as totally laughable: just listen to the speedy virtuous escapade in the middle, something which even Marty Friedman or Jason Becker would find hard to match; or to the disorienting staccato riffs at the end.

A whole dissertation can be written on this no-brainer which saw the whole technical/progressive thrash metal campaign reaching an early peak, challenging the death metal arena to try and match it. 1988 was a fabulous year in this trend, with Mekong Delta’s “The Music of Erich Zann”, Sieges Even’s “Life Cycle”, Destruction’s “Release from Agony”, and Target’s “Master Project Genesis”, putting the European metal industry slightly above the American one which also tried to rise to the challenge in the face of Savage Steel’s “Do or Die”, Realm’s “Endless War”, and Toxik’s “World Circus”. However, at this particular time of metal history the works of the Americans simply were no match to the encompassing magnanimity and the never-ending supply of musical dexterity to which the feats of their German/Belgian counterparts were subjected. Even after the arrival of “Think This” (Toxik again), “Suiciety” (Realm again), “Control & Resistance” (Watchtower), and the early efforts of Annihilator, Disciples of Power and Obliveon this overpowering sense of brilliance exuded from the works of the Germans continued to seem elusive to the North American practitioners…

and even more so when having this deception in mind. Of all the mentioned albums it perhaps comes to “Life Cycle” the closest, making up for the better vocal performance on the Sieges Even product with more aggression and verve. Thankfully it doesn’t go very far down the rabbit hole the way “The Music of Erich Zann” does, consequently having a wider mass appeal. In this train of thought, it doesn’t lose the band’s roots completely; as a matter of fact, traces of the first two showings can be detected on the few more direct barrages… chances are big that the band fans should be able to recognize their favourites, albeit with a small effort put. Did they readily embrace this new, much more engaging direction, though? Now there’s a polemical question.

A lengthy 4-year break followed, but during this hiatus there was hardly a single fan out there who held the illusions that “Deception Ignored 2” would occur. In some other parallel universe, maybe, but not on the earth plane… still, the guys acquitted themselves with a dignified sequel as “Life Beyond” was an excellent technical thrash odyssey, scraping away whatever remnants of genius were left by its extraordinary predecessor. And not only but around the same time the mastermind Osterlehner found the time to produce another progressive thrash masterpiece, “Your Life Orison”, under the End Amen moniker, in league with the progressive metal wizards Psychotic Waltz; now if this wasn’t a marriage made in heaven… still, were those two offerings put together able to match the splendour of the deception here? The answer is… let’s ignore the answer cause we don’t want to deceive the hordes of metalheads who are still eagerly looking after all these years to find something that could even remotely touch its grandiosity.

Who wants to take the next step when sitting in the death row? Honestly, I did not understand the radical turn of Deathrow. Their brilliant second album had offered highly spirited, generic thrash metal. But now, the guys did not seem to be interested in this kind of music anymore. "Deception Ignored" is the German answer to Sabbat's "Mourning Has Broken". In this context, let us ignore the minor blemish that the here presented album was released three years earlier than the third output of the British thrashers. My point is that "Deception Ignored" followed a completely new concept which could not be associated with that of their former works. To put it in positive terms, these dudes did not lack of courage. Unfortunately, too much courage is also problematic.

The unusual cover motif provides a first hint on the new direction. The separation of the anonymous crowd and the seemingly devious managers is very socio-critical and I praise the band for its political awareness, but it has nothing in common with "Raging Steel". The vehemence of their masterpiece is missing, although the band did not do a bad job. For example, listen to "Triocton". To compose a stringent song with a length of more than eight minutes is a challenge in itself. The intention to write a coherent instrumental of that playtime makes things even more difficult. "Triocton" is definitely carefully elaborated. It does not lack of depth, variety and ambitions. But I catch myself longing for the next track, because the monumental number fails to present a smooth flow. Too bad that the formation does not know where its limits are. Further overlong pieces confirm its overly optimistic self-assessment.

Other tracks are based on a less complicated structure. The opener shows a more aggressive approach, but it also leaves room for some more or less extraordinary guitar gimmicks. Furthermore, it possesses a higher degree of breaks than the tracks of the predecessor. Generally speaking, the songs give the guitars more space for exploiting the previously unknown areas of improvisation. This is not a bad thing per se. It just lends the album a completely different aura which cannot be lumped together with that of their previous albums. The fairly melodic vocals emphasize the new approach. They do not cause any trouble, but one asks oneself: what happened to Deathrow? Nevertheless, the album has its great moments. The bridge of the comparatively straight "Watching the World" works very well and the aforementioned opener also shows the talent of the band. Additionally, the hopeless "The Deathwish" develops well after some aimlessly meandering lines at the beginning. However, I miss their well-proven musical violence.

With regard to the proper production, the album does not show any serious defects. The sound is clear and sufficiently aggressive. Too bad that the guys did not have a clever management that took a critical look at their musical concept. In terms of musicianship, the overlong and rather non-accessible songs do not need to fear any comparison. Nevertheless, the compositions just fail to deliver progressive thrashers that captivate the listener. I am sorry, but Deathrow could not compete with a band like Watchtower and its masterpiece "Control and Resistance". The guys had taken the wrong path.

The reason I'm writing this review is to point out how vastly different it is from Deatrow's prior material. I hate to badmouth this album, but I am not a fan of technical/progressive metal. What I am is a fan of Deathrow, and their previous album, "Raging Steel", is one of my ultimate favourite albums. "Deception Ignored" is not. In fact, I abhorred it at first due to its seemingly impenetrable labyrinth of spidery guitar, off-kilter vocals, and baffling rhythms. If that is what you enjoy, do not hesitate to get this album. If you are interested in the straight-ahead and memorable thrash more commonly associated with the German bands of this era ('80s), you may be quite disappointed. This has more in common with "...And Justice For All" than "Eternal Devastation".

So I got this on cassette the year it came out, eagerly awaiting the follow-up to the aforementioned "Raging Steel". WOW! Talk about a difference! There was almost absolutely nothing in common with the Deathrow material I was familiar with. "Deception Ignored" is vastly complicated, with songs' riffs covered and/or complemented with almost constant counter-riffs, or just plain lead guitar jazzery. I don't like jazz, and honestly, you don't really hear Deathrow becoming a jazz band, but the song structures are so bizarre and adventurous that this material has nothing in common with their past music. How many bands have we heard take such radical departures? A lot, actually!

DON'T ASSUME THIS IS A TERRIBLE ALBUM!!!! It is immensely rewarding to fans of technical/progressive metal, in fact the songs aren't as dense or just plain bad as many purveyors of that style, but that isn't what I want from Deathrow. There is only one instance of a simple thrash riff on here (toward the very end of "The Deathwish"), or maybe there's another one as well. And the simple thrash part lasts only a few seconds, though for me is the highlight of this album, which I'm sure isn't what the band intended. This is an incredibly active bunch of material, and the playing is brilliant. I just do not like the style and new direction of the band.

Milo's vocals on here are, in part, actually sung rather than just barked out. He's not a good singer (not that "good singing" is needed here). They add another bizarre dimension to this music, with their now higher than in past pitch, and their being sometimes seemingly oblivious to the music behind them. The lyrics are all mostly socio-political, another thing which by being a "step forward" actually is counted by me as a step back. I really dislike it when bands take these sudden radical veerings (and this definitely counts as a "radical veering"!) away from their past catalogue and don't change their name.

My score of 79 is based on how much I enjoy this album (59%) and the peerless brilliance of performance (101%). That's math for you "math-metal" fans. As mentioned before, I abhorred this album when I first heard it, then listened to it more and more and was able to make sense of it and appreciate a few parts of it, but it seemed overly-complex to me, songs as vehicles for impressive musicianship rather than songs being songs that happened to be played by impressive musicians. And so I let the album lay fallow for many years. Recently, I dug it out and gave it several re-listens. Even with much, much more music listening and experience under my belt, in retrospect I still don't like this. I will say that this is probably my "favourite" tech/prog album...out of a genre I really hate, as it is very, very unique, well produced, and despite my not liking it, still sounds a lot cooler than a lot of other bands that play this stuff (which, yes, I've been exposed to). As far as I know, there really is nothing that approaches the way this set of songs sounds, and so is indeed a lost gem for those who crave the technical wizardry. I can give respect where it is due, and this music and instrumental interplay utterly DEMANDS respect. I don't hafta like it, though. And, as a PS: "Beaureaucrazy" is not only the title that best sums up the socio-political theme of this album, but it is also on the cassette, so is not just a "cd only bonus" song...though who listens to cassettes anymore?

Deception Ignored is one of the most anomalous recordings in all of European thrash, because it's both one of the most brilliant and under-appreciated efforts of its nature, a feat of technical thrashing wizardry which takes a massive influence of classical composition, and incessant complexity and unending stream of killer, structured riffs that have rarely if ever been rivaled since. Surely they were not the only band of their type in this period: Watchtower, Coroner and Mekong Delta all exhibited a similar level of competence and originality (the latter, fellow German band being the closest in style). But of all of these titans, counting among my favorite bands, it is Deathrow who stood out the most for their frightening, clinical approach to the material which places the listener into a labyrinthine vortex of riffs, sounds and imagery...at least on this album.

Yes, Deception Ignored is a major step-up from the bands previous work, Satan's Gift and Raging Steel, which were fun, aggressive excursions of a more rugged speed/thrash nature. It was as if an alien, advanced culture landed among a tribe of primitives and spread the seeds of technical renaissance, because this album is heads above anything else the band have released in quality and songwriting. I've heard some complaints about the production, and sure, for the 21st century it might not be the top tier of studio sound, but the guitar tones still some brilliant and the vocals shrill, exciting and unique as they scream and cavort through clinical topics of drug use, society, and politics. It's amazing just how much the cover art to this record stands out as an icon of schizoid, demented thrash aerobics, because you can easily close your eyes when listening and imagine a room full of pale, laughing faces, almost alien as they surgically separate each emotion and tactile response from your brain and nervous system, a dissection of every fabric of your being. This album is a true trip to the psyche ward, or the asylum, a harrowing journey which will stun you repeatedly. I've been listening to it for over 20 years, and I still discover new bits of wondrous, paranoid melodic riffing and atmosphere all the time.

Part of the reason this record stands separate from the previous work is the addition of guitarist Uwe Osterlehner in the second guitar slot, replacing Thomas Priebe. Together with the veteran Sven Flügge, they create an impressive wealth of textural, woven riffs that catapult the album into any tech thrasher's dreamwork. The riffs occasionally remind me of Metallica's opus Master of Puppets, but drawn into a more frenetic cyclone of inspiration. I quickly lose myself here without fail, on every spin, because of their twisted psychosis, like trying to escape a straight jacket while studying a piece by Escher simultaneously. Combined with Milo's adaptation to a more nasal, whined vocal tone that he used on the band's prior records, his popping bass narrative and the solid, rigorous storm of Markus Hahn's drumming, this is one team of cosmonauts that should have been hailed the Ludwig Mozart of thrash. It's really that good, believe me.

I could write a textbook on almost any track on the album, but I'll try and spare you from the torture and myself from the inevitable fallout. "Events in Concealment" swells to the fore with a complex introduction to the band's lattice of unsound mental exercise, thick banks of twisted chords that erupt into an epic thrash gallop around :35 into the song. Any Metallica fan would be banging his head by this point, but there is so much more to come, including little whirs of melodic gloss amidst the thundering bottom end, grooving drums and Milo's slicing tone. Even the title of this song is fucking excellent, and when the band explodes into the playful little melodies around 1:30 your shorts will be wet with the thick, viscous discharge of conception. The storm alleviates only to be rejoined by the epic, glistening melodies that arise to announce "The Deathwish", with some of the most beautiful, complex riffing I've ever heard in all of this genre and beyond. Bursts of mesmerizing rhythm collapse into scaling, descending patterns of chaos that feel like a surgery gone wrong.

"Triocton" shows another face to this band, that is the ability to compose amazing piano segments. The intro is but a moment long, but incorporates several seasonal shifts in key striking that morphs beautifully into an organ tone before the gallivanting, schizophrenic thrash begins, a barrage of exciting, jump out of your skin guitar riffs that fully fills out the 8+ minute bodice. It's like a virtual, instrumental ballet of aggression, with more quality guitar elements than appear on most entire metal albums! Not once do you feel a lack of vocals, despite the length of the composition, and that's a top honor. Not many bands could pull such a vision off. "N.L.Y.H.", which is short for "Never Lose Your Humor" (a motto I have lived by ever since losing my nuts over this record when it came out in early '88), grounds the record back to the earthly parameters, a shorter, 3 minute assault of thick, choppy thrash, but just as busy in its writing as most of the more ambitious sequences. It flows wonderfully into the tearing, frightening melodies that rip "Watching the World" open wide, a cautionary work of machine-like precision thrash with all the sentimentality of a satellite eye, focused and ready to kill. For fuck's sake, the riffing behind the vocal verse is just unbelievable. Too few bands put this work into their actual guitars, and it provides an eerie immortality to the record as a whole. The chorus is one of the more memorable of the band:

We are so clever and arrogant
It's in our hands to change everything
Who's watching the world?

That is all that needs to be said, my friends. The solo in this one is like a charging German war symphony over a surge of artillery fire, and after this, one of the most ambitious and fine tuned performances in the entire genre of music: "Narcotic". The flange over the intro riffing, after which a sequence of thundering muted melody bridges us to a bass sequence, and then the mockery of the verse rhythms, which play with your mind like a cadre of demented clowns with syringes full of every drug and ill humour in all of existence. Have you ever had a bad trip? This is the thrash version of that. The vocals are off the hook here, Milo opting for a mix of his mid range and higher, phantasmal tones that are brilliant alongside the punch of the strings. Of all the songs on the album, this is the most considerable at over 9 minutes, and the most involved. Fans of modern tech thrash like Vektor should absolutely start here, because Deathrow was doing it decades ago. Other points of light include the guitar rupture around 3:00, and the elevating desperation around 6:40. It's as if Deathrow plotted out an entire substance abuse nightmare with which to string along the listener.

Encircled and trapped by ourselves
We're enslaved to mass productions
Self-deception from a better life
Our behaviour brings corruption
We buy a pig in a poke
And we drown ourselves in the garbage

"Machinery" manifests through some lite, jazzy guitars that exhibit even more of these players' strengths, and then a jackhammering bass line explodes into an industrial-strength flower of mind fucking fervor, another testament to 100% riffing dominance, and some superb vocal melodies, woven in and out of the track's bleak, futurist lyric landscape. The chorus where Milo screams 'We're just wheels, in a great machinery' will NEVER cease to reverberate up and down this listener's spine, and the haunting array of mathematical, punchy rhythms deep in the track are just as thoughtful as anything else on this album. The CD and cassette include an added, worthy beast in "Bureaucrazy", with yet another blitz of solid, turbine guitar work that waltzes through playful solos as if they were playing violins from the devil's symphony pit. I am glad the label popped this one on there, because it truly rounds out the experience with a shorter length and some serious, serious fun.

Deception Ignored is a testament to human achievement in extreme music, but unfortunately the multitudes were so uninspired and uninterested in anything with this level of ambition. What truly stuns me is that I've read the band themselves consider this their worst album, preferring the more honest and pedestrian pounding of the first two. Guess what, Deathrow: you are wrong. Wrong I say! It's a pity you never realized exactly what you had with this! Now, I can see how this would fly are over the layman listener's head, but to those out there that can appreciate its captivating maze of rhythm and fruitful, important lyricisms that all stand just as relevant today as decades past: you are goddamn lucky men and women. This is brain-thrash, mesmerizing and easily could be used to replace mind altering drugs of any stripe or flavor. The production is not so dry and clinical if you listen with good headphones or stereo, for the bassy chugging of the mutes helps give it a broad spectrum of fingers to reach into your body cavities and extract vitality.

It's quite clear that autothrall is a fanboy of this particular album, and in fact it is my favorite single German thrash album in all history, exceeding my favorite works by Tankard, Kreator, Sodom or Destruction with ease. But then, this is the very sort of media for which a diehard worshiper should exist! Surely, those bands have all got some perfect records that I will forever hold dear, but this just goes high and above the top for its day and age. Mekong Delta was crude by comparison, and even Watchtower's Control and Resistance, as much as I love it, is just not as consistently perfect. It was a sad day for me when these Germans released the follow-up, Life Beyond, which only exhibited a fraction of the brilliance on parade here, and thus I was quick to rationalize this as an anomaly, a cosmic event, a singularity in demented execution that I was just never going to hear again in my life. This is as 'desert island' as they get, and I hope I never have to live without it.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

This album is one of the most overlooked albums of all time. Deathrow was a German thrash band signed on Noise records. Because Kreator, Destruction and Tankard rose above in the earlier 80's, Deathrow was seen as a second class German thrash band. Although their earlier albums Rider's of Doom and Raging Steel are typical German thrash albums, even they had progressive touches in some of the songs. I also consider Raging Steel as the best noisy German thrash album of all time.
Deception Ignored is their 3rd release and it is very technical. The production is better than the first two, and even it was released as CD. With the addition of the guitarist Uwe Osterlehner, the band has gained a deeper songwriting approach. He wrote 2 very long and technical songs on his own in this album. The other guitarist Sven Flugge also contributed some amazing songs. All of the 8 tracks are truly masterpieces and years ahead of their time. The double guitar work is stunning, you must listen to this album again and again to clearly understand what they play. I sometimes play the album form only the right column and left column to distinguish the guitar works. The vocals are excellent too, as Milo is not as agressive as Mille Petrozza or Angelripper. He has a clean vocal and it is very melodic at times.
This album is all on its own and I cannot tell you any albums like this one. If you like thrash, especially technical thrash, this is a must have!