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Deadlock > Earth.Revolt > Reviews
Deadlock - Earth.Revolt

It's Deadlock, pure and simple! - 80%

CallerOfTheCthulhu, February 24th, 2006

On a simple whim purchase, Deadlock's new release "Earth.Revolt" was added to the collection. Upon doing some research on the band, it is apparent that their new CD is getting a rather bad reputation. on the shrink wrap it mentions "For fans of In Flames, Children Of Bodom, Bleeding Through, (and) Lacuna Coil." However, once listening to the CD it is apparent the only similarities to the listed bands would be a couple riffs that reminisce towards older In Flames material. However, "Earth.Revolt" is not, as many people claim, a new In Flames release, and nothing near a Cradle Of Filth CD.
The band's music isn't much like the band's listed on the sticker that covers the CD's artwork. In fact it could be rather misleading. While, yes, some riffs may remind you of In Flames, there are added elements that make these riffs original to Deadlock, including keyboard melodies that fit perfectly in the background of riffs that swap out of brutal and catchy elements.
Another nice touch to the CD's own originality is the fact that they incorporate a female singer, but not in every track. While she is there, the band kept her pulled back and didn't put her into a song just to have her there. At times she fits in perfectly with the fast paced music, but every once in a while the music will slow down and we are graced with a rather angelic singing voice, such as at the end of the first track, "Demonic (Tonus Diabolus)". There are also other instruments thrown in to add to the powerful sound that this CD unleashes, such as a violin in the background of the track "More Tragedies To Come".
The only real gripe one would have about this CD, as long as he or she didn't bite with the stereotypical "don't buy cause it sounds like..." bull, would be that the vocals are rather low compared to the volume of the music on the CD. Whether this was accidental or intentional it's unclear, but the vocal levels are definitely rather low, and if you don't pay full attention you may very well not even hear them sometimes. However this is not the fact on the track "Awaken By Sirens" where the vocals do seem a little louder, but only because the vocalist himself is louder. This track also emphasizes on the female vocalist as well.
While the band is a "Vegan XStraightEdgeX" band from Germany, that means nothing towards the lyrics. The lyrical content on the album is fabulous and very well sung/growled (in a semi-traditional black metal fashion) from start to finish. Instead of being songs about animal rights or anti-drugs, the songs are rather dark and most of the time down to earth about topics that aren't stereotypical towards their way of life. So don't let that little fact deter you from this CD or you'll kick yourself out of a moving car doing 90 on the highay during rush hour.
All that is left to say about this release is don't believe the people who have their heads stuck so far up their ass they don't want to hear anything but what they think they hear. "Earth.Revolt" is a well done effort from this band, possibly one of their best in a while, with amazing tracks (such as "Kingdom Of The Dead" and "Awakened By Sirens") that will keep this CD on repeat in your CD player, and have proved it with this release.

A boring rehash of crap. - 13%

orphy, July 8th, 2005

Coming from Germany, Deadlock is a band that combines elements of several trendy genres to produce a rather boring and unmemorable album. Similar to what's happening in America with bands taking metalcore and recycling old Gothenburg riffs, Deadlock does the same idea, except they make it very tedious with their overly long compositions and attempts at so called "gothic" music (which in this case means adding a synth and piano).

The album just really drags. Every song contains the same basic elements that will repeat over. First, we'll have some recycled Gothenburg riff. It'll go into a tiresome and extremely weak breakdown, then run into a part where it slows down. Either the music will entirely collapse into a moment of a piano, a part that is over synthed, or a guitar melody. They try to make the songs feel epic with all these changes, but it has nothing interesting going on. It's been done before, and it's especially not good to combine ideas of trends that have been long dead.

There's a reason why Deadlock is never mentioned in the metal scene, and it simply boils down the fact that they are not interesting. When you have over produced Gothenburg/metalcore with synth, it's not bound to hold ones interest for very long. Weak riffs, weak drumming, and generic vocals will not get a band anywhere. What they need is riffs, and some ideas that didn't come from previous movements.