Liste der Bands Technical Death Deadsquad Horror Vision

DeadSquad, hailing from Indonesia is one of the craziest bands that I have come across in the recent months. It used to be easy in the past to classify a band’s genre, for example, Band A is death metal, Band B is black metal and so on… Modern metal bands, as most bands like to claim as their style of music, has fused so many different forms of music that it is difficult and illogical to strictly put a band in a specific genre. DeadSquad is one of such bands. Now, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing as the band’s debut full length album, Horror Vision proves.

Do not be fooled by the deceiving introductory track, with Dimmu Borgir-style keyboards, providing a majestic and atmospheric ambient, into thinking that this is going to be yet another symphonic black/death metal album. Wasting no time after the deceitful intro, insanely fast yet technical beats (not surprising considering that drummer Andyan was formerly of Indonesian brutal death metallers Siksakubur), heavy and crushing riffs combined with LOTS of Dimebag-style pinch harmonics and shredding (oh and not forgetting Zakk Wylde’s signature low string pinch harmonics, which are constantly pulled off as well) are introduced throughout the album. Babal’s insanely gruff vocals somehow remind me of Max Cavalera’s vocal styles at his peak in Sepultura.

Before naysayers brush this off as another Necrophagist, Obscura or *insert technical death metal band name here* rip off or copycat, DeadSquad throws the listener a number of curveballs. Jazz guitar licks (yes, CLEAN) with death metal style double bass drums in the tracks Dominasi Belati and Manufaktur Replika Baptis throw the listener completely off track, reminding the listener that this is no normal technical death metal band, but a somewhat innovative one. Not forgetting the Dimmu-style keyboard that gives an atmospheric and dramatic effect to the album opener and closing tracks.

Overall a rollercoaster ride, with lots of random parts thrown in together. While this could put metal purists off, it certainly worked well for me!

One gripe from me is that the lyrics are predominantly written not in English, but who cares? With music this good, lyrics don’t seem to affect the quality of the output. After all, music is supposed to be universal, isn’t it?