Death.FM - Amongst The Deceit - Tribulations Of Man

#	Track Listing	Length	Played
02	Inferior Lives Amongst The Deceit	4:08	21
03	Dark Science Amongst The Deceit	4:32	30
04	Dawn Of The Martyr Amongst The Deceit	4:40	22
05	Infernal D.N.A Amongst The Deceit	4:31	18
06	Dead With Open Eyes Amongst The Deceit	7:34	28
07	Death Walks The Earth Amongst The Deceit	5:22	25
08	The Sadistic Impulse Amongst The Deceit	6:05	25

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Reviewers Rating

1 review done for this album.

AMONGST THE DECEIT-TRIBULATIONS OF MAN

By:	Cuntmutilator
Date:	14 Nov 2011
Rating:

AMONGST THE DECEIT-TRIBULATIONS OF MAN

Born in 2008 Austrian brutal death merchants Amongst The Deceit are here with their debut full length album 'Tribulations Of Man', an eight track platter packed to the brim with riffs galore, myriad solo exhibitions, incessant battery and inhumane vocal incantations.

Influenced quite basically by 'all kinds of brutal metal' the quintet established a solid line up early in their existence with the exception of a drummer; the right sticksman to sit behind the kit proving to be elusive until they finally settled on recording skins beater Tom Sic, credited not as a drummer in the band ranks but more ominously as 'blastmachine'.

Joining the blastmachine in the Amongst the Deceit crew are Steve-rhythm and lead guitars, Johan-rhythm guitars, Martyhn-bass and Thorn-vocals.
Tribulations Of Man' gets itself underway in an innocuous enough fashion with the pleasant one and a half minute instrumental preface 'Inceptum'.
Reminiscent of some of the notable Metallica instrumentals (in their moments of quiescence) this intro segment is a gentle little thing of acoustic guitars, a touch of sonic experimentation and not much more.

The next composition in play 'Inferior Lives' is something entirely different.
Hostile and menacing from the very first second this thing shreds at the eardrums with malevolent claws of DM riffery and a jackhammer of percussion that has drummer Tom Sic living up to his description as blastmachine promptly.

Vocalist Thorn sets off on a grunting, bellowing expedition to give vent to the lyrics, his style maintaining a text book death metal subterranean quality, the rumbling vocal thunder a suitable complement to the chugging guitar muscle and percussive power.

Also sticking to the book of death metal is the predisposition to fill (and sometimes over inflate) the composition with dazzling multiple transitions and an array of solos, sometimes bringing in a throwaway riff for only a brief stay while reverting back to others over and over again.

'Dark Science' bulldozes right down the same path as its predecessor with thuggish brawling guitar passages throttling curved spikes of high end melody.
Growling monstrous vocals issue over some rather excellent tremolo patterns and the blasting machine battery is an unremitting force that seems as if it just wants to lay waste to everything in its way.

Suggestions of Morbid Angel, Deicide and others from the classic American guard of death metal (and some of the European) permeate over the course of the album, essentially first cropping up on 'Inferior Lives' and persisting here in 'Dark Science' and beyond.

Amongst The Deceit may refer to themselves as primarily death metal with references to black metal also but fundamentally to me they are straight down the line brutal death metal pretty much to the exclusion of all other genres.

Some screaming, shrieking voice types synonymous with the BM field enter fleetingly during this composition but as a general rule of thumb the Austrians are solely reliant on the mouth full of cemetery soil delivery.

As the album progresses it does so in a method similar to a runaway train loaded with explosives; it is big, mercurial, immensely heavy and primed to detonate.

Dawn Of The Martyr', 'Infernal D.N.A', 'Dead With Open Eyes', they come thick and fast, borne on relentless brute drumming, torrents of riffing and unearthly vocals (the majority being that cavernous growl from the centre of hell with a couple of detours into the shriek technique).

Flurries of soloing and lead breaks reside in all of these as do hordes and hordes of endless transitions, again either gnawing a particular riff into broken bone fragments or tossing it aside like a disposable item that has served its purpose.

At the tail end of 'Infernal D.N.A' the brutality ebbs away, superseded by atmospheric soundscapes and little else and the beginning of 'Dead With Open Eyes' features some nice gales of cold tremolo ice behind a fusillade of battery but elsewhere it is bludgeoning business as usual.

A few negatives rear their head as Amongst The Deceit go about their way of obliterating all and sundry under a deafening wall of heavy metal thunder.

Firstly, bass seems like a secondary and underused instrument, virtually an afterthought that merely doesn't get enough spotlight time or is just completely shut otu by the crushing power of the twin guitars and punishing drums.

It isn't until the very last track 'The Sadistic Impulse' that the bass becomes really audible, actually pushing right to the very fore of that number around one minute twenty but the presence of the instrument as a strong one is an all too rare occurrence.

Secondly, the blasting fury of the drums themselves whilst monstrous, massively heavy and utterly unrelenting are not in any way diverse.

Keeping up an incessant jackhammering percussive thunder right through seven tracks (discounting the drumless intro) of an average length of four and a half minutes doesn't allow for much variety or change when perhaps it could have been factored in.

The guitars may blitz through so many different transitions with utmost technicality that ones head spins but in pulverizing everything with blastmachine surging the drums do not, which may draw yawns from those who would like a little less of one and a little more of the other.

'Tribulations Of Man' is an enormously brutal album, that cannot be disputed and it is full of impressive technical proficiency in terms of guitar and its monster vocal assaults should appeal to fans of that approach as should the bulldozer drums.

However I wouldn't define it as an instant classic and there are still many many kings of both brutality and technicality Amongst The Deceit would have to overthrow before they get the chance to contest the throne.
Band Members

Steve-rhythm and lead guitars
Johan-rhythm guitars
Martyhn-bass
Thorn-vocals
Tom Sic-blastmachine

Written by Jamie Goforth
©2011 BlackMetalJim

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