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A solid, more consistant album that became the pinacle point for Deceased.-
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| Deceased: Supernatural Addiction |
Death Metal, Thrash Metal
Relapse Records
February 9th, 2000
- The Premonition - 5:35
- Dark Chilling Heartbeat - 6:26
- A Very Familiar Stranger - 5:1`8
- Frozen Screams - 5:04
- The Doll with the Hideous Spirit - 5:34
- The Hanging Soldier - 4:20
- Chambers of the Waiting Blind - 7:50
- Elly's Dementia - 7:42
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| Review Information |
Release length: 47:49
Review posted on August 1st, 2011
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| | Overall Score: 8.5/10 |
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| Discography |
Discography covers all information available up to day of review and is updated if future albums are reviewed. |
| Full-Length(s): |
Luck of the Corpse (1991) • The Blueprints for Madness (1995) • Fearless Undead Machines (1997)
Supernatural Addiction (2000) • As the Weird Travel On (2005) • Surreal Overdose (2011)
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| EP(s): |
Gut Wrench (1991) • 13 Frightened Souls (1993) • Behind the Mourner's Veil (2001) • Inject the Ugliness (2007)
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| Split(s): |
Relapse Singles Series Vol. 2 (2004) • The Weird Sessions/Figure in Black (2008) • Unpleasant Scenarios/Unholy Wrath (2008)
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| Single(s): |
The Premonition (2000)
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| Demo(s): |
The Evil Side of Religion (1986) • Birth by Radiation (1988) • One Night in the Cemetary!!! (1989) • Nuclear Exorcist (1989)
The Day of Death Live (1990) • Live With the Legions (1992) • Demo I 1995 (1995) • Demo II 1995 (1995)
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| Compilation(s): |
Death Metal from the Grave (1996) • Zombie Hymns (2002) • The Radiation Years (2002)
Corpses, Souls & Other Strangeness (2003) • Rotten to the Core (2004) • Legions of Arrggghhhh (2004)
Return to the Evil Side (2004) • Night of the Deceased (2009) • Worship the Coffin (2009)
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| Live CD(s): |
Up the Tombstones!!! Live 2000 (2002) • Stalking the Airwaves (2010)
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| Review |
When it comes to Deceased, one of the most important albums in the band's career is the release of their fourth full-length studio effort, Supernatural Addiction. Over the years towards that album, the band continued to grow and work together their morbid, creepier Death Metal approach, and their furious early Thrash Metal sound. On Supernatural Addiction, listeners found the band reaching a pinacle of their growth to a mature sound that felt influenced by both the aforementioned earth Death Metal and Thrash sounds, but also took a little Heavy Metal into consideration, which is someting many songs on this effort show off nicely. But, is this really one of the bands, strongest efforts, or could this be more of an overhyped released due to the production quality working in their favor compared to earlier entries into their discography?
Well, the production is definitely dramatically better compared to earlier releases, and that does work for the band, but not so much in an effort to make the atmosphere more creepy. The overall quality is actually pretty clean with a decent bass presence that can be heard, but feels like it's in the backseat, while the guitars have a good bite to them with a good Heavy Metal and Thrash kind of distortion on them. The drums on this release are great, sounding natural and what you would expect a kit to sound like for the most part. The snares and cymbols sound fresh and sharp thanks to that cleaner production quality, and the kicks have a good mixture of a thud and a slight click to it, bordering moreso between the two and, again, coming off more true to life then having that sound altered in the studio through various levels. The vocals here are more a rhaspier style with some harmonization going on, which works with the mixture of Heavy Metal influences and Thrash Metal, but also still retaining that Death Metal bite to it when the songs gear more towards that sound.
The track lengths to Supernatural Addiction are also worth noting, as these songs really have more depth to them this time around. This is shown off nicely with the more melodic start to "The Premonition", kicking right in with hook driven tracks that feel a mixture between modern Melodic Death Metal concepts and Heavy Metal, but not afraid to go into some more two-step driven Thrash elements. The rhaspier vocals have a nice crisp sound that works against the sharp, somewhat creepy sounding music being played to weave a tale of gothic horror that listeners will instinctively be joining in on, thanks largely to the simpler lyrics for the chorus and how catchy it is against the more serious vibe from the rest of the track. While this song has some more melodic elements to it, these songs are scarce on this effort, and for the most part the band focuses in on their Death Metal and Thrash mixture for a more serious, grim sound and atmosphere.
While the atmospheres to the songs are typically serious and often quite grim, Deceased also throws in some Science Fiction-esque elements as well. "Frozen Screams", another more serious track but with some hook-driven guitars throughout, though not as heavy or as many as on "The Premonition", starts off with some more sci-fi keyboards before hammering into the darker overtones of the tale being performed. Like "The Premonition", this song is performed with great energy, and is highly catchy, though the chorus feels a little more melancholic and serious in comparison, though later guitar chords in some bridges are haunting in a vaguely similar to the opening keyboards to the song. The band also includes some audio samples that typically start off the track, such as in the case of "Doll With the Hideous Spirit", and though rarely used, they do often suit the lyrical content of the song and the general tale being told through the band, adding to the given atmosphere of the song. In this case, "Doll With the Hideous Spirit" has a more serious and creepy vibe to it that feels crushing and inescapable. The guitar solos that hit around the half way point does slow down the more sinister vibe for a bit of melody that acts more as bridges then anything, and while are good, don't really feel like they should have been as simple and melodic as they are, conflicting slightly with that more grim atmosphere and instead giving temporary glimmers of light to the sound.
There's not much else that could be said for Supernatural Addiction. The album is tight from start to finish, and while some songs have a stronger melodic approach with some Heavy Metal influences, much of the release sticks to a darker Death Metal and Thrash approach. "Dark Chilling Heartbeat" really sets that grim and gothic tone to those latter two styles with a narrative that is both cruel and haunting, slightly on par with The Tell-Tale Heart. The music for the track is as serious as the tale itself, and the atmosphere matches that more gothic tingue to the story being woven. "Chambers of the Waiting Blind" doesn't quite hit that kind of impact, or even to the strong "The Hanging Soldier" that hits prior to it with a strong grim atmosphere that can sometimes feel a bit unnerving, but it has a more traditional mixture of those two styles and not really concerns itself with atmosphere. It's not the most compelling of songs, yet it's not really a filler track as it still utilizes some strong riffs and a dominant presence all around to make the song interesting, but it's just the weakest track on the release. The final song of the effort, "Elly's Dementia", is a nice send off song that closes the album in a bit of a melancholic kind of sense with a gothic vibe, but in the end the song's slower pace works for the heaviness of the track, but the song doesn't really seem to have anything too special going for it, and it becomes another weaker track, though the more intimidating heaviness of the song with it's atmosphere still makes it an enjoyable song for the most part.
Supernatural Addiction is a solid release from start to finish, and it's understandable why it's considered one of the band's strongest efforts. While Deceased has honed their skills into one consistant sound, there are moments of melody and even intensity that can far surpass other tracks on here. Of all the songs, the last two are not the most impressive, but still enjoyable to certain extents. If you like morbid or just creepy music, Supernatural Addiction is an album that is well worth looking into, as it's nearly forty eight minutes of just solid, hard hitting music that blends together various styles well to create a rather unique sound and approach that will find you coming back for more repeatedly as time goes on.
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Digital review copy of this release provided by:
Relapse Records.
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