The Dead/Deathsteps To Oblivion/Transcending Obscurity/2014 CD Review

  The  Dead  are  a  band  from  Australia  that  has  been  featured  before  in  this  zine  and  plays  a  mixture  of  doom,  sludge  and  death  metal  with  a  touch  of  black  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2014  album  "Deathsteps  To  Oblivion"  which  was  released  by  Transcending  Obscurity.

  A  very  dark,  and  ritualistic  sound  starts  off  the  album  along  with  some  demonic  vocals  that  have  a  black  metal  tinge  to t hem  which  leads  up  to  a  very  heavy  doom  metal  sound  along  with  some  powerful  sounding  bass  guitars  and  a  few  seconds  later  deep  death  metal  growls  start  to  make  their  presence  known  along  with  some  grim  screams.

  All  5  of  the  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length  and  they  also  bring  in  a  good  mixture  of  both  clean  and  heavy  parts  which  also  sets  up  the  mood  for  some  melodic  guitar  leads  and  on  the  third  track  the  music  starts  to  speed  up  to  more  of  a  melodic  black  metal  direction  before  returning  back  to  a  slower  direction.

  After  awhile  the  bands  starts  adding  in  a  small  amount  of  melodic  female  vocals  while  the  4th  track  starts  out  with  some  tribal  beats  before  making  a  return  back  to  a  doom/death  metal  direction  as  well  as  adding  more  elements  of  sludge  and  spoken  word  parts  into  their  musical  style.

  The  Dead  creates  another  very  heavy  album  that  remains  true  to  their  mixture  of  doom,  sludge  and  death  metal  while  also  adding  in  a  bit  of  melody  at  times,  the  production  sounds  very  dark  and  heavy  while  the  lyrics  cover  darkness  and  mythological  themes. .

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  The  Dead  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of doom,  sludge  and  death  metal,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "The  God  Beyond"  and  "Deathsteps  TO  Oblivion".  8  out  of  10.


https://transcendingobscurity.bandcamp.com/album/ritual-executions-groundbreaking-doom-sludge-influenced-death-metal



        

The Dead Interview

1. Can you update us with what is going on with the band these days?
The Dead (Chris): We have almost completed recording our next album. Should be out on Diabolical Conquest Records around /June.


2. How would you describe the musical sound of the new album, and how does it differ from previous releases?
The Dead: I'd say it is our most 'musical' offering to date, having said that, it is our most primitive sounding release in both songwriting and production . We are doing the whole recording ourselves this time, so we will have no-one to blame but ourselves!



3. How would you describe the lyrical content of the new album and what are some ideas that came into your head when writing the lyrics?
The Dead: Well I can't speak for why Mike writes what he does, I've no idea really . I know he likes "killing n shit"



4. What is the meaning and inspiration behind the bands name?
The Dead: The inspiration was to not sound like a metal band. Last thing the world needs is another metal band.


5.Have you had any opportunities to do any live shows yet, if so what are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and how would you describe your stage performance?
The Dead: We've been playing live since 2005 so we have a few shows under our belt. Our best show was supporting Obituary at a small, local club.The promoter was a drug-addled dick and started ranting at us that we were late for a soundcheck (that never happened) and we won't be playing blah blah.... We set up in 5 minutes and started playing which shut his fat, greasy, speed-frothing mouth. The Obituary guys were really cool tho.



6. Are there any current side projects besides this band, or is this a full time line-up?
The Dead: I play in a side project with Aphotic Mote from Portal but it's not metal. The other guys - this is their main band.




7. On a worldwide level, how has your music been received by stoner/doom/death metal fans worldwide?
The Dead: Some people like it, some don't. More people generally contact you if they like it than if they don't so the scale is weighted in numbers to those people.




8. What direction do you see your music heading into on future releases?
The Dead: No idea. At this stage we have put any new ideas on hold until the album comes out. Then we will start the process again and see what comes out.

9. Are any of the members into black metal, on one of the songs I noticed a black metal feel?
Yea we enjoy music of all kind, even Black Metal haha. Actually the other guys are more into it than I am. I couldn't really hold much of a conversation about it.




10. What are some band or musical styles that have influenced your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
The Dead: All three of us have extremely varied taste but we all agree on the classics like Morbid Angel, Bolt Thrower, Voivod, Black Sabbath etc etc as being great . I'm currently listening to a lot of Laura Marling. Mike is probably listening to 80's thrash or death and Adam hopefully is listening to our album while mixing it.




11. Outside of music, what are some of your interests?
The Dead: Mike likes video games, Adam likes working on his muscles and I like to buy shit I don't need and/or can't afford.


12. Any final words or thoughts before we wrap up this interview?
The Dead: Yes... if I see another three word band name I'll vomit.
- thanks for the interest in the band.

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The Dead/Ritual Executions/Diabolical Conquest Records/2010 CD Review

The Dead are a band from Australia that plays a very brutal form of death metal mixed with stoner/doom metal and this is a review of their 2010 album "Ritual Executions" which was released by Diabolical Conquest Records.

Drums are mostly  slow drumming with some occasional fast playing and bast beats, while the bass playing has a very dark and distorted tone with a lot of slow, doomy and heavy riffing.

Rhythm guitars are very slow doom/stoner metal riffs that combine death metal influences to get a much more heavier sound with some faster riffs being used at times that have a black metal influence at times as for the lead guitars they are used only on the last song and have a stoner rock feel to the guitar solos.

Vocals are mostly deep death metal growls mixed in with some high pitched screams that are slightly black metal influenced, while the lyrics cover death, dying, cannibalism, suicide and one song is about centurions, a for the production it has a very heavy and raw sound to it with all of the musical instruments sounding very brutal.

In my opinion The Dead are a very good brutal stoner/doom/death metal band, and if you are a fan of this style, you should check out this band. RECOMMENDED TRACKS INCLUDE "Centurian" "Born In A Grave" and "Ritual Executions". RECOMMENDED BUY.

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