Deadlock Germany

"Deadlock's music is often described as melodic death metal, and the music is obviously inspired by the Gothenburg-style, but apart from Johannes Presm's growled vocals, there is not a lot of death metal on this album. There are a lot of melodeath traits, but not a lot of death metal, if you know what I mean, and, at times Deadlock remind me more of bands like Engel, Dead By April, and Sonic Syndicate (although Deadlock, like Engel, are lightyears better than especially Dead By April).

The tracks on this album can be divided up into two categories based on the band's two main formulas of writing.

One category consists of aggressive tracks with thrashy and groovy riffs which display technical finess, while maintaining the focus on melody. The verses are typically growled by Johannes Prem, while the choruses are sung melodically by Sabine Weniger. Examples are "Virus Jones", "Falling Skywards", "Earthlings", "Brutal Romance" and, to some extent, "Htrae".

The other category consists of popy and ballady (but sometimes heavy) tracks which are primarily sung by Sabine Weniger (although sprinkled with growls from Johannes Prem). Examples are: State of Decay", "You Left Me Dead", "Renegade" and "Paranoia Extravaganza".

This certainly is not bad music. I especially like the tracks mentioned under the aggressive category as the band really manages to create equilibrium between aggression and melody, but the formulaic aproach makes things a but uninteresting and predictable at times. The soft tracks are fine, too, but I don't think they will appeal to a lot of metalheads to be honest.

I think that fans of melodeath and Göteborg-metal will really like this album, while fans of death metal proper might be able to enjoy it in small doses at the time.

(review originally posted on metalmusicarchives.com)"