Deepred - Prophetic Luster

(Originally published in Chronicles of Chaos in 2001)

Deepred is a Finnish death metal band with an American sound, totally unlike what you expect from the melodic haven that is Finland. Deepred is brutal and technical, quite like Suffocation. The band impresses greatly as musicians, playing tight, precise and -very- fast death metal. The vocals lack some juice, but that's for some reason common with death metal at this level of brutality. I really like the production, as it gives room for every instrument and supports the technicality of the music well. The album presents some utterly crushing music, like the virtuoso moments 1:12 into "Multiple Errors", when one can just sit in front of the speakers gasping. There are several such moments, but for a reviewer usually bored with mood- and emotionless death metal, these moments are still slightly far between. That's just my taste -- this is top notch brutal death metal, and for fans of the genre I can't find any reason not to buy immediately.

Original score: 8/10. I am having a hard time squaring why I gave Merlin a 5 and this an 8. They're way more even than that. I probably should have given Merlin a 6 and this a 7, but today they both round to 3/5 though.