Deceiver - Riding With The Reaper

*=Staff's pick	Crown Of Deceit* Raise Your Horns Sinners Congregation Riding With The Reaper* Slay The Rainbow God Of Dead She - Ghost Cover Of Wounds* Mexican Thunder Destroy 'Em All

Genre	Thrash Metal	Destormo	Vocals
Tracks	10	Pete Flesh	Guitar
Runningtime	37 Min.	-	Guitar
Label	Iron Fist Productions	Crille Lundin	Bass
Release	09 May 2005	Magnus Flink	Drums
Country	Sweden	-	Keyboards
Similar artists	Venom, Slayer, Testament

Deceiver rides on with the reaper of popular music. Their retro-thrash is true to the bad bone. When I reviewed their EP last year I remember that I called for more focus on the song writing. My prayers have partly been granted on this new album. The overall quality of songs is higher this time and the compositions have a stronger red line than just noise-making. The variation and originality are greater. Shouter Destormo has a voice perfect for the genre. But sometimes it seems like he can't keep up the aggressive energy all the way.

The production is raw and edgy, just as one could expect. This is not the kind of album where you put a few songs on repeat. Either you listen to it all or not at all. Therefore the length of ten songs and 37 minutes is about what you can take of the same shouting voice and grinding instruments. Crown Of Deceit starts relatively drawly, but a couple of tempo changes makes it a great one in the end. The guitar play from Pete Flesh gives it a package of musical quality. The title track is the most melodic on the album - which still doesn't say that much actually. Cover The Wounds gets some extra edge from the guest singer, Mia Coldheart from Crucified Barbara. Destroy 'em All sounds more like a tribute to Venom or Exodus, than (as the title suggests) Metallica. (When I listened to this song I got a call from a guy who wants to sell me a subscription to Mr Music hit collection. He gave up very quickly…)

But I still expect more from Deceiver in the future. I hope that ten years from now this will be the album that the stubborn hard-core fans praise as the last true one and that the rest of us can enjoy the evolution of this band within the next coming albums. For me, Riding With The Reaper is another of those promo records you enjoy for the moment, but which unfortunately will see a future as a dust collector among the others.