Perhaps one of the weirder things about metal’s myriad subgenres is how they lead to a lot of mutually elitist subcultures. Despite the diversity and constant evolution of metal’s offshoot styles, each niche tends to cultivate a rather consistent set of aesthetics, which, combined with the notorious elitism (and nerdiness) of rabid metal fans, lends itself to subculture rivalry. This can happen even within the same subgenre.
Thus, here I am, ostensibly a death metal fan, finding myself without any immediate reference points for Swedish melodic death metal band Deals Death and their new album Point Zero Solution. I was pretty sure this belongs categorized alongside the kind of accessible, relatively mainstream Gothenberg melodeath patented by the likes of Arch Enemy, Soilwork, Dark Tranquility, and In Flames, but I haven’t had a passing interest in this style of death metal for so long that I had to look up Youtube videos to be sure I had the comparisons right. Seems I’m at least close enough. So, if the words “Gothenberg,” “melodic death metal,” and any of the band names listed above ring a bell as something you’re a fan of, you should probably just stop reading this and check these guys out, because for the rest of this review there’s going to be a lot of snarking from this thoroughly unimpressed non-initiate.
From heights of my lofty elitist throne this sounds like total cheeseball entry-level extreme-metal-lite. The abbreviation “melodeath” sometimes has the (probably) unintentional connotation of “mellow” death metal, and while this album isn’t exactly easy listening, it is light-weight. It’s garishly over-produced with that inhumanly precise gloss that a lot of bands in this style seem to go for, including that annoying triggered-to-hell drumming. The songwriting seems calculated to fill a quota of all the necessary clichés: at least two thrashy verses followed by a bridge featuring a stop-start breakdown, choruses featuring multi-tracked death-growl choirs, plus those bathos-inducing guitar solos and those “hey look we’re being soulfully melodic now” parts meant to extract the maximum amount of contrived emotion.
Oh yeah, and who could forget those utterly distracting synths? I’m not against the use of keyboards or electronic elements in metal, but this band takes their hackneyed conceits from the Dimmu Borgir handbook of How to Be Cinematic. Some parts manage to harmonize with the guitars and bolster an epic and ominous feeling, but more often they feel like a contrived way of evoking mood while all the other instruments are sleeping on the job. There are certain sections with mostly keyboards and some rhythm section that sound more like bad bro-step EDM than death metal. Then again, Skrillex and his ilk are essentially the mall-metal of electronic music.
The lyrical concept behind Point Zero Solution has something to do with environmental degradation and the impending ecological catastrophes human civilization faces in the next century, but there are far better bands touching upon these themes, so it doesn’t stand as a selling point either. It did, however, lend itself to cover artwork that looks like a poster for a Michael Bay movie – another apt comparison for a band that is all pyrotechnics and digital gloss.
In fact, while listening to this, I couldn’t help but feel reminded of Dethklok. If you are a fan of Dethklok’s actual music, you might like this album. The only problem with that is that Dethklok is intentionally full of extreme metal clichés because they are a parody band, whereas, from what I can tell, Deals Death are meant to be at least somewhat serious.
Speaking of comedy… It seems the singer of this band is something of an internet celebrity for a viral video of him practicing death metal growls to a piano. I’ll admit it, that video is pretty damn funny. He even seems like a talented growler, but sadly, for the majority of this album he uses the same boring mid-range yell that every Gothenberg band seems to use.
To all my offended readers who like this sort of thing, I have tried to emphasize that this style is not really my cup of tea. I fully admit that I may lack appreciation for even the most basic reference points of this style for this album to appeal to me. Perhaps this is actually a tour-de-force of easy-to-digest melodic death metal, and I just don’t get it. All I have to say is, even still, you should probably check out the new Carcass album instead. Or go back and listen to Heartwork and Slaughter of the Soul again.