Finding out the background of Russian thrashers Deformity is nigh on impossible, they are almost invisible online but they have a sound you just cannot ignore. Their new album When Tomorrow Comes is a tank slapper of crunching riffs and forceful energy brought with accomplished skill and eager passion. It is release to deeply satisfy all fans of heavy charging riffs and combative rhythms unleashed in a storm of unbridled energy. Deformity creates a sound steeped in the heart of thrash metal but ignites it further with fine melodic enterprise and progressively tinged imagination, the fluid blend going towards an album which stomps a hole in the senses and fills it with impressive invention.
Certain sources have revealed that Deformity is approaching its second decade and originally started as a death metal band. A few years of local success was halted when tragedy struck with the death of their guitarist. After two years away the band returned with a more progressive metal sound and spent the next years through a turbulent timer of unrest and changing line-ups. 2009 though saw a settled situation emerge for and within the band alongside a new direction, thrash metal. This background to the band is probably fourth hand at best so do not take it as gospel but certainly you can be safe in believing their release is an album well worthy of attention.
Deformity brew up a riot of sound steeped in the sound of the obvious suspects in inspiration, their music a rich dose of Metallic, Testament, and Exodus boiled into their own strong recipe with a progressive intent adding extra flavour and potency to the results. It is hard to say Deformity offer anything openly new but they do songs which get the pulse racing and heart charging.
Opening song Burn Them immediately tells you all you need to know about the album in sound and intent. The track is a fully charged bruise machine, its rhythms commanding and insistent whilst the riffs have an abrasive edge which only sets the senses on edge and ready for more. The vocals of rhythm guitarist Garshin Alexander are Hetfield like, their styles very close, but it adds to the pleasure without ever instigating wishes of something different. With an air scorching solo from Vladimir Nikulin and further finely crafted sharp melodic play from both guitars; it is a strong opener which sets up the album perfectly.
The title track is a gem of a bruising encounter, the song a feast of agitated rhythms and incisive melodies behind twisting acidic grooves. The riffing is as ever knee buckling and the bass of Varuhin Sergey just growls with predatory breath to cast heavy shadows and undiluted pleasure. Certainly one of the best tracks on the album it hands over to the equally hungry Alone, its chugging stalking of the ear weighty and corrosive. Openly infectious the song soon shows it is an unpredictable creature, an intimidating bass line leading into a sonic calm of burning melodic intrigue from the guitar aided by an emotive piano. The song is soon careering through the ear again with all barrels blazing to complete a great and compulsive slab of metal.
Reflection Of Me, The Life Is Better Than Love, and Liars all ignite an enthused reaction to their earthy and defined invention, the two bookending tracks sturdy rampages whilst the centre song comes off of a slower pace and expressive atmosphere before proving it is no light weight by firing up its energies to leave one thoroughly engaged and caught in its contagious drive.
Get A Life is another extra highlight, a full on Metallica onslaught around the excellent sonic display from Alexander and Nikulin and driven by the wholly impressive drums of Platonov Alexander, his skill and precision throughout the album an impactful and immense feature. The Clone and The Lost Man complete what is a fully pleasing and satisfying album. There is a surface similarity across many of the songs but it does not take much delving for that to prove a non issue thanks to the skill of the band members and their inventive twists within the songs.
If thrash metal lights the fires in your tastes then you have to meet Deformity and When Tomorrow Comes.
RingMaster 12/10/2012
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