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Bizarro World is the fifth album by German melodic death metal act Deadlock, which was released in 2011. I’ve been a follower of this band for several years now. They first came to my attention with their 2007 album Wolves, which I thought was a really excellent melodic death metal release with a few progressive/experimental tendencies thrown in. For me, Wolves is easily one of the best albums of its genre, mostly because it showcased a band unafraid to be a bit different. The band then went and released the album Manifesto a year later, and my opinion of the group plummeted. So poor was the material I heard from it that I didn’t even end up checking out the whole release. There was even a song that was going pretty good and then bang, the song turns into a full blown rap song. Not rap metal, but actual rap music. Obviously, you can imagine the ‘WTF’ moment I had with that one. So now we’re in 2011 and the group drops Bizarro World and I decide to give the band another chance. So pretty much, this is the make or break album for Deadlock and me, and I expect anyone else who was let down my Manifesto as well. Here’s how I found it.
Bizarro World is can both pretty intense and pretty mild as far as death metal (even the melodic variant) can go. I guess you could call this a showcase of the genre getting watered down, although this is nowhere near as commercially inclined as it potentially could be. The vocal style is of the Beauty and the Beast vein; that is death growls from Johannes Prem, which are pretty strong and deep, and certainly help give the release a more powerful death metal feel, along with clean female vocals from Sabine Scherer (nee Weniger), which certainly add the melody into this release. They’re a good vocal team and the mix of growls/female cleans certainly works well for Deadlock’s sound. Bearing in mind though that it is still supposed to be death metal however, it seems that there is a larger focus on Sabine’s vocals, which is where I was going with the watered down remark. Even as soon as the second song in, State Of Decay, they band delivers a track with no death growls whatsoever. This is a good song, but far too soon into the album to work as best as it possibly could. I’d have sooner have heard at least three melodic death metal track before such a track was included.
Fortunately most of the material is generally in the same vein as Wolves was; which is obviously a big plus for the album in most ways. I dislike the use of odd sounds to open some of the songs, such as opener Virus Jones and Falling Skywards, but otherwise the songs are solid material. There is something of an electronic feel to parts of the album, some of it sounds very techno as well, such as in Renegade, but I can live with that, as the actual melodic death metal aspect of the album is highly enjoyable with generally good riffs and leads throughout, with the album being a clear showcase that Deadlock are competent musicians. Admittedly some parts of the album are unsurprising in the way they are delivered, but every now and then there comes a bit that is truly unexpected, such as the little instrumental Alienation. The album goes out on a quiet note though with the short orchestral title track and a ballad, Paranoia Extravaganza. This doesn’t exactly mean it goes out on a downer, but it doesn’t go out with a bang either.
Anyone who has heard Wolves may note from the descriptions above that I could actually have been describing Wolves if I’d just switched the names around (like swapping Renegade for End Begins for example). That’s because when it boils down to it it’s almost as if Deadlock did try to make Wolves II with this album. The similarities are hard to miss when you know both albums as well as I have come to. They even end in the same manner with the ballad, although Wolves forgoes the preceding instrumental, and both have techno parts. The major difference is that Bizarro World is a slightly inferior release, but that’s about where the differences end unless you want to point out on all the finer details.
The best tracks for me are Earthlings, because I think Sabine in particular sounds fantastic on this one, and the same can be said for You Left Me Dead. Renegade is another good one, because somehow against all odds Deadlock manages to make techno death metal (to coin a term) something highly enjoyable, and also Brutal Romance, for showing that Deadlock can still have a bit of a kick to their sound. Htrae, however, is probably the album’s crowning achievement.
In summary I find Bizarro World to be a solid return to form for Deadlock. The material is not overall the strongest I have heard from them, but at least there is no rap, which, in all honesty is a redeeming factor all in itself. It may not flow as well as Wolves did but neither is it a total atrocity like Manifesto was promising to be. In fact although it’s no masterpiece I am actually quite pleased with this album. May it signal a run of great releases from Deadlock.
(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven, scored at 7.6/10)