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Chains of Delusion is a 2013 EP release by UK thrash metal act Deceptor. It is their fourth release overall and their first for Shadow Kingdom Records. Deceptor has been around since 2005 but hasn’t as yet released any full-lengths. Their most prior release was the 2011 EP Soothsayer.
The music on Chains of Delusion is mostly thrash metal but with an occasional progressive edge to the delivery and structure of the tracks. There are also some death metal elements, most evidently some growling vocals alongside more typical thrash metal style singing as well as a few melodic vocal lines. There are six songs on the EP, two of which are not songs as such but served as an intro and interlude respectively. Those tracks feature a robotic voice which gives the EP something of a sci-fi air, but that’s not something which is carried over to the actual music. The proper songs showcase some fair potential for Deceptor, who most definitely focus on thrash aggression.
While I do find that Chains of Delusion has a couple of negative aspects, mostly related to the sound production which I don’t feel does the music much justice, the strong musicianship does ultimately save the EP. The sound production is not totally raw sounding, in fact it’s quite clear and allows the finer details of the music to stand out, but somehow it feels lacking in power, which causes even the fastest, most extreme of Deceptor’s thrash riffs to feel a bit tame. There’ll be definite appeal to those who prefer an old school sound for sure, but I can’t shake the feeling that Chains of Delusion would have left a bigger impression on me with a production job which really lent the riffs intensity. The vocals can also be a bit hit and miss, although are more hit than miss to be fair.
But as I said, Deceptor’s musicianship definitely saves the EP. The four proper songs here are quite interesting pieces with Heatseeker being the best of the bunch, closely followed by Oblivion’s Call. Those robotic voiced bits are so short that they come over as a next to useless though. They don’t make the EP any more interesting or even act as a quirky gimmick.
Deceptor have obvious talent though so long as they stick to actual songs but a few tweaks here and there would have worked wonders for them on Chains of Delusion. Sort those issues out and by the time they do get a full-length under their belt they could well have something special on their hands. As it is, a good album tier rating is deserved for Chains of Delusion.
70/100
(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven (http://metaltube.freeforums.org/deceptor-chains-of-delusion-t2889.html))