J-Man On paper, the music of German melodic death metal act Deadlock doesn't sound like something that would appeal to me very much. The band's ultra-melodic and almost “commercial” approach to extreme metal wouldn't usually be my cup of tea, but something about 2011's Bizarro World really grabbed my attention and put Deadlock on the radar for me. I loved the way the album blended catchy hooks with atmospheric arrangements and heavy riffs, and although a few important changes have been made with 2013's The Arsonist, Deadlock's sixth album once again shows their music in full force.

The Arsonist features a few lineup changes, as vocalist Johannes Prem has left the fold and ex-bassist John Gahlert has become Deadlock's new male vocalist. Ferdinand Rewicki of Fall of Serenity has taken over bass duties on The Arsonist, and the album also marks the departure of longtime guitarist Gert Rymen. These lineup changes may have inspired a bit of a change in Deadlock's music, as The Arsonist draws more heavily on the band's groove-oriented and metalcore-influenced side than did past releases. Although the album isn't a radical departure from Deadlock's earlier efforts, I could see it alienating fans that are allergic to chugging riffs and breakdowns.

That being said, tracks like “The Final Storm” and “The Arsonist” are top-quality Deadlock, and the rest of the album is still enjoyable from start to finish. The Arsonist is a definite step down from Bizarro World, but I'm happy to hear that the band is exploring new things... even if the older formula yielded more exciting results.

adg211288 The Arsonist (2013) is the sixth full-length album by German act Deadlock. In the couple of years since the release of Bizarro World (2011) there have been a couple of changes within the band as vocalist Johannes Prem left the band, having performed with them since their 1997 inception. Rather than recruit a new frontman from outside the band bassist John Gahlert switched roles and his bandmate from Fall of Serenity, Ferdinand Rewicki, took over as bassist.

The change in Deadlock goes deeper than a personnel switch though. For the first time since I started listening to them with their album Wolves (2007) I'm presented with an album that cannot be called melodic death metal, the genre which their past work has more or less operated within. It's metalcore the band is producing now. Sure, the band has long also been associated as a metalcore act and included in that scene but to my ears that's always been a grave misconception, and I've been vehemently against Deadlock being mentioned in the same breath as any genuine metalcore act. I can't do that any longer because The Arsonist is at least primarily metalcore album. There are other aspects included in the sound, as always, particularly the female vocal dominate songs move away from metalcore towards more of an alternative sound, but the main focus of the music has seen a definite shift this time around. In fact I'd go so far that there isn't even a trace of the melodic death metal left at this point.

And I just keep asking myself why oh why have they done this? Rewind a few years to Wolves and here was a genuinely interesting melodic death metal act (I don't say that about many melodic death metal acts, for the record). They were able to kick out both intense riffs and beautiful melodies, something with carried over to their vocals between Johannes Prem's growling and Sabine Weniger's (Sabine Scherer, these days) clean singing. They had an underlying progressive quality and weren't afraid to throw in outside influences. On Wolves it was techno sections, which they pulled off. Including a full-on rap/hip-hop section in following album Manifesto (2008) not so much, but their last album Bizarro World was a generally solid affair even though it didn't stand up to their earlier standard. The Arsonist is a decidedly mixed bag of songs as far as the quality goes though.

The album gets off to a poor start with The Great Pretender. A good showcase for their new direction it may be, but it's also one of the weakest songs of a generally poor to mid-range quality bunch along with Darkness Divine. I'm Gone and Dead City Sleepers don't help the album's case much, although I do slightly prefer them due to their more dominate use of Sabine Scherer's singing, which is as beautiful as always, if somehow coming over as being out of place this time around, a problem that I strangely didn't have with the past melodic death metal releases. The title track is where things finally start to take a turn for the better though. It's still not great but showcases that Deadlock still have a bit of that experimental side when we get to hear some electronic elements.

It's As We Come Undone that earns the status of being the first generally good song to appear on the album though. It's quite catchy when Sabine sings the chorus and the more metalcore dominant verse works better than anything heard previously. Hurt, that follows, is also a great track. But at the same time I think it really points out that there are serious flaws within the album when a ballad gets picked out as a highlight. The quality takes another downturn after this though. There's nothing as weak as The Great Pretender again, just more average to good stuff. Final song My Pain combines metal and trance/techno/dance music (not up on this type of stuff to really say more exactly than that) in much the same way that Renegade from the previous album did, although the feel is different. To be honest it is more pop than the earlier track was, and pop is feeling found across the majority of The Arsonist (to be fair though, it's been present in the Deadlock sound for some time), especially on the Sabine led tracks.

Overall this is a disappointing release from Deadlock. It has its moments though so is more of an 'it's OK' release of ups and downs than an outright bad one. The Arsonist is a definite downturn for them though yet at the same time it's still got more going for it than most of the metalcore albums I've listened to. I think that's because deep down Deadlock does still have that bit of variety in them to break the monotony that I get from most releases out of this genre. An above average tier rating is deserved.

59/100

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven: http://metaltube.freeforums.org/deadlock-the-arsonist-t3117.html)

adg211288 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)

J-Man Brutal Romance

"Beauty-and-the-beast" melodic death metal acts seem to be gaining popularity nowadays, and Deadlock is surely among the top of the heap. On this album you'll find excellent melodies, killer riffs, angelic vocals from Sabine Weniger, and brutal death growls from Johannes Prem. There are a few cheesy pop-ish ballads that I could've one without, and a few riffs come across as generic, but that doesn't hide the fact that Bizarro World is an enjoyable, and occasionally excellent, album from Deadlock. Its appeal towards "tr00 deth metl d00ds" is certainly limited - those who despise any mainstream sensibilities in their extreme metal will want to keep a safe distance from Bizarro World. For what it's worth, I've had a great time listening to Deadlock's latest effort over the last week and, although I have a few complaints, it's a largely successful effort that should please their dedicated followers and (hopefully) a whole new legion of fans.

The music here can be considered melodic death metal, which is certainly a warranted tag. There are plenty of downtuned chugging-riffs on Bizarro World accompanied by brutal death growls from Johannes Prem. However, a decent chunk of the album, particularly the title track, "Paranoia Extravaganza", "State Of Decay" and "Alienation", can barely be considered metal at all. During the heavier tracks (which feature both clean and growled vocals), I'm reminded of acts like Engel and especially System Divide (which plays a similar, albeit more "metal", style of melodeath). The music can get a bit formulaic, but it's always enjoyable and filled with highlights like "Brutal Romance" and "Virus Jones". As mentioned, a few riffs can feel a bit "generic", but that may only be due to the terribly weak production. I'm not against polished productions, but this is so overstressed that it actually serves as an obstacle for me. I would really like them to take a rawer approach with the production next time.

Conclusion:

Bizarro World is an impressive and confident album from Deadlock, even though it's marred by an overstressed production and a few uncomfortable transitions. Regardless of its setbacks, this is a great melodeath album that fans of the genre should certainly seek out. Deadlock is certainly among the better "beauty-and-the-beast" bands out there, and this strong effort is worth 3.5 stars. This isn't an album for all of you die-hard Cannibal Corpse fans, but anyone who can appreciate the mainstream and (very) melodic forms of death metal will enjoy this one.

Time Signature You left me dead...

Genre: melodic so-called death metal

Deadlock's music is often described as melodic death metal, and the music is obviously inspired by the Gothenburg-style, but apart from Johannes Presm's growled vocals, there is not a lot of death metal on this album. There are a lot of melodeath traits, but not a lot of death metal, if you know what I mean, and, at times Deadlock remind me more of bands like Engel, Dead By April, and Sonic Syndicate (although Deadlock, like Engel, are lightyears better than especially Dead By April).

The tracks on this album can be divided up into two categories based on the band's two main formulas of writing.

One category consists of aggressive tracks with thrashy and groovy riffs which display technical finess, while maintaining the focus on melody. The verses are typically growled by Johannes Prem, while the choruses are sung melodically by Sabine Weniger. Examples are "Virus Jones", "Falling Skywards", "Earthlings", "Brutal Romance" and, to some extent, "Htrae".

The other category consists of popy and ballady (but sometimes heavy) tracks which are primarily sung by Sabine Weniger (although sprinkled with growls from Johannes Prem). Examples are: State of Decay", "You Left Me Dead", "Renegade" and "Paranoia Extravaganza".

This certainly is not bad music. I especially like the tracks mentioned under the aggressive category as the band really manages to create equilibrium between aggression and melody, but the formulaic aproach makes things a but uninteresting and predictable at times. The soft tracks are fine, too, but I don't think they will appeal to a lot of metalheads to be honest.

I think that fans of melodeath and Göteborg-metal will really like this album, while fans of death metal proper might be able to enjoy it in small doses at the time.