DECEASED — Ghostly White (review)

DECEASED — Ghostly White album cover Album · 2018 · Death Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
UMUR
"Ghostly White" is the eighth full-length studio album by US metal act Deceased. The album was released through Hells Headbangers Records in November 2018. It´s the successor to "Surreal Overdose" from 2011 and features one lineup change since the predecessor as drummer Dave Castillo has returned to the fold, and Kingsley Fowley therefore only performs vocals on this album.

Stylistically the material on "Ghostly White" is unmistakably the sound of Deceased as they have pretty much sounded since the release of the band´s third full-length studio album "Fearless Undead Machines" (1997). It´s a relatively unique combination of traditional heavy metal/speed metal, but with an added thrash metal/death metal extremity edge. Fowley for example is firmly placed in the latter camp, with his raw shouting and at times semi-growling vocals, but much of the instrumental part of the music belongs in the former camp, albeit a filthy, loud, and extreme version of it. Deceased are quite sophisticated songwriters though, and there are loads of melodic guitar leads on the album, and the riffs are both powerful and well thought out. Samples and occasional use of female vocals and eerie spoken word sections only add to the ominous mood of the release.

"Ghostly White" features the usual horror story lyrics and Fowley is as always a great storyteller. The type of presenter that you really want to listen to telling a story. "Ghostly White" reeks of occult darkness and horror, and the raw and organic sounding production further enhances the gloomy atmosphere. It´s a timeless production job, and if you didn´t know it, you wouldn´t necessarily have guessed that "Ghostly White" was recorded in 2018. It could just as well have been recorded in the 80s or in the 90s. The tracks are generally pretty long (most of them around 6 minutes long), which isn´t unusual for Deceased, but it is afer all a bit unusual to see that they have composed a track as long as "Germ of Distorted Lore", which features a playing time of 13:20 minutes. The track itself ins´t particularly different from the remaining tracks though...just longer.

Other than the strong songwriting and well sounding production, one of the great strengths of Deceased has always been their high level musicianship, and "Ghostly White" is no different from the preceding releases when it comes to that. The drumming is organic and powerful, the guitars creative and sharp, and while Fowley does have a tendency to be a little one-dimensional, he is still a greatly charming frontman with a unique approach to singing. Upon conclusion "Ghostly White" is another high quality hybrid trad/speed/thrash/death metal release by Deceased, showing no signs of rust or lack of inspiration, which are always the danger signs to look for on releases by artists who have been active as long as Deceased have. A 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.
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