DEATHROW

In some ways "Life Beyond" continues the technical thrash metal style of the predecessor but in other ways it´s a slightly less technical and less challenging release. Some of the riffs and rhythms are more straight forward German thrash metal riffs, but at the end of the day "Life Beyond" still qualifies to the tagged a technical thrash metal release. The vocals by Milo are predominantly shouted, raw, and staccato delivered, but he occasionally (very rarely actually) adds melodic singing to the tracks. It´s obvious he isn´t an educated singer, and he sometimes sounds a little strained and even a little out of breath. With a little vocal training I´m sure the results would have been a more satisfying listen, because as it is, the vocals are definitely the weak link of the music.

The tracks are relatively challenging in structure and technically complex, and there are some pretty interesting musical ideas on the album. Overall the songs aren´t memorable enough though and the monotone powerless vocals definitely doesn´t help on that impression. "Life Beyond" is well produced and other than the vocals the album features high level musicianship on all posts. I´m not sure I find the stiff drumming that great, but there´s nothing wrong with the technical level of playing. Drummer Markus Hahn just doesn´t have a groove and the transitions and changes in the music don´t flow and often become a little abrupt and awkward. Upon conclusion "Life Beyond" is quality wise a pretty standard German thrash metal album with an added technical edge, and those who looked forward to listening to "Deception Ignored (1988)" number 2 will probably be disappointed. A 3 - 3.5 star (65%) rating is warranted.

(Originally posted on Metal Music Archives).

I don´t know if it´s the addition of Osterlehner to the lineup or if it was just a desire to evolve and change their sound, but "Deception Ignored" sounds vastly different from the two thrash/speed metal albums which preceded it. Deathrow have opted for a much more technical oriented thrash metal style on "Deception Ignored", and the tracks are generally pretty complex in structure featuring many different sections. Other than the slight German accent of lead vocalist/bassist Milo, it´s not audible that this is a German thrash metal band playing at all. The music has a distinct US feel to it, and is closer in style to US technical thrash/speed metal acts like Realm, Toxik, and Watchtower, than to contemporary German thrash metal artists like Kreator and Sodom. So it´s safe to say the development between "Raging Steel (1987)" and "Deception Ignored" has been very significant. Actually to an extent where it could have been two completely different artists recording the two albums (not completely unlike the major difference in style and sound between "Dreamweaver (Reflections of Our Yesterdays) (1989)" and "Mourning Has Broken (1991)" by contemporary UK thrash/speed metal act Sabbat).

Deathrow are an exceptionally well playing band and the level of technical playing is generally very high on "Deception Ignored". It is the kind of album where your jaw drops a few times during the playing time, because of the dexterity and skill on display. The tracks also feature some very creative songwriting ideas and unconventional twists and turns, which make "Deception Ignored" an intriguing listen throughout. Milo´s vocals are however in part pretty standard raw thrash metal shouting and nothing out of the ordinary for the genre. He gets the job done, but more interesting or distinct sounding vocals could arguably have made the album better, and the thrash metal type vocals end up being one of the weak links of the album. He occasionally sings more high pitched power/progressive metal type vocals, and he shines more when performing those. An example of that vocal style is heard on "Narcotic", where the vocals are more impressive. Another slight weakness is the catchiness of the songwriting. Technical playing and complex song structures are great and all, but more catchy moments and a higher memorability factor of the tracks could also have made the album stronger.

Pointing out a couple of weaker features on "Deception Ignored" (and mind you neither the catchiness of the songwriting nor the thrash style vocals are major issues), does not make it a bad quality album by any means though. It is widely regarded a technical thrash metal classic for a reason and it is a high quality album in almost all other departments possible and pretty much a one-of-a-kind release on the contemporary German scene (yeah I know there are other technical German thrash metal acts from that time like Sieges Even and Mekong Delta, but to my ears Deathrow were still a pretty unique case). "Deception Ignored" is nothing less than a mandatory listen for fans of technical 80s thrash metal. A 4 - 4.5 star (85%) rating is deserved.

(Originally posted on Metal Music Archives)

The music on the album is thrash metal with a slight technical touch. The band are very well playing and especially some of the guitar solo work is excellent. The songs are well composed but not entirely without the sometimes awkward shifts in rythm and tempo that charachterizes much eighties thrash metal. The vocals are the low point of the album. Raw but not really aggressive or very convincing. There are a few shots at singing clean vocals on the album too, and that works pretty well.

The production is better than the production on the debut album and this actually counts for all features on "Raging Steel". The songwriting is better, the musicianship is better, and as mentioned above the production is also better than on the debut. So far so good.

Still listening to the album today, it does sound awfully dated and the hybrid thrash metal style ( German thrash metal/ US thrash metal) that Deathrow practices, while being more sophisticated than the more raw style of many of their contemporaries, isn´t always that rewarding. I´d call "Raging Steel" a pretty good German thrash metal album anyways though, and a 3 star rating is deserved. I´d recommend the album to fans of German thrash metal with a technical and at times melodic twist.

The album has a rather interesting release history as the original cover artwork was banned. Therefore the second pressing of the album features a completely different artwork. But not only that. The band also changed the title of the album from "Satan's Gift" to "Riders of Doom". As far as I know the tracklist is the same for both versions.

The music on the album is thrash metal with clear nods toward the teutonic triumvirate of Sodom, Kreator and Destruction. So no surprises there. What is surprising, is that there are also some clear references to American thrash metal acts like Metallica ( around "Ride the Lightning (1984)") and Slayer ( listen to "Riders of Doom" and tell me that song doesn't sound almost exactly like "Black Magic" by Slayer) and even some melodic traits that reminds me of an act like Iron Maiden. It's a bit unusual to hear a German thrash metal act from those days producing an album this sophisticated, but of course if you know Deathrow's recording history it's not that strange. They would go on to produce much more technical and sophisticated thrash metal albums later on in their career. But the style here on "Satan's Gift", while generally more sophisticated than the more raw and simple style of their contemporaries, is still rather old school.

"Satan's Gift" is a promising debut album by Deathrow, but it's not perfect by any means. The too obvious influences and the rather bad production are issues that drag my rating down. Still a 2.5 - 3 star rating is deserved.