Written: 2nd May 2024
Formed over twenty years ago, progressive death metal band Dååth last released an album in 2010. It was therefore quite a surprise when news about The Deceivers started to filter out. The band’s fourteen-year hiatus has led to significant line-up changes – only guitarist Eyal Levi and vocalist Sean Zatorsky remain from 2010’s self-titled album.
Levi says that the hiatus was not by choice and he actually experienced a sense of loss during the unexpectedly long break. “I kept wanting to get back together. It was tough psychologically.” Working as a producer and engineer, Levi knew the longer he spent doing so, the longer he was away from his guitar. “I would get DMs all the time,” he says. “Whenever I’d do Q&As, at least one person would always ask about Dååth, and the same thing would happen to the other guys from the old lineup. Then I noticed that our streaming numbers were gradually building without us doing anything. I thought it was curious but at that point I had zero interest in ever playing guitar again.” After several years and shaking off his rust from lack of playing, his love for the instrument was reawakened. “Once my playing was starting to sound like me, I started writing and the riffs started to sound like Dååth. At that point, I spoke to Sean, and he told me that he'd been waiting for this phone call for 11 years.”
While The Deceivers maintains the core elements that solidified the band’s place in the heart of fans, there is a significant increase in orchestrations, melody and dark splendour. First track No Rest No End immediately immerses the listener in Dååth’s newly refined soundscape. Beginning quietly with carefully picked arpeggio-based guitar, this is soon joined by additional guitar and eventually the whole band, leading to driving orchestral synths. Then the track explodes as the guitar increases pace and Zatorsky’s first vocals attack with venomous bile. Another violent assembly / Ingress, then respite / On the verge of insanity / Conflicted inside / It is spoken / I have feared because of wrath / All I see is black smoke / Perdition at long last. With a narrative of battling through darkness, facing fears and emerging stronger, No Rest No End is a strong statement of intent from a band that must feel they have something to prove after being away for so long. Rafael Trujillo contributes two of the solos on the song and such was his impact on Levi when he did so, that he was invited to join the band.
Second track Hex Unending further increases the use of haunting orchestral embellishments from new member Jesse Zuretti. Zatorsky sees it as particularly important to the overall flow of The Deceivers. “It’s about reinventing, and carving a new path vocally, physically, and mentally,” explains Sean Z. “This song needed to be front and centre on the record.” With a frenetic pace during the verses and a pummelling vocal delivery during the chorus, Hex Unending creates a dense, atmospheric auditory panorama that is intellectual stimulating as well as viscerally impactful. Layers of sound build upon each other balancing exhilaration and foreboding. Cleanse me / Rid the malignancy / Commence deliverance, severance / From this wretched hex unending / Cleanse me / From this raging black sea / Eradicate this imminent, suffering exodus / From beneath your terror reign.
Ascension’s opening drumming motif signifies much of what is to come: a brutal, groove laden track on with riffs that rain down with unrelenting potency. There are a plethora of guest guitar solos on The Deceivers and one of the best is to be found on Ascension courtesy of Archspire’s Dean Lamb. Following a slower diversion, a dual solo from Levi and Trujillo further the inventiveness that litters the album. With use of aggressive guitars on Ill Desire and high-speed wildness on The Silent Foray, Dååth continue to produce songs of beguiling complexity, the latter featuring a solo from Per Nilsson of Scar Symmetry. As we hit the five-minute mark, the band unleash an ominous section that features static, ambient synths, a more industrial approach and a final barbed lyric. Indifferent to mass deception / Conscience at a forced perspective / The truth is crippling / My worth’s diminishing / The truth is crippling / The curse is living.
There are some moments of exquisite beauty on The Deceivers, the guitar opening of Unwelcome Return being among the most divine. However, this serenity is soon shattered by reverberating horns and heavy orchestral glissandos. New drummer Kerim “Krimh” Lechner makes his presence known throughout the album’s forty-five minutes and some of his most aggressive blast beats and pounding tom work makes Unwelcome Return an unyielding composition. The additional musical elements that contribute to The Deceivers means that while the album does not compromise on its progressive death metal roots, there is interesting variation within many of the songs. Purified By Vengeance, complete with a guitar solo from Periphery’s Mark Holcomb, contains not only belligerent chugging riffs but moments of stripped back melodic space meaning the heavier aspects of the track appear even more ferocious.
The first half of Deserving of the Grave allows new bassist David Marvuglio complete licence to dazzle with his blizzard like salvo of agitating notes. With lyrics (spot the reference to Disney’s Bedknobs and Broomsticks!) describing a powerful entity or force that are both part of and apart from humanity, the track also engages with the concepts of divinity, mortality, apocalyptic visions and the cyclical nature of destruction and rebirth. Transcendent royalty / Mortal as I am / Born of fallibility / Worth a grain of sand / Ripped from the meaning of life / An unbalanced equilibrium / Weak are the pupils of man / In the throes of man. With the band’s progressive leanings to the fore, there are some delightful melodic solos and imposing orchestral chords aplenty to provide some of the most gloriously grandiose moments of the album. Final track Into Forgotten Dirt incorporates a wide range of aspects from the previous eight tracks: extravagant but foreboding synths, hammering riffs, intelligently structured solos, and deadly gutturals from Sean Z, the album ending on the stroke of his final lyric. Breathe me in and spit me out / Death is trust and life is doubt / What is worth without struggle / There’s no purpose without sentience above the ground.
With The Deceivers, the band will challenge listeners, particularly those who may need to find peace with the increase in the orchestration and melody. However, Dååth’s lengthy hiatus has rekindled the desire to produce something special and on their own terms. “We're doing all those things that I felt were missing in the past,” Levi explains. “Knowing that vision upfront, it made it very easy to choose new band members who were already doing that sort of thing.” With a clear ethos in mind and with a new line-up in place, the band have undoubtedly achieved their aim. The album lingers, echoing in the recesses of the mind, a testament to the both the band’s evolution and their enduring legacy.
The Deceivers is released on May 3rd 2024 on Metal Blade Records
Visit: https://daathofficial.com