Believe it or not, although it's the first one I'm writing about, this is actually the third Deceased CD I've found in a bargain bin just this year (I was about to say ever, but I just remembered I paid $2 for my copy of As the Weird Travel On many, many years ago, on a distant shore).
This was a fantastic score in itself, but I have mixed feelings about the actual album. Deceased, from their second demo through 13 Frightened Souls, is some of my favorite death metal ever. Not just in a hyperbolic special-to-me way, either. If someone asks my favorite death metal albums, Luck of the Corpse is right in there with Seven Churches, Left Hand Path, etc. I like Fearless Undead Machines for its thrashiness, and I came to appreciate Supernatural Addiction, but aside from covers and some individual songs, later Deceased has always lost me a bit. Nothing they've released is terrible, and they haven't changed in the same way that makes me drop out with most bands, but I think they lost something special. I know mourning the lack of traditional heavy metal influences in Deceased seems very odd considering their current sound, but one of the things that was so special to me was the integration of real heavy metal sensibilities into actual death metal--I remember hearing "Psychedelic Warriors" for the first time, and being reminded of a crazy death metal version of "Doomed by the Living Dead!" The new stuff is fine, but it feels more or less like a lot of old school influences and more melodic stuff beefed up, rather than SICK THRASH. Considering the time period, I always wondered if some of King's more straightforward HM influences in writing were getting diverted to October 31 and whether it affected the band a little.
For whatever reason, I didn't buy this album when it was released. It certainly wasn't because of low expectations, because the first song I ever heard from the album was "Midnight," (off the UHF/VHF comp.) which I loved--still my favorite track. I finally got it when reissues came out, and I thought it was okay, but I didn't love it. Now revisiting it, it's grown on me a bit, but I see it more as an album with a couple good songs on it than a great album overall. I wouldn't call this generic by any means, but this is the one Deceased release that feels the most like "typical" '90s death metal. It's never going to match the debut for me, but I even prefer the succeeding two albums a little bit. This also marks when they started to get a lot more cerebral with the horror themes, which obviously has continued to this day. And despite any fan criticisms I have, let's be realistic in context--for a two buck score, this is great.
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