Deadlock(Austria)

So I’m sure we’ve all heard about Deadlock the female fronted German band. Fantastic band and I will feature it one of these days. However, the Deadlock I’m featuring today is a split-up melodic death metal band from Austria. Deadlock was formed in 1997 after the death of yet another band by the same name. Whether these two events are related I’m not sure but what I know is that there have been three bands to date by the name.
So, why feature a split-up band? Should I be drawn and peeled right now for wasting your time? Am I sleeping with the lead singer’s girlfriend and hopping to guilt him out of a crime of passion? I promise you that if by the end of this article you still think nothing of this band, I will move to a small town somewhere in the Riftvalley and spend the rest of my life as that guy in novels who “lives alone on the hill’ and “doesn’t come into town much”.

So, back to deadlock; besides the fact that this is a dead band; deadlock only has four songs in one official album released in 2002 and two from the demo. Only six songs total. Six songs that made quite an impression on me. I am a sucker for good instrumentals: clear bass, flowing double kicks, melodic lead and a nice rich rhythm guitar. In this aspect deadlock is like good wine- which of course I’d know nothing about. The 400/= bottle of Mar Del Ser I keep handy for cold mornings isn’t exactly ‘French Château’- but I hear good wine satisfies every element of the palette.

In this band’s short life it managed to achieve a sound that rivals any present day death metal band. Their drums will make your blood rush and make you want to do a good head spin or make some passionate rhythmic bows. The ‘rushing heartbeat’ doubles create a suspense that is balanced by a characteristic loud snare which I feel might be a little louder than it should be. Bass is clear and heavy, though a little simple. Rhythm is constant and laid back not muffling the entire performance like I have found some reputable bands to do sometimes.

In some of their songs, the lead takes a somewhat rhythmic role graduating into a melodic solo towards the end but in songs like veteran and Uznik, the lead guitar has a sweet clear melody.

If I could describe the vocals by comparison, I’d say Mark Jansen’s (epica) raspy grunt meets Asis Nasseri’s (Haggard) deep growl. Yeah, that’s pretty much it for the vocals.

On to the lyrics. Good vocals and instrumentals are all well and tidy but they mean very little if accompanied by mediocre lyrics and themes. Deadlock lyrics like most other bands from the Germanic region are quite impressive in their own respect. Themes are generally socio-political often commentaries on war and social decay. I want to say maybe some kind of ‘post-Nazi-backlash’ but I will not… what? I said what? I did no such thing. Who is this n-aats-ee you speak of?

Their lyrics seem to be the reflections of a resentful soldier or veteran tormented by his deeds in a past war:
“…digging the trenches we were digging our graves
Thoughts of great heroes made us feel safe
We were immortal and famous for years
But we were wrong it ended in tears

I should have died before
To not see this horror
What are we fighting for?
Whom do we follow?....”

It’s an alright band and all there songs are available free for download from their website here.

Members:
Sergei Bostandjan- Vocals and guitar
Markus keller-Guitar
Johannes Hug- Bass
Andreas Uko- Drums

Albums:
A demo in 2000
Veteran- 2002

This is an example of something really good dying young. It’s a shame. I wish this band would have lived on. I’ve had fruitless endeavors to trace the members see if they might have reincarnated as something different but maybe someone reading these may know something. If you do, hit me at lordavone@yahoo.com and/or prince2806@aol.com or leave something on the group wall (The Watcher) on facebook.

NEXT WEEK:
“This ending”
Fans of Amon Amarth might be interested in this one.

Heavy week!!!