Deranged - The Red Light Murder Case
Regain Records - RR139 - 25 February 2008
By Paddy Walsh
Blood-spattered brutal death is served up through the Swedish veterans' 7th (and final) offering. When a death metal band keeps things simple, with the focus on songwriting over noticeable progression, or bludgeon over technical wizardry, the results can still be devastating, even in 2008 -
Dead Congregation proved that. Many bands have even resorted to reducing their art to
Malmsteen-like acts of sonic masturbation in an attempt to deflect attention away from the fact that they're incapable of writing a memorable riff (see recent
Cryptopsy).
Deranged have no such illusions of grandeur, and it's thus left to the actual material to impress. The
Red Light Murder Case has its hemorhraging heart in the right place, but unfortunately falls below the mark in a few respects.
As 'Watch Me When I Kell' kicks off, it becomes apparent that this bad boy won't be featuring any
Nile-inspired brass sections. Rather,
Deranged serve up a straight-ahead, no frills barrage in the vein of
Cannibal Corpse with touches of
Slayer in the mix. An attempt at a concept of sorts (a guy who muders prostitutes or something...enthralling i'm sure) is there, although it's hard to see the point in a genre as openly bone-headed as brutal death. A somewhat clinical production nullifies their attempt to thematically diversify, unfortunately, and any atmosphere which they may have conjured otherwise is lost. The relentless bludgeon also fails to hold the attention for the duration, with many of the songs seemingly interchangeable. 'Murderess' proves an exception, with a satisfying groove invoked that finally gives the listener something to get their teeth into, whilst 'The Killer Wore Black Gloves' has a slow-burning chug that successfully taps into a menacing atmosphere that's otherwise lacking.
The requisite growls are quite blandly executed , i.e. they remain in guttural autopilot throughout. Why do death metal vocalists think that just because they can do a good cookie monster impression that it automatically converys an angry/aggressive emotional extreme? It doesn't, and growling needs to be considered an art as much as any other vocal style. Seriously. As I can assure that it's a part of what separates the
Morbid Angels from the
Hate Eternals in this world. So
Deranged end a 15 year career with an adequate but wholly unremarkable brutal death metal platter. It's decent, but it's bog standard and one strictly for the
Cannabal Corpse afficionados. Still, it's not woeful by any means, yet simply can't compare with the likes of say,
Dismember or
Severe Torture in the 'simple but effective' stakes for 2008.
Official Deranged Website
Official Deranged MySpace
Official Regain Records Website
