Band:	Deadlock
Album:	Earth.Revolt
Style:	Melodic death metal
Release date:	June 2005

01. Demonic (Tonus Dibolus)
02. 10,000 Generations In Blood
03. The Year Of The Crow
04. Everlasting Pain
05. Earth.Revolt
06. More Tragedies To Come
07. Awakened By Sirens
08. Kingdom Of The Dead
09. May Angels Come
10. Harmonic

Deadlock... With such a name, I was expecting some random metalcore band sneaking in to take advantage of the hype created by the metal media. Once again (as always, should I say), I couldn't have been farther from truth. Metalcore it is not at all. Listening to Earth.Revolt, the names of Dimmu Borgir, Dark Tranquillity, In Flames and their likes pop in. And far from merely ripping off their famous predecessors, our dear Germans intelligently manage to add a very personal touch to their music and succeed against all odds in developing their own sound.

Earth.Revolt starts off with a short and emphatic symphonic intro, before the epic "10,000 Generations In Blood" displays all the composing talent of the band. This song is very representative of Deadlock. It shows a great sense of melody melted with almost thrashy riffs and death metal atmospheres. The structure is quite complex, full of breaks and solos, with the orchestrations stepping in appropriately and only when needed. Plus the very atmospheric ending really brings a new light on this song, feelings of nostalgia and longing for better times. This is clearly not a band that wants to bury their lack of creativity under a pile of unnecessary samples and effects. Thus they avoid watering down the effect of their music and keep things flowing naturally from one acoustic break to the other. I find this approach similar to the Andorran band Persephone for example.

As usual, they can't avoid a few forgivable mistakes. For example some songs won't leave any imprint on your memory, as they are nothing but simply common (thinking about "The Year Of The Crow"). Sometimes the acoustic passages are a bit awkward and give an impression of cheesiness that could probably have been avoided. Last but not least, the female vocals. Sabine Weniger has a nice, soft, beautiful voice that makes a difference compared to the usual classical/operatic vocals. She's a good singer, unfortunately she has a tendency to go a bit overboard, like at the end of "Awakened By Sirens" when you find yourself pointing a threatening finger at your cd player and screaming "Will you just shut up??" Her vocals eventually become irritating and almost unbearable. I'm quite happy she's not in too often.

Otherwise, melodic songs with Dimmu-like orchestrations such as "Earth.Revolt" or the other epic "May Angels Come" go along with the atmospheric acoustic closer "Harmonic" or straighter tracks that are almost rid of any keyboards and privilege melodeath riffs and the good and harsh vocals of Johannes Prem. "Kingdom Of The Dead" will undoubtedly please all the fans of Mors Principium Est, Eternal Tears Of Sorrow or the latest Dark Tranquillity. In other words, this album is an interesting mix of genres, as it gathers equally from black, (melodic/Gothenburg) death, thrash, symphonic, heavy and power metal, but without being "too much" if you know what I mean.

Let's add that the production is simply brilliant. Finally somebody understands that you don't need to hide the guitars behind the keys to record a melodic album. I can only praise Deadlock and their producer for that. That's also what you should do. Earth.Revolt is the kind of album that can live up to the expectations of any metal fan, no matter your favourite genre. This is overall a great surprise.

Highlights: 10,000 Generations In Blood, Earth.Revolt (check it out on MS August compilation!!!), Kingdom Of The Dead