Fractured Mind

Deviated Presence play a ridiculously complex kind of progressive/technical/melodic (death) metal. Imagine a lo-fi version of Opeth with the weirdness and complexity turned up to 11. They too have songs in the 6 to 12 minute range, use a mix of growls and clean singing and incorporate acoustic guitars for enhanced mood. But where Opeth uses a Dream Theater-like, acessible progressive approach, Deviated Presence are more of the Sieges Even (Album Life Cycle) or Watchtower type. Rhythmically and harmonically adventurous, with frequent breaks and little repitition.

The album changes in intensity continuously from blast beats and growls to acoustic guitars and clean singing. Overall, the melodies tend to be rather melancholic, but are very frequently broken up in odd but ever new ways. There might for example be a sudden major chord, a harsh dissonance, or a sweeping trill for effect. It's impossible to cover the range of melodic variation here, because there's just so much of it, crammed in tightly in these songs, with little repitition.

The clean vocals are another melodic layer and closely interact with the guitar lines. Compared to traditional blues and rock music, the roles tend to be reversed: The vocals set the core melody, while the guitars wander off, set accents and join again. Sometimes there are two vocal lines for a choir-like effect, but luckily this is not overused. However, it seem like Felix (vocals, guitar, main composer) is not all that comfortable or experienced with vocals, because at times he sounds rather forced and strained, trying (but achieving!) to keep pitch and rhythm, at the cost of a naturally flowing phrasing.

Rhythmically, the songs are just as unconventional and filled with highly complex variations. I'd say the drums are doing odd syncopated off-beat things about a third of the time, which makes it at times hard to discern the base beat. There are oddly grouped bass drum patterns, quick drum rolls to keep up with the ever changing time signatures, and plenty of cymbal accents which are closely related to the guitar lines, often playing a "question-answer" game. It seems like the band set out to never include a single standard beat. In comparison, the bass guitar seems somewhat neglected, being farily low in the mix and serving purely as a harmonic support for the guitars and vocals. But maybe that's for the better, because it's already hard enough to follow the harmonies as they are.

The important question with any such musically advanced album is whether it's just a wank fest and complex for the sake of it, or if all of these ideas are actually serving a musical, that is, emotional purpose. After many, many listens, I tend to judge it as the latter, because of the close interaction of the melodies and rhythm, which create a very rapidly transforming, but often intense atmosphere. But I'm also sure that at least some of the instrumental wizardry is there just because they could, and because they wanted to.

As for the production, there isn't much so say. It's ok and works. The album was self-recorded from 2007 to 2008 (according to the liner notes), and consindering that, it's impressively good. There is a slight lo-fi charm to it, compared to professionally recorded music, but all instruments are clear and well-balanced in the mix.

Your auditory attention span and the will to repeadly listen very attentively will probably determine whether you'll even get a chance of liking this. At a length of 80 minutes this album is absolute excessive compository madness. Both me and some friends found it harder to follow than most technical death metal (e.g. Atheist, Necrophagist, Cryptopsy, First Fragment). But if you do find your way into it, you are rewarded with beautifully arranged melodies and a near unparalleled density of musical ideas. Deviated Presence shouldn't be this obscure.