Review artwork for Deranged - Obscenities In B-Flat

Rating: 8.6

Country: Sweden

Release Date: 2006

Track list:
1. Long Live The New Flesh
2. I Torture, Rape, Cum And Kill
3. Crawl With Me Through The Filth
4. Coven Of Death
5. Deflower The Dead
6. Bodyfluids From Unknown Source
7. Alive Swarming With Flies
8. Pray On The Weak
9. Dead In A Ditch

Band Website: Deranged

Deranged - Obscenities In B-Flat

Rikard Wermen - Drums
Johan Axelsson - Guitar, Bass
Calle Faldt - Vocals

Four long years it took Deranged to release a follow up to their clinically savage album Plainfield Cemetery. Oh how I waited for the return of the beloved death metal masters, like a dog looking up at the door with his big doleful eyes while sitting outside on the doormat of his master who had gone out for a prolonged vacation forgetting all about him. A devout fan of Deranged, electric currents traversed my body with a cackling sound just after the first notes of their new album Obscenities In B-Flat rung the lobes of my severely parched ears. Topmost quality is synonymous with Deranged and that is what I heard and expected, for knowing Deranged, it can do no wrong. After a bout of twitching and moaning, I finally awoke from the comatose induced by the brutal albums released in the meantime, automatically initiating the revitalisation process as I gradually devoured whatever the apologetic master had put generously on my shiny round platter upon his homecoming.

A vast chasm formed in my mind as I contemplated comparisons of Deranged with other brutal death metal bands. I realised it would be best to compare the music on Obscenities In B-Flat with its previous albums, as having established such a formidable sound over the years Deranged only needs to compete with itself. Concerning their previous output Plainfield Cemetery, Deranged adopted a more serious, objective and detached approach, distancing themselves from their sloshy gore-drenched maniacal fun approach as employed on III and Deranged and also estranging their genial and instantly likeable monster of a vocalist Johan Anderberg in the process. The resulting output as heard on Plainfield Cemetery sounded like a pissed off automated contraption, developed to be faster and tighter than ever before, but also turning it into an unremitting and insentient being. It didn't help the fact that it was anyway a tedious and repetitious album, salvaged mainly by their razor-sharp hooks, catchy riffs and extreme agility. Expectedly, its successor Obscenities In B-Flat, is designed on the same Plainfield Cemetery platform, but discernible efforts have been made by Deranged to rectify their earlier mistakes and also do something extra to make up for it, like the latest version of some successful software that has fixed not only the major bugs, but has also added a host of new features that would appeal to the first timers as well as pacify the experts and the regular users.

Obscenities In Flat B is probably the most accessible Deranged album till date. It is not necessarily a bad thing, a testament to that being the fact that it is by far the superior album in comparison with Plainfield Cemetery. While it shares the same elements, calculated restraint has been enforced here. As if under budget, every activity of Deranged has been come under the scanner, lest they splurge unnecessarily and scare off the timid listeners. You no longer have to suffer the monotonous hammering while you wait for the cool parts; apparently, painstaking efforts have been taken to ensure that each and every song provides you with at least one, and that you unfailingly notice it. There are thus significantly lesser fillers. Also in an attempt to make their music more sustainable, they have reintroduced the positive elements of the Johan Anderberg-era Deranged. Like for instance, Calle Faldt with his inflated hoarse vocals sounds closer to Johan Anderberg here, providing a warm and well-shaped cushion that helps a good deal given their clinical treatment. The drumming is adroit as ever, the bass when heard is sumptuous, and the riffs have a runny piercing sound akin to Anasarca. The choicest riffs are used in Obscenities In Flat B; ones that are a lot more distinct and punchy, retaining the peculiarities of Deranged yet managing to sound relatively fresh. Production is nearly perfect; it has a bit of gentility you can say, allowing the music to have its utmost effect on you and not be needlessly coercive.

Basically, Deranged is in form here. Their fans will know what I mean, and what I mean is that the movement of Deranged's strings and sticks will have an inexorable effect on your physical movements. They will be tenuously and inextricably linked to each other, just like a marionette whose head and limb motions are completely controlled by their puppeteer, Deranged. You will invariably move when Deranged wants you to move, and exactly the way Deranged wants you to move. Deranged will become your director and you, its underdressed dancer. And when it orders the movement of your protruding body parts, there won't be lackadaisical mechanical movements, but ones that are executed with great momentum and sway, often exaggerated. In the climactic moments you will even seem to be overreacting as dramatically as a football player to the inexperienced eyes. Its shrill and raucous Slayer-inspired leads will give you an alarming sensation familiar to the one you get when your nipples are twisted way beyond their turning ability. Its Hellraiser hooks will get themselves firmly entrenched in your flesh and upon their pull/push command, your bulbous head will shake vigorously like that of a big cloth doll whose body has been grabbed by both hands belonging to the doll owner's brother who's jerking it frenziedly.

There is little doubt about Obscenities In B-Flat being one of the best albums of 2006. With already another album in the works, considering the direction in which Deranged is trudging with its newfound keenness to adapt and improvise, I'm telling you, the comatose patients, nay, the fucking dead [that have committed suicide due to their disillusionment of the sub-genre's progression] will rise up from their graves.

November 7th, 2006