Returning progressive death metal collective DÅÅTH are excited to unleash their latest single, “Ascension,” and an accompanying video. “Ascension” also features a guest guitar solo from Dean Lamb (Archspire). The track comes off their forthcoming full-length (and first new studio output in fourteen years), The Deceivers, set for release on May 3rd via Metal Blade Records.
The band’s return has been surrounded by excitement from enthusiastic fans, though founder/guitarist Eyal Levi admits that the hiatus wasn’t by choice. “I kept wanting to get back together. It was tough psychologically.” But Levi kept himself busy working in studios for other bands (Chelsea Grin, The Contortionist), honing his production and engineering skills. He later co-founded Unstoppable Recording Machine, a school that teaches metal music production, and its sister company, Riffhard, that specializes in metal guitar instruction. Both became Levi’s primary focus for a number of years, but folks never stopped asking him asking the status of DÅÅTH. Interest never waned.
When the pandemic lockdowns and an injury stunted Levi’s ability to work out, he needed an outlet for his energy and decided to pick up his guitar again. After shaking off years of rust, his love for the instrument reawakened. “Once my playing was starting to sound like me, I started writing and the riffs started to sound like DÅÅTH,” Levi says. “At that point, I spoke to [vocalist] Sean [Zatorsky], and he told me that he’d been waiting for this phone call for eleven years.”
The Deceivers is at once a devastating reminder and giant leap forward that showcases the technical wizardry and brutal intensity that the Atlanta, Georgia-bred band is capable of. Levi has overseen an overhaul of the lineup. Together with force-of-nature vocalist Zatorsky, who has fronted the band since 2007, they are now joined by Kerim “Krimh” Lechner (Septicflesh, ex-Decapitated) on drums, Jesse Zuretti (The Binary Code) on orchestration and guitar, Rafael Trujillo (ex-Obscura) on lead guitar, and David Marvuglio (ex-Ice Nine Kills) on bass.
The nine tracks comprising The Deceivers are monstrously heavy but beautifully orchestrated, blessed with melodies that will haunt anybody fortunate enough to hear them. The album title is the continuation of a theme that began with 2007’s The Hinderers and continued with 2009’s The Concealers. “Those titles are about the outside world,” Levi says. “They’re not about us. While they touch on self-destruction and self-deception, we all occasionally fall victim to, this album is a scathing critique and exploration of certain societal elements. The deceivers and obstructors in life. Those who impede your progress through subterfuge and manipulation.”
The latest single, “Ascension,” explores mindless conformity and how easily one can fall victim to coercion. From the first hit of the drum opening, the song is a powerhouse that delivers a journey through larger-than-life orchestrations fused with flattening metal devastation. “This song is a beast. Riffs for days, brutality and groove, there are soaring solos all over the place,” says Levi, “plus, it’s peppered with parallel universe Danny Elfman moments.”
Adds Zuretti. “Rarely is it true to be taken on a ride with music; let ‘Ascension’ prove its validity by guiding you through warping passages, orchestral fidelity, uncommonly creative musicianship, and uncontested power. ‘Ascension’ is the year’s mindfuck, carrying the listener from different realms of musical identity, showcasing talent to points that’ll make you think it’s otherworldly. Of all of the tracks you’ll hear in 2024, this will be one you’ll be revisiting the most whilst scratching your head in disbelief.”
The Deceivers was produced by Levi, with Andrew Wade handling vocal production, John Douglass engineering, Jens Bogren mixing, and Tony Lindgren mastering. Guest guitar solos are contributed across numerous tracks by Dan Sugarman (Ice Nine Kills), Jeff Loomis (Nevermore, Arch Enemy), Mark Holcomb (Periphery), Dean Lamb (Archspire), Per Nilsson, (Scar Symmetry, Meshuggah), and Spiro Dussias (Platonist), with renowned video game composer Mick Gordon (Doom Eternal) contributing sound design and synth to “Purified By Vengeance.”
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DÅÅTH began their journey in 1999 and stayed busy for just over a decade before its 2011 hiatus. In that time, the band released four studio albums — Futility in 2004, The Hinderers in 2007, The Concealers in 2009, and their self-titled LP in 2010. Tours with Slayer, Nile, Cattle Decapitation, Dark Funeral, Cynic, Dragonforce, Goatwhore, Chimaira, Dying Fetus, and Devildriver followed. DÅÅTH also landed a coveted spot on Ozzfest playing before tens of thousands of fans in outdoor amphitheaters across the US, in addition to the infamous and long-running metal tour Summer Slaughter.
After twelve years on hiatus, DÅÅTH found their ideal new home at Metal Blade, signing to the label and wasting no time creating new music, cover songs (Death’s “The Philosopher” and Morbid Angel’s “Where the Slime Live”) and reissuing previous albums. The first new song from the revitalized DÅÅTH, “No Rest No End” (released ahead of the album in February 2023), features guest solos by Spiro Dussias and now-DÅÅTH member Trujillo, who impressed Levi so much while guesting on the track that he was invited to join the band.
