DESERTED FEAR – Veins Of Fire

RELEASE YEAR: 2025

BAND URL: https://www.desertedfear.de/

The German melodic death metal trio really impressed me with their 5th long play (remember that ancient euphemism?) Doomsday²⁰²² album (on Century Media Records) so my review reflected that seemingly out-of-the-blue fantastic record but the quality of the recording fit the mold well. What I mean is that not only is the name Deserted Fear strongly encouraging to a would-be listener but the fact that the band comes from Germany, a country which, with few but significant exceptions such as Kreator, Heaven Shall Burn or, especially lately, Rage, has a history of emulation of trends in metal rather than dictation of new direction. But here they are, taking the genre back to their glory days (yes, Gothenburg) yet not necessarily in the sense of complex guitarwork and highly stratified structures but rather that which every early fan of the genre will admit drew them to At The Gates, Dark Tranquillity, In Flames or later Arch Enemy, Soilwork or even Darkane – immediate catchiness and melodic appeal that forced many one-track-on-a-constant-loop plays (looking at you “Worlds Within The Margin”, “Wings Of Domain”, “Dead Inside”, to use just a few of my personal examples). Indeed, that the aforementioned bands had also amazing guitarists who magically seemed to conjure up one story-telling solo after another, was just icing on the cake for me, for I personally relished and cherished the infectious songwriting and porous luscious melodies. In fact, this is still how you get the highest scores from me – write a memorable track with infectious melody I can’t get out of my head and start subconsciously humming all day and, to borrow from the recently rewatched “Jerry Maquire” motion picture, you have me at hello!

The above affinity is what drew me also to Deserted Fear. Now, while Doomsday was fantastic, it was also a bit one dimensional, whereas the subject of this review, the 6th installment, Veins Of Fire²⁰²⁵ (out on April 17th via Testimony Records) is a lot more diverse, with better melodies and a little bit of influence from progressive metal, all of which make it a better record, overall. True, the trio, which remarkably has remained consistently Manuel Glatter (vocals, rhythm guitars), Fabian Hildebrandt (lead guitars, bass) and Simon Mengs (drums) since the 2007 foundation, has always had melody in their veins (no pun intended), be it on the Demo²⁰¹⁰, F.D.A. Records releases My Empire²⁰¹² and Kingdom Of Worms²⁰¹⁴, Century Media-heralded Dead Shores Rising²⁰¹⁷ and Drowned By Humanity²⁰¹⁹, but, all of those (available for listening and purchase on various bandcamp websites you’ll easily find when you Google them using album names in particular) although very good, in my view would hardly distinguish Deserted Fear (DF) from their peers. It took the aforementioned Doomsday that did the trick and Veins Of Fire which kind of picks up where its predecessor left off and takes it to the next level, is proof positive that they get it, too. So they may have toned down the aggression here and there and sweetened up the melodies to Colony¹⁹⁹⁹ and Clayman²⁰⁰⁰ levels by you know who, but, to these ears, those are both very welcome developments.

Whenever you get to the first video single, “The Truth”, which may be addressing the reality where certain political actors who had always bitched and moaned about the dangers of fake news, have now become the very purveyors thereof in their relentless pursuit of power unchecked by constitutional balanses, whenever you hear that main, hoperiver of righteous anger and perseverance of a melodic chorus recalling In Flames’ “Only For The Weak” you’ll note how DF evolved since Doomsday in ways that you previously thought were uncalled for but now seem so obvious in direction. The verses maybe a bit too safe but that melody is hope incarnate (how about someone names that a Christian metal band?). They rightly chose that for the first video single but, even better decision came with the second one, “Blind” which is just perfect, strongly reminding me of recent October Tide or In Mourning, with that rare animal where every part of the song is memorably melodic, although, lyrically, the song tones down the hopeful rhetoric as if considering despair before deciding against it. I’ve mentioned Clayman in two contexts but Colony is an obvious reference for the fantastic “Storm Of Resistance”, especially in chorus, which leads up to another perfection, “Embrace The Void” both similar in vein, structure and execution to “Blind” and different, while also nodding to Jessie Leach Killswitch Engage stylings a bit, something they make an extensive use later. “Echoes In The Silence”, another perfection, made me aware of how similar DF is stylistically to Kataklysm, but also how unlikely bedfellows, Meshuggah (verses) and Hypocrisy (chorus and transitions) can inform one of the album’s major highlights. It is in the closing title track that the Killswitch Engagesque stylings are prevalent in the same way they also were on Doomsday as if to emphasize the epicry of hope against hope in times of increasing futility of resistance to the impending doom that is coming and may not tarry as much as we all had hoped it would when we had first felt it coming.

Even though Veins is better than Doomsday musically there is, however one aspect that is a cause for concern and almost equalizes the two records, where the predecessor did not have it. As fantastic as “The Truth” is, “At The End Of Our Reign” appears to copy some of its aspects, such as the bridge between the verses and the chorus, and that is evident because I hear the same issue with the very good but not great “Rise And Fight” and its deja vu-inducing brother “We Are One”. No doubt the two are most stricken by the influence of the so called New American Heavy Metal scene commonly lovingly referred to simply as American metalcore stalwarts such as Unearth, Darkest Hour or Trivium, to say here very little of Killswitch Engage, all of which have in their discography examples of hit-followed-by-its-lesser-version which seems to be making Deserted Fear increasingly more comfortable in their craft. As we all know how that could end, I still award this album its well-deserved score howbeit with a note of caution I hope the guys will consider heeding for future endeavors, as that note is a major reason why there is no double six before this review. And, gentlemen, please start putting more thought and color into your covers.