Deride At Top

New album for that Japanese formation and I still don't see anything interesting in their music. Beside their production that is far from being perfect, a singer that simply can't sing and furthermore that is totally impossible to understand a word he says. The songs are row, too row, not much melodies to catch onto, the sounds of every instrument being all in the same place but not forming a whole and instead they most of the time produce something that would be nearer cacophony than it is to music. Let's get one thing clear, the guitar player plays very fast and accurate and yet can be very melodic during the solos, but the songs themselves are flat, without soul and the choirs are as catastrophic as the lead vocal, if not worse. They don't sound original for a bit and it saddens me that almost all signed Japanese bands in the scene sucks that much. You'd better try to get a hold on local (Japan) underground acts or legendary bands than this attempt to copycat straight forward Heavy Metal with awful (to stay polite) prog keyboard breaking your nerves in the back. I'll give the band some points for the guitars that aren't too bad (but everyone knows the Japanese are excellent guitar players); actually guitars can be really excellent on some solos then and there, but the songs themselves are really painful to digest and if I had to quote based on them (ignoring the nice guitars) then Double Dealer would get an ever weaker result. This band sound false from the start to the end... they throw all they can but they cannot construct songs worth listening for as far as I'm concerned. What really worries me is that I read good reviews about the band and was really anticipating something much better than this wanna-be Hard'N'Heavy to the bones with a singer that should better start learning English before trying to sing (one step a the time !). Unless it's just me you might want to try it before you buy, but as far as I'm concerned your money will be much better invested someplace else.