Deadlock resides from Germany and became a rising star in the metal firmament the last few years. With their second full-length album called Wolves, they surprised both friend and foe. So it’s not weird that I’m very curious about their latest addition to their discography. Which is maybe the album that pushes them further up the ladder.

 

Manifesto is the name of the latest Deadlock disc and it starts with a techno intro. Of course not many people are fond of that and with Enter Shikari in the back of my mind I’m very curious to where this album is heading to. But to be honest, during the intro I’m already adjusting my opinion. Why? Very simple, the intro contains a certain intensity that reminds me of the soundtrack for the Blade movie which was made by New Order. Luckily, after this it’s over with the techno shit and the keys are only used to give support to the music itself.

 

The brutal song ‘Martyr To Science’, which is in fact the first song of the album, gives the strong points of Deadlock immediately away. After a brutal begin, some female vocals kick in together with some keys for the chorus. But when the chorus ends, the brutal vocals are also back. This mixing of those two vocals gives the album a great musical twist and makes it both a brutal album with melodical influences and a melodical album with brutal influences. Especially the single ‘The Brave / Agony Applause’ is a great example of this.

 

The greatest thing about this album is the fact that every song has a face of its own and still the entire album sounds like Deadlock. Sometimes it’s almost a metalcore song that’s blasting through the speakers and two songs later the music shows some great influences of power metal or even some raps, like in the song ‘Deathrace’.

 

In the end my guess is that this album will push Deadlock up the ladder of metal. They’ve created a great album with a diverse spectra of influences without losing their own sound. Add to this the great vocal performances of both Sabine Weniger and Johannes Prem and you’ll have an album that has a great chance of ending up in my yearlist.