Great Deceiver

Look, ex-At the Gates singer Tomas Lindberg has a good scream about him, but just because he’s in a band doesn’t mean it’s gonna be good. Having said that, the Great Deceiver are awesome (well, the first EP put me to sleep, but since then…). This second full-length continues along the lines of the band’s last, with great results. These songs are layered and structured with an amount of smarts not usually found within the realm of such heavy sounds. The addition of all those fancy guitar and vocal effects aren’t going to make anything good (indeed, they could hinder), but they just add to the overall experience here. And Lindberg does scream like he means it, propelling the whole thing along with a sense of emotion and urgency that gels nicely with the near-industrial/new wave/man, I don’t know sounds swirling around and enveloping him. A satisfying listen.