ALBUM REVIEW: Deuterium – Blindead 23
Don’t call it a comeback? For two decades, BLINDEAD were a force to be reckoned with in the Polish sludge and post-metal scenes. The band released six albums in fifteen years before finally calling time in 2019. From the ashes, guitarist Mateusz Śmierzchalski (also a one-time member of BEHEMOTH) formed BLINDEAD 23: a successor project with a new line-up, honouring the BLINDEAD back-catalogue whilst also producing new material. Live performances in Poland in 2023 built a groundswell of fandom and expectation, and ultimately, a long wait for this debut record, Deuterium.
The good news is that the wait appears to have paid off. This new incarnation of BLINDEAD 23 feels like a proper evolution of their aggressive post-metal sound. The opening salvo of Immersion I alternates between gnarly, heavy verses of thunderous toms and harsh growls, and a pummelling riff with a fist-in-the-air harmonised guitar lead line and a huge sung chorus melody. The choruses throughout the album are excellent, rarely predictable, drawing on prog chord structures and switch-ups to pack a punch. Add to them deft double-tracked clean vocals belted with intent, and there’s more than a hint of Crack The Skye-era MASTODON in the combination.
This new iteration of the band doesn’t lack for expert musicianship. The guitar work of Śmierzchalski, alongside Roger Öjersson (formerly of KATATONIA and TIAMAT), gets mixed high for the huge riffs of Worst Laid Plans and Deuterium. But their most interesting work features in Immersion II, which is full of twisted histrionics in the heavy verses, and then soaring with melody and feel in an extended solo section. That song’s pacing changes bring to mind the chaotic prog energy of BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME.
Meanwhile, there’s a relentless pace to the drum work from Paweł Jaroszewicz (whose extensive credits include VADER and DECAPITATED). Worst Laid Plans is the drumming standout, beginning with a furious double-kick assault, but never falling into predictable or repetitive traps over a ten-minute runtime. The song finds a splendid post-metal outro, the drums galloping at breakneck speed to back a clever repetitive riff and melody.
It’s evident that as an album, Deuterium draws from a broader range of influences than your standard post-metal fare, no doubt a product of the diverse resumes of the band’s new cast. The title track and single Deuterium may be an excellent showcase of that genre, combining another bouncing, maximalist guitar riff with menacing distorted bass for an ominous verse and yet another huge chorus. But some sections and whole songs draw from progressive rock and metal, and there’s more than a hint of death metal in the colossal opening minutes of Worst Laid Plans and the album’s unclean vocals.
The most extreme prog example is Towards The Dark, switching between phaser-infused clean guitar and a classic time-signature-twisting prog riff that evokes OPETH. Elsewhere, the ephemeral Wither goes in a soft-prog direction, showing a more vulnerable vocal against a stop-start mirrored guitar and bass line. It’s a good song, but it feels a little out of place against the rest of the material, its short runtime and uniformity making it feel transitional.
Occasionally, Deuterium takes a couple of swings that don’t quite pay off amidst this melting pot of styles. The individual components of the opening Immersion diptych are all excellent, but the transitions between them feel a little forced, glued together rather than natural evolutions. The album closer You Are The Universe strives for an epic build of intensity, the drums marching forward alongside effortful vocals. It’s a great concept, but the balance of (over)production and rawness, particularly in the cracking vocal, is just a little off in its execution, the ambition slightly unmet – though not for the closing piano coda, which makes for an excellent close to the album. Piano textures are something of a secret weapon of Deuterium, creatively bookending the Immersion tracks and adding depth to the proggier moments.
These are all nitpicks to some extent. It’s been a long gestation period for BLINDEAD 23‘s debut: this album was recorded back in 2023, awaiting the right circumstances and moment for its release. Given that and the extensive changes to the line-up whilst flagging a strong connection to the previous iteration through the name, there were more than a few landmines to navigate. But BLINDEAD 23 have done so with aplomb. Deuterium doesn’t lack for relevance or vitality, injected with plenty of new creative energy whilst maintaining some of that original BLINDEAD DNA. This long-awaited fresh start could be the most exciting phase yet for the band.
Rating: 8/10
Deuterium is set for release on May 22nd via Peaceville Records.
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