Accidental Suicide
Deceased

The Accidental Suicide, a band originating from Wisconsin, debuted in the distant 1990 with “Deceased”. However, due to their early breakup, they remained almost unknown to the general public, overshadowed by hordes of more valid or, more likely, less unfortunate groups. But those who truly love this genre should at least give it a listen.

The offering of Accidental Suicide, as can be inferred from the name or (more easily) from the fact that it is I who am reviewing them, is that of a fairly traditional Death metal that often ventures into the territories of Doom: in short, if the album wasn’t preceding both the debut of Autopsy and that of Incantation, I would say that the sound of the group in question is the perfect fusion between those of the two aforementioned sacred monsters of Death. Alongside a good technical ability, which the guitarists particularly show off by gifting us intricate and fast riffs, we find the taste for particularly dark and pitch-black sounds. The drummer does more than a good job, decidedly on par with his colleagues from far more famous bands: he manages excellently to support tight tempos but shines in the slowdowns where he can showcase his great ability to recreate very unhealthy atmospheres. The vocals are a definitely deep growl that sometimes spills into vitriolic screams and represent a good seal on the music proposed by the instrumentalists. The bassist’s work is less important, but nonetheless, in a few passages, he proves to maintain the album's high-quality level.

Undoubtedly, the strong point of this group is the mood: rarely have I heard atmospheres so suffocating and incredibly oppressive: the slowness becomes so disheartening and deadly that it results in a cadenced march towards a conscious and inevitable end. I believe this is the goal of any band playing Death Doom, and therefore I cannot deny that Accidental Suicide achieves their objective perfectly: the fast and so violent guitar parts are thus perceived by the listener as a function of the slowdown, enhancing its power and sickly progress. The production is perhaps the greatest flaw of the album: very dirty and raw in line with the early '90s taste, it ends up giving a very well-composed work the air of a hastily put together CD that was played without great premeditation.

I sincerely regret that the album came out more than fifteen years ago because if it had been released a few years later, it would have had a worthy production capable of enhancing its sounds and making them even heavier and more pounding: the technical aspect (decidedly decent) of the group, severely damaged by the muddled recording, would have ultimately benefited as well. A good album, unfortunately completely devoid of continuations: there are many interesting ideas, and I am convinced that a reworking of this material by the authors themselves or by other groups would have brought more than interesting developments.

Such work can only appeal to all lovers of not particularly elaborate Old School Death, but also to those who love claustrophobic and violent sounds: however, only those with a broader knowledge of the genre will be able to appreciate the distinctive traits, those that make “Deceased” a truly underground work and that ensure it competes greatly with the Masterpieces of the time, despite its nature.