DECEITOME is a 5-iece Death Metal act from Estonia created with the intent of channeling the old-school. That means short songs, pummeling riffs, and vocals from the bowels of Hell. The guitar tone on this album hovers between crystal clear and the bleak distortion of more avant-garde Death Metal. Lots of tremolo-picked riffs and proto-blast beat drumming to be found here. The style DECIETOME play is retro enough that although clearly Death Metal, the riffing and drum patterns retain a Thrash Metal edge. For example, on "First Cause, Funeral Rites", the drums groove more than they usually do in Death Metal, and a couple riff towards the end sound like something POSSESSED might do. "Rhythm of Eternity" also hurls death/thrash riffs out, on top of harsh, tortured screeches. The song is chaos from beginning to end, shifting from eerie tremolo passages to more brutal stomping and back again.

"Miasthmatic Breed" is a change of pace, starting off with a ponderous Death / Doom type intro, enhanced by drum accents. It's reminiscent of something by HORRENDOUS. This is also the only thing here that has a cogent melody line, both in the intro and leading into the reprisal a little before the 3-minute mark. There is still room for acrobatic drum work, particularly in the last minute of the song, but this time it happens around the song, not through it.

The very short (probably under 20 minutes) EP follows up its lone slower offering with a closer that is as bombastic as the first three songs, although, it does retain some of the spaced-out buildup of "Miasthmatic Breed". The song and band definitely owe their existence to early DEATH; despite the less-intelligible vocal style and more modern recording, it's stylistically something that seems like it could have had a place on "Scream Bloody Gore". This is not just a tribute act, however, as the band fleshes out their own take on the genre by fusing together approaches from previous legends. You have the tremolo attack of bands like MORBID ANGEL (and maybe some Black Metal, like IMMORTAL) coming together with the primal stomp of thrashier bands. "Flux of Ruin" does this particularly well, with the body of the song shifting from tremolo riff to tremolo riff, but also featuring Thrashed up drumming and a more melodic solo.

I would recommend this EP to anyone trying to find out where all the old-school death metal went-it's not just with HORRENDOUS or TOMB MOLD. Although in terms of creativity DECEITOME is a step back from those other bands, it is not a large step (and anyway, HORRENDOUS at least has been migrating into more progressive territory release by release). The band are not trying to be anything other than punishing, riff-happy Death Metal, and they do that well.