It's impossible for a musician to stay away of different influences on his heart, because no one grows up listening only to Metal genres, it's impossible, even if your parents are Metalheads. And even when one becomes a Metal fan (before becoming a musician), the influences are being gathered without being noted. This is the strength behind the music of the UK based quintet STATE OF DECEIT (that's based on South Whales), as can be heard on "Stalked by Daemons", the band's first album. The music they create is a form of modern Melodic Thrash Metal in the vein of acts as TRIVIUM, but with the heavy furious load of MACHINE HEAD (what means that when things are brutal, they're up to blow your ears off) and PANTERA (from where some Groove Metal traces come), and even something inherited from European Melodic Death Metal schools.

Words can confuse the readers, so the best thing to correct this fact is to say: the quintet displays a personality that fills their songs, where aggressiveness and melodies bleed in the same proportions, many violent hooks appears, and the energy is like a powerhouse. It's really a very good release, indeed. The band brought Tim Hamill to produce "Stalked by Daemons". His efforts resulted on a sound quality that sounds brutal and oppressive during the aggressive moments, but when melodies arise, things are clean and defined as they must (so no one can complain of it). Obviously the choice of the instrumental tunes was the wisest one, because everything is really great!

Musically, as the first album of the quintet (previously, they released a Single and an EP 0n 2019), one could think that "Stalked by Daemons" could be immature, but's the opposite: the band knows to use its potential to create excellent songs, as "Endure My Fate" (some blast beats brutal parts contrasts perfectly with charming melodic guitar riffs and arrangements), "Demi-God" (another excellent instrumental sheath supports the contrasts between clean and harsh voices), "Stalked by Daemons, Guarded by Angels" (the speed decreases, and the Groove Metal side of the quintet's music becomes evident, with excellent hooks and excellent rhythmic work of bass guitar and drums), "Hate Within" (this one shows excellent shifts between aggressive moments and melodic parts, always with hooks and energy flowing free from it), "Mark of the Whale" (another excellent set of modern melodies can be heard on the guitar parts), "Suffer Me" and "Digital Tattoo" are clearly depicting. But the best experience is to spin the album and enjoy it entirely.

STATE OF DECEIT can be said as one of the best revelations of the year (again: "Stalked by Daemons" is their first album), so enjoy as you can, and prepare for the onslaught!