DEHA is a one-man Progressive Black Metal project from Brussels, Belgium. "Cruel Words" is his Third full-length release, and contains six tracks. There was very little information available on the band from the internet, except to say that his style defies categorization. So, let's get down to the music, shall we?

"I am Mine to Break" opens with tenuous clean guitar notes and an alluring voice in the mist. It slowly builds into a mesmerizing sound that is indeed hard to describe. But it pulls you in for sure. When he sings the chorus, it really hits hard. A heavy, weighted riff comes in for the last third of the song, driving home the poignant sound. "Pain is a Wasteland" opens with soft clean guitar notes that at first dance lightly. Soft clean vocals come into play, singing on the same note. It sounds droning and depressing. Post-Black Metal is what I would call this at this point...especially when the harsh vocals come in, joined by a crushing riff.

"Blackness in May" is an interesting song title. May is supposed to be about renewal, with spring in full force and summer on the horizon. The opening notes reflect this, but you can also hear something melancholy lurking in the background. Lean back, close your eyes, and take it in. It's breathtakingly beautiful in a very simple way. Voices come in various tones, until again all of the sudden it hits you so hard it would wake the dead. Layers wash over you, and you feel like you're drowning in this sublime bliss.

"Butterflies" opens with doleful clean guitars and that portrait of ever-grey skies. The guitar riff drones away while the vocal presence slowly increases to screams of desperation. As the harsh vocals drop away you can hear so much else going on. It's like peeling layers of an onion and finding more and more to like. "Dead Butterflies" is a near-thirteen minute behemoth. Opening with soft and slow clean guitars, dual clean vocals pepper the landscape. The vocals increase in intensity to full, lamenting screams as the music carries on in a similar fashion, until it dies out at the end. "Cruel Words" closes the album. It opens with a melancholy melody, building slowly, as the knife they stuck in your back begins to twist and grind, sending a sharp pain every time it turns.

Though the song pattern on the album is similar from track to track, it works so well that you don't concern yourself with it. Each new track brings something beautiful and something horribly monstrous. He expertly crafts the songs to bring out the most vivid emotional response from the listener. It makes you want to shout from the rooftop, and it makes you want to cower in the corner in the dark. Absolutely brilliant!