Violence and gore are staples of the extreme end of metal, and DERANGED seem to take those to a whole new level of brutality. "Struck By a Murderous Siege" is the Swedish group's ninth full-length release. The album showcases many more influences from the American Death Metal scene rather than that of their Swedish peers. The whole album is inspired by horror gore and gruesome violence. If nothing else, the new album keeps DERANGED amongst the most violent and bloody bands around.

This release is full of high speed, loud, angry music; melody most certainly comes secondary to DERANGED's violent riffs. The majority of the music is fast power chords. Solos are few, but where they are, it's a screech of high-pitched squealed notes strangled from the instruments.

Vocally, the down-low growls that come out of Anders Johansson's throat are incredibly guttural, with very little of the lyrical content coming across as understandable. The seemingly constant growling and roaring almost hurts the throat just to listen to; there is something reminiscent of a clogged drain in his sound and style... "Struck By a Murderous Siege" is heavy and gore-filled, and definitely one for fans of the genre.

There is absolutely no mixing of styles or dreaded "-core" elements anywhere to be found in these eight tracks. That being said, the songs feature very little to separate them. There is a lot of the same idea running throughout the album, with not much to tell the songs apart.

For what it is, this is a high-speed, aggressive, well-produced album that sounds massive. However, for people who, like me, are not already steeped in love for the most brutal end of Death Metal, it would be a bit of a stretch to listen to this record more than once.