Another strong but ultimately flawed effort from The Great Deceiver. While the outfit's 2002 outing A Venom Well Designed provided a great glimpse at what Tomas Lindberg could do post-At The Gates, the album just didn't back the punch you might have expected from the talent involved. But there was promise and (for me, personally, as a huge Lindberg fan), the outfit's follow up to Venom seemed sure to live up to that promise.
But it doesn't.
While there's plenty of spirit behind the album's early moments ("Today," "Lake Of Sulphur"), by the time we get to the disc's seventh track, "Faust In Exile," the ideas seem to have run a little thin and the band's attempt to reach the eclectic heart of contemporary metal come off as confused and sometimes contrived. At times (and "Faust In Exile" one of them), you get the sense that Deceiver has been listening to a lot of Passenger and Haste, trying to figure out to get the hype machine rolling. But it doesn't roll. It doesn't even sputter and Terra Incognito quickly emerges as a portrait of band that sounds worn out and less-than-confident.
It's a shame, too, 'cause you can hear the promise lurking in tracks such as "Conspiracy Theorist" and "The Heel On The Throat Of The Young." Problem is, it just won't come out of the shadows.
Track Listing:
1. Today (4:21)
2. We––The Dead (4:28)
3. Lake Of Sulphur (4:34)
4. From Bereavement To Resignation (2:26)
5. Marathon Man (4:11)
6. The Heel On The Throat Of The Young (4:28)
7. Faust In Exile (3:38)
8. Forward–Willing–Sickness (4:15)
9. Conspiracy Theorist (3:31)
10. Worm Of Truth (3:37)
Total Time: 40:06
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