Band:	Lizzy Borden
Album:	Deal With The Devil
Style:	Heavy metal
Release date:	October 10, 2000
Guest review by:	DayFly

01. There Will Be Blood Tonight
02. Hell Is For Heroes
03. Deal With The Devil
04. Zanzibar
05. Lovin' You Is Murder
06. We Only Come Out At Night
07. Generation Landslide
08. The World Is Mine
09. State Of Pain
10. (This Ain't) The Summer Of Love
11. Believe
12. We'll Burn The Sky [Scorpions cover] [Japanese bonus]

"Master Of Disguise" was a great album but not much of a commercial success. Following a lengthy tour and a year-long hiatus, the band officially broke up when grunge supplanted heavy metal as the most popular rock format. The band lay low for most of the 90s and finally, when metal seemed to be enjoying a revival towards the end of the decade, got back together to release "Deal With The Devil" in 2000. With regards to "Master Of Disguise", Lizzy Borden upped the heaviness quite a bit, but the overall timbre of the album has not changed too much, likely due to Elliott Solomon's return to the producer's stool. The result is a healthy mix of "Love You To Pieces" meets "Visual Lies" meets a punchy production. Of course this does not leave a lot of room for innovation but the band still manages to come up with a few original ideas.

The album starts of with straightforward, catchy heavy metal to be expected of Lizzy Borden. "Zanzibar" is the first surprise with a sitar-induced middle-eastern feel. After the tremendous "Lovin' You Is Murder" comes "We Only Come Out At Night", a bouncy, almost danceable industrial rock song that despite the genre gap to Lizzy Borden's usual style still fits the album nicely. The album's second half seems to follow the lead of the two covers originally by Alice Cooper and Blue Öyster Cult. Aside from a notable shift in the lyrics (going from fantasy and horror to society and politics) the music also takes on a more rockish stance. Even though the covers are really well done and the closing semi-ballad "Believe" is another highlight, the second album half does feel a bit uneven. Still, this does not overshadow the fact that "Deal With The Devil" is a very good album and an ideal introduction to the band. Sadly, the album did not sell well and Lizzy Borden subsequently resumed their hiatus.