Band:	Souldeceiver
Album:	Mankind's Mistakes
Style:	Death metal
Release date:	August 2009

01. Memories Of Centuries
02. Cold Eternity
03. The Other Side
04. Automa X
05. Awakening In Reality
06. Alchemical [Instrumental]
07. Predominant
08. Doomed
09. Terror Of Knowledge

Thrashy Death metal
Recorded: FP Recording Studio, Italy 2008
Label: SG Records
Total Running Time: 39:41



What we have here is the first output of Souldeceiver, an Italian band drawing inspiration from mid-tempo thrash and death metal. Mankind's Mistakes is certainly a solid and... and... shit, what was it that I wanted to say again? Wait, let me listen to this once again... Ow yeah, it's definitely a solid album that... Hmm. Stuck again. Let me try again after another spin. It's solid, that much is sure. What else is there to say? I guess...

...it has a little lasting impact on the listener. The band does a good job combining elements of both genres. And that's where the excitement ends.

Souldeceiver is certainly not the most original and varying band around. It's very clear from the start that they've listened to a lot of other (mostly European) thrash 'n death-related bands. As a result this album will be quite the enjoyable listening experience; be that as it may, it still remains a strictly middle-of-the-road affair. Surely the album has his moments. Moreover some few nice hooks keep Mankind's Mistakes from being an instantly forgettable record. Nonetheless the band could use a bit more attitude. Souldeceiver are meaning it well, they just need to step it up a bit more - because frankly, at this point, they aren't exactly doing it for me. Let's face it; in both the thrash as the death metal genre it's awfully hard for young upcoming bands to pop the eyes out of people's head. In that way, newcomers don't have that much room to bring out another typical release. You know what I'm getting at?

Next to the strong European vibe, Souldeceiver also incorporated a few elements from some fellow Italian thrash-related band. A more well-known and also more black-oriented one. Even though I wouldn't say Souldeceiver is an exact copy of that band, the influences are clearly remarkable. Let's just say Souldeceiver could indeed easily pass as one of Necrodeath's little nephews. To make the circle complete, Souldeceiver are speaking high praise of the fact they once opened for named band. So there you have it.

With the debut of Souldeceiver the Italian death/thrash metal scene has a new player in town. A new player, albeit with a not so new game. The rules of that game are quite easy though: be as effective as possible by keeping it as basic as possible. And so, Mankind's Mistakes is a fairly decent album, though far from great. Consequently Souldeceiver still has some more fine tuning to do before they're ready to be a convincing mega force in the A league of the said game. But what's for sure is they've got the right tools to get there.