Customer Reviews

Deceit

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Words cannot describe what Deceit means to me. It is easily one the greatest albums of all time, a lost classic, and certainly my all-time favorite. The music itself is beyond concepts of time and space. Call it prog without pomposity or punk with a tame sophistication or post-rock a decade before the genre even existed or avant-garde without pretention. For a band that matches the sheer intensity of Joy Division, the complexity and brilliance of Can or Faust and the taut musicianship of King Crimson, none of these descriptions will give this dark, timeless and magical music any justice.

The lyrics are cryptic and loaded with political and literary references about nuclear destruction and imperialism. In fact, this album is possibly the last truly great political album, due for the most part to its subtlety. The lyrics are perfectly complimented by a diverse palette of sounds, from Stockhausen-esque musique concrete and sound collages to the pouncing rock bombast of "SPQR".

The intensity and precision of This Heat's sonic and lyrical attack are what is truly lacking in music today. They treated music as a work of art, and were anally perfectionist about what they created. Perfection is rare, but I dare say they somehow did it, and as far as I know, it has not been matched since.

If life was fair, this album and all of their catalog would be reissued and everyone would say their name in the same breath as Joy Division, Talking Heads, Wire and Gang of Four. Instead, This Heat will probably remain a tragically overlooked footnote in musical history.

For anyone interested, a new, re-mastered version of this wonderful, frightening record is due out on "These Records" in about 6 week's time from today (06/07/01). Just as well, because I only had it on tape, and my tape is just about worn out. Music to make your hair stand on end in its scary intensity, but also incredibly humorous, especially the likes of "Paper Hats" and "A new kind of water". Why is no one doing stuff like this anymore?

Twenty-one years ago, I bought this album solely on the basis of a few interesting words in a catalog description, and I've never been luckier. The other reviewers here have already done this music reasonable justice but I still feel compelled to add my own unqualified praise. If this isn't my all-time favorite recording, it's certainly in my Top Five. If you have a taste for the unusual, you'll be hard-pressed to find anything better. What "Sgt. Pepper's..." was to the '60's, this SHOULD have been to the '80's (and beyond): an explosion of creativity unlike anything being done by anyone else at the time. Unfortunately, they were a little-known band released on an independent label, and we all know how THAT goes. I've never known anyone familiar with this recording who didn't think it was absolutely amazing.

To whom that cross this page will never come back that same route again. This music will either make you jump the cliff or it will become your bible. Nothing truly comes close to this one. you thought metal box was strange, or the bermuda triangle, or even rupaul...well you haven't listened to deceit. Cover art explains it all...its face the represents all the little unorthodox elements yet to hear and compresses them whole to make a face. this face obviously has much personality...which is almost undescribable....all you can say is its an anxious, uncomfortable expression, screaming out epiphanies of sorrow, joy, pain, pleasure and of course...deceit. Recommended for ANYONE who's into the krautrock and post punk scenes of the 70's and early 80's THIS IS THE CROSSROAD of both those great genres...and if not definitely the mecca of all thats organically obscure. A true original and possibly the best album ive ever heard, buy it immediately!

Bizzare post-punk with a clear Krautrock influence, mainly descending from Can in the firmly percussive elemnts and the shimmering, occasionally atonal guitar lines. This album is more song based than their awesome debut, although no less devastatingly experimental. More, there are firm melodies and even some stabs at structured songs, but each is interspersed with odd, chanted stlye vocals, random instrumental meltdowns and claustrophobic, oppressive production. Something like a missing link between German experimental rock and UK post-punk, this awesome record transcends the (loose) boundaries imposed by either categorie to generate something unique and utterly engrossing.

This Heat's 1982 masterpiece Deceit brings to mind many sounds: Public Image Ltd., King Crimson, CAN, My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, Throbbing Gristle, and Lee "Scratch" Perry just to name a few. It is one of those few albums that is so genre-less, so thematically and musically universal that it would be impossible to pin a certain time and place on it. This Heat's post-apocalyptic quasi-industrial-progressive sound is quite unlike any other; their music is akin to late-era Talk Talk and Slint as far as its uniqueness is concerned. Deceit is criminally under-noticed--although critics certainly have paid attention and showered This Heat with a deserving amount of praise. If you have an inclination towards post-punk, prog rock, or experimental music in general give Deceit a listen.

I'm listening to the album right now. It is scary, melodic, and angular post-punk! What more can you ask for? Get this album as soon as you can and be prepared to get your mind blown away.

Amazing, yes amazing, oh god yes...one of the best things I've gotten my hands on in a long time, no joke. And now I'll ask you this simple question.

Would you kill a man for This Heats "Deceit"?

And the answer being...
Yes, most definetely.

Artist Dimthingshineon recently did a cover of This Heat song: "S.P.Q.R." on his latest 4 CD project called "Nostalgia" released in 2009. Check out http://www.myspace.com/dimthingshineon
or http://www.geocities.com/dimthingshineon