DELIVERANCE - WHAT A JOKE

Intense Millennium has brought another long out of print metal classic back to the forefront. The mighty Deliverance and their third album entitled What a Joke is the album of the moment.

For many Big D fans this album seems to get the short shrift. A mish mash of short comedic type songs i.e. ‘Happy Star,’ ‘Cheeseburger Maker Du’ (a short riff that goes back to 1987) and several standard full on speed metal tunes i.e. Prophet of Idiocy, What a Joke, J.I.G. and Pseudo Intellectual.

A re-worked version of Attack appears as does a rather heavy version of Silent Night. However it would be a crime not to mention their cover of Black Sabbath’s After Forever. That blew a lot of people’s minds back in the day and I’m sure it will again.

This re-release has also been remastered. There are some things that have definitely been improved with this reissue. The sound of the drums have benefited as have the guitars. However I’ve found that the shelf of frequencies above 8-10k seem to have been brought down so low that I have to manually adjust my stereo to bring much of the high end back.

The sound is a bit fuller with improved low end response, but it seems that the dynamics of the high end were sacrificed. I just wonder if some type of happy medium could’ve been achieved.

A solid bonus track entitled Strings of Sorrow is also included. This track harkens to what would come on their next release Stay of Execution. No information is included as to where this track came from or when it was recorded.

This particular edition also includes a limited edition album cover. Apparently some big broo ha ha has erupted over it and has led Intense Millennium to state that the original cover will appear on later releases of this album.

For those of you who have been wanting to pick this one up here’s your chance. Jesus Is God!!!


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