I hadn?t heard anything by or about The Sines before hearing this track, so I was able to approach it with no preconceptions. The first thing that struck me about ?Systematically Deceive? was that the intro is slightly reminiscent of Queen?s Death on Two Legs ? not a criticism; it?s quite a good intro! The next thing to hit me was the vocals - I?m not a big fan of dark, doom-laden vocals (but at least there?re no death-grunts!) although I must admit by the fifth or sixth listen they had grown on me somewhat.
The song?s structure is quite straightforward, with lighter vocals in the chorus offering some relief from the slow, ponderous, and as I said, doom-laden verses. The melody is quite catchy, to the extent it stuck in my head for hours afterwards.
I do wonder if this track might benefit from the keyboards being higher in the mix (assuming they?re in there somewhere to start with. I think I can hear piano in places, but I can?t be sure). The song really comes alive in the last 2 minutes with an excellent guitar solo, which I could see working well as a closer in a live setting. Ultimately, the track has more to commend it than condemn it ? a decent hook and some wonderful guitar soloing. As a demo this is rather good, and a little tweak here and there would make it something very special indeed!
Ron
