Deuteronomy

Writing the background info for a “band” like DEUTERONOMY can prove to be something of a challenge. Firstly, because we’re not quite sure this entry should be included here, secondly because of the difficulty of describing the actual musical contents and thirdly because of the little information available on the group. But let’s give it a try…

DEUTERONOMY was founded around 1989 by mainman Akis “The Hoodman” Tsironis (vocals, guitars), who along with his musical activities also aimed to promote the underground working as a radio host for the local station “Radio Machitis” and through a distribution network called “Tape Trading Inc.” According to an interview he made with “Guillotine Zine” in 1990, starting a metal band in Kilkis back then was not an easy task, which is surely a correct observation. Anyway, influenced by everything from PINK FLOYD to BLACK SABBATH, Akis eventually managed to record DEUTERONOMY’s debut tape release – all by himself, it seems – in 1990, entitled “The Pain of People and Things…”. Around this time, two additional members were added to the group as well, called Philip “Key” P.H. (vocals, harmonium organ!) and Madevil from the otherwise unknown group EVIL BEAST (instrument unknown). At least one more rehearsal tape was allegedly created, and the band also had plans for some sort of concept work but whether or not this one materialized or not we have no idea of.

Now, let’s address the elephant in the room: the “musical” contents… The members themselves describe their style as “Psychedelic Underground”. Whatever that means, it’s probably a better description than anything remotely close to real Heavy Metal. Except for the very poorly played and recorded intro/outro tracks (perhaps the “Happy Birthday” melody was the only thing the band could play at the time) the tracks included on “The Pain of People and Things…” basically consists of Akis singing and ranting over pre-recorded material by various Metal and Punk bands. Whether he’s referencing pre-written lyrics or just improvises it’s hard to tell, but one thing is for sure: this is really, really bad – practically unlistenable, except perhaps for the comic effect.

Despite the bad words above, it would still be interesting to hear subsequent DEUTERONOMY recordings, just to see if they managed to improve in any way. So, in case you have anything to share on this strange entry, please feel free to contact us.

Compilation appearances: