Heathen are a hugely underrated band, and for a long time this album was hard to get a hold of, thankfully now it has been re-released and people can once again discover the magic.

Hailing from Bay Area Fransisco like so many other great American Thrash Metal bands, Heathen came out a little late in the history of the scene, as a part of what later became known as the second wave alongside acts like Death Angel and Forbidden, and released two full length studio albums before breaking up for around a decade.

Victims Of Deception is the band’s second release and ‘Epic,’ hardly does this finely crafted album justice, the record is an exciting and technically marvelous collection of fantastic thrash metal riffing, impressive virtuosic guitar solos and really strong Melodic vocals. Being an example of the genre’s move towards progressive attitudes at the end of the Eighties and beginning of the nineties, the songs are often quite lengthy and complex, with lots of different sections to enjoy and many different ideas contained in each song.

Highlights include the fantastic ‘Opiate Of The Masses,’ and the epic closer ‘Timeless Cell Of Prophecy.’

With an album as strong and confidant as this it is a real shame that Heathen never got as big as they deserved at the time, but having said this many bands came and went without releasing albums as strong and timeless as Victims Of Deception so it is lucky that as a listener you can even get a hold of such a strong and masterfully crafted album from such an underrated artist.

As a side note, the album features Lee Atlus on guitar, who Thrash Metal fans will almost all certainly recognize now in the revitalized post millennial line-up of Exodus. The album also features a fine Thrash cover of the Rainbow Classic ‘Kill The King,’ and singer Dave White fares admirably trying to cover the inimitable vocals of Ronnie James Dio.

Overall; Victims Of Deception is not your average Thrasher, it is so much more. Buy Now and you aren’t likely to be disappointed. !