Russian prog metallers Deimos are obscure enough that they don't even have a listing in the Encyclopedia Metallium, the premier online encyclopedia for heavy metal, and their is little background information to be had on their one and only album Never Be Awaken from 2004. Our pals at Wroth Emitter just turned us on to this weird album, an oddball mix of thrash metal, death metal, doom, jazz fusion, and 70's prog rock and folk music that even after listening to it half a dozen times over the past week, I still can't come up with any bands to really compare this to. Which means that this is actually pretty damn interesting. The disc starts off with the title track, which begins with the sound of chirping birds and sunny woodland sounds, as a sparkling acoustic guitar appears playing a sweet, darkly tinged melody joined by fretless bass and a breathy female singer, very proggy and folky until the tranquil mood is shattered by death metal vocals and heavier metal riffing. The fretless bass adds a very jazzy, Jaco Pastorius-like feel to the song, and this mix of fusiony jazz, 80's prog, and death metal is thoroughly strange sounding. The second song "Guardian" is ripping thrash metal with speedy double bass drumming and choppy, crushing thrash riffage, layered with acoustic guitars and that amazing jazzy fretless bass sound. "Last Light Flashes" is midpaced progressive death metal, with dissonant guitar lines alternating with the chunkier thrash riffing, haunting female singing trading off with the raspy, blackened male grunts, and ends with an extended fusiony solo. The rest of the album is just as odd, with lots of clean guitars and acoustic parts, crushing thrash metal, Gothy male vocals and gutteral death roars, whole passages where the band goes off into jazz fusion territory, bits of deathdoom and bluesy rock, classical guitars, keyboard solos, sweet Maiden-esque dual guitar harmonies, over the top prog rock arrangements, all wrapped around a VERY 80's metal sound and production. Imagine Opeth, Skyclad, Uriah Heep, Wishbone Ash, Jaco and My Dying Bride combined into an epic prog metal powerhouse, but playing really bizarre arrangements and injecting a heavy dose of death metal and black metal. Like all Russian prog metal, Deimos is kind of an acquired taste, but one that fans of really weird and ambitious prog should check out. The album also features some very cool cover art and a thick booklet with lyrics that is laid out like one of those older childrens fairy tale books from the 1970's.