Deadlock

Formed in Schwarzenfeld, Germany, during 1998, Deadlock passed through repeated personnel shifts and stylistic revisions before locking into a dense blend of death and gothic metal. Their debut album, The Arrival, arrived in 2001 and showcased the contrasting “beauty and the beast” vocals of Sabine Weniger and Johannes Prem. At that time the lineup also included guitarists Sebastian Reichl and Gert Rymen, bassist Thomas Huschka, and drummer Tobias Graf. Subsequent releases Earth.Revolt in 2005 and Wolves in 2007 added electronic programming, symphonic orchestrations, and intensified traces of black metal to the band’s expanding palette. Huschka exited in 2008, attributing the departure to “musical and personal differences,” after which John Gahlert joined on bass and appeared on the 2011 album Bizarro World. Further turnover followed: Prem departed in 2011 and Rymen in 2013. The group’s sixth studio album, Arsonist—its first for Napalm—surfaced the same year and introduced guitarist Ferdinand Rewicki, while Gahlert assumed the harsh-vocal role. Re-Arrival, issued in 2014, presented newly recorded versions of earlier material and left Reichl as the sole remaining founding member. Weniger began maternity leave that year and later chose not to return. Hybris, released in 2016, marked the arrival of clean vocalist Margie Gerlitz.