History Deceased was born in 1985 by King Fowley and guitarist Doug Souther in Virginia and quickly became very active within the underground scene. Borrowing influences from VoiVod, Mercyful Fate and others, the band and its leader singer/drummer King Fowley (originally on bass) heavily promoted Deceased in the underground, set up underground shows and for the longest time seemed destined to remain below the labels' radar. In this period multiple demos came and went. These included Chronologically The Evil Side Of Religion, Birth By Radiation, One Night In The Cemetary and 1990's Nuclear Exorcist. Tragedy had struck the band in 1988 when German born bassist Robert Sterzel was killed in a car accident. The band attempted to organize a tour with Canada’s Razor and Sacrifice in 1991, but it fell apart once it became clear that the Canadians need a work visa. Signed to Relapse in 1991, Deceased has released a series of albums and has kept on going ever since. Doug Souther left the band after the release of Luck Of The Corpse and was replaced with Mike Smith. An EP called The Thirteen Frightened Souls followed the debut. Despite the Live album Deceased rarely ventures out on the road -something they blame Relapse for- although the band plays on occasions like the first March Metal Meltdown where Fowley (and others like Will of Mortician) were the subject of police brutality. 2002 brought the oft-mentioned retirement of King from the vocalist position in order to concentrate on the drums and add a new aspect to the band. A new vocalist, T. Taylor, from Twisted Tower Dire fronted the band at the New Jersey Metal Fest in the spring of 2002. King Fowley runs Old Metal Records where he releases older bands and reissues. A couple of these releases got him in hot water for the allegedly bootleg nature of the release. Deceased's first European show was opening Wacken 2001 where King Fowley, aided by a stand-in drummer, acted solely as singer. Cursed Productions announced the release of several Deceased demos on the CD format for 2002. October 31's Dave "Scarface" Castillo replaced King Fowley as the drummer for Deceased in late 2002 following a severe bloodclot and lung damage, which afflicted the latter.
Deceased and Relapse Records parted ways at the beginning of 2003. The band's As The Weird Travel On was out on February 1st, 2005 through Thrash Corner Records. Crucified Mortals and Deceased issued a split EP through Hells Headbangers in early 2006. The band was separately working on a full-length called Surreal Overdose.
Mike Smith abandoned his touring activities with the band in 2006. Shane Fuegel of Bionic Man and Drugs Of Faith replaced him. Guitarist Mark Adams left the band after 22 years in the summer of 2007. Shane Fuegel was taking over for the recording of the band’s Surreal Overdose album.
Deceased was heading back into the studio in 2011 to record Surreal Overdose, the band’s first full-length of all-new material since 2005's As The Weird Travel On. The new record was to be recorded at Assembly Line Studio in Virginia with Kevin Gutierrez engineering and King Fowley producing. The CD would be handled in the states by the band's own label, Shrieks From The Hearse Records, alongside PATAC Records. Hell's Headbangers would handle the vinyl edition. Horror Pain Gore Death Productions reissued the debut album from the band, Luck Of The Corpse, on CD format on May 22nd, 2012. This version featured different artwork and was remastered. The album was originally issued through Relapse. Castillo drowned and was announced deceased in October 2018. The band was back with an album called Ghostly White through Hells Headbangers in December 2018. Amos Rifkin joined on drums. For whatever reason the band delivered two covers’ albums next. Rotten To The Core Part 2 (The Nightmare Continues) was released in 2020 and followed the first covers’ album with the same name and Thrash Times At Ridgemont High, whose name was inspired by the Fast Times At Ridgemont High film, arrived in 2021. The act was booked for Candelabrum Metal Fest in Mexico in 2023 alongside Grave, Mork Gryning, Heathen, Sacramentum, Unanimated, Draconian and Paradise Lost.
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