History & Biography Deceased (or is it Deceased... or even 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. The band had become actually organized beginning in 1988. In this period multiple demos came and went. These included The Evil Side Of Religion, Birth By Radiation, One Night In The Cemetery and 1990's Nuclear Exorcist chronologically. The band often recorded at Inner Ear Studio. Tragedy had struck the band in 1988 when German born bassist Robert Sterzel was killed in a car accident. Roadracer considered signing the band at this juncture. King Fowley also initiated his own label, With Your Teeth Records, at this point. Old Metal Records would follow a few years later too.
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 needed a work visa. Signed to Relapse for two albums in 1991, Deceased began releasing 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. King was also contributing to the Disposable Underground fanzine. He had had his own zine, called Sick Trash, in the late 1980s. The band opened for Fear Factory and Obituary in 1993. Despite the Live album Deceased rarely ventured out on the road - something they blamed Relapse for - although the band played on occasions like the first March Metal Meltdown where Fowley (and others like Will of Mortician) were the subject of police brutality. Instead, the band often opened concerts in its hometown. Amusingly, King had worked at Relapse himself. Fearless Undead Machines of 1997 was based on Night Of The Living Dead. 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 ran Old Metal Records where he released older bands and reissues. A couple of these releases got him in hot water for the allegedly bootleg nature of the records. 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. Matt Ibach (Nuclear Tomb and October 31) became the concert guitarist in 2016. 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. King made it unto the pages of The Washington Post in 2019. There was a documentary on him in the works entitled King: A Metal Life,. The band would play shows as content even after the pandemic. 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. The band toured the USA with Bulldozer, Ares Kingdom and Demiser in 2023. The Triangle EP of 2023 featured a couple of cover versions and a live track. It was intended to be enclosed in a magazine, but with time-line slipping the band went ahead and issued it. Vio-Lence, Exhorder, Deceased and Mortal Wound were conducting a mini-tour of the USA in April. The first two bands had conducted a joint tour recently as well. The act had a tour with Bulldozer and Ares Kingdom. There was an appearance at Full Terror Assault Open Air. The band ended 2023 with concerts with Exhorder and Vio-lence.
Deceased announced the Children Of The Morgue album on Hells Headbangers Records for the summer of 2024. It was described as the band's darkest ever. Simultaneously, the act announced a concert in Hawaii. Deceased was booked for the Milwaukee Metal Fest 2025. The group, Glacial Tomb, Gorguts, Many Blessings, Persekutor, Sonja, Terrorizer L.A. (performing World Downfall), Xoth and more were booked for Northwest Terror Fest 2025. Coroner and Deceased announced a Canada and USA tour called Non Omnis Moriar for March 2025. The latter band had a 40th anniversary.
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