At first I sort of got Deviant confused with the Norwegian black metallers by the almost same name, but there's definitely no black metal here. The Swedes play full-fledged death metal in the vein of Kataklysm, blended with a few references to Morbid Angel and Broken Hope.

At first spin Larvaeon may sound like any other death metal album, but scratch the surface a little and there's something captivating here. The music is mostly fast and brutal, but with a good deal of melody thrown in. Deviant also understands to vary things by not just blindly blasting forward. The songs are detailed and often a lead or two pops up like in "Crucifiend", "Widowmaker", the titletrack or "Deviance". Not at any point do Larvaeon get tiresome or same-sounding. The vocals are deep and guttural just like they should be. The production is clear, but powerful leaving plenty of room for each instrument.

The similarities with Kataklysm are many and I do also fail to hear anything new in the music, but still it sounds somewhat fresh. Larveaon is proof that there's still bands who play real death metal. If you like Kataklysm then Larveaon may be worth a closer look.