In their early form, Deathrow was your basic thrash metal band attempting to perform ferocious material (Riders Of Doom, 1986, and Raging Steel, 1987) that demanded more than their abilities could muster.
Just one year later, the band had matured significantly. The guys in Deathrow found that 1988 was a headier, bar-raising new metal world; their third album, Deception Ignored, had to be light years ahead of anything they'd done previously. And it was. It wasn't even necessarily ahead of its time; it was very much of its time, rubbing shoulders with a small, rarefied set of bands (Watchtower, Voivod, Coroner) taking the heavier side of metal into wilder territory in the name of progress.

Four years later, having severed ties with Noise Records, 1992's Life Beyond became Deathrow's lone outing as a part of the growing roster of West Virginia Records (run by Andy and Sabina Classen from Holy Moses). Having decided that Deception Ignored may have been overly complex in hindsight, the quartet opted to streamline their approach for album number four: injecting Deception Ignored's intricacy and melody with a dose of focused, aggressive thrash from their early roots - a fitting end to the "second phase" of Deathrow's career.