http://www.imperiumi.net/index.php?act=demos&id=2392 (www.imperiumi.net, original review in Finnish):

Dead Samaritan
Counting the Body Toll
MCD
4/5

Dead Samaritan who play melodic death metal with thrash metal nuances, have become activate after years of silence. On vocal department – after line-up changes – the squadron now relies on Valendis Suomalainen, who’s also known from the band Herem, and her growling technique doesn’t give much reason for complaints. Comparisons towards Arch Enemy for example do not culminate only on vocals, because there are slight similarities music-wise, although the Dead Samaritan do not present their melodiousness on the same scale.

Counting the Body Toll promo has the death metal side and the melodies well in balance, since they’ve paid extra attention on arrangements, and the melody lines do not sound like they were cut & pasted. When it comes to sound policy, the release is relevantly raw since all the edge hasn’t been filed off in the studio. Dead Samaritan do not offer anything previously unheard with their new recording, but this time the song material with its small nuances qualifies for the successful result better than their rivals’. Hopefully we don’t have to wait another five years for the next release.

Translated from the Finnish music print magazine Soundi, issue no. 5/2010:

Dead Samaritan

Counting the Body Toll

Dead Samaritan is basically already a very old band, because the members can blow out the candles on their 10 year anniversary cake next year. Obviously the band has been spending a long while on hiatus, when their line-up started to crack. Now it’s all straightened up and they continue the thrashing.

Dead Samaritan relies on the Old School and they keep their own style simple. It’s not an easy task, but the band gets a good swing to their austere and raw songs. As an additional flavour the band has been developing melodical brigdes in the structures, and these vitalize the songs effectively. The band’s female singer Valendis Suomalainen gets the points home with tough attitude.

Reviewer Marko Säynekoski

Translated from the Finnish music print magazine Inferno, issue no. 7/2010:

It’s been nearly six years since Dead Samaritan’s previous effort. After the complete break they strike back with the same ammunition, but with a changed line-up. The female vocalist Valendis Suomalainen has brought liveliness to the sound, and the group’s death metal – old-schoolish yet with modern flavours – still rolls well onwards. Some of Angela Gossow’s mannerisms have been adapted to the singing, and it is monotonous, which doesn’t matter this time, on the contrary. As a whole the competence isn’t quite in its full maximum through the recording, but there are great moments. For example the second track Laid to Waste is a near perfection opus with its magnificent chorus parts.

Reviewer Aadolf Virtanen

http://www.lordsofmetal.nl/showreview.php?id=16448&lang=en (Lords Of Metal, Netherlands):

Dead Samaritan

Counting the Body Toll

Self-financed

After some line up changes and a sabbatical year the Finnish Dead Samaritan has returned with a lot of new energy and positive intentions. And their first strike is this ‘Counting The Body Toll’ demo.

On this forth demo four tracks are presented. Opener ‘Smith & Wesson Philosophy’ is not a bad song but it is also a rather standard one that can be labelled as somewhere in-between firm heavy metal and thrash. During ‘Laid To Waste’ and ‘Sixkiller’ these five Fins show us another side of the band. The riffs have more details in them, they give the songs a better drive and the melodic solos make the tracks more enjoyable. The last one ‘Iron Hand’ is again rather standard, but this time the fast speed makes up for that.

In general these thirteen minutes of music deserve a listening session. The very basic but also clear production fits the music well and the band seems to know that they can’t create miracles on their instruments, and therefore they don’t even try this. ‘Counting The Body Toll’ costs only two euro’s excl. package and sending costs. If you think that this might be something for you, then just order!

Reviewer Tormentor Erich

http://piparnakkeli.lammaszine.fi/2010/06/13/dead-samaritan-counting-the-body-toll/ (Music media Lammaszine, translated from the original Finnish text):

Dead Samaritan

Counting the Body Toll

The last time I heard about the Dead Samaritan band, was almost five years ago. They performed in the Rocklinna Metal Fest event in November 2005, and it obviously remained their last gig for many years. I already thought the band had split up, but I guess they only took a long break. The line-up faced a remodeling, when part of the line-up left and started to concentrate on Dead In The Water. I also noticed that the line-up that was previously mainly based in Hämeenlinna, is now more concentrated to Tampere.

The biggest change is visible in the band’s front. Formerly the singer was a male one, but now Dead Samaritan did the Arch Enemy trick and recruited a woman as their vocalist. Female vocalists are still quite rare sights in the extreme metal, so inevitably you compare the melodic death metal playing Dead Samaritan with Arch Enemy. This Arch Enemy of Pirkanmaa [region in Finland] do not have Angela Gossow as their vocalist, but Valendis Suomalainen who also sings in the Helsinki-based Herem. Dead Samaritan have recorded the band’s fourth (but only second under the name Dead Samaritan) demo called Counting the Body Toll with the new line-up, released on March 2010.

The Bone Hill Revelation demo received good reviews, but comparisons are not possible since I haven’t heard it. The sound department isn’t too much hi-fi: the demo’s been recorded on the terms of music, and not only because the drummer can show good sounds you can get by using triggered bassdrums. The starting song Smith & Wesson Philosophy doesn’t quite convince, but the next one, Laid to Waste, sounds better. Also the powermetal-lisque intro in Sixkiller sounds very good. These two songs represent the more melodic side of the band, who can also play decent riffs. The fourth and the last song Iron Hand doesn’t sound that good, but it shows the band’s made songs before.

Dead Samaritan showed them being a very humble band, since the price of their self-financed demo has been around two euros. Not bad then eh, and it’s definitely worth checking out! Though writing this the band has only few demos left, if not sold out already.

13.6.2010, reviewer Jouni Parkku