The Final Installment Review

The Final Installment Review

Toxikk Deception Album

by Graham Swanson 

 Toxikk Deception is an industrial band led by vocalist, musician, and producer Violet Mallory. It's leader comes from the Industrial/Goth scene around Bangor, Maine, but he started making his own impact when he started the band in 2014. After more than a decade, Toxikk Deception released it's conclusive album, The "Final Instalment" on January 2, 2026. Many followers are sad to see them go, but every good story has an ending. The musical journey took us places, now the world is different, the game has changed, and though everything ends eventually, this time it feels like the aftermath of a final showdown. 

Toxikk Deception isn't just music, it's also social media. Violet has amassed 4.700 followers and even had an group of dedicated fans he called his "Toxikk Army". In a way, one cannot truly have the Toxikk Deception experience if they do on interact with the social media. Leading up to the album's release Violet posted photos of himself dressed in military coats to stoke excitement. It's not exactly something you can find being performed live at club... someone SHARES the Final Installment with you.

  The Final Installment is fun cyber music. It's the raw emotion under each song. Feels exactly like how grassroots music should feel. Feels exactly how underground music should feel. Two songs share a blend of an Electro- Industrial creation of a dark, mellow tone with energy that can be danced to, or walked with.

If I had to pick two highlights to examine, Id take The Day I Stopped Breathing and Space and Time

The Day I Stopped Breathing is what I imagine bleeding out in the rain after the gunfight that finally kills everyone sounds like. The reverb the most atmospheric of the album, its quick beneath, but simmers with Ominous strums as machines wail to cascading sound waves. A stage is set for a heart racing arrangement. The drones of a synthesizer become the ultimate countdown. 

Space and Time This is what I think falling from the top of a building in a cyberpunk dystopia sounds like. It's not as abrasive as one might expect the genre to be, instead its a pleasant trip or maybe just a rest. Maybe one will land hard, maybe one will float there and be suspended above the illumination. It's a pleasant vocal performance with the final words "no turning back/face the facts" faintly chanted over the aggressive charge of frequency. It's full of restraint, relinquishment, and vigorous strains of tempo.

Violet notes that this project has been "grueling, brutal, miserable".  His complete discography will be available on Youtube. 

https://toxikkarmy.bandcamp.com/album/the-final-installment

https://www.youtube.com/@toxikkdeception-topic5886