«Intense» is a good word to describe the album (although not quite as intense as they would have it), characteristically American in nature (and for once I mean this in a positive sense): technical, brutal and grunted through and through. Drums are good, guitars are now and then hypnotizing, and the songs sound well thought-out. There are breaks, dragged rhythms of chaos, but mostly Death Metal violence. For fans of DISGORGE, IMMOLATION, DISAVOWED or DYING FETUS.

Conceptually, DEBODIFIED are heavily war-inspired, and the cover artwork (by Jon Zig) reflects the album title – my view of Utopia in the eyes of a beast can also be illustrated by the war panzers, helicopters and related warfare, dictating the onslaught and mutilated, maimed and burning human corpses. The everlasting struggle against the Human scum – innocent or not. Or maybe the Beast is none other than the very person who holds a speech at the beginning of Terminated with Prejudice – Mr Adolf “Swine” Hitler.

Recorded October 2002 at the Soundlab Studio, produced by DEBODIFIED and engineered by Joey Rhyme, Utopia… features Jay Barnes (of LUST OF DECAY) on backing vocals (Instinct for Malevolence).

But I might as well have conjugated the verbs in the Past Tense – you see, DEBODIFIED was disbanded two months after the release of Utopia in the Eyes of a Beast, due to turmoil within the band. This is the band’s legacy. And it is a killer.

Myspace Debodified

Nihility is the second opus created by this four-member act. I believe all the expectation around the album is more than justifiable. They benefited greatly from the fact that they attend a music school, and as a proof, you have flawless, technical Death Metal at your availability, from the guitars to the drums.

Some obvious comparisons to Cannibal Corpse and Morbid Angel must be established, but it is not at all some sort of copy or plagiarism. It is only a proof that their sources of inspiration are very good. Decapitated also have their very own sense of mature morbidness and there does not lack the hypnotic riffing, allied to a very heavy production.

In a total playing time of 35:07 minutes, their 8 tracks are a sample of genuinely well played technical, inventive and progressive Brutal Death Metal. Favourite tracks are Mother War, Nihility (Anti-Human Manifesto) and Spheres of Madness. In Nihility you can actually feel Armageddon is coming nearer, in pieces, accompanied by gradual threats of annihilation. In Spheres O Madness (a slower-tempo song) you just go berzerk with the intro. The other tracks are Perfect Dehumanisation (The Answer), Eternity Too Short, Names, Babylon’s Pride and Symmetry Of Zero.

The more I listen to the album, the more addicting it becomes. All in all, it is a very refreshing release as it comes to well-played Death Metal. The fact that the musicians attend music schools does not prevent the true feeling from being there as, alas!, so often happens with (virtuoso) musicians.

Amongst so many Death Metal bands that arose after Vader, Decapitated seem to be THE honourable successors to Poland’s (maybe even Europe’s) Death Metal throne. You should be on your knees, begging for an opportunity to see them live. Well I have and am certainly awaiting future concerts!

Official Site Decapitatedband.net | Myspace Decapitated

Note from the Editor: The band had a van accident while touring in russia and Witold “Vitek” Kieltyka the drummer of the band, and one of the best kick ass drummers i have ever listen has died, if you want to help his and other bandmates families you can do so by going here, thank you… you will be missed… now freakin enjoy his awesome work on Spheres of Madness

Decapitated – Spheres Of Madness

Humm the album starts with a small intro “Exordium” nice and slow building up for “Vanish Away” one thing is for sure, blasting and growling is what you get, cant say that this isn’t pretty tight, there is enough variation and musicianship, but it all seems like a generic track for this kind of music, “Final Warning” is different, at least that… (I’m kinda afraid cause there is a tendency for repetition…), pretty headbanging music… very thrashy Slayer like feel to it… just the vocals … they seem to be the least engaging part of the track for me, “That’s Why I Despise You” is a little more of the same, what starts to be a trend is the overwhelming speed… all the tracks seem to be in a hurry.

“The Fraud” humm well i might say its a bit of the same, “Into The Arms Of Misery” is again more of the same, i guess ill skip to some highlights of the rest of the album, “Contraddictions” is a pretty tight tune… probably one of my favorites, really sweet guitar work also “Retain The Scars” is quite brutal… again great guitar/drum work, hell seems the best is really towards the end.

Humm thrash… well i can say that Dew-Scented don’t take anything out, they actually put a lot in, but in my opinion, not enough to escape the too generic clause, its like going to a drive in cinema… its good clean fun, but if you go to a fucking IMAX with digital picture, digital sound that will melt your brain… yeah thats way more bang for the buck, so i guess is you like it raw with all the gritty messy brutal thrash… then what are you waiting for?

Official Site Dew-Scented

Dew-Scented – That’s Why I Despise You

An introduction that reminded me the soundtrack to The Dark Eye (Pc Game based on Edgar Allan Poe’s tales, particularly The Cask of Amontillado) was certainly a mood-setter. However, it did not prepare me for the brutal assault represented by Grace by Chalice of Anger. Fierce, brutal death metal – the way it is supposed to be. The band’s conceptual dimension is simply quoted as «Hate, Anguish and Egoism towards humanity and all its forms». This expression of this disdain is perfectly mirrored in the band’s aggressiveness – but it is an «orderly» aggressiveness, with song-structures without an apparent pattern, but well thought-out. There is a healthy amount of influences in the songs – from MORBID ANGEL to CRYPTOPSY and CANNIBAL CORPSE. In the end, the songs are varied and some riffs are really good and morbid. We are dealing with skilled musicians here and, while not being necessarily a breath of fresh air in the Death Metal scene, Fragments of Perdition is still worth the listen. The formula is successful in the band’s music.in addition to good music is the good production (Pop-Studio, Mika Haapasalo).

Fan Site Mikseri.net – Death du Jour

Death du Jour – Harlot Deliverance
Death du Jour – Triangle Gallows

The Brazilian Death Metal community has some major representatives – Krisiun and Rebaelliun are also represented in Abominattion’s music, who have kept faithful to the original extreme death metal sound they played in the beginning. Doutrine of False Martyr (spelling mistake included) is 42 minutes of straightforward, well played Death Metal. The song structures are well thought-out and some of the movements attended the Morbid Angel school. Doutrine of False Martyr needs some time of getting used to, for the songs are as a rule of thumb «dense», to put it mildly, and the production is semi-good, but I have heard much worse. Some of the strong racks are perhaps Doutrine of False Martyr, Hateful Divine Creation (bruuuuuutal) and Fallen Angel. Eternity’s Defy is somewhat doomier, more melancholic.

As a whole, Abominattion is a rather good band to listen to, but the Krisiun influences are still a bit too heavy. Dourine of False Martyr (spelling mistake included) is recommended, though.

Abominattion – Purity in Flames

Three Brazilian brothers formed Krisiun. One drummer, one guitar player and one bass player that growls also. I think they added another guitar player in the beginning but they preferred the trio thing. One thing is for sure, “AssassiNation” is their 7th album and the trio of brothers remains intact.

I first got into Krisiun through “Ageless Venomous“. I was stunned. I almost could not believe that this was a Brazilian band, no offence. Amazing technical riffs, blast beats all over the place, and guess what?! They sound quite original. They have been creating their own death metal sound through the years. We can hear a song and immediately know “this is a Krisiun song” – just like Fear Factory kind of trademark, only with the difference that Krisiun does not sound like crap in our days and Fear Factory do.

OK… “Works of Carnage” followed and was an amazing album too.
Then Krisiun went a bit under, at least for my taste. They released “Bloodshed“. I don’t know why they changed but this album sounds boring as shit. I think they tried to do something different but… It did not sound very good. Much more slower stuff, more basic riffage and, most of all, boring material. No hyper-speed legato shit, no extreme drumming, no fun…

Now Krisiun are back. Back with an album and back to their sound. “AssassiNation” is, probably, Krisiun’s best album to date. Best production – yes, this time we can hear crystal clear what the hell is going on with all the instruments, especially with the guitar – the sharpest performance (guitar and drums) yet and, most important, the songs are great! I will not comment each song on this one because all the songs are at the same level and that’s why this album sounds so good!

The Krisiun brothers really pushed the bar on this one. Let’s hope that with this album Krisiun gets the exposure that they already deserve for ages.

Prepare to be squashed by this massive death metal record.
This one will be on my 2006 top five, that’s for sure! ^^

Krisiun – Vicious Wrath

A band’s 1st album can be a great work, or just good enough to brake through (let’s talk about the ones that survive this process, obviously).

With the 2nd album the “tests” begin. Or you do worst and you can forget about it, or you can really do better and stay “above water”. Let’s suppose that you do great and manage to get to a 3rd album.

By this time, you have no excuse to do a bad album anymore. You must have an idea how your band should work and sound by now.
You really should do THE “killer” album. Otherwise its just on more “band X” album… People will start to loose interest. (yeah, why should we listen to another median record from band X? We have the other two records from them and many other bands to get into) OK, so you do the best album ‘till date. That’s great! Three albums in the bag.
(Some of the 80’ / 90’ classic metal albums are the 3rd in the bands career. We have Metallica’s “Master of Puppets”, Slayer’s “Reign in Blood”, Morbid Angel’s “Covenant”, and so on…)

In order to continue a “decent” career you should really improve your work. We now have two options. You continue doing albums with the same formula – and become another AC/DC phenomenon – or you manage to continue building up, instead of stagnating. So let’s see where Nile is…

“Amongst the Catacombs of Nephren-Ka” was a killer album. I was stunned with this work. They mixed death metal with Egyptian influences – lyric and music wise. What a great idea!

“Black Seeds of Vengeance” presented an even more brutal work. Production more clean, songs more complex, a second guitarist added, Egyptian / death metal symbioses pushed a little far more. Well… another epic album with more great arrangements.

“In Their Darkened Shrines” – my favorite to date – was a culmination of an amazing work. They were better then ever. The songs were great, the technical aspect was pushed to the limit, Egypt incarnated in Nile for good! Yeah, this was Nile. Now tha’s what i’m talking about…

So what now? Were to from here? Well…
Is technical death metal riffs and amazing Egyptian moods still surprising by now? I don’t think so…

“Annihilation of the Wicked” would be the band’s classic if only this was the bands 1st to 3rd album. But the reality is, Nile has already 3 records in the bag. In my opinion, this is just “another” Nile record – that AC/DC phenomenon starting to show up. The production is as sharp as it gets. Tremendous work. Songs are pushed to inhuman limits technique wise. Amazing musicians (shit I love Nile, really!) but, at this time, that’s not enough. They have done that already… Adding Egyptian chorus and stuff is not enough anymore. It’s still a very good album and probably the best death metal record of 2005.

I think Karl Sanders – if by any chance reads this non-sacred text – will probably curse me with some Egyptian old scripture (to turn me into a frog or something) but don’t get me wrong… I know the Nile guys really put some good effort into this record. I have no doubt Karl Sanders did his best on this one. Man, this record is great. My point is just regarding the complete bands work. That’s how I see Nile and any other band. As a continued work.

The Nile “magic” is somehow fading. I hope that in the 5th record they manage to revitalize their sound. Nile is a great band!

Nile – Lashed to the Slave Stick