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

It all starts off with a bit of a bang with “Pieces of You”, you kinda get a picture right away of what this is all about, the music is a bit more cut and paste than The Dillinger Escape Plan, i mean they have smoother transitions, unlike Car Bomb were most of the time you see cuts between segments in the music, its not too bad cause the segments are pretty rockin, but still … cut and paste, “Gum Under The Table” comes next and a kind of fused death fuzzed metal groove going on into a electronic passage into a hardcorish kind of breakdown… and then… might i say a Meshuggah big wall of sound break… humm very nice.

Well i wont bore everyone by examining every track, suffice to say all of them seem and sound very fresh, they all follow this constant cutting and are very much founded into a more hardcore and harsh foundation, but again with loads of different stuff going around, maybe the most notable track for me is the very awkward “Best Intentions”, the rest is kind of a blazing blur of blasting and jazzing.

So… ok… is it good? txaaaa, i don’t know, like i said above this kind of music is difficult to give it a heads up or down, these boys have skill, but i do understand why a lot of people might not like it, its a bit too cut up, they barely capitalize on good grooves, i guess they seem to be in too much of a hurry to play something else, so yeah if you like weird technical metal maybe Car Bomb is just the right fit.

Official Site Car Bomb (great domain by the way)

Car Bomb – M^6
Car Bomb – His Eyes

Txx with “Rome 64 C.E.” it starts pretty slow, nonetheless it’s a nice march like intro, good build up to the next track “Slaying the Prophets Ov Isa” oh and this one even hurts me… damn this blasting and eerie guitar riffs, the vocals are better now, not so much distorted… its fast crushing and groovy, its a blast, the… chorus is kinda a slow down growling with gregorian vocals in the back, awesome… and then it all goes mind fuck with a solo guitar and crushing till the end…. what can i say… “Prometherion” starts again with a blast, it works and feels very much as the second part of “Slaying the Prophets Ov Isa”, it all feels very epic and brutal, nice, “At the Left Hand ov God” brings back a bit of that Middle Eastern vibe from the intro track, to build up to a slower shout blast, the slower pace just gives it more aggression and still it seems like a over-the-top requiem, very into the vibe of the album, awesome riffs.

“Kriegsphilosophie” brings it all back, blasting and growling at blazing speeds, half way through it goes into a change of speed and into a blasting/guitar combo, very nice to follow the guitar solo, all keeping it tight and fast, amazing, “Be without Fear” starts almost as a old school fear factory blast… that is until it changes tune to a more blasting growing, the difference is abysmal, extremely groovy and heavy as shit, it has a bit of a hardcore feel to it, not so much growling more shouting, nevertheless again a great track, “Arcana Hereticae” again blasting from hell, damn if its not well played out, not a moment of pause or monotonous movements, its all fucking tight and to the point, eerie as hell solos, makes a pause about 2/3 in… damn if it doesnt go into a groovy blast/guitar loop/guitar solo… sooo good

“Inner Sanctum” is next, with some blasting and sound off voice from guest vocal Warrel Dane from Nevermore (i checked…), it’s good, although somewhat toned down track, with piano, acoustic guitar and voice off, that is until half way they turn the guitars into groove metal mode and just kick it up, what can i say, again a fucking great track, catchy as hell, “Libertherme” start with the first electronical stuff i heard… and it doesn’t sound that bad, it helps build a slower more groovy track, not so much blasting, driving to a bunch of guitar solos through the track, still groovy, but i think it’s my least favorite, “Pazuzu” starts again with that march vibe, into full out blasting/growling/singing chorus, into full blasting growling, nice, it feels its just building up to the last track “Christgrinding Avenue”, were the all out blasting/guitar solo starts up, that grows into a groovy blast growl thing, that slows down into another groove from hell… dying out… what can i say epic flavored shit in 3 minutes… damn thats awesome.

I kinda see Behemoth as a band that re-invented themselfs into a technical death metal band from a black metal background, and that gave them that extra edge to not go overboard with the death metal, i think most death metal bands dont balance it very well, it tends to drag, to not have a point, when it should be brutal and deviant, and that’s … i guess its Behemoth’s formula, well this is a kick ass album, my congrats, incredibly atmospheric, the drumming and guitar and vocals, all excellent, pretty good production values and ohhh and i loved it… that should be enough, again…Behemoth, go fucking get the fucking album muahahah.

Official Site Behemoth.pl

Behemoth – Prometherion
Behemoth – Inner Sanctum

Gee, like with a couple of other bands, it’s difficult to talk about every single track, since they are so diverse. but I’ll give a go, “The Wolf is Loose” starts things off, and actually sounds a bit like a track from their last album, fast paced thrashing, really catchy, yeah i should note that most Mastodon tracks are above all else really catchy, not because of lyrics or chorus, but because of the drumming and riffage, now back on track with “Crystal Skull”, now this is a bit different, but again very close to the sound of Leviathan, with that freaky astounding drumming from hell and the groovy guitar work, “Sleeping Giant” is something new, again a Mastodon like delivery, slow paced track beautifully carved from progressive metal, eerie…

“Capillarian Crest” is like a mix and mash of genres, never letting down always throwing new stuff in, always in that neat Mastodon technical package, mind blowing track, “Circle of Cysquatch” brings us back to more heavy stuff, drumming going all over the place and a really hookie riffage and a hardcore finisher, just bring it home, “Bladecatcher” is a pure instrumental track and it doesn’t fail, funky as shit, “Colony of Birchmen” is slower paced, with a freaky chorus, even though in parts sounds like a mixture between power metal and progressive rock, it’s actually again a very enticing track.

“Hunters of the Sky” is one of those “experimental groove” tracks, chorus is catchy as hell, “Hand of Stone” is an already a classical Mastodon delivery with loads of different things popping up everywhere “This Mortal Soil” has a bit of an intro into a what i can only describe as some kind of progressive rock, kinda weird, “Siberian Divide” continues with this end of the album eerie feeling, just now with a bit more bite, “Pendelous Skin” is the last track and again a instrumental, completely the opposite from the first one, this one sounds like the sound of the air rushing through the mountains, building up to a music resembling some distorted Soundgarden track, very eerie, sounds like the guy climbing the mountain got himself screwed or eaten by bears.

Mastodon is Mastodon, and as one can expect they delivered, changing to a major label doesn’t seem to affect them too much, also i might point that again like in the album “Leviathan”, “Blood Mountain” is a concept piece, with a back story, and therefore it all makes even more sense, great album, even better delivery, if you like good, strange, hard music, you have a obligation to check this out.

Official Site Mastodonrocks

Mastodon – The Wolf is Loose
Mastodon – Capillarian Crest
Mastodon – Colony of Birchmen

I would say the first song immediately demonstrates the rythmical intricacy of this album. The Garden starts with some soft legato strings followed by meticulously sequenced mid-paced breaks that quickly mutate into some evil distorted breakcore. After a brief pause, it picks up again with a grumpy bassline accompanied by some cutup distorted percussion. The music then proceeds into a few minutes of breakcore iterations (woohoo!), ending with the sound of cellos, which provides for a pleasent transition into Black Bone Orchid.

This second song begins with a really nice (albeit sad?) intro, performed by the string section, to which is added some slow breaks. After a while, the mood of the music kinda changes as a playful violin enters the party. Then, as always, the song swiftly changes again into jungle/breakcore mode with the addition of a wobbly distorted bass and some seriously mashed-up breaks.

The third “song” is quite amusing actually. Uhm.. I think i would classify Bitter Moon Blossom as a mixture of cut-up metal meets breakcore until halfway through, then proceeds into some creepy ambience and finishes off with some gabber mindfuck action.

This album wraps up with Danse Macabre. This song starts off with some subtle strings followed by a few bars of mid-paced breaks (which kinda remind me of Bogdan Raczynski and Datach’i). Then it takes a turn towards a more rude drum arrangement, as the string instruments increase in tension. The “trademark” of this song are the hyperactive harpsichord/clavichord staccato ramblings, masterfully interweaved with some seriously mashed-up breakcore action.

Abelcain – Bitter Moon Blossom

Let’s see. You know Morbid Angel right? So you must know Erik Rutan. Erik Rutan left Ripping Corpse to join Morbid Angel. Later he left Morbid Angel and assumed full-time Hate Eternal [he's side-project at the time]. So what happened to Ripping Corpse? The guys formed Dim Mak. Named after the Chinese Death Touch, this tech death metal band has as a lyrical theme martial arts and stuff. I know it sounds weird. Forget about that. Dim Mak rocks.

“Knives of Ice” is their third album. And shit, they are better then ever. If you know Hate Eternal [check out Soundcult's review] you’ll love this motherfucker.
By the way… Do you know Origin? [check out Soundcult's review] Well, John Longstreth from Origin joined forces with Dim Mak and hell yeah he thrashed that drum kit.

This is the most Hate Eternal’ish record of Dim Mak. Erik Rutan and the guys in Dim Mak have some elements in common, like some kind of riffs and the solos are pretty similar – you know that slow harmonies stuff.

I’m am not going to do a one-by-one review on this one. Consider this an informal review.
The album follows pretty much the same vein I described anyway. Expect killer riffs, amazing oriental melody hooks and shit.

I consider this Dim Mak album to be in level with the Hate Eternal ones. Do I need to say more? I can only imagine what this guys would sound with Erik in the band. Fuck yeah.
Check out “Intercepting Fist” and “Enter The Dragon” too, if you dig this album.

Dim Mak – Seeing Crows in Silver
Dim Mak – Incident at the Temple at Leng

So… First track is “Luminum”, an instrumental track.

“In The Kingdom Where Everything Dies,The Sky Is Mortal” follows. And GOD damn!. Cryptopsy rocks or what? Brutality invades. Cryptopsy are so complex and technical that you got to love it [or hate it]. With this track I noticed several things. Cryptopsy lose the jazz elements [great] and the riffs are, once again, more interesting and catchy ["And Then You'll Beg" was kind of boring. One or two great songs and the rest of the album just drag us until the end].

“Carrionshine” must have the fastest drums in the world. Just check it out at 0:40m. Oh yeah baby! Mr. Flo Mounier has mastered the Gravity Roll technique. This track is just insane. How the hell this guys play this stuff? Amazing.

Next in line is “Adeste Infidelis”. Great riff in the beginning. Then chaos comes in. Only at minute 2:00m we have some “rest”. Great solo section. Then, chaos once again. I must say that this track is a bit confusing. Most of the time I can’t ear the riffs, just the drums blasting away. Great guitar solo section and ending tough.

Track #5 is “The Curse Of The Great” and the pace seems to be dropped with a slow heavy intro. One minute passes and Cryptopsy shows us, once again, who’s tha band. Flo did a tremendous job on this record. I guess he must have earned the Godlike status by now.

The second riff of “The Frantic Pace Of Dying” rocks. I always enjoyed this kind of Cryptopsy catchy melodies. It’s very cool how they manage to create a “theme” and then play it throughout the song. Pretty much like in classical music. Hey, they even have a string chamber doing the riff just before the recall. Great effect. When the band comes in it adds a lot of power.

“Keeping The Cadaver Dogs Busy”. Nice song title -_- This one starts with a ten seconds jazzy riff [it's the only jazz oriented passage in the record]. Soon brutality steps in. One more great riff. It’s very hard to describe this Cryptopsy songs. It’s all happening so fast that there is not much to say.

“Angelskingarden” has another intro. This is the longest song in the record. Near the end there is a very cool passage with a big classical guitar solo.

The next song is kind of weird. “The Pestilence That Walketh In Darkness [Psalm 91 : 5-8]“. It sounds like…. Like… A death metal ballad? Well, just the first riff anyway. The spoken vocals doesn’t help much either. Weird track.

“The End” is another instrumental track. An intro and next we have some acoustic guitars with some tribal percussion. This track links with the next and final one: “Endless Cemetery”

Slow heavy riff in the beginning. Towards the middle we have another cool section with those melodies I talked before. It breaks all the chaos and brutality. Then another guitar solo begins and the song evolves to a softer vibe.

Well, overall: This is a great Cryptopsy record. Probably not as good as “None So Vile” but, at least, better the “And Then You’ll Beg” – the previous one.
They are better then ever, even with the loss of the “None So Vile” mastermind: guitar player Jon Levasseur. Didn’t miss him at all, as strange as it seems. Negative remark for Lord Worm. Maybe he tried to be more versatile but it just backfired.

This is a tremendous extreme death metal album. Pussy metal heads keep out.

Cryptopsy – Adeste Infidelis

OK… Now let’s talk about “Echoes of Decimation”.
Origin really surprised me with this third album. They managed to evolve even more with this record. I thought they would stagnate, I mean, play fast all the time and doing crazy riffs… How many songs can you do that way? Well, apparently, at least enough songs to do three great records. The guitars are absolutely amazing! Imagine Nile, without the Egyptian vibe, with faster pace and sweeping riffs all over the place. The drums are, probably, the most fast I have ever heard, or, at least, with some of the faster parts in the genre. James King uses, and abuses, the hyper blast [or gravity roll] technique – besides Flo Mounier, from Cryptopsy, I don’t know any other drummer that plays this technique so perfectly – increasing even more the brutality of this record.

One thing I love in the album is that even with all this “crazy” playing, complexity and whatever, the record sound pretty catchy. But catchy in a good way. All the songs grab your attention right away. And when a song is over you will feel like a truck just hit you in the face. You will feel this nine times until this thirty minute record reaches the end.
“Echoes of Decimation” is one hell of a record. Check it out or be decimated.

Origin – The Burner
Origin – Staring from the Abyss

Although i did made some comparisons with The Dillinger Escape Plan, these are 2 different beast, hell i should have said Into The Moat, since Psyopus don’t go for a more eclectic range, even thought it’s quite the chaotic mix, with rapid changes of pace and patterns, it tends to stay in genre with some small intermissions, don’t get me wrong, it’s not bad, it’s just boring, even though I’m quite adept to these kinds of music, they don’t seem to capitalize in anything, and doing a 5 minute song with 30 different riffs, with loads of drumming variations with double bass rolls, blast beats or whatever the drummer can think off, doesn’t mean you have a song, or more importantly a good song.

Psyopus does deliver the goods, that’s for sure, this is one heck of a album, trying to stretch the limits is always a good thing in my book, but as i said before it tends to drag on, there are some tracks that stand out, but they don’t stand out enough and after you listen to it cover to cover, your a bit sick of it all, the guitars start sounding all the same, i know it’s not the same riff but the fucking guitars are screeching anyway, a friend of mine said the album just wasn’t tight enough, and after a couple of good listening i understand what he said perfectly.

Psyopus – Death I…

Over the years they evolved, but manage to keep the CC sound intact, even with several line-up changes – guitar, vocals, drums.
With “Bloodthirst” they established a more heavy, low tuned, complex and brutal sound (already explored in “Gallery Of Suicide” but, for me, “Bloodthirst” is more representative). But since then that they didn’t evolved or did anything different – in my opinion – just the same kind of playing over and over. I mean… We have “Bloodthirst”. “Gore Obsessed” sounds like “Bloodthirst”; “The Wretched Spawn” sounds like “Gore Obsessed”; and now “Kill” sounds like “The Wretched Spawn”.

I’m so tired of this CC sound that all songs seem alike. Cannibal Corpse stated: “As for the new album, we are doing everything we can to make sure it’s the heaviest, most brutal one we’ve ever made”. Well, congrats. It’s the heaviest brutal album you ever made. For me it’s the worst album to date. We can hear it ten times in a row and… Nothing happens. I was like -”OK, the songs might be pretty technical and confusing, so I’ll give it another try”; -”Ohh one more play and nothing… hmmm let’s hear it again. I’m sure some song might be cool”; -”Crap, not even one song! One more time and that’s it!”; “I can’t believe it! Maybe the CD is scratched. Hmm no… The CD is good. I’ll play it again, just in case”; -”Shit, god damn it! In thirteen songs you couldn’t do one good song?!”.
This time I can’t even pick three or four great songs. It’s all so banal and repetitive. A+ for the last song “Infinite Misery”. It’s the only cool song for me. Ironically is the slowest and the most basic song. And that says allot.

Cannibal Corpse has come to a level where they think that having great musicians is enough to do a great record. Well, this might came as a shock, but no. Not all the crap that you (CC) write is good you know. Doesn’t matter if it’s the most difficult riff ever or if it’s the craziest pattern human can create.
NO SOUP FOR YOU!!!

Cannibal Corpse – Make Them Suffer

I must say that they have presented us one of the most interesting extreme death metal works of all time. Erik’s composition is getting better every time I listen to new H.E. material. In a genre that tends to create barriers on it’s evolution, Erik has managed to breakthrough on each record, showing us a tremendous evolution in the H.E. sound, technique, composition and production – Erik is a producer himself and has is own studio (Mana Recording Studios).

When talking about H.E. we must talk about Derek Roddy also (though he just left the band). Presently he is one of the best death metal drummers – if not the best. He did a great work on “King of All Kings”, but with “I, Monarch” Derek went completely berserk, creating probably the best death metal drum work I’ve ever had the pleasure of listening. We all know that blast beating all the time is no fun, but I think Derek presented us a refreshing extreme drumming approach. From a non-standard drum kit to complex pattern decomposition, Derek showed us that it’s not all about playing fast.

Imagine top level death metal guitar playing plus top level drumming plus Erik’s known musicality and we have “I, Monarch”.

This is a “must have” to you all death metal fans. At this pace, Hate Eternal will DOMINATE!!! [Morbid Angel watch out!]

Hate Eternal – Behold Judas
Hate Eternal – I, Monarch