Decapitated are a band that since the very beginning have been sat on the throne of technical death metal. Their musical ability on the debut ‘Winds of Creation’ instantly had them deservedly make a name for themselves, even now, hearing that album blows minds, their creativity was miles ahead of its time. Even more impressive though, is that they were all aged between 15 and 18 at the time.
Following up from Winds came several, just as strong albums, proving it wasn’t a one off, but by the time they came to ‘Organic Hallucinosis’, they departure of vocalist Sauron would lead way to a new voice, Covan. The album would receive massive critical acclaim and the band seemed set to conquer the world, sadly this is where things would take the tragic change we all know. The fateful road accident that soon after claimed the life of the extremely talented drummer Vitek and seriously injuring vocalist Covan, who would later need surgery that leads to complications, that then leads to a coma. Decapitated would then step into an indefinite hiatus and understandably so.
Fast forward to 2011, and Decapitated were back with album ‘Carnival is Forever’, fast, aggressive, and different. It split fans between those that wanted the old sound and those that embraced the new. Following up came ‘Blood Mantra’, following the same footsteps as its previous release, the band edged further out of the box and received mixed reviews. I for one was a huge fan, but I can understand as to why those wouldn’t be a fan, for them it wasn’t what they thought Decapitated were about. Finally, though we have this release, ‘Anticult’.
The intensity, the fire in the belly, and most importantly, the album that seems to put the bridge between the old and new era’s of the band’s catalogue, this is the album that should gain the faith of the old fans. The tracks take a much more straight forward approach, with only the odd exception passing the 5-minute mark. Riffs galore, you are thrown instantly into the pit of snakes with ‘Impulse’, soon followed by the extremely catchy ‘Deathvaluation’. The riffs are full of groove and memorable as your first sexual encounter. Continuing the groove comes ‘Kill the Cult’.
The album continues on with the same attacks on your senses, vocalist ‘Rasta’ is as present as the two previous releases, it is clear he only getting more comfortable as he pushes himself to be more diverse at points. Bassist Hubert Więcek is the newest member of the group, holding his own extremely well. There is no sense of filler on the album, as it punches through wall after wall with Vogg consistently delivering the goods as much now as he ever has done. Tracks like ‘Earth Scar’ and ‘Never’ are perfect examples of this, closer ‘Amen’ sits nicely at the end with a much slower tempo than everything previously, a fine way to end.
Through the tests of time, Decapitated in some way or another, always delivered. They have triumphed through the most difficult of times and been humble at the best. The accessibility of ‘Anticult’ should have no issue creating new fans and having younger generations looking back through their back catalogue if ever a band deserved to be grace the stage, it is these guys, and this album should have them playing to sold out shows for many years to come.
