The years since their last album (2017s “Anticult”) haven’t been kind to Decapitated. False rape charges were brought against the band members whilst touring the USA in late 2017, COVID-19 interrupted their European tour with Beyond Creation in March 2020, and even now, idiotic social media trolls have deemed the Polish tech-death outfit “woke” on the basis of the new album title, despite having no context of what it means whatsoever.
Thankfully Decapitated refuse to let any of this get them down, simply letting their music do the talking. The listener is presented with ten tunes peeled off in a blistering 37 minutes, with just three songs coming close to the five minute mark. Much of the renowned Decapitated technicality has been stripped back, but there are still smatterings of rhythm trickery, tempo shifts and time changes to be found. Primarily, this is Decapitated in full-on heavy and bludgeoning mode, with a renewed sense of riff worship and melodicism.
Whilst undoubtedly intense and ferocious, this album maintains a versatile and engaging spirit throughout. “Locked”, for example, is a face-ripping belter of a track buoyed by both Vogg’s rediscovered embrace of The Riff and the precision drumming of newcomer James Stewart. “Hours As Battlegrounds” on the other hand presents a moody atmospheric soundscape upon which to bludgeon the listener. Elsewhere, “Last Supper” starts as a loose thrasher before the blast is unleashed, closing the album with what is sure to become a pit-opening live staple.
The real surprises come on two tracks in the middle of the album. “Hello Death” features an appearance from Jinjers’ Tatiana Shmailyuk, her clean vocals syncopated with Vogg’s signature rhythmic fretboard gymnastics and later juxtaposed against Rasta’s vocals. It’s the first time I can recall clean vocals being used by Decapitated, and we don’t have to wait long for the second occasion, as “Iconoclast” follows on its heels with a certain Robb Flynn providing an epic croon evolving into a growl. Both cameos compliment the songs they adorn perfectly, though the optics of Machine Heads frontman leeching underground credibility from his current live guitarist is a bit awkward.
“Cancer Culture” is the most accessible we’ve heard Decapitated since their 2000 debut album, yet the uncompromising authenticity remains intact, delivered with similar blunt-force enthusiasm to Norwegian peers Blood Red Throne. Much like Carcass managed with “Surgical Steel” in 2013, the return of Decapitated has unwittingly provided the metal world with an abject lesson in precision brutality. Fantastic stuff.
(8.5/10 Doogz)
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