Now Poland’s number one death metal band has presented their masterpiece. No, BEHEMOTH with their bombastic optics and the strained (anti-) religious habit are not meant! The old warhorse VADER doesn’t get the nod either. It’s about DECAPITATED, who have been working on their Tech Death recipe for two decades.
As the album title suggests, DECAPITATED take a socially critical standpoint. Anyone who takes a look at the virtual space and observes how people interact there knows that neither “Just A Cigarette” nor “Hours As Battlegrounds” are intended to give anything like hope.
Especially in times like these, the contribution of JINJER’s Tatiana Shmailyuk is a strong sign. The Ukrainian breathes an atmospheric counterpoint to the musical pickaxe “Hello Death” with original vocal lines. Another guest is Waclaw “Vogg” Kieltyka’s transatlantic friend, namely none other than Robb Flynn from MACHINE HEAD (which Mr. “Vogg” has been involved with for quite some time). Similar to Tatiana, he takes up the thread where emotional melody singing is required. Front Rasta Rafał only pauses briefly, and otherwise delivers a remarkably intense performance.
The death ICE, which has again grown into a foursome, always acts in a contemporary manner, without ingratiating itself with trends, virtuoso but not cerebral, brutal but not monotonous. The tasteful sense of style with which “Cancer Culture” was created culminates in the, for extremely metallic conditions, very noble sound of the record.