Decapitated - Carnival Is Forever [2011]

Jesus fuck... "The Knife" has one of the most confusing verse riffs I've ever heard. Unfortunately, it's much less Death Metal and more like Swedish Thrash. Not a fan of the Soilwork-wannabe vocals either. Though, his high-screams are quite good. Another confusingly difficult and technical energy bomb can be found in "United". Towards the end of "United" it actually starts to feel like a Decapitated song. Hey hey! Very Decapitated riffage in "Carnival Is Forever". Oddly enough, the vocals seem to inch themselves more towards Death Metal as the album progresses. "404" flexes more of the creative muscles with crazy squeals that sound like they should never come from a guitar. Well, there's no argument at all that this is a very technical album. It's also very high-energy. I like the fact that they didn't just repeat what they had tried before. However, it just doesn't feel like Decapitated and the vocals really push the songs away from Death Metal for me. It's also lacking in the blast-beat department... a lot. Perhaps I'm being to harsh, after all, Decapitated has never put out an album that sounded like the preceding one. Maybe I just need to warm up to this one like I did with Organic Hallucinosis. Must listen to it a few times before I actually give it a rating. Once I get past the vocals and general replacement of blasting with thrashing, this is a very good album that has a lot of brutality and energy. It just takes a while to get accustomed to it.

Rating: 8.5

http://www.decapitatedband.net/

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

Decapitated - Organic Hallucinosis [2006]

One hell of a first track. Brutal, fast, technical, and catchy. The different vocalist takes some getting used to, but his style works for the music and he's quite versatile. Things continue on the brutality path with "Day 69". "Revelation of Existence" really drives home the fact that trying to predict what these guys will do next is fruitless. They've really perfected the songwriting on this album. Even the slow parts are really heavy and catchy... never feeling like they drag. All of the songs on this album are extremely strong. By far their best album and certainly one of my favorite Death Metal albums in my library.

Rating: 8.75

http://www.decapitatedband.net/

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

Decapitated - The Negation [2004]

Quite heavier production right off the bat. GREAT first track... very heavy songwriting, energetic, and brutally technical. "Three-Dimensional Defect" slows things down just a bit and brings in some Fear Factory aesthetics. The songs go back and forth between slow death and grinding shreds... but most of the stuff is slower as the album progresses. Ok, so the slower parts are certainly catchy and well-written, but it's a bit unfortuitous for the listener that the album that starts with such blazing energy sags so much in the middle. However, this is a much more refined version of the style change that began with Nihility. If I'm in the mood for more groove than fast-tearing-speed, this will be perfect.

Rating: 7.75

http://www.decapitatedband.net/

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

Decapitated - Nihility [2002]

Significantly more technicality on the guitars and drums. Overall, the style is quite different. A bit more mature. It's a bit of a weird album, though, because the groove continually gets broken up making it very difficult to settle down with this album. Too much of it feels clinical despite the style change. The production is a bit odd as well... it's lost much of the heaviness of WoC, but has gained more clarity. An interesting effort, but despite the new style and increased technical prowess, it's not all that catchy and it feels rather like a dulled razor.

Rating: 7

http://www.decapitatedband.net/

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

Decapitated - Winds of Creation [2000]

What a start. Heavy as hell; punchy-ass production; catchy as fuck; BRUTAL. Wow, I've forgotten how good this album is. Not all of it is catchy, but it's certainly better than I initially thought when I first purchased the album 10 years ago. There is one production issue that has been nagging me: the left guitar is not as loud as the right guitar... poor mixing. Other than that, this is an awesome first effort that makes most bands' peak albums look immature by comparison. Well done.

Rating: 8

http://www.decapitatedband.net/

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.