UMUR "Waves of Visual Decay" is the 2nd full-length studio album by Norwegian metal act Communic. The album was released through Nuclear Blast Records in May 2006. The "regular" version of the album contains seven tracks. The limited edition comes with two bonus tracks. Both tracks are also featured in this version on the band´s 2004 "Conspiracy in Mind" demo and also appeared in re-recorded version on the 2005 "Conspiracy in Mind" full-length studio album. "Waves of Visual Decay" was produced by prolific Danish producer/musician Jacob Hansen.

The music on the album is semi-progressive thrashy power metal and just as the case was on the debut album a comparison to Nevermore is not that far off the mark. lead vocalist/guitarist Oddleif Stensland has a voice and a singing style that is so similar to the voice and singing style of Warrel Dane ( Nevermore, Sancturary) that it´s impossible not to notice it and mention it. There are moments on this album that sounds unmistakably like Nevermore (albeit without the outstanding guitar playing by Jeff Loomis) and I´m a bit biased if I think that´s a strength or a weakness. Communic generally has a more epic progressive style that sets them apart from Nevermore, but there are generally more similarities than differences.

The seven tracks on the 57:54 minutes long album are all between 6 and 9 minutes long and all feature hook laden choruses, heavy thrashy/power metal riffing, occasional keyboard backing, and those paatos filled powerful clean vocals by Oddleif Stensland. While I at times could have wished for a more raw and stripped down approach, it´s to mye ears still a winning formula. All tracks on "Waves of Visual Decay" are quality compositions, the playing is impeccable, and with a powerful sound production to boot, this album screams quality all the way through.

One of my complaints about the debut album was that the songwriting was a bit formulaic and vers/chorus based, and that´s unfortunately also true on "Waves of Visual Decay". Vers/chorus based songwriting isn´t always an issue, but as both the vers and the chorus sections are as long as they are on this album, it tends to get a bit repetitive when the band repeat themselves for the third time, but that´s my only complaint about the album and of course this is also an aquired taste. If Communic could "cut a bit of the fat" they would probably be a bit more appealing though. Still a 3.5 star (70%) rating is warranted.

kluseba Communic surely made a big step forward with their second record. Their compositions are more complex, more thought out and more majestic. The band also sounds a lot less than Nevermore as they did on their debut record even if these influences are still too much present to call this album unique. The production and the artwork are though once again outstanding.

"Under A Luminous Sky" is a great and mysterious introduction to a progressive album but the band's technical thrash riffs kick already in and give the song a fairly interesting drive. The vocals remind of Nevermore but in the higher parts also of King Diamond or Judas Priest. This shows just the great vocal range of the singer and proves me that he could do much better than he actually does by copying the style of other well known singers. The guitar work sounds a little bit like Tool in this track and is quite interesting.

The problem I still have with the band beside the fact that they didn't find their own style and copy too many other artists is that their songs lack of warmth, accessibility and catchiness. They are technically brilliant but heavy to digest and often way too long in my humble opinion. As on the last album, the band convinces when they take a deep breath and put calmer passages in their songs. These are the moments when they sound emotional, authentic and human. I really like the calm and melodic first minutes of the diversified "Frozen Asleep In The Park" or the enjoyable half-ballad "Watching It All Disappear" but the band always decides way too often to return to a mid tempo pace with thrash riffs and Warrel Dane reminiscences.

The calm moments are though way more present on this record as one the first one and the band seems to recognize its talent and skills and they mostly employ them in an adequate way. From that point of view the title track "Waves Of Visual Decay" is the most complete and perfect track the band has ever done and the highlight of this record but one must also mention the quite diversified closer "At Dewy Pride" that mixes in a great way the harder and softer side of a band and would be an ideal choice to represent the sound of the Norwegian group. The last songs sound very promising to me for the band's future since I have not yet listened to their last records but they definitely seem to keep on progressing.

In the end, this record is more human, more emotional and also more diversified than the first album. It's not a masterpiece but the band is on a quite good way to get into the circle of the big progressive metal bands. I begin to open myself to them and appreciate them more than before. I would judge this record as a big step forward for them and consider it as a very good progressive metal record.