The Spotlight Kid When Death Metal was beginning to stagnate somewhat at the turn of the century one band stood out from the crowd and reminded us all that the genre wasn’t only not dying but was still brimming with life and vibrancy. That band of course was the Polish powerhouse Decapitated and that album released in 2000 was the drop dead classic debut album Winds Of Creation. The guys were not done there though. Bringing forth an extremely high level of proficiency Decapitated continued to release three more outstanding albums in 2002’s Nihility which is still a fan favorite to many and is pure perfected insanity, 2004’s The Negation which continued the technical perfection blended with true Death Metal power and ferocity, and finally 2006’s Organic Hallucinosis which divided some fans at the time but now is also widely regarded as a classic. Unfortunately while touring Organic Hallucinosis their tour bus collided with an oncoming truck hauling wood. This incident would leave singer Adrian "Covan" Kowanek in a coma and see their amazing drummer Witold "Vitek" Kiełtyka lose his life a few days later due to his injuries. This was obviously a huge blow to the band and especially Vitek’s brother and primary songwriter and guitarist Wacław "Vogg" Kiełtyka.

After a few years recording and touring with fellow Poles Vader for their Necropolis album, Vogg put the word out to recruit new members to restart Decapitated once again. With Covan still enduring a very slow recovery, and unable to rejoin, a whole new line-up was assembled. In mid-2009 Vogg stated: "It has been the hardest thing for me to move on without Vitek by my side, but he would have wanted me to continue with the band. Finally, I have found some great musicians who can continue the work of Vitek and Covan. There's no sense in stopping this amazing thing we built up so many years ago together with Vitek, Sauron, Martin and Covan."

The New line-up returned in 2011 with Carnival is Forever and followed up with Blood Mantra in 2014 and 2017’s Anticult. While the band was still unarguably technical Death Metal, the overall sound and feel of the band had changed somewhat. Incorporating a little more diversity into the compositions while at times not being quite as intricate. During the Anticult tour Decapitated once again faced a terrible ordeal in the form of false accusations of rape while on tour in california. After the band's arrest and more evidence coming to light thankfully the band was cleared and all charges were dropped. This along with surviving another bus crash and a plane crash makes Decapitated one of the most unstoppable bands in all metal. It's simply amazing that with all that they’ve managed to survive it all and prosper creatively.

That brings us up to date with their latest offering, the aptly titled Cancer Culture. Here we see Decapitated at their most diverse yet. Cancer Culture preserves their legacy of technical prowess while also adding large doses of melody, rhythmic diversity and dissonance, all flavored with their trademark groove. They open with Militaristic drumming and ominous sounding guitars on "From the Nothingness with Love" before exploding into the title track and it's glorious. Loaded with groove and aggression but also allowing the softer moments to open up and breath before returning to the onslaught. It’s done with total control and expertise. “Just a Cigarette” follows and mixes dissonance, melody and emotion seamlessly. Another standout.

Another interesting feature of Cancer Culture is the two guest appearances. Firstly on the fantastic song “Hello Death” they have Tatiana Shmailyuk from the band JInjer providing some very nice clean vocals that float above Vogg’s crazy intricate riffing creating a wonderful juxtaposition. This is quite unexpected on a Decapitated album and some might see it as a sell out or some such nonsense but personally I think as always they handle it perfectly. Next they also brought in Machine Head’s very own Robb Flynn to add clean vocals to the equally excellent “Iconoclast”. A straight for the jugular grooving death metal track that also explores some goosebump inducing moodiness with Robb’s clean singing. Every song on Cancer Culture is fantastic but other standouts are the insanity unleashed of “Locked” and the unusual coolness of “Hours As Battlegrounds”.

Everything on Cancer Culture sounds fantastic too. Huge yet well defined production sounds serve to highlight Vogg’s fantastic and unique riffing and creative soloing. The Drumming from James Stewart is fantastic and I think Vitek would be proud. Rafał "Rasta" Piotrowski once again does a great job delivering the growls with precision and perfect placement.

As a huge fan of their first run of albums with Vitek I never fully warmed to the newer albums as much, however listening to Cancer Culture has reawakened my love for Decapitated. I think it’s the best of their new era albums and I love every pulversing second of it. There’s enough of their familiar classic technical bludgeoning there while also bringing a freshness to the table and integrating it masterfully by a band at the peak of their compositional powers. Highly recommended. (originally published on SoT and The Metal Spotlight)

Kev Rowland Back with their eighth full-length album, Decapitated show no sign whatsoever of slowing down. Guitarist Vogg has of course been there since the very beginning back in 1996, while singer Rasta has also been there for more than ten years, but since their last album they have brought in a new drummer in James Stewart. They don’t have a full-time bassist at present, but previous member Paweł Pasek stepped in as a guest for this release, while they also have two guests who each contribute vocals to one track, namely Tatiana Shmayluk from Jinjer and none other than Robb Flynn from Machine Head!

What sets this album apart from much of their output is the sheer diversity contained within. They keep switching tempos so one is never sure what is going to come next, the result being an album that sits strongly within the traditional death metal genre yet keeps moving and changing. The brutal “Hello Death” suddenly loses its bass, we get a lot of finger-tapping and suddenly Tatiana is in there providing clear vocals and then we move into a style which has much more in common with djent. If that were not enough, “Iconoclast” is an absolute stand out with Robb Flynn providing some wonderful clear vocals in the middle which transforms what has been until then a death metal belter. Vogg has been in this band most of his life, and his guitar sound is rich and deep as he continues to drive the band forward, taking them in new directions. The title cut is the first proper song, and it is ear-strippingly fast, yet there is polish within, while “Just a Cigarette” allows Stewart to show he would be just at happy in a grindcore band, yet still provides finesse with some nice nuances around the kit.

They have celebrated their first quarter of century in style, here’s to the next.

UMUR "Anticult" is the 7th full-length studio album by Polish metal act Decapitated. The album was released through Nuclear Blast Records in July 2017. It´s the successor to "Blood Mantra" from 2014 and features one lineup change as bassist Paweł Pasek has been replaced by Hubert Więcek.

Stylistically the material on the 8 track, 37:49 minutes long album continue the technical extreme metal style of it´s two direct predecessors. It´s a combination of death and heavy groove/thrash metal, with aggressive screaming "core" tinged vocals. There are audible references to artists like Meshuggah, Machine Head, and Gojira, at various points throughout the album (especially "Earth Scar" features a clear Gojira influence), but Decapitated still manage to produce something which doesn´t sound like a clone of any of the mentioned artists.

The technical level of playing is high. Tempo changes, heavy grooves, fast precision drumming, aggressive vocals, and sharp riffs, are some of the elements which make up the band´s music. Everything is delivered with great conviction and passion, and it´s a great joy listening to a band as skilled as Decapitated perform their music. They also manage to put atmospheric parts on the album (predominantly created by effect laden lead guitar parts), which provide the music with some variation. Not that "Anticult" is a one-dimensional release by any means. It only takes a few listens to remember all tracks, and the material are generally pretty catchy. A good example is "Kill the Cult", which features a killer groove laden riff, and a punchy hook laden chorus.

"Anticult" features a powerful, raw, and detailed sound production, which isn´t especially organic, but isn´t sterile either, and ultimately the production suits the material featured on the album perfectly. "Blood Mantra (2014)" was a great quality album by Decapitated, but "Anticult" ultimately comes off just a bit more focused and memorable. Vogg´s crushing precision riffing is as always the greatest asset of the band´s music, but there are many high level performances on the album. I could have wished for a more personal vocal style, but Rafał Piotrowski arguably does what he does with great conviction and passion. A 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.

Nightfly The demise and resurrection of Decapitated is well documented in the realms of death metal with the tragic death of guitarist Waclaw "Vogg" Kieltyka’s brother Witold "Vitek" Kieltyka, drummer extraordinaire in a bus crash in 2007. Then vocalist Adrian "Covan" Kowanek has still not made a full recovery from his injuries. The previous year the band had released perhaps their best album Organic Hallucinosis, the only one to feature the vocals of Covan. Forward to 2011 and Vogg returned with a new line-up and Carnival Is Forever, an album marking a considerable change in the band’s sound that wasn’t well received by some fans.

Not surprisingly Anticult is clearly in the tradition of the last two albums but with added groove. I’ve heard a lot of talk lately that Decapitated have abandoned death metal and turned into a groove metal band. Well this clearly isn’t the case – sure, this has more groove than Blood Mantra, in fact more than any album they’ve released but go back and take a listen to Organic Hallucinosis or The Negation and you’ll find groove. Though the balance has been tipped Decapitated are still making technical death metal. The sound of Anticult is huge – very percussive and I don’t just mean Mlody’s driving drum patterns but also new boy Hubert Więcek’s bass and Vogg’s razor sharp riffs. Rafał Piotrowski’s vocals echo this with his aggressive staccato delivery. The album of course was going to live or die by Vogg’s guitar playing and he delivers on all fronts with jaw dropping riffs, licks and some incendiary soloing. Earth Scar is my pick of the bunch and as good an example as any as to define Decapitated’s current sound with driving double kicks behind precision riffing and a brutal ending with the snare mirroring the riff to perfection rounding it off.

If you still mourn for the old style Decapitated then forget it – this is a different band and they clearly aren’t planning on making any U-turns. Out the last three, including this, I’d say I’d still rate Blood Mantra as my favourite, an album I gave four stars to, but in all honesty I couldn’t award Anticult any less.

Kev Rowland

When a band is formed at music school, the chances are that the guys behind it know what they are doing with their instruments, and this is how Polish technical death metal act Decapitated burst onto the scene more than twenty years ago. Since then they have released albums, suffered tragedy (in 2007 their tour bus collided with a truck, and drummer and founder member Witold "Vitek" Kieltyka died from his injuries) and been through line-up changes, so that only guitarist Waclaw ‘Vogg’ Kieltyka is still there from the beginning, but they show no signs of slowing down. There has been a slight line-up change since the last album, ‘Blood Mantra’, with bassist Hubert Więcek (Banisher), officially replacing Paweł Pasek last year. Hubert is normally a guitarist, and that is his role in Banisher, so he has a different approach to many bassists and has really locked in with both Vogg and drummer Michal Lysejko, allowing singer Rafał ‘Rasta’ Piotrowski to get on with what he does best.

Although this is still death metal, it isn’t nearly as “pure” as could be found in the band’s early days, as they have combined death, thrash, rock ‘n’ roll, even black metal, and atmospheric parts together. I am also convinced that it was no accident that they chose Daniel Bergstrand to be involved with the mixing and mastering, as there is a distinct Meshuggah flavour to much of this. It is heavy, it is loud, it is raw, and it is most definitely passionate. This is music with balls, attitude, attack, and a refusal to conform, and all power to them for that. They included many first takes on this album, including many of the solos, and the vitality and power shines through in everything they do. They are planning on touring throughout the world to promote this album, and I can only hope that they include New Zealand in that list as this is a band I really want to see. This is superb.