arcane-beautiful Listening to this album for the first time, all I could think of is “wow, this is taking death metal to newer and better levels.” Then reading on Wikipedia how old these guys where when they made this album...in all fairness, I was astounded. During the recording of this album, the ages of these guys was between 15 to 18. And to be playing this kind of stuff at their ages...wow very impressive.

For those who have never heard Decapitated, the best way to describe their sound is the perfect mix of the brutality of Cannibal Corpse with the technicality and musicianship of Death. And this can be perfectly heard on this album. The technicality of the music isn't the type with giant fast guitar solos, but more in the fastness and tightness of what these guys can do. Vitek's (who at the time was 16) drumming is just out of this world. His feet are actually faster than a Nigerians. The guitar sound on this album is killer too, which is really impressive for a debut.

The only problem I had with this album, and it was such a big problem that it did let it down a lot for me was the vocals. This style of grunting probably was quite different back then, but because it's all the rage now in the deathcore genre, I just don't really like it. Sauron is an alright vocalist, the only problem is that he seems to be only to do one type of growl and doesn't really do enough vocal dynamics for me. Also, it's very hard to make out a word he is saying, which is a shame, because the lyrics are pretty damn good.

The title track which opens the album is the perfect mix of extremity and rather melodic passages. The long instrumental at the start is a brilliant moment on the album, completely summing up the talent these guys have.

“The Eye Of Horus” is probably one of the most technical songs on the album. The many different passages and time changes throughout really make this track a very exciting tune to listen to.

“9 Steps” is the attempt at a sing along moment on the album. Obviously it's very heavy and not really a pop moment, but nontheless it would provoke a crowd to shout along.

In conclusion, I would say to give this a listen. Sadly the vocals did slightly ruin the album for me, but the music is just stellar, in fact, if this was an instrumental album, I'd probably like it even more. Some may think of this as a classic, but I really see this as a triumph of things to come.

RIP Vitek

7.4/10

UMUR Winds of Creation is the debut full-length studio album by Polish death metal act Decapitated. The album was released in May 2000 by Earache Records. Winds of Creation was re-issued in October 2007 with a bonus DVD called Live in Nottingham. There has been no lineup changes since the band was formed in 1996, so it´s the same four guys playing on Winds of Creation, who also recorded the Cemeteral Gardens (1997) and The Eye of Horus (1998) demos. Allthough the band had existed for 4 years at this point, there´re not a single member of the band, who had turned 20 yet. Drummer Vitek was, as the youngest member of the band, only 16 years old when Winds of Creation was released.

Winds of Creation is basically a re-recording of The Eye of Horus demo. All 7 tracks from the demo are also featured on Winds of Creation. Winds of Creation and Human's Dust are the only "new" songs on the album. The lack on new material doesn´t matter much though because the songs from The Eye of Horus demo certainly deserves to be released to a wider audience. The music on Winds of Creation is brutal and techncially well played death metal. The music is generally busy and fast-paced. The band understand the art of variation though, so there are heavier parts on the album too. While I´m extremely impressed by the technical skill of such young musicians, Sauron´s vocals unfortunately leave me cold. Brutal undecipherable growls that lack variation, punch and intensity.

The production is powerful and brutal and suits the music well.

The instrumental part of Winds of Creation deserves a 4 star rating but as I have a hard time enjoying the vocals by Sauron, I will give a 3.5 star rating. I realise that the vocals are probably an aquired taste though, so others might not have the same problem with them as I do.