Dekapitator

The Storm Before The Calm

Written by: PP on 25/08/2007 01:57:29

Sometimes all it takes to like a band is one song. In Dekapitator's case, I had been casually listening to their new album "The Storm Before The Calm", not being sure what to think about it, until I reached "Run With The Pack", or more precisely, the solo for that song. It brought back vivid memories of Metallica from the late 80s, when they were still playing old school garage-quality Bay Area thrash metal, spiced with insanely difficult solos that brought chills to your back, no matter what your music taste. The solo in "Run With The Pack" has roughly the same effect, and it made me pay ten times more attention to this album than I was planning to.

Therefore it didn't surprise me to find more of the same awesomeness in other songs. "The Call To Combat" has an equally blazing solo that calls for recognition in every review. As for the rest of the songs, well, their solos rock too. They'll make you feel like you're listening to superior music compared to others.

So what's the problem? Why am I giving this record a far worse grade than the text so far suggests? The answer is simple. Aside from the tight musicianship and swirling thrash riffs, the main bodies of the songs aren't much to hooray for. You could go back twenty years to "Reign In Blood" and find equally furious instrumentation, which is essentially its main problem. Dekapitator isn't hiding their retro Bay Area thrash influences, which is fine, but they just sound a little bit too much alike many of those late 80s bands. Everything from the rough production to the swirling riffs is stuff all thrash fans have heard before over and over again, and it's frankly getting a bit old. Alas, I don't see why I should be rewarding Dekapitator with a high grade when they sound exactly the same as most other thrash bands. I do give them the benefit of the doubt because of their solos though, but unless thrash metal is your true calling, you'll end up like me and be disappointed over what the solos promised but the remaining material didn't deliver.

5

Download: Run With The Pack, The Call To Combat
For the fans of: Oldschool Metallica, Municipal Waste, Exhumed
Listen: Myspace

Release date 30.07.2007
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Provided by Target ApS

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