Label: Nuclear Blast

Genre: Tech Death Metal

Release Date EU: May 27th, 2022

Line Up:

Wac?aw Kie?tyka
Rafa? Piotrowski
Pawe? Pasek
James Stewart

Tracklist:

From the Nothingness with Love
Cancer Culture
Just a Cigarette
No Cure
Hello Death
Iconoclast
Suicidal Space Programme
Locked
Hours as Battlegrounds
Last Supper

Polish death metal institution Decapitated unleash their next death metal strike as we speak. ‘Cancer Culture’, a nice word play, follows the 2017 release ‘Anticult’ and brings technically well-forged metal to the plate.

‘Cancer Culture’ is the eighth album from Decapitated after having premiered in 2000 with ‘Winds of Creation’. Their newest effort features ten songs and what makes this album to a neck-breaking delight is the combination of mammoth riffs and filigree parts. ‘Just a Cigarette’ brings this combination excellently to fans attention. The massive verse/chorus and the ambitious solo part in the middle are contrast and a unity at once.

Listening to ‘Cancer Culture’ is pure fun. Songs like the grooving ‘Iconoclast’ are real headbangers and include some of the earlier thrash metal roots. What recognizable too is that Decapitated add an extra portion of melody to song and album. Robb Flynn’s (Machine Head) clean vocals are a great addition to this growls-dominated album.

No compromises, that could be the headline for ‘Hello Death’. It is a fast and brutal song that gets to an unexpected twist halfway. This time it’s Jinjer singer Tatiana Shmailyuk giving the song a cool extra. Brutality and melody unit, and the moment Shmailyuk and Rasta combine their voices to a duet it impresses how could things work out.

Slower, darker, and equipped with great hooks, that is the beginning of ‘Suicidal Space Programme’. Of course, the sing doesn’t stay in moderate pace and evolves to another blast beat assault. Still, these different layers the band brings together works extremely well and add the necessary thrill to the flow of the album. This album is more than a metal attack only. It is a technically well-forged release with songs that show good variation within the given framework. And that goes for the one-minute eruption ‘Locked’ too. The moment you see the song on the tracklisting the idea of an interlude grows. Reality shows that it is the opposite.

Decapitated add with ‘Cancer Culture’ an album to their discography that shows a big step forward, considering the less exciting ‘Anticult’. Their eighth album shows versatility, technical savvy and, at the same time, includes an immense level of heaviness. Horns up.

Written by: Markus Wiedenmann