The 1999 debut album by this
Exhumed side project has been reissued with four bonus tracks and absolutely no improvement in its primitive, face-bashing sound. A thrash project recalling mid-'80s albums by Bay Area also-rans like
Defiance and Vio-Lence, as well as German bands like
Sodom and
Kreator,
Dekapitator traffic in downtuned, staccato riffing and hoarse, howled vocals, with lyrics about death and destruction and little interest in anything but inspiring wild headbanging. The guitar solos are noisy and dissonant in a way that bridges the gap between early
Metallica and late
Black Flag, and the drumming is thunderous and nonstop, with zero subtlety. The cartoonish mindset of the album is obvious starting with its cover, which features a hooded muscleman armed with a machine gun...and a spiked mace, just in case someone gets past the machine gun.
Dekapitator want to make sure there's not a listener left alive (metaphorically speaking, of course) when they're finished, and they do a pretty good job of achieving their modest artistic goals. If you need a dozen or so more furious thrash anthems in your life (and who doesn't?), this album will provide them. ~ Phil Freeman