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Decapitated Organic Hallucinosis

1. Poem About an Old Prison Man 2. Day 69 3. Revelation of Existence (The Trip) 4. Post(?)Organic 5. Visual Delusion 6. Flash B(l)ack 7. Invisible Control

2006 Earache Records

Our score 8

by Dave Fonseca

2/18/2006

Decapitated's Organic Hallucinosis witnesses the band returning after a two year recording hiatus with a new singer and a revitalized sound. While I've already seen and heard many bristling about the band's new direction, I can say with full confidence that this is the most focused and compelling album Decapitated has produced to date. What's most satisfying about this release is Decapitated's evolution from an outstanding (but mostly meat and potatoes) technical death metal machine, into a disturbing beast of a far more dissonant nature. While the emphasis here remains on writing serpentine, fret wandering riffs and executing them with red-eyed ferocity; the band's new found ability to manipulate guitar harmonies and create a haunting atmosphere has scooped them out of the creative slump I felt they had hit on The Negation. "Poem About an Old Prison Man" begins the album, and sounds like no other Decapitated song I've heard before. Far more dissonant and ambitious than works found on previous albums, "Poem" occilates between satisfyingly complex riffs and jangling, acerbic chord progressions in a way that doesn't place the emphasis too strongly on technical wizardry or minimalistic atmospherics. Instead, the band utilizes both to create perhaps the finest song they've written to date. On "Post()Organic" the band exploits such dazzling command of both their skill as riff writers, and their now fully developed ability as composers to make for a song so ripe with brilliantly executed transitions and well timed pay-offs that I was actually put on the edge of my seat. Other tracks, like "Flash B(l)ack" are all out riff assaults that harken back to earlier albums like Winds of Creation. Considering the sophisticated level that most of the album operates at, it's rewarding to hear a track where the band simply riffs out. For those keeping track, detractors seem to be taking the most offense with the vocal styling of new frontman, Covan. His gruff, monotone bark is far from thrilling, but hardly as polarizing as some would like you to believe. If I can editorialize for a moment, most of the complaints about Covan's vocals appear to be coming from newjacks who just recently traded in their Red Chord t-hirts for something more brutal, and have now begun the mad dash for message board credibility by bashing anything remotely -core related. These people are tasteless morons who should be gassed along with their useless opinions. Moving on. The production here is crisp as you would expect from a Decapitated album. Accordingly, the drums are nearly as mechanical and clicky as you might also expect. However, considering the level of precision and cohesion with which this band performs, the slightly dehumanized production is almost a given. Bottom Line: The sound may have evolved, but the core ethic has remained the same. Decapitated continue to challenge themselves from a technical standpoint, and now they are writing songs with the confidence of a band well beyond their years (let's not forget that the foundation of this group is barely out of their teens). I don't know what else to say. Decapitated have made the kind of album that those concerned about the continued growth of death metal can rightfully relish in.

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anonymous 2/18/2006 11:02:08 AM

boom

Decapitated Organic Hallucinosis

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