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Decapitated - Blood Mantra review



Reviewer:
6.6

174 users:
7.29
Band: Decapitated
Album: Blood Mantra
Release date: September 2014


01. Exiled In Flesh
02. The Blasphemous Psalm To The Dummy God Creation
03. Veins
04. Blood Mantra
05. Nest
06. Instinct
07. Blindness
08. Red Sun
09. Moth Defect [digipak bonus]

Tech death bands usually come in two sorts: you've got the "listen to me" types, where every member fucks around competing over the listener's attention, and then you have the "listen to us" types who don't make abysmal music. Decapitated has always been part of the second group.

You might not figure as much after listening to this in full though. Most of the time, Blood Mantra comes across as The Vogg Show and solely as The Vogg Show. Maybe it has something to do with Vogg being the only remaining member of the original Decapitated, but that didn't have to make this sound like a never-ending, unnecessarily extreme, veiny close-up on the guitar.

That's not to say it's a bad album though. It's not done in the popular, fappy, saturated and fatty style of tech death; it's still got the Carnival Is Forever/Organic Hallucinosis-esque spaciousness, and it's got an over-abundance of those Vogg-brand, chugged-up riffs that make you honestly think you could play along with them, but totally have no chance at all of doing so, and those are all good things. They make tech DEATH, you know, not TECH death. What makes them technical can almost seem subtle sometimes.

There's not much here that's really up to par with what they've done in the past is all. The instrumentation is all impressive, and it's nice that the drummer didn't constantly stomp and pivot on his bass pedals, but a good bit of the time it feels slightly disjointed, lacking pitchfork in the kind of complicated-but-visceral interplay pitchfork departments that their previous albums had in profusion. Yeah, there's a good load of interesting, time-signature-breaking riffs and moments strewn throughout, but it only rarely feels like it's contributing to something bigger (namely good songs). There's a Decapitated-caliber bit on most of the tracks for sure, but not that many Decapitated-caliber tracks, especially near the end of the album.

Bottom line, they've sounded better. And that's probably going to be especially clear to, and maybe even expected by, those who love their first through third or fourth albums, but even when compared to their previous release this just doesn't seem quite as memorable. Decapitated has a way of taking what seems totally controlled and meticulous and then making it brash and, you know, metal-like, and that brashness just seems muffled on this.





Written on 27.08.2014 by Wormdrink's real name is George and he's an American.


Comments

Comments: 14   Visited by: 301 users
27.08.2014 - 02:19
Rating: 5
Ilham
Giant robot
Listening again to that song they released some weeks ago. And if the rest of the album feels the same way, I won't waste time on it. After reading the review, I don't feel bad about it.
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27.08.2014 - 03:08
Opethian

What a shame. The Vocals ruin it for me. I listened to their previous album once and never cared to go back to it. I was hoping that they could have at least accepted some feedback from their fans on the matter but all of that was thrown out the window when they gave us a taste of the new album
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27.08.2014 - 03:22
D.T. Metal

Quote:
Blood Mantra comes across as The Vogg Show and solely as The Vogg Show.

with him being the only guitarist what do you expect
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27.08.2014 - 04:37
copycat

I was expecting this to be like a Carnival Forever side B, so, my expectations were not that high after all.
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27.08.2014 - 04:53
Rating: 6
wormdrink414

Written by D.T. Metal on 27.08.2014 at 03:22

Quote:
Blood Mantra comes across as The Vogg Show and solely as The Vogg Show.

with him being the only guitarist what do you expect

The other guys kinda seem like they're more of a backing band on this. Sound like they're there for background support more than anything. Wasn't really sure what to expect from this regardless, but Carnival didn't have that feel to it so I dunno.
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27.08.2014 - 04:57
D.T. Metal

Written by wormdrink414 on 27.08.2014 at 04:53

The other guys kinda seem like they're more of a backing band on this. Sound like they're there for background support more than anything. Wasn't really sure what to expect from this regardless, but Carnival didn't have that feel to it so I dunno.

Ah, I see. Will listen to it over the weekend but will keep this analysis in mind.
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27.08.2014 - 05:56
R'Vannith
ghedengi
The Vogg Show: tonight's instalment featuring special guests Decapitated.
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27.08.2014 - 16:41
Malphas

Still looking forward to it and reserving my judgement for after I've listened to it, though this might have lowered my expectations a bit.
----
Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.
- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
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27.08.2014 - 17:20
Troy Killjoy
perfunctionist
Sounds about as boring as I've come to expect from Decapitated, especially recently.
----
"Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something."
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29.08.2014 - 06:23
LiquidSmoke
Account deleted
Decapitated have always been one of my favorite death metal bands. Recently, I've been playing alot of WoC and OH while training (not many other albums come close to the adrenaline I get with those two). Too bad this one seems like a let down. I'll still give it a shot.
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30.09.2014 - 09:52
Bartulus

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30.09.2014 - 09:58
Daniell
_爱情_
It's not bad. And definitely, it's one of their most varied albums.
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03.10.2014 - 08:45
Rating: 7
Misfit74

A good album with a few great moments and a short list of exceptional songs but they just didn't crush me with enough brutal-styled riffing. I think the vocals improved over what was done on Carnival. The Organic Hallucinosis + Carnival vibe was prevalent. They blended in some diverse musical styles, at times. They rarely really let it rip like we know they can. Enjoyable - especially the title track and first song. The opening riff of the song Blood Mantra is exquisite and gives me goosebumps in a Dimebag Darrell-esque way. I wanted more of that!
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27.05.2016 - 18:03
Rating: 7
Sircheesewhistle

I actually enjoyed this quite a bit. Mostly the catchy as hell title track.
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