Organic Hallucinosis

This is the defining moment Decapitated have been developing for all these years, each one of the previous albums laying the groundwork for a most daunting and towering edifice to come - the ultimate pinnacle. The earlier records pushed the boundaries of what modern tech-death could sound like, gradually cutting out any semblance of superfluous technical exuberance left and improving on the impact of the songs while focusing the energy, incrementally, further and further towards the point of complete climax. This is the ultimate objective, the end goal of the Decapitated project, where every honed strength from previous efforts comes together to reach the band's elusive ideal (which most bands end up never accomplishing), revealing their purpose in full effect. The technically impeccable music was now serving a greater calling.

There's plenty of alternating between the more technical and simpler passages that makes for a terribly fluid ensemble. For example on 'Post-Organic', they seamlessly go from shredding destruction to a slower power chord groove with gusto on the chorus. Then right into that dark trance-inducing section at the middle based on the root-note; very rare and shamelessly adventurous for death metal. It feels like every single riff on the record is absolutely deliberate; like the band have had ages to write and perfect the songs, then perfect them some more; and that it leaves nothing to artistic fate, and yet the creativity goes through the roof. The material is powerfully imaginative and thought-provoking, only as much as it is orderly and masterfully conducted. The hubristic fantasy and wonder of youth channeled through the structure and discipline of maturity - the best of both worlds. At no point does the music ever feel self-indulgent, or like the natural artistic momentum of the music has taken on a mind of its own straying away from the plot. Vogg and co. have control over the entirety of it with an iron fist.

There's both more variation and tightness simultaneously in the song-writing than on the previous album ('The Negation'). They'll go for a giant ominous theme that'll resonate with the listener, then steer hard right into full blast beat anarchy, after that maybe one of those powerful grooves with infectious simplicity and then chain that up with atmospheric lightly-distorted open string picking. They clearly look for song-writing cohesiveness first, and the music will certainly come across as (much) heavier and also as less technically impressive as it had been in the past. But besides it being a matter of taste, it's really essentially a matter of appreciating the seasoned ripeness on display here.

The most important aspect on here though isn't strictly musical: it's the artistic direction the band have now taken the sound. This is undeniably the darkest the band had ever been; and have been to date; and it picks up right where 'The Negation' had left off. The first two records were unsure of what they were thematically, and the third had steered the ship towards a far more obscure area of the field. This is 'The Negation' on an acid trip, as it spirals way down to the deeper ends of Decapitated's limits as a sound. It is simply cataclysmic, if one adjective were to ever summarize it. It takes the band's intrinsic heaviness and turns it into outright brutality, to a point so extreme it is now bleak and dystopian in feel, if not with a certain penchant for a post-apocalyptic sentiment at its core. A glance at the album cover, alone, helps one understand what this might be about.

The album is interestingly named 'Organic Hallucinosis', and the band had not used any such semantics so far and had only given their albums grandiose names that rather pertained to philosophical movements and concepts. A younger man's tendency to look outward at the world. The title alone here sets the tone with how much more personal and intimate the band means to be, and how the album is more introverted - compared to, say, the extroverted nearly euphoric tone of 'Nihility'. Song titles keep bringing up that notion of personal introspection: 'A Poem About an Old Prison Man', 'The Trip', 'Visual Delusion', and the lyrics follow in describing an outside world seen through the subjective experience of a central 'I'. A world that seems both fantasized and tangible, but terrifyingly real all the same. The parts that better depict this musically are the more atmospheric sections: mid-end parts on Track 1, the drony middle part on 'Post-Organic', the recurring instrumental part with stereo guitars trading off or the guitar picking towards the end of 'Visual Delusion'. They help slow down the tempo and set an atmospheric and haunting obscurity, like an invitation to the listener to engage in their abyssal introspection process.

The instrumentalists all seem to be at the top of their craft: Vitek puts in one hell of a shift, full of solo-riffs on the drums, tons of impressive fills and often makes the drums go their own way rather than just being mere support for the guitars. And the blast beats - please pardon this next unacceptable pun, but they're more like blast beasts. There, now that's out of the way: Vogg shows a rich repertoire he hadn't shown earlier and switches smoothly but also so very cleverly between all his deadly weapons. The power chords sound like a million Polish dollars, the tremolo riffing like two, and there's such an abrasive contagious energy to everything this guy is playing it's just an absolute delight. If you put "smooth" and "death metal" together, you'd get jazz with screaming. No that's not it. Oh yeah: you'd get Vogg on this album. The bass just sounds gorgeous in the mix with a metallic grind adding to the industrial atmosphere, and tossing in that extra layer of chunky beef to the already massive guitar tone. There are interesting samples occasionally added here and there to add texture, and just like everything on here, it's just tasteful and perfectly complements the whole.

The sound and production are more ripe, fuller, and arguably more intense than the previous ones as the bleak dystopian atmosphere that shrouds the whole album brings Decapitated to a new level, almost like the philosophical horror-film/adult version of the band and this quite honestly makes an album like their previous 'Nihility' sound like Barney the dinosaur. Well, maybe not Barney.
Despite its ambitious endeavor, the album manages to raise the song-writing quality up to new heights for both the band and death metal in its entirety. Seldom has an enterprise of such colossal magnitude ever achieved the full optimal breadth of its potential. This is the quasi flawless execution of the album as a project - its theory fully fleshed out and realized. It's vivid, brutally intense, dark and unrelenting, and it does it during a half hour journey with an energy that recycles after every track and that never turns dull. Hats off. A masterpiece of its kind without a doubt. Not easy at all to do, and they nailed it. I'm not sure what else came out in 2006, but 2006 was a good year.

Annable Courts - http://antichristmagazine.com/review-decapitated-organic-hallucinosis-earache-records/

The overall tragedy in Decapitated's history is unfortunately not as simple as "the band got in serious car accident, resulting in the early death of their drummer and permanent brain damage of their vocalist". In hindsight, the extra bit of tragedy is the fact that, ever since that accident, Decapitated hasn't been the same band. Not to say I agree with people that detest their later work, because I'll be the first to admit that Blood Mantra, Anticult, and Carnival is Forever are downright fun albums to jam to. However, with Organic Hallucinosis, Decapitated took both their sheer aggression and songwriting to a level they've never been able to make again. It was here that the band grew steel wings and soared far above every other album they ever made.

Firstly, the production on this album is perfect. The tone of the guitar is akin to a medium rare piece of steak- lots of muscle mixed with a good amount of fat, which creates a perfect amount of juiciness. The mids are cranked just right to give enough punch and melodic clarity, the bass in the EQ and the bassist himself bring enough distortion to give an extra pop on the low end, and there's just enough treble mixed in to create a tint of brightness. Finally, the drumming carries the entire band to a whole 'nother level of extremity with the triggered double bass drums and surround sound cymbal hits. The end result of the mix is a sound that is akin to being sloshed through the fucking mud with a chain around your neck. Until it is finished, you are relentlessly attacked by their sound on all sides.

As stated, it's not only the aggression that peaked on this album, but also the songwriting. With the mix built the way it is, Decapitated takes full advantage of down-tuned guitars and goes everywhere on the neck. The production gives enough breathing space to the melodies so that the overall sound avoids a muddled mess of low-end notes. It’s super helpful for the overall songwriting, because songs are not just built on one or two consistent grooves or riffs. They are chaotic and move everywhere, both rhythmically and melodically. The change ups of both rhythm and melody is, in fact, one of the best things about this album. Vitek doesn't just blast away on the drums throughout the entire album, rather, he does a great job periodically opening up the soundscape to let the guitar work breath, while juxtaposing those moments with hard hitting double bass or blast beat sections. The guitar parts created by Vogg also do a great job working with Vitek to emphasize sheer aggression in less melodic parts. Take for example the end of their song “Post Organic”, with perhaps one of the heaviest metal breakdowns from any song ever created. Vitek and Vogg first start from a basic bridge section of the song that is more open and melodic, with the drums allowing the guitars to carry the listener through. The song then goes eerily quiet, and then launches into the breakdown with the guitars and drums simultaneously slamming the listener to down-tuned, monotone chugging. It hits incredibly hard, and the song is structured in such a way so that the plunge into unhampered aggression is perfectly punctuated. This is just one example, but the album is generally filled with a lot of similar moments that do a great job emphasizing the overall aggression via a “push-pull” sort of song structure.

Decapitated went on from this album to produce less complicated, less chaotic and more rhythmically centered groove metal albums. I think they're also fun albums for different reasons, but overall, it's sad to say that this kind of album will very likely never be created by the band again.

After a few years of decline, Organic Hallucinosis was both a welcome surprise and my second favorite of Decapitated's works, but that comes with a couple caveats. Firstly, that they sound like a much different band than on Winds of Creation and Nihility. Also, I can completely grokk why some people wouldn't be into this whatsoever, including long term fans of the band who were even on board for The Negation. The truth is that Organic Hallucinosis presents us with a bludgeoning, futurist death thrash experience which to me sounds like Meshuggah being run up against the Polish death metal roots; not that they employ the same djent style as the Swedes, but they both lend that impression that you're facing some industrialized, machine-like calculation of intelligence rather than the organic warmth associated with humanity, and without need for incorporating excess electronics. 'Posthuman death metal' is not a bad descriptor, and coupled with the first compelling cover artwork of the band's whole career, the album just hit me so hard that I was not left wanting.

Granted, I've cooled off a bit on my admiration for this over time. It was originally one of my favorites the year it dropped (2006), but these days I don't hold it in such high esteem, apart from a few tunes like "Visual Delusion" which still turn my brain and knees into jelly. Essentially they'd ramped up the aesthetics of The Negation to a mechanical cohesion, intensified the battery and applied a new frontman (Covan) to the fold, who had a more burly timbre to his voice which reminded me slightly of Max Cavalera's barks or Burton C. Bell's brutal vocals. Actually, thinking of this disc as Fear Factory's faster and heavier material meets a Morbid Angel or 21st century Behemoth is quite appropriate. Seven songs, concise plotting at just around 32 minutes, in and out of the conscience and leaves you bleeding from the ears. Still a reliance on heavier palm muted riffing progressions than their debut, which functioned brilliantly off those acrobatic note choices by Vogg, but this is way more explosive than even The Negation and that cybernetic merger of flesh and nihilism in the rhythm tone just lets this one take off so much further in the imagination, especially when engraved with tasteful little lead licks and often some jarring shifts in tempo/direction that erupt where you wouldn't necessarily be expecting them.

Organic Hallucinosis often makes my heart feel like it's freezed up and is slowly being coated in chrome, like the Borg virus is taking over my person and I'm being ghosted in my shell. The brutal, thrashing, punchy guitars in tunes like "Flash-B(l)ack" manifest enough groove and excitement while the album as a whole does maintain a relatively blasted momentum, often to the extent that exhaustion might set in were it not so short. But that's really the theme running through this material: that the human frame gives out and its skin and muscle is replaced by unfeeling metal, lyrics exploring the pessimistic side of civilization, from being covered in its waste ("Day 69") through the inevitable 'evolution' into machinekind ("Post (?) Organic). The drumming is simply ungodly, one of the most incredible exertions I've heard on a Polish death effort, and contributing more than any other factor into how inhuman the experience leaves you. To some extent, I do these days find a lot of the actual riffs lacking...as pieces to the whole they function unanimously, but I did still long for the mindbending musicality Vogg was capable of at a younger age, and therefore Organic Hallucinosis could really not ever replace Winds of Creation. Yet at the cost of distancing themselves from their origins, they managed to breed some new motivation and potential...

...which only adds to the tragedy of this being the last album for almost all the members involved. Vogg would continue with a new lineup for the mediocre Carnival is Forever, a bouncier and dumbed down Decapitated for a new decade. But we lost Vitek's substantial skills in the Belarus car accident, as well as Covan (who is still recovering from massive head injury); and then the long time bass player Marcin Rygiel departed before the band went into a sizable slumber. The universe fucks us once again out of a dementedly talented musician, well before his time, and its a shame that we would never experience what the same four would have done on an Organic followup. I like to imagine that they might have gone back to that creative riffing of the debut and then embedded that into the caustic brutality employed on this record, a potential game changer. Alas, I'll never really know, but I do know that this is the first Decapitated disc I reach for when I'm not in the specific mood for Winds of Creation. There are some imperfections, and it doesn't hold up for me quite like that initial exposure eight years back, but it belongs in that once-future classification I attribute to albums like Demanufacture or Darkane's Rusted Angel, and while that's not the sort of hardware that everyone will enjoy, I can plug right into it.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

While Decapitated is theoretically defined as a technical death metal band, they don't live up to their categorization in Organic Hallucinosis' case. These tracks mainly manifest themselves as surges of groovy, atonal riffing passages paired with Vitek's usual jolting torrent. This doesn't mean Organic Hallucinosis is a bad album, just out of character for these Poles.

I would be lying if I said that I didn't dig a lot of this. "A Poem About an Old Prison Man" opens with a percussive eruption that quickly segues into Vogg's trademark churning riffs after a brief false start. I am indifferent to Covan's vocals on the whole but he is endearing on this one. The atmospheric, dissonant inclination of the second half of the song fades effectively into "Day 69". This is easily the best track here, featuring a potent build up of tension during the stop-start intro and destructive verses. The lyrics on this one are worth a mention, being about drug addicts and/or homeless people. I'm not sure which, but the line "Sewers running through my veins" is awesome. "Flash B(l)ack" is also memorable by virtue of the riffs alone. Vogg has achieved a very potent tone here: murky during the more atmospheric passages and gut-wrenching everywhere else.

Variation is still a problem, even while the record is mercifully short. This is always an issue with Decapitated albums and Organic Hallucinosis is no exception in this regard. Some of the heart of the album is pretty faceless and lacks a clear purpose. The primal delivery is fully intact, in fact "Post (?) Organic" gets quite fucking heavy; it just pales in comparison to the first two tracks. This brings us to the vocals. Covan's more measured, blackened roar has its moments, but can grow irritating. He sounds like he is holding back for some reason, which makes his screaming come off as gutted and inert at times. He is actually intelligible though, which is a plus in my book as you can actually follow the lyrics for a change.

Vitek's drumming is more inventive than it is quick. He seems a bit restrained here, never truly letting loose in the speed category. The groovy nature of a lot of these songs forces him to rely on stop-start bursts of double-bass and short passages of blasting. He never really gets a chance to put the pedal to the floor. It matters little though, as Organic Hallucinosis sounds amazing. I don't gush often regarding production values, but this album should be the aural blueprint of what modern death metal should sound like. The oft-disregarded bass is given a clear sense of purpose next to the rhythm of the kit. Everything merges together into a cohesive, determined assault on the senses.

Most fans seem to disregard Organic Hallucinosis due to the the unusual vocal approach. This is something of a shame, as there is a decent amount of quality material here; just don't expect it to be technical.

Wait, isn't Decapitated supposed to be a death metal band? Moreover, isn't that style of music supposed to be focused in brutal? 'Organic Hallucinosis' lacks both of those qualities; yes, there's a superficial quality of 'brutality' in that it has fast drumming and tremolo riffs, but the songs are so haphazardly constructed and awkwardly arranged that I can barely think of this as a death metal album much less a good one. It's no wonder that this album received some backlash from Decapitated fans upon its release, but funny enough, the most maligned part of the album (the vocals) are really not an issue at all. The problem with 'Organic Hallucinosis' is that the songs don't make any fucking sense.

You can kind of get what Decapitated is going for on the first and last tracks; they're the best because they're the most straightforward and conventional. Sandwiched between those two, however, are five tracks which seem cobbled together from any ideas the band had regardless of quality or whether they made sense together. The way the band manages to kneecap itself at every turn is like some bizarre Kaufmanesque performance art; anytime the music begins to gain some momentum, the band will abruptly shift gears, dropping into some ethereal, 'atmospheric' passage, bringing the intensity of the music to a grinding halt. This is sort of like playing the video game 'F.E.A.R.'; you can hear the parts of the songs change and transfer with an audible clunk, so lacking is the compositional elegance. Despite the title, there's nothing organic about this music.

A lot of people bitch about the vocals, and I can kind of see why, since they're essentially a Vaderish shout rather than a full-fledged death growl, but it's really just a kind of Lord Worm/DiSalvo situation: it's appropriate given the overly rhythmic and shifting nature of the release. I can't show so much mercy for, well, anyone else on this album. The band inserts a staggering number of ideas into each song but absolutely cannot make them hang together in a pleasing fashion or even keep some songwriting intensity going for more than thirty seconds at a time without crippling it with a sudden rhythmic change or retarded new riff. Above and beyond this, there are no really killer passages on any of the songs; even the best moments are just marginally above average and in no way befit a band on a major label like Earache.

Most death metal, particularly in the brutal end of the spectrum, relies on a gradual increase of tension before an explosive release, sort of like a roller coaster: you climb up the hill, then you get sent crashing down it. Listening to 'Organic Hallucinosis' is like being on one of those kiddy roller coasters with maybe 6 cars that's themed after a happy dragon or some shit: you climb, and the climb isn't great but you still think 'well, maybe this can go somewhere', but when they send you down the hill the ride operator intentionally restricts the speed so Timmy won't piss himself from fear. We're adults, Decapitated. It's okay to actually be intense and not drop into wafting, ethereal chords multiple times per song.

This is actually markedly worse than most modern death metal (which is already bad) because most modern death metal just adheres to an established pattern and at least succeeds in creating music that makes sense. This doesn't even feel like a failed experiment: it's just as though Decapitated has fully fucking forgotten how to write a song on every level. I have no idea why some people are revering this as a death metal classic; it verges on unlistenability and is arduously long despite its half-hour running time. This just sucks.

I had heard Organic Hallucinosis before, a few songs here and there, but it didn’t make a big impact on me. I’m can’t remember the moment I got into them, but it definitely was with Organic Hallucinosis.

When I put on this album, and it reminds me on why I got into underground metal music when I was a young teen. Now, a decade and a half later, grey hairs appearing, and an expanding waistline, this album, above all death metal albums released in the past five years, stands above all.

This album is just short of perfection. The production couldn’t be any better, and amazing production is only so if the music itself is as awesome as a beautiful pair of tits slapping your face after a long day at work.

The vocals are nice, really, really nice, like nice C cup set of breasts, just right. Don’t Covan’s vocals remind you of the articulated ferocity of death metal vocals from the late 80s to early 90s? Not incomprehensible gurgly jibba jabba. Decapitated always had very mediocre, generic vocals anyway before this. Sauron did the job, but just like a Mexican janitor, there was no real effort in the performance.

Reviews that go through each tracks are pretty lame, so I'll just touch on one track. Excellent riffs and arrangements in all the songs, but some song are better than others naturally, and that's usually due to the hooks in the song. Post (?) Organic, well, quite possible the best death metal song ever. Just listen to it yourself, and you'll notice the hooks that should always make your head move involuntarily.

Revelation of Existence (The Trip) is a song I often skip. For a song about drugs, it could have been a little less generic. Perhaps if there were eight songs on this album, I'd contemplate a perfect score… Though probably not.

I see too many 100% being thrown around on album reviews in the archives. It’s probably to boost the overall rating for a favorite band. Well much like posting all of ones pictures on facebook, you’re fooling yourself. The perfection of death metal was achieved in ’91, on a little album call Human. Only a handful of other albums will ever be perfect.

It is so sad that Vitek lost his life. He had become a master of his craft.

The family bond is among the tightest of all. I can see the new Decapitated being really good, Vogg is a genius riff wizard. However, it will never be the same, it can never be.

There is a reason why the death of drummer Witold "Vitek" Kiełtyka and continued hospitalization of vocalist Adrian "Covan" Kowanek has become an international tragedy among Metalheads—they were amazing musicians. To say that these guys made a good album is a gross understatement. These men, along with the rest of DECAPITATED, had created one of the best Death Metal albums yet to be released.

The album itself requires no introduction, and the first track, “A Poem About An Old Prison Man” blasts off into true, technical Death Metal—the way it was meant to be. The technical guitar riffs are a ubiquitous background, while drummer Vitek lays down an impenetrable foundation of phenomenal drumming. Vocalist Covan does a great job working through an undoubtedly thick Polish accent along with Death Metal roars to make lyrics decipherable, yet awesomely brutal.

“Day 69” is definitely the most fun song in the album. The entire band brings out everything they’re made of. Covan sounds more brutal than ever, the guitar riffs are more technical and catchy, and the drum work is even more impossible to emulate. This song peaks at the end of Covan’s line, “Sewers, running through my veins”, transitioning to a superb drum solo that continues to blow my mind even today.

“Relevance of Existence (The Trip)” shows off the band’s groovy side, à la LAMB OF GOD with some highly distorted yet catchy riffs and more Groove/Thrash-like drum-work. Even Covan’s barking style in this song reminds me of LOG vocalist Randy Blythe. Being a solid LOG fan, this made the song even better for me.

The guitar riffs reach their most complicated point in “Post(?)Organic” and this, coupled with a constant stream of double-bass pedaling from Vitek, creates an awesome storm of pure, unadulterated Death Metal. Throw in a great guitar solo in there, and the song becomes one of the most memorable on the album.

Hearing “Visual Delusion”, I realized how aptly-named the song is to the sound, despite the paradox between the senses. The guitar has an eerie, distant resonance to it that is very beneficial in creating the “delusional” ambience. Even the great guitar solo reminds me of insane asylums and strait jackets (trust me; you’ll get the same reaction).

“Flash(B)lack” demonstrates DECAPITATED’s more traditional Death Metal approach, while still retaining the groove prevalent in “Relevance of Existence (The Trip”. The song features some great drum breaks and wicked groovin’ guitar riffs making this another top song on this album.

The finale of the album begins with some great hypnotic guitar tones and blazing fast drum-work before hunkering down to wholesome Death Metal awesomeness. A great finish to a great album, “Invisible Control” combines everything that is superb about DECAPITATED and concentrates it in just under 5 minutes.

Unfortunately, the future of DECAPITATED is looking pretty bleak, as Covan officially left the band, and a drummer to fill in the massive void left in the band due to Vitek’s death is yet to be found. However, “Organic Hallucinosis” is certainly a testament to the great band that is DECAPITATED, and is definitely one of the top Death Metal albums ever released.

Recommended songs: “Day 69”, “Post(?)Organic”, “Flash(B)lack”… hell, all of them are good.

Ok let me start by saying that noone will replace Dimebag Darrell; that my friends is a fact. However, I have not heard riffs as groovy and compelling as that of Organic Hallucinosis since the early Pantera days. Who would have known some years down the road Decapitated would appear to be the spawn of bands like Meshuggah and Pantera. Truly new boundaries are being formed here.


As far as technicality, this album far surpasses all of their prior work. Vogg has always shredded in a unique style, but the older the Decapitated album is the less technical the riffs are. The older albums hold a more traditional death metal morale, while Organic Hallucinosis absolutely is a trademark on its own.


Obviously with Vogg playing the ML body shaped guitars and the unrelentless grooves installed in the riffing on this album my comparison to Pantera holds water already. What seals the deal is the live act. I have not seen headbanging like that since Dime as well. Vogg and Dime share a similar unity with there guitar which enables them to headbang in any opposing rhthym of there riffs without butchering the song. It seems like a trance of thrashing contains these two players when on stage.


Reguarding the future of Decapitated, I would say they are on a path less traveled and they should continue as far as they can down that path. More bands should take note as not alot of bands can continuously top there previously album which Pantera did almost effortlessly. Decapitated seems also as capable to raise the bar each album which is what most metal bands today are striving desparately to do. So they changed singers and strayed away from the traditional death metal sound, a band deserves to grow. Fans deserve to be intrigued and not aimlessly filled with boredom by the same old riffs you heard the last two albums. Covan holds it down and has a wider range. My approval is not at question it is the acceptance by the biased metal heads out there that should be in light of interrogation. This album gets a flawless score on my end, but i'll end with a few words to Decapitated themselves: Don;t stop what your doing! Organic is by far the best album you've released, and I as well as a million others i'm sure, are salivating for the next slice of the Decapitated pie. Thrash on and keep up the groove.

Tim
Houston, Texas

Whoa!

This album absolutely reeks of brutality. From start to finish, the Polish kids' fourth album, "Organic Hallucinosis", will rip you to shreds. This is definitely their best album to date.

Here's why: From the start of the first track, "A Poem About An Old Prison Man", you can tell there have been production changes. The guitars have been tuned down more, giving it a more crunchy sound, and bringing them more to the forefront. The drumming is loud and clear, and isn't taking a back seat anywhere. The bass...well, where is it? With everything else that's happening, it seems to be lost somewhere. With all due respect to Martin and all other bass players, it isn't needed much on this album.

Of course, the biggest difference is the vocals. With Sauron gone, in steps Covan. Contrary to what a lot of negative reviews are saying about him, this guy is WAY better. WAAAY better than Sauron. There really is no comparison. Covan can vary his singing style, changing from whispers to high screams, as opposed to Sauron's monotone grunts. It really gives the music more of an edge to it. While his english isn't perfect (cataclysm is pronounced cataclys-), neither was Sauron's. Covan must stay.

The songwriting is pretty good...most of the time. "Revelation Of Existence (The Trip)" and "Flash-B(l)ack" are the weakest songs on the album, mainly because they seem to copy and paste. Take the first half of the songs, then cut and paste that and add them at the end, making them double in length. Listen to them, and you'll know what I mean. "Post(?)Organic" is the best song they've ever written. The riff from 4:07 to 4:29, with 4/4 drums and 3/4 choppy guitars nearly gave me orgasms. I could hear that while my legs are being amputated. Very crunchy, very heavy.

This album is also much more technical than their last album "The Negation". Where that album lacked, this one makes up for in spades. Just listen to the riffing and drumming just before the vocals kick in on the first track and you'll know what I mean. Sounds like something from Meshuggah in their Chaosphere days.

One drawback with this release is it's length. It scrapes in at 7 tracks and 32 minutes, making it one short listen. None of the songs are overly long, which doesn't help the total time. I hope they put at least 8 songs of decent length on their next one because the album just flies.

Still, one flaw in a plethora of positives is nothing to sneeze at. This is by far their best release, even surpassing the mighty "Nihility". If you love technical death metal, then you simply must pick this one up. I can guarantee you won't be disappointed.

Best tracks: A Poem About An Old Prison Man, Day 69, Post(?)Organic, Visual Delusion

Decapitated's latest release, "Organic Hallucinosis," has received a lot of negative criticism because of the obvious change of direction due to both lineup and vision changes. I couldn't care less about how the vocals sound, so the vocalist change didn't change the band for me at all. What did change, however, was the powerful, un-atmospheric yet unrelentlessly charging riffs.

These are exchanged for mechanical-sounding, damp, atmospheric songs, often encompassing chaos and frustration with present-day life. The lyrics are a joke, written in broken English with parentheses around every other word. What makes this album truly worth purchasing, however, is the breaks in the guitar lines, where the song collapses under its own weight and melts down into chaos, providing a look into what life could be like were it not so worthless and redundant. The song rarely returns the same after these moments, giving even the mechanized aspects a better feel to them. This contrast is what makes this album so innovative.

One minute, the song simply consists of angry, mechanically destructive riffs and precise drumming, and then suddenly we see a glimpse of hope, and the song returns, not seeming to be quite as mechanized.

This album is certainly worth purchasing, but not necessarily hunting down, seeing as it's but a few tracks in length.

Decapitated's fourth album is something of a double-edged sword, which they have effectively used to duplicate the scenerio seen on Cryptopsy's Wisper Supremacy. In the past, people worshipped this band for Winds of Creation, but saw a decline with the polished, less technical feel of The Negation. Although Organic Hallucinosis is definitely a different route, I would venture to say that it is now my second favorite Decapitated album.

The one and only drawback of the album is the obvious: Covan. This guy is like Mike DiSalvo in that he would sound more in place in a hardcore band than death metal, only with an even higher voice. Quite simply, this guy blows. His scream is forceful and angry sounding, but does not accent the music like Sauron's deep growls did. Instead, this guy hold it all back. Way back. Although I have been getting used to him, there's no getting around the fact that this guy does not belong in death metal whatsoever.

However, the album has a strong redeeming factor. Had Sauron done the vocals in place of Covan, this would easily be Decapitated's strongest album yet. Although it does not have the raw tech feel of their debut, the riffs are more fucking brutal than ever. The drums come through very cleary with a punchy sound, which drives the album forward. The guitars are thick and cruchy. All the instruments combine to make sledgehammer-like death metal. Merely the intro to Poem About an Old Prison Man is enough to make you rewind the saong and listen to the riffs again. Post(?) Organic and Flash-B(l)ack aren't too shabby either, with the same fast, bludgeoning riffwork. The production plays a big role in this equilibrium, mixing the instruments to levels of perfection, making sure every note of every solo (which are bouts of very impressive shredding) comes though hard.

So despite one large, major flaw, this album has definite replay value. Instrumentally Decapitated has come back with arguably their most enjoyable ever, while the vocals deliver a terrible first impression. Give this another chance - many chances if that's what it takes - to allow yourself to see the good that this album possesses. Although it's not excellent by death metal standards, it is a brutal record that is not hard to enjoy after a little getting used to.

(Note: M.H. being abbreviaslang for Machine Head)

It is upon us.

The unstoppable devastating force that was the Polish quartet Martin, Vitek, Vogg, and Sauron, is no more. Yes, the band is still together, (minus Sauron, plus Coven) but at what cost? The dignity of this extremely talented group of Polish youths has been bludgeoned by an offering of pure half-thrash horse shit.

"Organic Hallucinosis" is an album that would make the most die-hard Machine Head, Pantera, Zakk Wylde, etc. fan cream their pants and sing praises of joy unto the heavens themselves. But what of the rest of us? The people who remember the fine times when a person could crush their grey matter with the darkly technical album "Winds of Creation", and the intriguingly razor sharp riffage of "Nihility". Hell, I remember complaining about the abrupt change of style in the disputedly "polished" efforts of "The Negation". Oh, what I wouldn't give for those days again.

"Organic Hallucinosis", with or without Coven's intent, has completely inverted the genre of this act. I looked forward to giving this album a shining technical death metal seal of approval. Sadly, this is not the case. It looks like i shall be reviewing a Machine Head album instead, though i cannot bear to unspoil every track for you. You'll have to waste your beer money yourself.

"Day 69"
A favorite live track for them, unfortunatly. Starts off with unusual step on and off drone riffs and the usual battery of double bass hits by Vitek. Nothing particularly rotten, yet that's when the vocals chime in and the guitars follow suit. A toilet flush of barking half-thrash vocals mixed with uninspired stop and go riffs from the usually talented Vogg. The song carries on like this for sometime while I cry and hold my ears.

"Revelation of Existence (the Trip)"
Ho ho, what have we here? A decent song if you're a fan of male twinkings at Manilla Road shows. A song on a Decapitated album however? I'd say this was the most out of place item in existence if it were on one of Decapitated's previous offerings. This however, sums this latest release up perfectly. A macrocosm of cheesy nu-riffs backed by an even cheesier drum performance by the guilty party, Vitek. Vogg manages to throw in a semi-decent solo somewhere in the midst of the crap. Oh, did I mention the vocals are complete tripe? Yes? Well, I'll say it again. Utter shit. I will go no further.

My advice to the fans of Sauron-era Decapitated: Pass this one up.

My advice to newcomers to Decapitated's music: Pass this one up and go for Nihility.

My advice to Vitek, Vogg, and Martin: Strangle Coven in his sleep and beg Sauron to rejoin.

My advice to Myself: Until the above happens, lets turn our attention to the true kings of Polish Tech Death...Yattering. All Hail Marcin Swierszczinski -|-

Decapitated was selling their new album at a show they played here in San Francisco so my friend picked it up and lent it to me, so that's how I've heard the actual thing before it got released, and I'm pretty fucking glad we were able to get it earlier.

This album is definitley different from their previous releases, but not necessarily in a bad way, so all you Decapitated fans out there don't need to freak out or anything haha. On this album, they experiment with more weird time signatures and arrangements than they have on their other albums, and they pull it off rather well. The guitar riffs are fucking awesome and just as brutal as ever. I don't know how Vogg comes up with this shit! The man is nuts! Same with the drums. Vitek also performs amazingly and still plays those crazy double bass beats we all love.

The BIG change that all of you will notice are the vocals. Covan's vocal style is very unique, sort of reminds me of Nergal from Behemoth at times (that's the best example I can come up with). His vocals are a lot different than Sauron's, so I don't know how people will like it. At first I couldn't get into the vocals, but after a few listens I got used to them. They are pretty good in my opinion, but I
don't know how other people will take the change...

Production-wise, I think this is the best so far for Decapitated. Everything sounds perfect and is balanced out great.

But yeah, Decapitated is still going strong. They haven't pulled an In Flames on us or anything like that. I definitley think all Decapitated fans should pick this up when it comes out.