The Storm Before the Calm

Dekapitator, Yes Dekapitator. These guys have always been one of my favorite thrash metal bands,in fact it was this album that got me deeper into thrash and made thrash one of my favorite genres. Not only is this album aggressive, heavy, fast, psychotic and a battleaxe to the throat of any poser, this album is catchy and catches any thrash-lover by the ears. Even the album cover just lets you know that you are in for a fucking helluva ride with one of the greatest bands in history, this album is a headbanging masterpiece that will make your neck sore from the amount of headbanging it provides. This album is extremely underrated and has some of the best guitar work in history, many of the songs take a lot of influence from 80s thrash metal and death metal.

The guitars have a bit of a mixture in terms with sound, sometimes it sounds like Morbid Angel, Possessed, Cancer or Death, Other times it sounds similar to Onslaught, Slayer, Sepultura, Sodom or Sadus. The vocals always sound like thrash except for some high growls. This band makes the list for one of my top 90s thrash bands,and this album is definitely one of my favorite extreme metal albums. I love just about every track on this release but my favorites would most likely be ¨Toxic Sanctuary¨, ¨The Storm Before The Calm¨, ¨Deathstrike Command¨, and ¨Earthscorcher¨. ¨The Storm Before The Calm¨ isn´t too long and isn´t too short and packs a tasty thrashing punch.

Every single second of this album is a fucking bloody massacre and shatters my expectations, not that they weren´t sky high already, but that´s not the point, the point is every thing these guys have produced is amazing so when I heard this album I was not disappointed..The only tracks on the album that weren´t as good for me were ¨Eye of The Storm¨ and ¨The Call to Combat¨ they were both too melodic and more power/thrash for an album like The Storm Before The Calm, but overall this album is a gem and a thrash metal treasure. This album has enough shredding riffage to be worthy of fucking awards, the album is masterfully produced and put together that any real thrasher will love the HELL out of it. I first listened to this album when I was 11 and I loved it to death, my friend had albums from Sadus, Onslaught, Sepultura, Dekapitator, Slayer and Sodom. My favorite album out of all of those was this one, I ended up downloading the album digitally as well as purchasing the vinyl and the compact disc.

If you love thrash metal and you want a banger to listen to, I highly suggest this album. This album represents all of what the extreme side of thrash should sound like. This album is pure aggression and headbanging fun for any major metalhead and deserves so much praise. No human should even think of passing by this album in stores or avoid listening to it, it is 100% worth the listen and guaranteed to please your evil, aggression loving ears.

A long period of inactivity is usually accompanied by an inevitable change in direction, particularly if the inactivity has been on the studio front. There is just something about the passage of time that tends to alter the taste of whoever is writing the songs, even if it isn't necessarily in response to a current trend. 8 years prior to the eventual sophomore studio LP of Dekapitator, they unleashed a stereotypical retro sounding thrash album in We Will Destroy...You Will Obey that some argue may have played an inspirational role in the eventual thrash metal revival of the latter 2000s, along with the corresponding efforts of a spontaneously reformed Swedish thrash act Cranium. Admittedly a side-project of Exhumed front man Matt Harvey, the resulting sound that defines Dekapitator is definitely on the derivative side, but compared to where much of the revival scene was heading come 2007, their second album The Storm Before The Calm found itself in a very different place.

While by this point in thrash history the general trend was towards emulating the speed and fury of mid 80s Teutonic thrash metal, which was what Dekapitator had themselves done back in 1999, here Harvey and company turn the clock forward a bit to when thrash metal was historically a bit more nuanced. It doesn't quite go so far as to land in the mostly mid-tempo territory of early 90s thrash as typified in Impact Is Imminent or Out Of Order, nor does it reach for the long-winded progressive character of Victims Of Deception. Instead, the formula here is of a middle ground between the two extremes of early to mid 80s speed and early 90s restraint as seen in Sodom's Agent Orange and Kreator's Extreme Aggression, which is definitely still fast and aggressive but with about as much of a mind being paid to crushing grooves as neck-splitting riffs played at warp speed.

The duality between speed and mid-tempo breaks on this album still tends to tilt towards the former, occasionally reverting fully to the insanity of before. When comparisons are drawn to the outright speeding mania of Violator and Fueled By Fire, songs such as "Deathstrike Command" and "Earthscorcher" are similarly fitted for a slaughter in the pit, with "Screams From The Holocaust" not too far behind minus the extended intro with Metallica oriented lead harmony noodling in the ...And Justice For All vain. This isn't to say that the rest of the album is fully slouching in the speed department, but "The Storm Before The Calm" spends a fair amount of time grooving at a crushing mid-tempo before it really gets speeding, and certain other songs such as "The Call To Combat" and "Toxic Sanctuary" have a heavy amount of Master Of Puppets slow down points and melodic breaks that pull the band away from their more Teutonic sound a bit, though said influences are still present, and even ratcheted slightly towards Possessed and early Death territory in the vocal department.

This isn't quite the thrilling slab of unrepentant thrashing that its predecessor was, but it gets pretty close and definitely offers up a somewhat more inventive take on retro-thrash than a number of other bands that were just coming into prominence at the time. The main attribute that makes this album formidable is its sheer heaviness, largely due to the Metallica on steroids tone of the guitars and Harvey's gruff steeped, almost guttural at times shouts mixed with occasional shrieks that actually hit such absurd heights that they veer away from Tom Array territory and almost sound like a mirror shattering wail out of Dani Filth. It's a ground pounding good time the whole way around, and qualifies Dekapitator, and more particularly Matt Harvey and Col Jones' as being among the more forward looking of stylistic emulators. Long story short, they stole it first, and they stole it quite well.

Dekapitator is one of the pioneering bands for the new wave of thrash metal. Their first album "We Will Destroy...You Will Obey" quite possibly may have jumpstarted the thrash revival, thus bringing a few of the thrash legends back into the limelight. While this theory can not be proved nor discredited, the fact remains. After their impressive debut Dekapitator was missing without action for eight years, until storm clouds gathered on the thrash horizon.

"The Storm Before the Calm" is one of modern thrash's most nostalgic albums. There are certain sections of this album that will instantly take the listener back to the 80s. For example, the intro riff on "The Call To Combat" is eerily similar to the riff on Sodom's "Agent Orange." The rhythm and lead guitar work is executed nicely. Some solos on the album are reminiscent of early Metallica, coupled with the speed and ferocity of their delivery, they add a nice throwback to the 'golden years' of thrash. The drum work is above par for modern thrash. With pummeling double bass and interesting fills scattered throughout the album "Atomic" Andy does deliver a noteworthy performance. The production is a major success as the album is not over polished or over compressed. The instruments can be heard easily with the exception of bass in a few sections of the tracks.

However, "The Storm Before the Calm" does have few too many weak points, thus keeping it from being a modern thrash masterpiece. Matt Harvey does a good job in the guitar department as his riffs are obviously a highlight on this album. Unfortunately, the vocal performance is a different story. On tracks like "Toxic Sanctuary" and "Earthscorcher," Harvey goes from his rasp and gritty vocal performance to his high pitched shrieks and shrills. Sadly enough, these screams and shrieks sound incredibly forced. However, I will not hold the vocal performance against the album too much as he is one of the few modern thrash vocalists that isn't unbearably high pitched to the point of annoyance. The bass is hardly audible throughout the album, and the lyrics contain the typical for thrash in war and killing. No new lyrical themes were added nor taken away from their debut.

Overall, Dekapitator's sophomore effort is an impressive slab of modern thrash. I would not go as far to say its as good nor as fast as their 1997 debut, but "The Calm Before the Storm" is arguably one of the best albums of 2008 and the new thrash movement. The band gives a nod to their past idols with their second album and hopefully they will continue to forge their own brand of thrash metal. With the interesting leads and solos, not to mention the great performance by "Atomic" Andy, this band has a ton of potential.

Even though ‘Hellfiend’ has been active with Dekapitator since 1996 this is only their second album and after 11 years they still sound as if they could do better. The average pace on The Storm Before the Calm is slightly lower than predecessor ‘We Will Destroy...You Will Obey’ and Dekapitator do not sound too convincing when they’re not playing fast. This is really something they have to work on. Unfortunately also a lot of riffs, choruses and vocals are generic and not very mind blowing.

What sets the band apart however is the way the riffs and melodies are formed into songs. The band really knows how to compose songs. The only real mid paced flaws are on the longer material such as the title track and The Call to Combat. So even though most of the songs are pretty good here, the lack of ass kicking catchy riffs (which would set them apart from the masses) starts to get annoying when listening to the album more than once. The vocals are also something to improve. They’re not bad, but also nothing more than adequate. Sometimes they lean too much on a mixture of Possessed with early death metal (I’ve read comparisons to Pestilence’s Malleus Maleficarum) whereas some aggressive melodic approaches and a higher amount of screams could give the material some schwung.

It must however be said that, in comparison to their earlier album, the leads, solo’s and twin harmonies are really ass kicking this time and save the album from mediocrity (for instance ‘Toxic Sanctuary’ and ‘Run with The Pack’). This is an album that cannot compete with the best thrash metal newcomers but is easily on the same level as Chaosphere, Fueled By Fire and Merciless Death. Considering their compositional (structural) qualities, I still have a feeling that one day Dekapitator will release a classic thrash metal album. But this ain’t it yet.

Pros: good song structures, great leads and solos, aggressive production

Cons: mediocre vocals and a lot of generic riffs

Highlights: Toxic Sanctuary, Deathstrike Command, Screams From the Holocaust, The Scourging

Thrash metal was once a mighty genre in 80's. With bands like Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, Testament, and Exodus from the Bay Area, Anthrax, Overkill, Nuclear Assault, and Whiplash from the east coast, and Kreator, Sodom, and Destruction from Germany, thrash was conquering the world.

However, by the 90's, thrash began to die out with many groups disbanding or departing from thrash into a more commercial style of heavy metal/rock. At the same time, many newer bands were being influenced by the recent grunge scene. The 90's was such a band decade from thrash and only one true thrash band emerged from that decade: Pantera. While Pantera was also known as groove metal, they were still a part of thrash metal. Although Dimebag and the rest of the band were still fighting to keep thrash alive, it seemed all hope was lost for thrash metal.

But during the mid 90's, a new band had formed in secret. Tired of all the mainstream rock that was corrupting the music scene, Matt Hellfiend formed the band Dekapitator. After finding a solid line-up, the band began a mission to keep thrash alive. Since then, Dekapitator has made a massive impact on underground music within the bay area, forming, what I call, a new wave of bay area thrash metal.

The release of their second album, The Storm Before The Calm, has made such a difference on the local underground music scene. TSBTC is possibly the best thrash album in almost a decade, hailing influences from classic bay area thrash sounds. Crunching riffs, powerful blazing solos, Slayer-speed drumming, Hellfiends insane vocals, thumping basslines, and themes of death, war, and the apocalypse, TSBTC has brought true thrash metal back into existance. From the opening title track to the ending The Scourging, this album packs one hell of a wallop that can make wannabe thrash bands like Trivium call it quits for good.

If you are tired of all the newer fake thrash bands out there and want a taste of classic, original thrash, then you won't go wrong with The Storm Before the Calm. This album is proof that thrash is not dead!

THRASH TILL DEATH!!!