Y’know, I’ve been debating on whether do review the new Asphyx album for a while now, but a few things weighed heavy on my mind; first, Century  Media never sent any sort of promo, digital, physical or otherwise, showing arrogance and confidence in the fact they don’t need press coverage, which considering the band is pretty true. Second, most of you already have, and I’m sure, adore Deathhammer, and my opinion is simply a bloated addition to the 100s of obvious reviews already out there. Do we really need yet another internet hack saying how awesome it is (though personally, it does not live up to Death…The Brutal Way).

So not write a review of something similar but slightly less obvious, something off the beaten path that Asphyx fans will enjoy? How about the second album from Finnish trio Decaying released on an obscure Polish record label?

Well, here is it and basically what we have here is some very well done Asphyx/Hail of Bullets/Bolt Thrower worship, down to the war themes (the entire album is about different military conflicts). How much worship? Well, put it this way at 1:50 of the second track “Operation Citadel” (the first track , “Initiation” is a instrumental opener), I truly thought Martin Van Drunen was providing guest vocals. But nope, it’s vocalist Matias Nastolin delivering his fucking spot on Van Drunen imitation (even more so than the Horrendous chaps), and he also does a pretty good Karl Willets for the other half of his performance.

Beyond that, the music is a full on homage to the three aforementioned bands with a focus of slower, mid paced rumbling numbers with a little dash of surprising melody and militant epic-ness thrown in. Most of the tracks feature some sort of burly double bass  Bolt Thrower trundle  (just listen to “Conclusion”) and sprawling, doomy, “The Rack”-ish mid paced segment that’s a often stirring solo. And while the formula is pretty rigid, I find myself coming back to the likes of “The Battle of the Somme”, “The Hell of Verdun”,  “On the Path of Subjugation” and the somber “Public Enlightenment” . Only the aptly titled “Artillery Barrage” just gets right to it with a shorter, 4 minute, direct salvo. The crisp production isn’t quite as blistering as their peers, but certainly beefy enough to get the job done.

My only real gripe with the record other than the blatant influences,  is that most of the songs are from 6 to 10 minutes long and often drag on just a bit. But, that’s a small issue with an otherwise very enjoyable record that fans of any of the bigger names mentioned above should check out immediately.

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