If this Chargepoint fails to grab people’s attention, then DECADENCE may become the kind of hardworking band that never gets their due. That, or they try again on its follow up. With a discography running four albums strong, thrash metal’s best kept secret have been paying their dues to the dark gods for any measure of recognition across the E.U. and hopefully, North America. Being firm believers in the power of the riff, crunchy guitars running side-by-side with frenetic drumwork are what drive the nine tracks inside this brief musical affair. (It barely reaches 40 minutes.) To lend a touch of extreme to their familiar take on the genre, frontwoman Metallic Kitty provides the grissly growls that would easily make her Sabina Classen’s evil twin. In case you don’t know, Ms. Classen is the first harsh female singer (she fronts Holy Moses) in metal.
Ravaging thyne ears from its first minute of music, the pummeling Discharge introduces the complex arrangements and death metal glimmers that have become the band’s trademark. In fact, they do come off as a hybrid of Death, Arch Enemy, and Holy Moses to most listeners’s who hear them for the first time. But this early in the album the really heavy stuff is reserved for the ensuing tracks, namely Out Of Ashes and Challenge. Still consummate fans of heavy metal, these wonderful guitar harmonies erupt on songs such as Fast Forward and the speedy Strength Of Mind. It’s at Point Of No Return and Be Home When I’m Gone, however, that the band’s songwritng takes a personal turn, as DECADENCE veer away from the usual themes of war and ill will in favor of storytelling.
An energetic album crackling with ambition, if DECADENCE have what it takes to attain greatness, then a couple more excellent albums will cement their place in the pantheon of European thrash metal.