"Winds of Creation" contains the fierce and harsh guitar tone of Vader and the crisp and nearly perfect production of the aforementioned band's Piotr Wiwczarek captures the sound of Decapitated perfectly. Elements of early death metal, thrash metal, and even groove metal are all present but performed in a death metal fashion that is truly impressive. Tracks such as "Blessed" and "The Eye of Horus" shift gears from rapid fire death metal to parts that pay homage to classics such as Slayer and Dark Angel that is only made possible via the rhythm section that smoothly transitions from one area of each song to the next. What set Decapitated's material apart from other bands wasn't so much that what they were writing was necessarily unique, it was that it was structured in such a manner that so few others could manage that the expansion of the classic death metal sound the band was achieving was something to marvel at. Familiar death metal passages were dissected, mangled, and carefully woven into a technical framework that didn't compromise the integrity of the original sound, something many technical death metal bands forget when crafting their work.
Decapitated's debut album is a must listen in my opinion and one of Earache's best releases. I encourage any and all to check this record out for the first time or, if you haven't picked it up to jam in a while, pop it in and be reminded of what made this (then) young band something so special in metal. Cheers!
- Joe