March 29, 2012

Decrepit Birth - Polarity (2010)


Every tech death fan is (or should be) probably in love with Decrepit Birth, and for good reason. These guys have been progressing in leaps ever since their 2003 debut ...And Time Begins, releasing one of the genre's most influential records in 2008, the untouchable Diminishing Between Worlds.

Its 2010 follow-up, Polarity, sees the band stepping up their game even more, managing to create an amazing record that masterfully fuses together brutality and melody. The musicianship here is top-notch and the band displays a lot of progressive, melodic sensibility to go along with their death metal chops. The songwriting has also improved over its predecessor - while you can still characterize their songs as riff salads (albeit incredibly tasty ones), there's always a perceptible structure to them.


The guitars are the center-piece of this record, as Matt Sotelo and Dan Eggers craft lush, beautiful melodies of intertwining guitar leads and outer planetary solos, while Bill Robinson's harsh vocals and KC Howards' intense drumming provide a counterpoint to balance out the otherworldly beauty of the guitar parts. The entire album has a poignant cosmic feel, which is only fitting given that the lyrics are about infinite voids of space within the pockets of time, the micro-physics of subatomic relativity and gravitational singularity. Yeah, Bill Robinson does a lot of drugs. He's also homeless by choice.

Polarity might be my favorite Decrepit Birth record. Diminishing Between Worlds was great, but its follow-up is nothing short of a masterpiece. The amazing musicianship combined with the mindfucking lyrical content make for a fascinating listening experience which I will always cherish.

Seriously, if  you don't like Decrepit Birth, what the hell?


No comments:

Post a Comment