Alcatraz Line up: 2023

Decapitated rank amongst the main exponents of modern, groovy and polyrhythmic death metal. Founded in 1996 by three Poles in their early to mid-teens, Decapitated’s debut ‘Winds of Creation’ was credited with reinvigorating a struggling death metal scene. On ‘Organic Hallucinosis’ (2006) they changed musical directions by focusing on more complex song structures and a polyrhythmic approach. The following year disaster struck when a serious road accident killed drummer and founding member Vitek Kieltyka and paralysed singer Covan Kowanek but in 2009 Waclaw ‘Vogg’ Kieltyka revived the band with a new line-up. With 2017’s ‘Anticult’ the Polish death metal machine dropped their third full-length effort since the 2009 resurrection. It’s no return to ‘Winds of Creation’ or ‘The Negation’ because the new album continues in the same vein as its predecessors ‘Carnival Is Forever’ and ‘Blood Mantra’ with a more modern and groovy sound. ‘Cancer Culture’ (2020) is the first album featuring new drummer James Stewart and proffers a collection of tracks that further perfect the hybrid of groove and riff-driven traditional death metal they’ve forged over the last decade.