Review by Greg on October 16, 2024.

I may be in the minority, but when I write about a new band, things rarely end with that particular review. More often than not, the side effect is a tendency to stay tuned for every next step of their career (where applicable), especially if the band in question was *good*, but still left me wanting for something more, be it for some weird songwriting choices, unexploited potential or whatever. Of course, being a not very prolific writer makes it way easier... anyway, Chilean thrash/death outfit Dekapited is one of the acts where my eye spent the most time in the recent past, given that their latest sign of life (and potentially of great things to come), the Sin Misericordia EP, dates back to 2017, while their only full-length Nacidos del odio is more than seven years old by now. Both releases showed a well-crafted form of blasphemous thrash metal with death leanings and crude vocals (entirely in Spanish), heavily influenced by Sepultura and Kreator, yet never scoring absolute gold to these ears. Will they finally have their breakthrough with their long-awaited, brand new sophomore Destrucción Trascendental?

A preliminary look at the tracklist was a vain hope, since by now I should be familiar with Dekapited's policy of never recycling EP songs in the subsequent full-lengths, yet every fiber of me still fails to see any possible downside of including the excellent 'Mundo decadente'. Oh well, speaking of first impressions, having the omnipresent Eliran Kantor on board surely didn't hurt. But that's enough non-musical talking for today.

I expected many things from Destrucción Trascendental, just as I didn't expect many others, and the opener no doubt falls in the latter category. 'Banderas Negras' is a muscular mid-tempo affair, instead of a predictable assault to the jugular, which is postponed to the second spot: the title track, not taking any prisoners, especially in its second half. From these two songs already, one can conclude that lineup changes happened again, and while the exit of flashy bassist Inti Astudillo could have been a remarkable loss, the new recruit at the drums Álvaro Barraza really brings new strength to the ensemble (strangely enough, the "Pleasure To Kill" fills are still here), so I guess it's a draw, at the very least.

Luckily, everything else progressed as well. Having known the band for quite some time now, my eye was immediately caught by the almost 5-minute track in the middle, an absolute rarity, to use a euphemism. And whoa, 'No pertenecemos' is amazing. The central part is dominated by lead guitars in a way I thought impossible from Dekapited, Barraza pounds everything into dust and everyone just never lets go. Paradoxically, it's the track with the least tempo changes – brilliant stuff nonetheless. Seeing Dekapited having finally stepped up their game, the underdevelopment of the shortest compositions is a bit more evident – the title track and 'Nada', ironically the two advanced singles, while good, could definitely have used some more lifespan (and don't get me started on the latter's weird ending laughs). The second half all-around convinces a bit more and shows they even tried to insert some semblance of recurring vocal lines, like 'Banderas Negras' or 'Policía Bastarda', or the ending of 'Antiguos Códigos' testify. A minor nitpick of mine was finally resolved.

I'm still not 100% convinced by the choice of dropping the Ripper-esque bass virtuosity that really elevated Sin Misericordia, but I can't exactly act disappointed this time, especially hearing how hard stuff like 'El impacto Es Inminente' strikes. Very welcome evolution aside, Destrucción Trascendental proves once more that Dekapited is a blindly reliable band for some tough neck exercise. Way to go, guys.

Rating: 8 out of 10