DECOLLATION — Cursed Lands (review)

DECOLLATION — Cursed Lands album cover EP · 1992 · Death Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3/5 ·
UMUR
"Cursed Lands" is an EP release by Swedish death metal act Decollation. The EP was released through Listenable Records in 1992. Decollation was a very shortlived act and "Cursed Lands" is both their official debut release and their only release. The band features among others the famous graphic artist Kristian Wåhlin (Necrolord) in the lineup (playing drums), who on this release goes under the name Chris Steele. All members for some reason worked under English pseudonyms on this EP.

While I wrote above that Decollation are a death metal act, it´s actually not entirely true, as the music on the 4 track, 25:57 minutes long album, features raw barking thrash metal type vocals with only sparse use of growling, and the music itself can also only partially be tagged death metal. "Cursed Lands" is actually quite a diverse and at times progressive extreme metal release. A feeling that is further enhanced by the prominent use of keyboards, which wasn´t an everyday feature on death metal releases from that time. The tracks typically feature many different sections and tempo changes.

"Cursed Lands" was recorded at the Sunlight Studios and produced by Tomas Skogsberg and Decollation, and the music definitely features that buzzing Sunlight guitar tone, but it´s one of the weakest sound productions I´ve heard come out of the Sunlight Studios. The instruments are disjointed in the mix, the vocals lack power, and the whole thing sounds messy and powerless. At to that the fact that the tracks aren´t that well put together and that they aren´t that memorable either, and "Cursed Lands", although it´s quite experimental for the time, which deserves some praise, is bound to be a footnote in the history of death metal. A 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.
Share this review

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

The Goblin Sessions Heavy Metal
THEM
Buy this album from MMA partners
Tormenta De Arena Metalcore
VORAGO
Buy this album from MMA partners
Infinite Metalcore
FUTURE GHOST
Buy this album from MMA partners
Heretic Melodic Death Metal
SUNCINDER
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

Harrowed TwentyTenVideo
HARROWED
Bosh66· 3 days ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us