About one year after the magisterial record Encirclement, Finland’s Decaying release their third full length via Hellthrasher Records from Poland. With The Last Days Of War, the quartet (guitar player / vocalist Matias Nastolin, bassist Sebastian Bergman, guitarist Henri Hirvonen, and drummer Benjam Lahdenpää) plays on in the vein of the former stuff, both musically and lyrically. When it comes to the latter, the lyrics, those ones still deal with warlike themes, especially influenced by both World Wars. It’s a historical description of events that took place during both of these periods of narrow-mindedness and brainless stupidity.
The themes of War and inter-human battles in general get clearly translated musically as well. The thrashing Death Metal war-songs vary in tempo, but none of them exaggerates in blasting nastiness at the one hand, or bleak doom at the other; it’s all like a massive tank-soundtrack, battering and pummelling, raging and marching on over fields of broken helmets, blooded bullets and emptied combats. The Last Days Of War brings us an old schooled vision of epic Death Metal only created to reach glory, and Decaying come close to victory.
Recommended to fans of Asphyx, Bolt Thrower, God Dethroned, Grind Minded and Battalion.