For three albums now, Finland’s Decaying have delivered their Bolt Thrower/Asphyx take on war themed death metal with solid results. But with the switch from Hellthrasher Productions to FDA Records, the band appear to have deiced to change things up a bit and spread their creative wings a little.

Not that the band still does not occasionally rely heavily on Bolt Thrower trundles and Matias Nastolin’s Martin van Drunen cloned wails, and still is war themed,  but there is an added dynamic to the band that sees some thrash, some latter  Gorefest groove and just some neat developments from a previously pretty predictable band.

It’s apparent right away from the opening title track and its cleanly produced, 80s thrash main riff that the band is feeling out some new pastures and while it initially seems like a bit of a failure but as the song (and the album) develops, it’s clear these guys are growing into a sound that’s a pretty darn good evolution. And as if just to stick it to naysayers the song ends on a pretty classic, lumbering riff straight from their past.

“From Shield to Storm” is where the sounds start to meld together a little more cohesively rather than the opening track’s definitive split.  About 2 minutes in there’s a transition and chord progression that simply wasn’t in their repertoire on the last 3 albums. The same can be said for the opening moments of third track “Nothing is Free”, with a thrashy stop start riff that really shows the band’s growth and “A Crucial Factor”, where the band’s past is mixing nicely with the thrashier evolution.

But even if fans of the first 3 albums might turn their nose up at the likes of “Decadence” and “The First Objective”, they will still enjoy the likes of  standout “The End Justifies the Mean” and closer “Futile Effort” with familiar melancholic trundles and solos added to the band new found creativity that’s a bold move and one I look forward to hearing further.

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