Poland's death metal youngsters Decapitated attracted a lot of attention with the release of their debut Winds of Creation back in 2000. Now Decapitated is about to release their third full-length album The Negation, an album that doesn't really add a whole lot of new ideas to the Decapitated universe.

The Negation carries on almost exactly from where 2002's Nihility left off, so The Negation is a predictable affair but nonetheless still a fairly good one. Decapitated remain true to the basics of death metal but play their music with a certain freshness and vitality in the sound that isn't often heard. Still, one could get the suspicion that they may be running the thing on automatic. I find it very hard to pick out a song or two that stand out from the rest 'cause all the songs are sounding pretty much equal and slightly above average. None of them stick out by having a catchy riff or chorus, making none of the compositions overly interesting. However, let there be no doubt that Decapitated are skilled at what they do, but somehow it never really comes across to the listener.

Decapitated have matured and almost perfected their interpretation of semi-technical death metal to the utmost and The Negation is a good release, but somehow it leaves me back with an empty feeling of something is missing. I've never fully appreciated any of the Decapitated albums, and The Negation won't be the one to change that either.