Guitarist Wacek "Vogg" Kie?tyka of Polish technical death metal band DECAPITATED offers the following commentary on the songs that appear on the band’s latest album, Carnival Is Forever, out now in North America and on July 15th in Europe:

'The Knife' – “The opening track, without an intro, is a ruthless blow from the very beginning; a 100% metal piece - no fucking around, no looking back. The sharp riff of the verse slightly resembles PANTERA's style; the middle riff is merged with a sampled fragment of George Bush's speech. After that, a fast solo and a slightly slower part to catch a breath followed by a totally fucking aggressive ending, and then on with the next song...”

'United' – “The second merciless attack. An insane riff and punching up resembling finishing off a victim, a short pause and let's go - a verse in the vein of good old SLAYER followed by blast beats with a sharp and rhythmically twisted riff repeated twice and a solo. And here's a new thing: the solo's only with a bass guitar in the background - another blow. The ending part is based on a powerful riff oscillating in the old thrash style. All is complemented by Rasta [Rafa? Piotrowski]'s mad vocals. Kerim has described this song as the most physically demanding from the whole album. Total power from start to end. Okay, so we've got two torpedoes for starters and then we're entering the land of...”

'Carnival Is Forever' – “...the title track, an over-9-minute composition. It's opening with a minute guitar intro, a simple, clean channel motive, very calm, a virtually meditative beginning in contrast to the previous two tracks. The first riff – 2,000 tons and double kick, a bit like MORBID ANGEL, but only as an inspiration. The song is progressing on its own tempo without any rush, preparing the listener to enter into the land of strange sounds and climates followed by the culmination in the form of a totally crushing riff based on a very simple groovy rhythmical pattern adorned with a blast beat on a china cymbal. In the middle of the song, another change in vibe - clean guitar channel, meditation; we are hibernating in space for about two minutes and suddenly you're getting smashed straight in your face with the return of the first riff and here we are at the end of the song - an almost trance-like riff with a couple of extraterrestrial sounds courtesy of our guest [Bartosz] Hervy from BLINDEAD. The keyboard stays to the end introducing the next song...”

'Homo Sum' – “My favorite song on the new album. I think this piece aspires to be the next 'Spheres of Madness.' It's got it all: total power, destruction, a wicked riff, blast beats, a great arrangement and the middle part has a progressive feel that makes the listener drift away into a different universe. Shivers.”

'404' – “Another hit. :) Slightly SOULFLY-ish/MESHUGGAH-ish/GOJIRA-ish. I guess everybody has some inspirations. Nice flowing piece consisting of two parts with different motives: the verse riff based on a heavy rhythmical motive followed by a melodic riff. In the second part, there's a complete change of mood: we are speeding out of control and the song is growing in power. Then a great solo and the fastest blast beat on the album are finishing the song - a savage live tune.”

'A View From A Hole' – “Once again we've got a change of atmosphere, clean channel, a simple guitar motive combining with drums after a while and then suddenly let's fucking go! Guitars and bass are taking over - total darkness and atmosphere - CELTIC FROST and BLACK SABBATH together have formed a new band. Distorted vocal... it's growing darker and suddenly it's getting livelier thanks to a faster, damn difficult riff and twisted drums that create a great groove and we're getting to the climax in the form of blast beat, the pure energy of which leaves no doubt this song feels like sliding a knife into butter or like a cold beer the morning after partying with BEHEMOTH. :)”

'Pest' – “ASESINO meets Pantera; fast forward and with no mercy! Straight to the point - blow between the eyes. The right ending to the metal part of the album??? And...”

'Silence' – “...I'll leave it to you. I'm not revealing everything right now!”

Decapitated previously released a preview for Carnival Is Forever. Check it out below: