Once teetering between death metal and crusty hardcore, Acephalix have guzzled down what was left of the Kool Aid and found themselves firmly on the left-hand path. As you might expect, the sound is dank, cavernous and deliciously dense, the only flickers of light coming in the form of some enjoyably erratic solos. The stomp, plod and roar of it all is pitched somewhere between Nihilist and Bolt Thrower, and while that’s fine it’s also what renders ‘Decreation’ a decent release rather than a great one: musically things are in hock to the genre rather than threatening to define it, and the lack of additional colour means there’s ultimately no masking its straightforward, workmanly nature.
