By Tyler Hersko

In case their name wasn’t an adequate hint, you should know that Decapitated isn’t the kind of band interested in easing listeners into its rampaging sea of blistering instrumentation and enraged vocals.

“Blood Mantra,” the veteran Polish death metal act’s second album since the passing of founding drummer Witold Kiełtyka in 2007, proves that the band has no intentions of slowing down. The last few years have seen a resurgence of several of death metal’s most revered artists. That said, as good as recent records by genre leaders such as Atheist, Carcass and Gorguts may have been, “Blood Mantra” certainly isn’t far behind. Indeed, “Blood Mantra” is not only an admirable record in its own right, it’s also doubtlessly one of the strongest heavy metal releases of the year.

Much like the band’s 2011 comeback album “Carnival is Forever,” “Blood Mantra” is a relatively no-frills death metal album through and through. You won’t find much experimentation here; the drums pound away at the genre’s typical breakneck speeds, the vocals consist entirely of guttural screaming and there’s nary a moment the distorted guitars aren’t playing some sort of technical shredding or creating otherwise memorable riffs.

What “Blood Mantra” lacks in uniqueness it more than makes up for with pristinely crisp execution. The album’s strengths are, perhaps appropriately, most apparent in its title track. Guitarist Wacław Kiełtyka’s subdued riffing opens the song, and soon after the rest of the band joins him, keeping the initial riff’s same beat while gradually becoming more technical. It’s a thrilling buildup, never lets up and the result is easily one of the year’s standout songs.

That’s not to say the rest of the album is lacking. Other than the fairly mindless and ridiculously titled single, “The Blasphemous Psalm to the Dummy God Creation,” “Blood Mantra’s” plethora of frantic riffs makes for one hell of a ride. Whether it be the machine gun-esque guitar chugging that permeates “Nest” or the sprawling closer “Moth Defect,” almost every song on “Blood Mantra” is chock-full of memorable and varied bouts of chaos.

Don’t let the band’s scary name or growled vocals dissuade you, “Blood Mantra” is splattered with intelligent and intense songwriting that should further cement Decapitated’s status as one of the top bands in today’s heavy metal scene.

4.5/5

Tyler Hersko can be reached at thersko@sagebrush.unr.edu.