By the time the Oakland death metal quartet Acephalix released 2012’s Deathless Master, they had already moved on to exploring their chosen sound in other ways. Vocalist Daniel Butler and bassist Luca Indrio focused on Vastum, which honed in on slower tempos and themes of sexual depravity, and Indrio also formed Necrot, influenced by the dingy, sewer-like filth of their Bay Area forefathers Autopsy. Acephalix insist they didn’t disband per se, but it did feel as though they went on hiatus at the height of their powers.
Death metal is as much about mental fortitude as it is physical. On Master, Acephalix embodied that with a fusion of the Sunlight Studios guitar tone—used by Swedish bands like Entombed and Dismember, and razor-sharp in its brightness—with American aggression. Their lyrics were influenced by Georges Bataille as much as tropes like death and dismemberment. In that way, they were and still are ahead of much of this decade’s American death metal revival. Five years after Master, their third album Decreation brings back some of their old crust sound while feeling like they never took a break in the first place.
On Master, drummer Dave Benson cut back on his punky d-beat attack—the snare-and-kick pattern pioneered by Discharge, like a polka beat’s trance infused with hardcore jitters. But shortly into Decreation’s “Upon This Altar,” he’s ripping into the d-beat again, five years of inactivity finally cracking. As much as it’s a punk staple, that break feels fresh and liberating, like hearing Discharge for the first time. While Decreation is still a death metal record at heart, much more so than their debut Aporia and their demo tapes, it’s got a looser feel thanks to Benson’s drumming. He gives space for guitarist Kyle House to express a wider range of death metal influences. The album also evolves by looking back, striking a balance between their punk origins and Butler’s growls, which have gone up an edge. House is a riff chameleon, never quite shaking off his crust grime.
Acephalix are still indebted to Swedish sounds, though Decreation also pays more heed to their American influences. “Excremental Offerings” recalls the Chicago band Cianide’s lineage from Celtic Frost’s mid-paced stomp. In fact, “Offerings” might be Acephalix’s slowest song ever, a rare moment when they’re not at your throat constantly. House can conjure Cianide as well as he can the meaty riffing of Swedish bands like Entombed and Grave, showing versatility that isn’t flashy. The track “Egoic Skin” invokes Obituary’s subterranean yet nimble grooves as much as Motörhead-like directness.
The title track of Decreation was inspired by the French philosopher Simone Weil’s concept of the same name, which Butler summarized as “the power in surrendering yourself to spiritual dismemberment.” And while Acephalix’s influences might be heady—they’ve mentioned Artaud and surrealism as well—they still consider themselves “a primitive death metal band.” In a genre like death metal, which has its own distinct word salad, there is a value in simplicity, in getting your message across as clearly as your deeply growled vocals will enable. And Acephalix’s simplicity is a deliberate choice, with Butler articulating it as “letting my body do my thinking for me.” It’s served them well, as Decreation has an immediate hook of classic death metal that offers a lot more than many traditionalists can muster.
