Decapitated

Carnival Is Forever (Nuclear Blast)

Of Polish metal’s Van Halen brothers, guitarist “Vogg” Kieltyka and megaton drummer Witek Kieltyka, only the former now survives, dedicating this fifth technical death metal migraine to the late drum dynamo as well as the group’s previous exhorter, Covan, who’s still recovering from Decapitated’s fatal trek for previous high, 2006’s Oraganic Hallucinosis. If Vogg hasn’t lost a stomp, acoustic touches and even a drum break (“Homo Sum”) suit Carnival‘s vicious post-metal beatdown (“404”). Ax man elegy: closer “Silence.”

***.5

This article appears in August 26 • 2011.

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San Francisco native Raoul Hernandez crossed the border into Texas on July 2, 1992, and began writing about music for the Chronicle that fall, debuting with an album review of Keith Richards’ Main Offender. By virtue of local show previews – first “Recommendeds,” now calendar picks – his writing’s appeared in almost every issue since 1993.