Tag Archives: vitek

Events, Reviews

Decapitated @ Irving Plaza (8/1/2010): “Summer Slaughter” Tour 2010

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Logo - Decapitated

Artist: Decapitated
Venue: Irving Plaza (New York, NY)
Opener: The Faceless, All Shall Perish, The Red Chord, Veil Of Maya, Cephalic Carnage, Decrepit Birth, Carnifex, Animals As Leaders, Vital Remains
Date: 6/20/2010
Label: Nuclear Blast Records

I had just closed up a very busy month of July with shows like Charred Walls of The Damned, Soilwork, Fear Factory and last night’s Michael Schenker Show and figured that all were a pretty solid representation of Metal’s elite. Of course I’m not even counting the shows I missed such as the mighty Brits of Iron Maiden, but here we were ready to continue the Metal adventuring and what better way to start than with the annual Summer Slaughter tour. I am not sure when this event first came into being but I did begin documenting it for the Metal Republic when Black Dahlia Murder headlined. It’s usually on one long day but last year had been separated into two days with some bands appearing at one show while others would be scheduled for the next. This year it was back to one lengthy presentation and with this being the case would start very early. The headliner would be a rebuilt Decapitated and their direct support would come via The Faceless and All Shall Perish. The slaughter for 2010 would also feature The Red Chord, Veil Of Maya, Animals As Leaders, Carnifex, and many more. I arrived as early as I could to document the maximum amount of bands and as I walked into the rechristened Irving Plaza discovered that Vital Remains were already on the stage.
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Reviews, Videos

“Humans Dust” by Decapitated

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Artist: Decapitated
Title: “Humans Dust”
Label: Metal Mind Productions
Release Date: 7/8/2008
Genre: Technical Death Metal
Rating: 4/5

In the world of Extreme Technical Death Metal there were definitely few bands that were as capable as the guys in Decapitated. They were young, and on top of their game very early into their career and this DVD is chock full of treats for their fans to slaver over since it gives them three concert appearances with their first singer Sauron and each tune is more intense than the last. It presents the band across the span of a couple of years and begins with a show filmed in 2002 while the band was on tour with Vader and Krisiun (wow, talk about a killer show) and the band is definitely on point as they pummel the audience with brain dizzying riffs. Of course one can find amusement as the fans are mostly just head banging as opposed to being immersed in a pit to end all pits, and the more I see these videos from Metal Mind Productions I am convinced that doing such a thing is prohibited while filming is taking place. The 2002 show features the greatness of “Winds Of Creation” and “Suffer The Children” and while Vogg’s riffs are capable of searing the flesh the drumming of Vitek just drives the intensity home. The shooting of this show is a little bit frenetic and finds the band being swapped around from member to member very quickly. This might bother some viewers but I like this kind of music with interesting camera work as opposed to a straight on visual aspect. While the show is rather short, at eight songs it seems more than enough to show the assembled fans that they meant business and we actually adept at what they set out to do. I’m not certain why this was set up in this fashion and instead of being able to flip through the concerts, you essentially watched this main program and then needed to move on to the bonus features for the rest. The great aspect of this would be that ones Metal adventure is only beginning as the last chords of the 2002 show have played.
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Features, In Memoriam

R.I.P.: Decapitated’s Witold “Vitek” Kieltyka (11/2/2007)

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Now this was terrible to read.

Just the other day the Polish Technical Death Metal masters Decapitated were traveling to a show in Belarus when their tour bus collided with a truck that was hauling wood. The impact from the accident caused terrible injuries to both their drummer Vitek and singer Covan and while initially there was hope for some kind of recovery from this in due time, Vitek would pass away from the injuries four days later while Covan would remain in the hospital after slipping into a coma. Vitek was only 23 years old when this happened. That frigging sucks.

Before this terrible circumstance I had only been fortunate enough to see Decapitated once in concert. Yes I had done some reviews of their releases on the website but its something else to see a musician like this in action right in front of you. I had to say that Vitek was a powerhouse and a technical monster on the drums. His loss at this very early age not only cheats the fans of his promising future accomplishments but also impacts the development of such technique quite a bit as well. I’ve posted this news in the blog under the category of “When The Music Died” so fans can speak their minds about such losses and maybe find some level of comfort by my doing so. Vitek is survived by his mom and dad and his brother “Vogg” who is also a member of Decapitated. One can only imagine that the band will cease to exist based on this occurrence and it honestly makes sense if this is what Vogg chooses to do going forward.

We wish his family, friends and legions of worldwide supporters the deepest of condolences. Rest in Peace Vitek.

Official Band Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decapitated_(band)

Music, Reviews

“Organic Hallucinosis” by Decapitated

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Artist: Decapitated
Title: “Organic Hallucinosis”
Label: Earache Records
Release Date: 2/7/2006
Genre: Death Metal
Rating: 4/5

Decapitated is probably one of the best purveyors of the Technical Death Metal bands around these days and it shows very well on their newest album “Organic Hallucinosis”. The band’s raised their personal bar of musical acumen with this one especially in the way the drums and guitar riffs are laid down. It’s done in such a fashion that one might assume that fans of Fear Factory will find quite a bit of their influence on this release – there is a strong industrial meets technical metal vibe that is happening on all the songs. Vocally there are some reminders of Behemoth but that is where the comparison ends. The membership roster finds Vogg (guitars), Covan (vocals), Martini (bass) and Vitek (drums) putting their all into it. The bands oldest fans might miss Sauron (vocals who left in 2005) a little bit but this is too good a release to hang on to that sort of thing. Songs like “Revelation Of Existence” and “Day 69” stuck out the most for me based on the displays of musical ability performed. Bands like Decapitated help to change the way this kind of music is accepted and make it more acceptable to greater audiences this way. This edition is a limited edition dual disc which makes it all the more appealing for the bands fans. Side one is the audio, but side two is a full concert DVD that brings a performance from B.B. King Blues Club (New York City) right into your living room. Songs featured on the DVD are as follows: three Dimensional Defect, The Fury, Nihility, Negation, Lying And Weak, Spheres Of Madness and Mother War. Filmed at one of the bands support appearances, the 35 minute set from 7-11-2005 captures the band at the best and onstage in front of an intense crowd.
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Music, Reviews

“The First Damned” (remaster) by Decapitated

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Artist: Decapitated
Title: “The First Damned” (remaster)
Label: Metal Mind Productions
Release Date: 3/30/2006
Genre: Death Metal
Rating: 4/5

The original release year of this CD was 2000 and thanking the people of Metal Mind Productions for re-issuing it would have to be an understatement. “The First Damned” brings the listener into the earliest works of the mighty Decapitated, another brutal Death Metal group straight out of Poland. The CD takes the bands cult demos “Cemeteral Gardens” and “The Eye Of Horus” (1997-98 respectively) and cleans up the production a little bit bringing you right into the Death Metal scene of the time. As you listen to their early work you can see that the band knew very quickly the direction they wanted to take their sound in and unlike countrymen in Behemoth, began as Death Metal and remained so throughout their career. Many who follow Behemoth will remember the band starting out with more of a Black Metal sound until the wise change to the style that they currently do with excellence. Now back to Decapitated, not only do these early tracks show a level of musicianship not often associated with the genre back then but it also shows how tight the group was at a very early age. The title tracks of their demos are the most appealing and hold the most impact as well as the Death Metal tongued cover of Slayer’s “Mandatory Suicide”. A couple of live tracks from 2000 are thrown in for good measure and they show the band as a powerful live act without any question.
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