Decuman Wave - Beyond the lies 2.5/5
Reviewed: 2-3-06
Tracklist:
1. Intro: Beyond the lies
2. The dance of the witch
3. The fourth reich
4. Road with no return
5. Without you
6. Tsunami
7. Decuman wave
8. Angel
9. Mercuria
10. The pilgrim
11. Outro: Beyond the lies
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Catharsis' Russian-language CD 'Wings' opened up a whole new world to me, as I usually passed on CDs that are not sung in English. But now eager to hear more of what 'Wings' offered, I have since picked up other Russian-language power metal bands, including Arda, Epidemia, Nefelim, Retriem, and my latest acquisition is Decuman Wave's full-length debut 'Beyond the lies', a CD that seems to be under the radar for the most part. I must note that just like my Catharsis 'Wings' review from a few months ago, I have listed both the CD title and tracklist as translated.
Decuman Wave is definitely most comparable to Retriem, Epidemia and Arda, which are bands that somewhat mirror what we hear from Scandinavian bands like Stratovarius, Dreamtale, Twilightning and Sonata Arctica. But because of the Russian lyrics, Decuman Wave (along with Retriem, Epidemia and Arda) is certainly not a must have for fans of these Scandinavian bands who have yet to hear what Russian-language bands are all about. And beyond that, though I've found 'Beyond the lies' to be a slightly above average CD, it certainly doesn't reach the greatness of what Retriem and Epidemia have brought us, and instead is probably at the level of (and musically is structured very similar to) the Arda debut. Which means there are a lot of changes in tempo, as neither the Arda debut 'About eternal wondering & about the earth' or 'Beyond the lies' contain songs that are speedy from start to finish. There are faster parts on both debuts, and songs like track 2 "The dance of the witch", track 3 "The fourth reich" and track 9 "Mercuria" (a killer instrumental!) have their moments of double-bass drumming, quick guitar work and lightning-fast keys, but the tempo seems to slow down at least once on every single song.
The main problem with 'Beyond the lies' isn't that the faster songs don't pull you in throughout their entirety though, it's that the rest of the CD is somewhat slow with a few average ballads (track 8 "Angel" for a quick example). I realize that a song variety is important, as there are many fans out there that don't like ultra-fast power metal from the moment a CD starts until the moment it ends, but unless slow to mid-paced songs are written extremely well, many of us will lose interest very quickly. This ends being the only problem with 'Beyond the lies' however, as the music is well produced and the band thankfully fits in the popular style that the many bands mentioned in this review exist. So a good deal of promise is heard with 'Beyond the lies', but I hope their follow-up is either a more exciting CD and/or one that contains better songwriting.
CLINT
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