Decapitated – Nihility (2002)

January 4, 2023

I remember walking through my hometown once, many moons ago, Sony Discman rammed awkwardly into a hoodie pocket, the earphones lodged firmly into my skull. A fellow metalhead who walked by too close stopped and turned. I took out a earpiece.

“You’re listening to Nihility by Decapitated” he said, all matter of fact. “I can tell by the bass drums.”

I’ve never forgotten that moment and I think about it every time I play this album. I also have two copies of this thing, for some reason. When I was a kid I bought the version in the radioactive green jewel case. However only the other day I found a sealed copy in a regular jewel case (without the “Suffer The Children” bonus track) in my parent’s house and that’s been in my car ever since.

Anyway, enough about me. Let’s talk about how amazing Decapitated are. Or were. I can’t speak for the later incarnations of the band (although I did catch part of a set at Hellfest one year), but as a metalhead first and a wider music fan second, Nihility brings joy to my heart. This thing just absolutely slays.

I could do a track by track analysis about how good this is, but I won’t. I’ll just highlight that “Babylon’s Pride” is just absolutely off the hook, as is the title track and of course, the now legendary “Spheres Of Madness”. The fact that the guys were so young (especially Vitek) when recording this just shows you how talented they were, and it deepens the sadness of the tragedy that would eventually befall them.

RIP Vitek, and my heart hurts for you, Coven. I know these aren’t your real names and this is just a terribly written album review that’ll you’ll never see, but to you and your band mates, thank you.