Ordinarily, it's usually quite rare for me to be ecstatically impressed with death metal; there are a few smatterings of bands that I hold in high regard, such as CARCASS, ARCH ENEMY and BEHEMOTH; for obvious reasons. Hence, I was somewhat surprised at how fast Switzerland's Kupid's Kurse blew me away with their melodic, thrashy, deadly and blackened brand of Metal in their 2013 release, "Decahedron". I actually find it somewhat difficult for me to compare them to bands I already know; I can't decide if I can hear a little bit of everything or something new entirely.

"Corrupted" is one damned monster of an opening track that mixes intelligently-crafted riffs with chugs that snap necks. Vocalist Emi surprised me with the range of screaming styles he uses; the often-times monotony of which often puts me off some death metal acts. Perhaps the arrangements of the riffs mixed with surprising patches of symphonic atmospherics, almost-but-not-quite adds an air of DIMMU BORGIR to them. "The Blight" was by not-very-far one of my favorite tracks on the album; all breakdowns aside. It explodes at the start driven by pounding blast beats and a BEHEMOTH-like tremolo; that quickly descends into a breakdown that I veritably chose to ignore, but luckily redeems itself with some classic Melodic Death touches. Another likeable track indeed comes in the form of "Engulfed By Darkness"; strengthened by combining astounding heaviness, touches of thoughtful melody and intelligent diversity in its arrangement. A foreboding roll of a drum and guitar build up smashes up the ground in preparation for a melodic, yet thrashy onslaught. Even though there are slight hints at returning breakdowns, the organic sound applied to Emi's powerful vocals set them apart from many pre-existing -core bands that are known to popularize the use of this style of guitar playing.

"The Possession" is a return to an entirely Melodic Death Metal sound that uniquely manages to set itself away from the famous Gothenburg scene, by not restricting itself to the same scales or rhythm arrangements that Swedish Melodic Death originally popularized. Finally, it is with not much difficulty that I concluded that "Lunar Mutation" is utterly the best song in this record, and one of the best melodic death metal songs I have heard in a long time. I would even go as far as calling this a progressive death metal track. It begins with a spacey piano passage on the back of a brutal, yet dirge-like riff that opens into an even more brutal death metal riff. What grabs me throughout this song is what usually grabs me in progressive metal; small, almost un-noticeably flourishes in the form of stunted and syncopated chugs and unusual use of arpeggios and chord sequences. For being the longest track, not once does it grow monotonous.

Aside from the odd breakdown, all in all, I was extremely impressed with the musicianship on this record, and I feel like they could pull off a terrific live act.