The Lisbon based Portuguese old school Black Metal trio DECAYED have released their tenth album, called "Into The Depths of Hell". That's not at all bad for a twenty five years old band, which is almost as old as I am myself, especially because they have also made like eleven thousand EP's, demo's and other kinds of albums in between. If they have learned anything in all those years, it's how to capture a mood or an atmosphere, it seems.

The Intro song, "Intro Hellish Depths", sounds like Lord Sauron whispering some sweet nothings in the dark language of Mordor during a rainstorm, which counts for some mood setting if you ask me. In the following one, "Beyond The Grave", they fly right in from the start with a hellish scream from the vocalist and some insanely fast drumming and guitar playing. Black Metal pur sang. What's a little weird is that they throw in a typical Heavy Metal or Trash Metal little guitar solo near the end of the song. Although it definitely sounded good and piercing.

"The Realm of Nis", "Winged Beasts" and "Di Manes" follow, and they all start off with a soft couple of intro seconds, which are each time as misleading as the next, although the tempo isn't as fast as in "Beyond The Grave" anymore, except for "Winged Beasts". The change of tempo is actually nice, though. In "Of Anath and Mot" Sauron wears his ugly head again for the intro, and after that it's back to the old school Death Metal DECAYED already displayed earlier on.

"Omens of Doom" and "From Hell They Rise" give you some more, decent and good old Black Metal. After BATHORY cover "The Rite of Darkness", they conclude their tenth full length achievement with one last bang called "Ravenous Spectres". DECAYED don't really surprise you or anything, but they stay true to their selves. "Into The Depths of Hell" is a solid album, well worth mentioning and listening to.