Well, this is impressive. What we have here is a nice slab of technical, brutal death metal that finds a way to aptly incorporate symphonic synths into their music without sounding out of place or gay. The riffs are varied, inventive, and incredibly addictive, but this says nothing of the strong, solid vocal performance by-

Wait a second… aww shit, I’m sorry. I was listening to Psypheria’s Embrace the Mutation. Wrong cd! Now let me get out that Winds of Plague disc… AH! Here we go!

Oh my. Oh my indeed. This is most definitely not very good. In fact, this suffers the same damn problems as Despised Icon’s last load of steaming, hot shit.

To be fair, there’s a lot of good material on Decimate the Weak. Winds of Plague open up the album with a set of riffs straight out of the A Grand Magnificence-era Depresy hand book, and throughout the first half of the album they retread that same style of Depresy-esque riffs. On the title track, Winds of Plague rips open with a distinct Vital Remains-ism and unloads into very light Behemoth worship that is well performed and generally entertaining. And the symphonic synths are genuinely well-used.

The problem is for all this good stuff- like in Despised Icon’s case- Winds of Plague breaks into retarded elements that completely fuck up the album and structure. Winds of Plague rely too heavily on mindless breakdowns, fucking up the sheer sense of brutality and speed that can be achieved on their songs. The breakdown segments are then mostly comprised of simplistic chugging that completely betray the sense of melody, technicality, and sheer fuck-all extremity of their Depresy-type riffs. And speaking of the Depresy-riffs, they’re mostly at the beginning half of the album. Towards the second half, they rely on more typical riffs found throughout deathcore acts that try to be technical by emulating Into Eternity and The Faceless records. And even then they don’t adhere completely to the technicality; tracks such as "Unbreakable" and "One Body Too Many" opt for groove-centric aggro riffs more fit for the last Lamb of God record or a Pantera album.

Then there is the matter of the vocal performance and just how putridly inept it is. Jon Cook sounds like Blue Light Special #26 from the hardcore-tinged end cap in the extreme metal section of Extreme K-Mart. You know the end cap: you buy one Blue Light Special #26 and you get a free Lamb of God-brand Randy Blythe snack pack, an In This Moment-trademarked "My First Douche" kit, and $50 in discount coupons from the pet section to purchase your own retarded, retro-80’s hair cut-laden deathcore hipster groupie, complete with jailbait pregnancy! Act now, and we’ll throw in both Despised Icon’s vocalists’ balls for just one penny! Ugh, does Jon Cook just stare in a mirror, trying to recreate Randy Blythe’s haircut and facial hair by sheer will? And then you have the song "Reloaded" which is easily a forerunner for "Most Retarded and Idiotic Song of 2008." What the fuck kind of thug shit is this? A shout-out? You have to be fucking kidding me.

Jesus Ape-Raping Christ, this is horrible. Winds of Plague has some decent riffs and a great symphonic gimmick on its hands, but their inability to smoothly weave deathcore conventions with their good ideas aborts this baby while it’s still sluggishly descending the birth canal. You’re better off grabbing Psypheria’s Embrace the Mutation for the synth stuff, Depresy’s A Grand Magnificence for the melodic riffs, and The Faceless‘ Akeldama for the technical stuff. Sure, you’ll pay more money, but it works a lot better than wasting your time on Decimate the Weak.

Written By: Necro-tron