History & Biography Formed in 1996, the young death metal band recorded a demo called Cemetereal Gardens with their 12 years old drummer. A year and a half later the band recorded another tape called The Eyes Of Horus and signed with Massive Management (Vader, Yattering, etc.) and consequently obtained a deal with Earache. In the meanwhile the band appeared on Relapse's Polish Assault sampler. The debut was recorded by Vader's Peter Wiwczarek and shopped around with the band supposedly receiving offers from Osmose, Century Media, etc. Decapitated toured around Europe with Vader to support its debut. The band further toured Europe in support of Immolation but for unknown reasons had to cut the tour short. Polish bands Vader and Decapitated were scheduled to tour Canada that July. The year 2000 saw Decapitated win Terrorizer's Best Newcomer Award as voted by that rag's readers. The act also got the chance to play at the Polish stop of Ozzfest and shot a video for the song Spheres of Madness off its second album. The band's third album appeared in early 2004. The Negation introduced second guitarist Hiro. The band was booked as openers for Cannibal Corpse’s North American tour, but was to later cancel. The album itself was recorded at Hertz Studio in Poland with engineers Slawek and Wojtek Wieslawski. The band and Neuraxis toured Canada beginning December 1st at the Kathedral in Toronto until December 10th, 2005 at Arlequin in Quebec City. The band also supported Vader in the USA. Bassist Martin quit the band in late 2005. There were rumours that the singer was also following him following disagreements with the band’s label Earache Records. The band, featuring bassist Richard Gulczynski, issued its next album Organic Hallucinosis in February of 2006. Earache gave away copies of a live CD called Live Nottingham 20 Dec 2004 in conjunction with the release of the new album. In soap opera style, bassist Martin rejoined a month later. Osmose Productions reported that the Phazm/Decapitated/Hate tour of Europe had had to be cut short by ten days in the spring of 2007 due to miscellaneous issues like a defective bus, lack of payment and food and so forth. Blaming the promoter, Poland’s Rose Productions, the label reported that Phazm had to find its own way home after being stranded on the Spanish/French border.
Drummer Witold 'Vitek' Kieltyka was killed in October of 2007 when the band’s tour bus was involved in a serious accident while on tour on the border of Russia and Belarus. Metal Mind Productions issued a DVD entitled Human’s Dust in June, 2008. The footage stemmed from the years 2002 and 2004. Former singer Wojciech Wasowicz joined Masachist. In 2009 singer Covan was asking for donations to go towards his recovery following the accident over a year ago. People could send virtual cash after contacting mstasto@yahoo.com. The band recruited Austrian drummer Kerim "Krimh" Lechner, of Thorns Of Ivy fame, as the replacement for the dead Witold "Vitek" Kieltyka, in 2009. The latter man had died in a road accident in Russia two years before. The band was Rafal Piotrowski (Forgotten Souls) – vocals, Waclaw “Vogg” Kieltyka – guitars; Filip “Henrich” Halucha (Vesenia, Rootwater, Unsun and Masachist) – bass; and Kerim “Krimh” Lechner (Thorns Of Ivy and Tone Intimacy) – drums in 2009. Decapitated was touring Europe in the winter of 2010. The band was booked for Party.San 2011 which ran from August 11 - 13, 2011 at Flugplatz Obermehler in Schlotheim, Germany. Decapitated picked Carnival Is Forever as the title for its next studio album, which was due in July, 2011 through Nuclear Blast Records. 33 Polish bands would take part in a charity tour, called Covan Wake The Fuck Up Tour 2012, in January to help former Decapitated singer Adrian "Covan" Kowanek who was injured in a bus accident in 2007. In 2012, Decapitated was looking for a new bassist. Anyone interested could contact the band at decapitatedband@gmail.com. The band headlined over Lost Soul and Lilla Veneda. Drummer Kerim "Krimh" Lechner left Polish death metal band Decapitated in 2012 over personal differences. Poland’s Decapitated was in another serious tour van accident on Friday, October 24th of 2014 in Louisiana. The band stated: "We are all okay (two persons were hospitalized and released after a few hours) and we will continue our tour with American Sharks and Gwar. This time we were lucky." The statement referred to Decapitated’s 2007 tour bus crash that killed drummer Witold "Vitek" Kieltyka and injured the band's singer, Adrian "Covan" Kowanek. Decapitated was touring in support of its Blood Mantra album. In 2014, Guitarist Ola Englund (The Haunted) and drummer Kerim "Krimh" Lechner had a new project called Eldvåg. The band was searching for a singer. Septicflesh recruited Kerim "Krimh" Lechner as its drummer following the departure of Fotis Benardo (a.k.a. Fotis Gianakopoulos) from the band. At The Gates, The Haunted and Decapitated would tour the US in February of 2016. The band was also touring with Theories.
Decapitated released a new album, called Anticult, on July 7 2017 through Nuclear Blast. Hubert Więcek was new in the band since 2016. Kreator conducted a European tour in early 2018. Decapitated and Dagoba were to open. Decapitated was accused of gang raping a girl on their tour bus’ toilet in Spokane, Washington, USA on August 31st. The band was arrested in California and subsequently sent back to Spokane. Apparently, the said lady and her friend had climbed the band’s tour bus believing they would be shown the band’s wares or the band would just stand and stare. All rape and kidnapping charges against the four members of the group were dropped in Washington State, USA in early 2018. A groupie who, along with her girlfriend, had boarded the tour bus following a show with Thy Art Is Murder in Spokane, Washington had accused them of rape. The woman was deemed not credible having provided false testimony in 2014. Decapitated parted ways with drummer Michal Lysejko in December 2018. Vader’s drummer James Stewart would temporarily replace him. Decapitated, Raging Speedhorn, Acid Reign and others were to take to the stage of the O2 Academy in Birmingham as part of HRH Metal: Metal Meltdown On February 16th 2019. Wacław "Vogg" Kiełtyka joined Machine Head for live work in late 2019. Rafał Piotrowski and a friend called Mr. G had a project called Lucy Burns. The pop band had a single called Ocooltica. The band re-signed with Nuclear Blast and was working on new music in 2020. Decapitated released a collection of its early demo songs through Nuclear Blast on June 4th 2021. It was called The First Damned.
Decapitated released a new album, entitled Cancer Culture, through Nuclear Blast Records on 27.05.2022. The band appeared at Bangalore Open Air 2024 in India. The title track was also a single and available early. Cancer Culture Over North America 2024 tour featured Decapitated and Septicflesh with openers Kataklysm and Allegaeon in April and May 2024. Decapitated’s Cancer Culture album was released in 2022. Guitarist Vogg officially left Machine Head in order to focus on his main band Decapitated at the beginning of 2024. He, nonetheless, announced he is available to make money in other side gigs.
The Black Dahlia Murder announced its first tour of Europe since 2019 for 2024 including performances at Party San, Download, Graspop, Brutal Assault and Summer Breeze. Support for a couple of concerts came from Suffocation, Shadow Of Intent and Decapitated. As I Lay Dying, Caliban, Decapitated and Left To Suffer were touring Europe in the autumn of 2024. The group was booked for Damnation Festival in 2024. The group was also booked for 70000 Tons Of Metal 2025 and Wacken in that year.
Reviews DECAPITATED - WINDS OF CREATION - WICKED WORLD/ EARACHE
The four Decapitated guys must have ingested too many Polish sausages to sound this close to Vader. Come to think of it, Vader must have eaten too many Polish sausages to sound the way they do. The newcomer Polish combo has a debut album that sounds close to the bands idols, the Vaders, Sinisters and Suffocations of the world. The band is seemingly in their teens and as such can still break out of their impressionable young age and create something their own, but with this CD the quartet has still some way to go in the originality sweepstakes despite the tightly brutal delivery. Elsewhere with the inclusion of yet another goddamn Slayer cover here, the average number of Slayer covers recorded and shipped rises to what... 20 a week this year?? Please stop this retarded trend now. Still though there are some laughs to be had here. Recall how the same label dropped Vader (the better-selling/ known compatriots of Decapitated) some six years ago, only to come full circle and have to resort to signing the same thing, albeit without Vader's sales potential, several years later...and have to pay Vader's management, graphic artist and band leader who has produced this album. Funny how death metal always ends up the winner.
DECAPITATED - NIHILITY - WICKED WORLD/EARACHE
We were rather harsh with Earache and Decapitated on the occasion of the review of the Poles debut. While that review stands, time has extended its healing hand and things aren't as dire these days. Decapitated still draws much influence from its forefathers but shows more conviction and independence here. The vocals are suitably gruff and mean business while the guitar sounds like an electric saw grating bones razor sharp. The snare sound is good, but the bass drums present the biggest problem here with that familiar "too mechanical-sounding not to be a drum machine" feel. That, though, is a minor conflict and so let it be known that Nihility is all death metal all the time and those who can't wait for the next Vader or rather not pack their luggage and fly to Europe to buy the new Sinister can get into Decapitated today. Anti-Human Manifesto all the way!
DECAPITATED - THE NEGATION - WICKED WORLD/EARACHE
It is not often, probably never, that one can say a bio and the accompanying hyped description of a band hold true, but this one comes awfully close. Statements like 'stunning new album' and 'excite the listener' are true. The Negation is easily one of the better albums being released these days, starting with The Fury which is a fast and heavy opener that actually manages to carry a measure of catchiness through its intro and solos. The aggressiveness continues unabated on Three-Dimensional Defect and Lying And Weak, the latter being a particularly good example of an all-out brutal song. Sensual Sickness takes up where the previous songs left off and does its share in damaging the listener's hearing. The title track is slightly less forceful but Long-Desired Dementia and The Empty Throne complete this must-have and impressive album pretty much the way it started, death metal at its best. - Sheila Wes Det
DECAPITATED - HUMAN’S DUST (DVD) - METAL MIND PRODUCTIONS 
Metal Mind can stake a claim to be the source for metal DVDs. This time they have stayed local and have released a compilation of three of their fellow Poles’ shows from between 2002 and 2004. The main segment is a 2002 Krakow show featuring seven songs from the Winds Of Creation and Nihility albums plus a cover of Napalm Death’s Suffer The Children. Once again the quality of the recording, both in audio and video, is surprisingly good, especially considering that this is an old recording and not one of Metal Mind’s own Metalmania festivals for example. The bonus sections starts with three songs, already heard in the main segment, from 2002’s Polish version of Ozzfest. The second part of the bonus material was recorded in 2004 and offers 6 songs, five not seen earlier in Three-Dimensional Defect, Lying Weak, Mother War, Sensual Sickness and The Negation. They show a more technical band with some of the inevitable progression. The recording is again above average and does the band justice in the visual sense. Three subtitled interviews follow, one of which features the deceased Vitek. Two of the interviews are from 2002 and one especially, at Ozzfest, provides glimpses of a young, inexperienced and perhaps overwhelmed band. Watch for the final bonus, the promotional video clip for Winds Of Creation. - Anna Tergel
Interviews
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