Decoded Feedback

Shockwave (Metropolis)
by DJ Carrion

Imagine your standard Decoded Feedback sound. Now add a tint of Dirk Ivens (Dive/Sonar) vocals, a shot of Suicide Commando bass lines, and lots of sampled guitar licks, and there you have the best and quickest summary of Shockwave. Marco and Yone, the duo who make up Decoded Feedback, continue to pump out these albums that grow harder and harder as the years pass. From Bio-vital, the release which put them on the map, they’ve been able to utilize distorted vocals and non-distorted vocals to provide switch-offs.

Shockwave also sees the use of guitar samples in “Phoenix” and “Fruit of Wisdom,” which were already crunchy, but the distorted guitars add just the right flavor. “Heaven” is a perfect example of Marco using less distortion in his vocals to make this song come out very clean and ethereal. This is the song that made me think of Dirk Ivens, just in the way the vocals hiss and groan.

The final track is a cover of the Swans classic “Love Will Save You.” If I recall correctly, the last album, Mechanical Horizon, did a cover of “The Sequal” by Fields of The Nephilim, and there was another cover on Bio-Vital… Do I sense a trend here of taking Gothic band’s songs and completely demolishing them beyond recognition? At any rate, the remake of “Love Will Save You” is amazing. The song takes all the elements and signature sounds Decoded Feedback has blended over the years and takes it to another level.
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