Why Decapitated is the "Tankard" of Polish Death Metal

Recently I got the opportunity to review Decapitated's upcoming release Blood Mantra.  You can read the review below!  I decided to make a blurb before the blurb because I think Decapitated is in an interesting position, caught between a rock and a hard place. That rock would be Vader and the hard place Behemoth.

http://sdmetal.com/review/album-review-decapitated-blood-mantra/

These would often be considered by avid fans of blackened death metal, as we know call it, to be the Big 3 of Polish Death Metal,  But most every group of these Big 3 or 4 have a black sheep.  My favorite example to use is the Teutonic 3 and Tankard.  While Sodom, Destruction, and Kreator have all created their own distinct sounds, fanbases, and legacies over the last 20 years, Tankard is often forced into this group.  Other than the fact that Tankard is from Germany, the band has little to nothing in common with any of the aforementioned bands.  This does not necessarily make Tankard a shitty band; but aesthetically and musically Tankard is nothing like these bands and thus it feels uncomfortable to try to force them into the "big leagues."  Don't believe me?  Just compare "Phantom Antichrist" to "A Girl Called Cerveza."   Or better yet, let's just compare covers, shall we?











Again, let me rephrase that Tankard is not a horrible band by any means.  The band is still worshipped by the hardcore thrash community and by all means should be.  But if we are talking about overall growth in legacy and musicianship, the Teutonic Three have risen to greater levels.

Behemoth has had the most fortunate luck of not only staking their claim as a major pioneer of the ever-popular "blackened death" subgenre but also of conjuring the means to make their statement as a band effective in literally every metal-worshipping part of the world.  To me, the band would most clearly represent the "Kreator" of Polish death metal.  Vader's sound and songwriting skills have been taking on new life with every release.  Much like Sodom, Vader successfully delved into new ways to write rhythms and riffs that ended up working in the band's favor, thus creating for themselves distinct old-school and new-school versions of themselves.  With all that being said, how could I possibly try to compare Decapitated to Tankard?

Both of these bands started incredibly strong, with rabid old school sounds that thrived in an era where metalheads first sought the most extreme kinds of styles.  Both of these bands thought since they did it once, let's do it for the rest of our lives.  With consistency, a consequence of both bands has arisen: they appear to be riding the coattails of the bands who are making risky changes and succeeding at them.