Rooted in Poland and rooted in thrash, you can easily hear what the main influences on this album are or better even ‘whom’ and ‘when’. Leaving the apparently mandatory introduction track aside this is old-school thrash. Back to the beginning years of thrash where punk was still a major influence in the genre and the beginning years of Slayer – if you were wondering why Immense Decay sounded so awfully recognizable, the name of the band is taken from the lyrics of Slayers Angel of Death.
Most of the tracks are barebone thrash, some parts tend to venture a bit more to the technical side, but none to extravagant. This is not a musical thrash adventure keeping you on the tips of your toes, but it doesn’t need to be. It’s honest, rough and straight in the pecker. A nice addition to anyone liking (or longing back to) the early roots of thrash.

Leaving out the introduction track, the album starts off with Totalitarisator which is a fast paced thrash song as you would expect from the get-go, with Paint It Black you can actually hear Slayer’ roots throughout – which I do not mean in a bad way, certainly not; but it is recognizable to say at least.
The intro of Unholy Hymn of Decay is a bit too heavy on the augmented fifth somehow it feels a bit farfetched, but that’s a pure personal opinion; listening to the rest of the album: Immense Decay could have done a better job at this introduction, that’s all I’m saying.
Altar’s Fire… almost punk with a likewise punk ending.. just stopped mid song – which is actually good and bad at the same time, would’ve liked more of that old punkish thrash and on and on it goes.

Giving kuddo’s where kuddo’s are due: Immense Decay is a regular machine gun as one might expect from a thrash metal band and skipping through the album, we get some minor highs and some lows, but overall, it’s a good production tending to be like said earlier: old school. For those waiting (or hoping) for the fast-picking-tremolo-terror-esque solo’s like Slayer used to do, those are not on the album. On a minor side note the vocals on this album are levelled into the music so much it’s hard to actually hear the lyrics but that doesn’t matter much. All in all: a good album.

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The power packed album is almost an homage to the early roots of heavy metal, the time where Metallica’s Kill ’em All was just released, Bonded By Blood from Exodus was just announced, Ronny James Dio touring with Dio, but – to be fair – with a few tricks from the present day picked up along the way. I said ‘almost an homage’ with a reason, because it isn’t an homage: it’s a good album and does not deserve to be put down as a rip-off. Although, truth be told, I must remind myself not to attempt to find the original inspiration for each song.

The name, derived from a 12th-16th century ancient bloodline of Austrian knights, carries the “obligated metal umlaut” with pride – their hearts rooted into metal and into the Austrian soil. And rooted into metal is to be taken literal. Besides from the cover art one might argue the album is a cliché metal product, but I beg to differ. Even though it depends heavily onto the solid metal works of old it’s an epic album and, with some remarks, should be seen as it is: an incredible well-done debut album. Front man (and bassist Stefan Gutenthaler) might lack the expressive -and sometimes over the top- vocals from some of the demi-gods of the 80’s, but -again- we should not compare!

Loosely following the track list of the album, some notes on the album. The album starts with Streetfight which does not leave any question marks: this is straight forward metal to be continued with Into the Night. Odyssey is aptly named: it’s an odyssey of proportion with enough riffing and solos to leave a mark.

Autumn, the instrumental ballad on the album is a bit of a hate-or-love-it track. It sets the bar for future expanding dual guitar compositions, but – in the eye of the beholder – it feels stretched a bit too far to stay comfortable – a track which, in my case, will be skipped more often than listened completely. From Unknown, the fifth track and forward the tracks are more elaborated and less straight forward 80’s riffing. A special note on Hounds of Küenring, the second to last track of the album. It could be me mistaken, but in my opinion it’s the bands’ anthem. It’s a conclusion and a summary of the album.

The production is a good compromise between the dynamic sounds of the early 80’s and the fully pumped loudness war and triggered albums. It has a nice organic feel without sounding too much like a garage recording. With one – albeit minor – note: the last song of the album Rise of the Madman feeling rushed and messy. On the album in general I can say it’s a nice addition to anyone liking straight heavy metal and/or the golden days of NWOBHM.

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If the name Cayne does not ring any bells you’re not to be alarmed. The band has a track record of being dormant for prolonged periods of time due to various setbacks and changes in line-up. After the release of the first album Old Faded Pictures in 2001, the band was dormant for over 4 years, slowly bringing the band back to life from 2006 onwards resulting in the 2011 EP Addicted and the 2013 self-titled album Cayne. The release of this album was darkened by founding member and guitarist Claudio Leo’s passing, after a long illness.
The end of 2016, after several changes in the line-up, marks – what Cayne describes as – a rebirth of the band.

The album Beyond the Scars contains 12 songs spanning almost an hour and is accompanied by a, rather humorous, video clip for the track Blessed by the Night featuring the members from the band riding a DeLorean in a wild night and meeting a bunch of famous cinema-, comic- and music stars from the 80s.

The tracks are polished through and through, rinsed and polished again, but lacking the thunderous drums and guitars you might expect; sacrificed for the melodic compositions and vocal driven songs. The album revolves around the vocals, accompanied by a (rather folkish-) violin and backed by synths and more in the background the guitars, bass and drums. The overall sound of the album is tipping more towards (hard-)rock than metal. One might raise an eyebrow over this choice of mastering, as did I, but the result is not to be ignored.

Leaving the original track list aside, stepping through a few tracks of the album: The opening track No Answer From The Sky immediately “warns” the listener about the lack of raw metal and could have, in my opinion, been a lot harder. The track Blessed by the Night is not only accompanied by an 80’s styled clip, but also has an 80’s vibe going on. The Asylum of Broken Hope is a rather melodic bombshell on the album – pushed by strings and boisterous riffing in the center part.

Free at Last is a good example of the band pushing the aforementioned folkish violin forward. The song starts with a rhythmic wall evolving into a melodic vocal masterpiece backed by the rhythm, but my personal favorite of the album being Torn Apart. Torn Apart should not be seen as an album reference though, this track being one of the heavier tracks of the album. Making full use of the (polyphonic) vocal range backed by heavy guitars but also containing a rather guitar-styled violin solo.

In the end: Beyond the Scars will not top the charts but is a good addition to the playlist for anyone loving melodic rock.

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