Following in the expanding technical direction the band displayed on "Diminishing Between Worlds", Santa Cruz, California's DECREPIT BIRTH has raised their own bar a bit higher with their newest release, "Polarity", their first for Nuclear Blast. The sound is a tad cleaner on this new slab of Death Metal, and their playing is just a smidge tighter as well. As good as their initial two official releases were, DECREPIT BIRTH has surpassed them both in quality and song structure. Clearly their most mature offering to date, "Polarity" is one of the strongest releases of 2010.

Matt Sotelo's (SOULSIDE, ex-DEPRECATED) guitar work is without question the highlight of the album, as the young shredder is gradually becoming one of the best six-stringers in the game in terms of technical prowess and catchy grooviness. While he still has his entire career ahead of him to grow into one of the elite guitarists in Metal, he's at a point right now where his passages are beginning to stand out from the pack. Certainly it's not just Sotelo's riffs that make the album - it is the strength of his composing that anchor this release.

In keeping with the structures of the songs on the album, it's Sotelo's fretwork and style that strengthen "Polarity" tenfold. After repeated listens, it's clear he draws inspiration from the late, great Chuck Schuldiner, as the majority of the record harkens DEATH's mighty "Human" and at times "Individual Thought Patterns". Any fan of either album, especially "Human", shouldn't hesitate to scoop it up and flail away. While Sotelo isn't yet on the level of Schuldiner, his spirit oozes from his axe with almost every strum.

However, the rest of the album isn't quite as strong as the guitars. The drums are frantic and blistering, but the thin and tinny production of the battery takes away from what KC Howard laid down. It would have been fantastic to hear Howard be a little more creative with his hammering, as he tends to just go full steam ahead most of the time, but if "Polarity" had a thicker, meatier production in this area, that small gripe would be mostly overlooked.

Overall, "Polarity" is a powerful album, and the direction that DECREPIT BIRTH is headed is nothing but positive. It'd be refreshing for vocalist Bill Robinson to diversify his delivery at times, but they're still young enough to really unleash some elite Death Metal in the years to come. Highly recommended.