2004 marks a good year for industrial music fans. Decree is finally following up its 1996 album with a new, loudspeaker-blowing CD after a hefty delay. This three-man group from Vancouver, Canada, including Chris Peterson (of Front Line Assembly, Delerium and Will fame,) Ross Redhead, who has been on the Vancouver musical scene since the early 90s, and newcomer Sean Lawson, are happily returning to their uncompromising, earsplitting musical roots. Where'd they go? Peterson just wrapped up a tour of duty with Front Line Assembly and they've all been busy working on several related side projects.
Decree has really been around since Peterson's early days spent in the band Will. A lot of the tracks that were used on Decree's first album, 1996's Wake of Devastation were taped live in apartments in the early 90s during Peterson's free time with his former Will and Decree bandmate, John Mcrae. Although Decree wasn't official at that time, a lot of the first album's material was produced in that era. Similar sounding to a few Will tracks, Decree is less structurally confining than Will and is therefore more Peterson's style.
Decree's 2004 album, Moment of Silence, is anything but that. This album kicks your ass until your ears are bleeding, but leave you pining for more. It was the most industrial piece of work produced in years, and it will shock you with its rawness and cacophonously violent blend of interesting percussion, synths, and screaming chants. It's loud, it's noisy, it will piss off your neighbors, and the band itself happily agrees. The music is delightfully mean, moody, hateful and hellish, and certainly worth the ear-rupturing risk.