The guitar work of Wacław ‘Vogg’ Kiełtyka on the early Decapitated albums has been very influential to a new generation of technical death metal guitarists. I spoke to him a few weeks before the release of Decapitated’s ‘Cancer Culture’ album. A few months after that, his debut album with Machine Head – which he has since left – was released.

During their early years, Decapitated was known for its busy compositions full of dizzying riffs and solos courtesy Kiełtyka. Through the years, the band became more groove-focused, though ‘Cancer Culture’ features a number of surprisingly melodic solos. “Most of the recent albums were more based on the riffing, really focusing on the right hand”, Kiełtyka admits. “Songs like ‘Homo Sum’, or ‘Pest’, or ‘Blood Mantra’: it was more about these chunky riffs. Because of that, there was not that much room for the epicness of the melody.

‘Cancer Culture’ is really melodic, compared to ‘Anticult’ or ‘Blood Mantra’. Some of the parts are more epic or atmospheric. More stuff was based on the melodies instead of the crunchy, sharp riffs. Not just aggression. But some of the songs, like ‘No Cure’ or ‘Locked’, are still very fast and aggressive. Probably the most aggressive we have sounded since ‘Organic Hallucinosis’.

The solos really allow me to tell some kind of story. I don’t want to use my solos to show how good I am or how fast I am. They are not so technical. Probably for the first time in my solos, I’m playing a bit more ad libitum. It’s more like a jazzy kind of thinking. Not in the choice of notes, because the notes are quite classic harmonic minor or natural minor, but more in floating on the riff below.

Even playing shows right now, I figured out that when I start to play so that I don’t have to go together with the drums, the riff or the metronome, I play much better. This is a kind of freedom to tell everything I want to say in the notes. It’s really an amazing way to do it. I’m doing that for the first time on this album.”

American vs. Polish Sounds

“The album was recorded with a seven strings, but I don’t use the highest string anymore, so I’m going back to six strings with a larger scale length. I just ordered a 28-inch scale six-string from Ibanez’s custom shop in Japan. Fortunately, Decapitated and Machine Head play in the same tunings: drop B and C# standard, so I don’t need to have twenty-five guitars in my arsenal.

The sound of Machine Head Peavey 5150 and EMG 81/85. They will never change that. Plus, they use so many effects: pre-amps, Sonic Maximizers, compressors, EQ’s, choruses, flangers, phasers… It’s all analog. There are so many effects in these huge racks.

When I play with Machine Head, my guitar tech is switching all the channels for me. It’s a pain in the ass for him. He needs to know the songs even better than me, because they are so many changes. It’s a full American sound that has a lot of everything. But it’s amazing. And it works.”

‘Cancer Culture’ literally has a Polish sound: “The amplifiers are made by MLC, a family business from Gdańsk. My friend, who is (Dimmu Borgir guitarist) Silenoz’ guitar tech, brought his signature MLC head to my place in Kraków. I played on it, and I was blown away. It was the best amplifier I’ve ever played in my life. I couldn’t stop thinking about this amp for a few days. That’s why I contacted them.”

Huge and Different

“I always record on two amplifiers, creating one sound from two amplifiers. This time, it was two MLC amplifiers. One is their classic head, the Subzero 100. The other was a Subzero 93 Silenoz signature. Plus two Mesa Boogie 2×12″ cabinets. We have all this classic equipment in the studio. I always bring an EVH, a Mesa Boogie, we have Engl, we have Marshalls… Quite a lot of classic heads. So we had the opportunity to really compare these with the MLC’s. And I was blown away by this Silenoz signature.

We are going to release my own signature MLC amplifier soon. The sound is huge and different than every other amplifier I ever played. It sounds a little bit like a Marshall JCM800, but with much more gain, and much more boosting; it will have a dedicated button for boosting the sound. And there will be noise suppressors inside the head. It will have a really nice, crystal clear clean channel and a second crunch channel.

It’s not an easy head when you’re jamming, because you can hear all the details. It’s really bright and in your face. Definitely not as easy as just plugging your guitar into an EVH, pressing the red channel, and immediately having a proper amplifier for a metal guitarist. MLC is a bit harder to play. You have to be a little bit more focused on your playing. But the quality of the sound is just amazing. It’s so big and rich.”

Weapon for Touring

“Because of Machine Head, I also switched to EMG’s for a few guitars. I used to record with EMG’s. The first five Decapitated albums are EMG’s all the time. Then I switched to DiMarzio Evolutions for ‘Blood Mantra’ and ‘Anticult’. Very cool pick-ups. I thought I would stay with these pick-ups forever, but then Machine Head came along and I switched to EMG’s again. They are really worthwhile especially live on stage, on tour. They are this proper weapon for touring.”

EMG’s aren’t the only equipment making a return due to Kiełtyka’s involvement with Machine Head. “The first four Decapitated albums were recorded with Ran guitars”, he explains. “For the solo of ‘Choke on the Ashes of Your Hate’, I needed a guitar with a whammy bar, so I took out my oldest Ran from 2001, with an EMG 85 in the bridge. Unbelievable how those things go sometimes.”

Pro Athlete

‘Cancel Culture’ is the first album Decapitated recorded with British drummer James Stewart, best known for his stint with that other influential Polish death metal band: Vader. “James Stewart is a beast”, Kiełtyka sums it up succinctly. “Because of that, I knew that I didn’t have to worry about anything. I could write whatever I want. That’s also why ‘Cancer Culture’ is faster. There are so many crazy fast tempos on this album, because I knew that there were no restrictions that I needed to keep in mind during the composition process.”

Kiełtyka’s younger brother Vitek used to write most drum parts for Decapitated. Shortly after a tragic tour bus accident took Vitek’s life in 2007, the guitarist started writing them himself. “Since the last three albums, I’ve been writing the drum parts after I make the demos”, he explains. “Then James visits me in my little home studio, and riff by riff, he imagines what he’s going to do on my arrangements. It’s a very productive process.

He knows what he has to do; he is an experienced drummer who spent the last twelve years of his life in tour buses and on stage. He’s always ready to go, and always in great shape. So we knew we have a pro athlete at our disposal. I think his presence makes this record great, in every possible way. If he sounds great, everyone else sounds better. He recorded his drums, and that inspired me, and everyone in the studio, the make everything sound the best we could.

This cooperation just works perfect. In the studio, and when we play live. You can go on stage and know you will win again. We don’t even have to practice for weeks, two or three days is enough, and then we’re ready for the tour. Since we didn’t tour for so long due to covid, we’ve been jamming a lot more. We would just call each other and meet to jam. We’ve been jamming a lot the last two years. Not even preparing the songs, but just going there and play. For fun.”

Never Boring

When Decapitated’s debut album ‘Winds of Creation’ was recorded, Kiełtyka was only 17 years old. How does the 42-year-old guitarist think he has developed since then? “It’s a tricky question”, he thinks aloud. “When you’re that young, it’s very possible that you’re doing the best things you’ll ever do. Maybe not the best arrangements, because you have no experience. But the joy of playing, the energy and the amount of ideas…

We recently did a 25^th anniversary tour in the UK, and we’ve been playing more old songs we haven’t played in many years. As soon as we started playing those, we thought: this is so cool to play! So technical! There is something going on all the time on these songs. It’s never boring. We could see the people’s reactions; they’ve been waiting for this for ages. Seeing this joy on the faces of all Decapitated fans made me think: why haven’t we done this before? Maybe ten years ago or something?

However, I think I’ve become a better composer and arranger. Especially on our first album, the compositions were different. On most of the songs, the riffs weren’t repeated. More like classical music, and less like a traditional ‘verse, chorus, bridge and then back again’ structure. I didn’t start working with those types of structures until a couple of albums ago.”

More Control

“I’m probably also a better guitar player right now. I have more control over my sound. I’m more mature, I know better what I’m doing with the instrument. Maybe I’m not as fast anymore. I can still play quite fast, but you can’t compare a 42-year-old guy with a 17-year-old kid who is full of energy. The only differences come from having more years on the neck. As we grow older, maybe we all lose some of the spontaneity and the crazy energy where you don’t think too much, just go out there and do things.

Both things are good, in my opinion. No one is the same anymore after 25 years. It will be pretty difficult to make the same kind of music when you’re in your forties as when you were 19. We all change. Even if you will try really, really hard to do the same, it’s not possible. Especially for artists who really want to be honest with the art they create, but you also don’t want to lose your fanbase.

You don’t want to keep repeating yourself and eating your own tail. It’s possible to get better and progress in your music adventure if you keep practicing. If you keep making songs, coming to the studio, play often, it will keep making you better.”

An edited version of this interview appeared in Gitarist 375 (June 2022)