Albums of the Year 2025: #100

A supergroup of sorts - Fat White Family’s Lias Saoudi, Trashmouth Records’ Luke and Liam May, and Quinn Whalley of Paranoid London and Warmduscher - Decius have travelled the earth liberating people from banality since the release of Decius Vol. I. They’ve revealed to all those they’ve encountered just what was missing in their lives: pump without borders, pump without reason - absolute pump.

Decius live sets at Berghain’s 19th birthday celebrations, Block 9’s NYC Downlow at Glastonbury, and Opium Club in Vilnius have set pulses racing, and they count the likes of Dixon, 2manydjs, Honey Dijon, Mochakk, Or:La, Iggy Pop, and Depeche Mode as fans.

Now they offer up Decius Vol. II (Splendour and Obedience). It throbs with an almost impossible sense of potential, and expands on the lexicon of molten desire. The sound has moved into new territories, with tastes of house, disco, and techno, all with an underlying base note of acid on tracks such as the slippery night cruise intensity of ‘Birth of A Smirk’, where Colonel Abrams gets his nipples tortured.

‘Queen of 14th St’ is all watersports and Cybotron force from Detroit via Deptford. First single ‘Walking In The Heat’ struts like a sunburnt and horny Kraftwerk, while ‘Ghent’ is purest uncut ’88 acid. Vol. II is the art of seduction in damp rooms painted black. Keep hydrated from whatever source is available. Be your own pleasure centre.

Vol. II is veritable selection box of booty bumps and illegal highs made at night for the night and beyond. This is music that takes pride in its walk of shame.