I have been following Cattle Decapitation on album since ‘To Serve Man’ first hit the doorstep like a hunk of raw meat and caught my attention. This is music that follows in the grand tradition laid down by Carcass and is brutal death metal with incredibly gory imagery done by people who are in fact vegetarian This is death metal ala Crass and Cattle Decapitation whilst thrusting the offal in your faces have a message behind things and literally take you right into the slaughterhouse to view what happens and then say “how would you like your steak sir?”. Hopefully as far as they are concerned after doing so your answer is going to be “can I have tofu instead?” Well being a vegetarian myself for over two decades but not the preachy sort, I cannot fault this approach in the slightest and if it does make someone think, great. Mind you, musically they are full on so you would already have to be well versed in extremity to even be subjected to any message.
Following on from 2009 album ‘The Harvest Floor’ this, the group’s fifth release, sees a bit of a line up shuffle in the form of new bassist Derek Engemann joining the fold. Apart from that I was expecting business pretty much as usual but on first listen I was pretty sure that they had gone and upped the ante and made this beast all the more ferocious with it.
Once you get past the excellent artwork and ‘The Carbon Stampede’ booms forth with doom-laden aggression and full throated growls you are setting the way for things to come. They do in a veritable explosion of noise. This is coruscating stuff but the technicality behind the guitars drips like blood and infects the music perfectly without going into overblown virtuosity. The drums are furious and this skids and scurries all over the place like a bull in an abattoir realising the chop is impending. There is a sudden stop start dynamism between songs, one finishes and we are thrust into the next one quickly and violently. Travis Ryan’s vocals are monstrous and far from one dimensional and there is an extra trick employed on this album, first encountered on second track ‘Dead Set On Suicide.’ This comes in the form of what sounds like backing background chants that are higher pitched and at times sound like a choir rather than one person. It’s tricky to explain but I was struck by familiarities to what Anaal Nathrakh have done on recent albums and this is certainly a death metal equivalent in terms of intensity. Humanity gets short shrift, the title ‘A Living, Breathing Piece of Defecating Meat’ sums it all up but has surprising melodic qualities (again helped by background chant) counterbalancing the extremity.
Convoluted widdly guitar lines flange through the intriguingly and repulsing entitled ‘Gristle Licker’ and shrill cadences ring out, there are tricks being used and like the occasional sound effect they catch your attention and stand out from the unrelenting fury. The album takes you on a rough and ready roller coaster and it is the sort of one that you might be taken on as an animal through the cutting room floor. There are peaks and troughs and songs like ‘Your Disposal’ stick out with those huge harmonious backing vocals and guitars that remind a little of Mayhem, a band that this lot would not share a stage with! There is some breathing space found amidst the crackling of fire and the moody song ‘The Monolith’ It’s an end of humanity or perhaps an end of all creatures sort of song with a really gloomy vibe about it. The final assault is found in ‘Kingdom Of Tyrants on a bed of drum blasts and gargling growls before it all lifts again with a feel of futility and despair from the cleaner vocals. There is plenty of mood and emotion towards the end of the album, perhaps if the lyrics were available and you read along…. that message may be found.
I guess there is no reason you cannot pump this up and fry a mixed grill in the kitchen if you so fancy but it might leave a nasty taste in the mouth. Cattle Decapitation are no doubt a band you can happily listen to on many levels, the main necessity is loud though, do so and this will take your head off.
(7/10 Pete Woods)
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