Tag Archives: The Anthropocene Extinction

Cattle Decapitation – King Parrot – Dark Sermon: Live at Brighton Music Hall

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Cattle DEcapitation NA Extinction tour admat

At the beginning of autumn where the world around us dies, it was only fitting on an early October night to see Cattle Decapitation headline at Brighton Music Hall in Allston, MA. Personally, I had never seen the four piece play a headlining gig so I knew this was a show I could not afford to miss. There was some worry early on as their tour van  did have some issues earlier in the day which delayed their arrival a bit. Fortunately, there were other bands to start off the night.

Dark Sermon hit the stage to get the Boston’s crowd attention on the music and not the missing headliner. The crowd was only warming up at this point so most were by the bar or merch tables. I thought the overall sound of the band was interesting with a nice mix of doom and black metal.

Easily the biggest surprise to me on this night was Australia’s own King Parrot. The energy that was created by both the band and the fans was truly electric. The odd, self-deprecating humor brought on in between songs gave almost a relaxed feeling knowing this band does not take itself, or metal, too seriously. Lead singer Matt Young had the crowd in stitches with his moments during songs where he would decide to moon the crowd. After the set, I quickly made my way to the merch table to purchase a patch and a copy of their latest record, Dead Set (Housecore Records), before preparing myself for the headlining act.

 

It was finally time to witness the San Diego natives close out the night with some of their best material off of their latest album, The Anthropocene Extinction (Metal Blade Records). In fact, the majority of the set list was off of said album including: ‘Manufactured Extinct’, ‘The Prophets of Loss’, and ‘Pacific Grim’. There was also a small selection of Monolith of Inhumanity tracks such as ‘Your Disposal’ and closer, ‘Kingdom of Tyrants’. The Allston crowd also got some classic tunes from Cattle Decapitation in ‘Total Gore?’ as well as ‘Testicular Manslaughter’. The crowd was fully behind each song as the crowd surfers were a plenty and the pits remained busy throughout the set. This band is arguably at their very best with the core that is vocalist, Travis Ryan, and guitarist, Josh Elmore. These guys were so good this time around that I may go and catch them again on their tour with Cannibal Corpse just to experience this band live again.

WORDS BY TIM LEDIN

 


Cannibal Corpse Books Tour With Cattle Decapitation And Soreption

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cannibal corpse fall us tour

Death metal legends Cannibal Corpse have booked a fall tour of the USA. The tour will run for approximately one month. The tour will comprise of 26 dates in 30 days and opening the tour will be Cattle Decapitation and Soreption and includes a stop at Slipknot’s Knotfest.

Cannibal Corpse bassist Alex Webster commented:

“We’re very excited to be hitting the road this Fall with Cattle Decapitation and Soreption, two killer bands that we know our fans will love. Get ready for a night of complete brutality!”


Cattle Decapitation vocalist Travis Ryan also commented:

“We’ve wanted to tour with Cannibal Corpse ever since we started touring and we’re glad that’s finally going to be a reality! Looking forward to making memories with these guys and Soreption!”

 

Cannibal Corpse tour dates with Cattle Decapitation, Soreption:

Oct 08: Underbelly – Jacksonville, FL

Oct 09: Motorco – Durham, NC

Oct 10: Ziggy’s – Winston-Salem, NC

Oct 12: The Broadberry – Richmond, VA

Oct 13: Reverb – Reading, PA

Oct 14: The Emporium – The Emporium – Long Island, NY

Oct 15: The Met – Pawtucket, RI

Oct 16: The Chance Theater – Poughkeepsie, NY

Oct 17: The Lost Horizon – Syracuse, NY

Oct 19: V Club Live – Huntington, WV

Oct 20: The Warehouse – Clarksville, TN

Oct 21: New Daisy Theatre – Memphis, TN

Oct 23: Tricky Falls – El Paso, TX

Oct 24: Club XS – Tucson, AZ

Oct 25: Knot Fest – San Bernardino, CA

Oct 27: Top Deck – Farmington, NM

Oct 28: The Black Sheep – Colorado Springs, CO

Oct 29: The Waiting Room – Omaha, NE

Oct 30: Durty Nellies – Palatine, IL

Oct 31: Big Shots – Valparaiso, IN

Nov 01: The Pyramid Scheme – Grand Rapids, MI

Nov 03: Altar Bar – Pittsburgh, PA

Nov 04: Expo Five – Louisville, KY

Nov 05: Zydeco – Birmingham, AL

Nov 06: Vinyl Music Hall – Pensacola, FL

Nov 07: Venue 578 – Orlando, FL


Cannibal Corpse continues to support their 2014 album A Skeletal Domain (Metal Blade).

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Cattle Decapitation – The Anthropocene Extinction

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It’s hardly an original observation, but genre labels can be something of a two-edged sword, especially when the band in question fall outside of such strict definitions. I came to The Anthropocene Extinction (Metal Blade) without having a heard a note of Cattle Decapitation’s music, but their reputation as a brutal Death/Grind band gave me strong expectations – expectations which utterly failed to capture the reality.

The grind influences which the band are largely known for are present here, but combined with a number of other reference points and styles in a way that transforms them quite beyond the ordinary.  The base-line style throughout is a crunchy, Grind-touched Death Metal that’s as comfortable with punishing grooves and sinister melodies as it is with blasting, but they expand their palette further with quasi-“industrial” effects, atmospheric passages and creepily-effective clean vocal sections. The vocals are probably the key touch-stone for the genuine fluidity of the music on The Anthropocene Extinction, switching from cavernous DM growls, pig-squeals and high-end shrieks to near-operatic, oddly paralysed singing which is hard to describe positively on paper but fits with the music perfectly.  This breadth of styles throws up some genuinely surprising reference-points, calling to mind Anaal Nathrakh or unsigned Bandcamp heroes Slugdge as often as Carcass.

Drawing on such a broad range of Metal influences runs the risk of collapsing into a formless mess, but Cattle Decapitation have the strength of song-writing and sense of individuality to hold it together.  The album is structured well throughout, with a sense of progression that maintains interest across a collection of songs which could easily have outstayed its welcome. The production does them a number of favours too, giving a sense not only of power and genuine heaviness but also of professionalism and authority – this is a “serious” album, not some arm-flailing Grindcore tantrum.

The Anthropocene Extinction is not likely to break any boundaries or transform the way you think about music, but it is likely to be one of the standout albums of big production values, genre-blind Heavy Metal in 2015.

 

8.0/10

 

RICHIE HR