Cattle Decapitation, the US vegetarian based deathgrind act has
been producing their brand of animal over man metal for nearly twenty years. They
play a furiously paced style of death metal that blends a multitude of grindcore
elements into its DNA. Although I had heard a number of their songs via sampler
CDs and through various mediums, my first true experience with the band would occur
with their 2004 release “Humanure”. Just
one look at the album cover will tell you what you are in for. The music here
is brutal, intense and contains enough break neck speed to cause whiplash.
The guitar work was
the very first sound that jumped out at me on “Humanure”. They are a display of
technical griminess and eclectic musicianship. Josh Elmore uses a variety of
time shifts, shredding speeds and progressive variations to create a number of catchy
melodies and successful hooks throughout the album. His riffs are fast and
blistering, while he often employs short, but vivid fills that successfully bridge
portions of a song from one level of intensity to another. His solos show a
nice level of songwriting as they enter the fray at just the right time,
capping off a section of a song that is building with a certain profoundness
and then suddenly, the solo comes in and finishes the slaughter. The bass,
although not a staple of their sound, can be heard, cutting through the guitar madness
from time to time with a thick clanky sound.
I’ve always felt that, Deathgrind is much more than simply
unlimited blast beats and endless double bass kicks. Unfortunately, many bands
tend to either fall into this conundrum to make up for the lack of intensity on
an album or simply fail to properly create a niche for their drums to shine.
This is not a problem on “Humanure” The drumming on this album are an excellent
showing of technique and energy. Michael Laughlin displays an awesome ability
to create the bombastic atmosphere often associated with the genre, but
provides more grace in their sound. The tempos and paces of his strikes and
cymbals crashes are methodical and well timed. The combination of blasts beats
and bass kicks are present, but they are played with precision that allow each
to add to the atmosphere of the drums, not simple become a wall of incomprehensible
noise. The drums here truly add a layer of rhythm that play very nicely with
the guitar rhythms and create a harmony of speed and brutality.
Travis Ryan’s vocals are truly gruesome as his voice carries
a deep and guttural sound to them. The vocals are another aspect of the band
that comes through in layers. Ryan can keep an intense pace of growls and grunts,
or he can slow things down without losing a step in his vicious sound. He does
an excellent job of harmonizing with the tempo of the guitars and drums. Never
at a point do you think that he either can’t keep up with the demanding pace of
a song, nor do they sound artificial as if added or enhanced with studio magic.
His sound is very natural and grotesque, which is perfect for the atmosphere of
the album, image of the band and the sound of the genre.
“Humanure” is a fine display of deathgrind with a level of
technique that both accentuates the horrific atmosphere of the album, while
also being a testament to what sound songwriting can bring to the table. In a genre
that otherwise, has numerous of bands whose sound tend to get lost in the
shuffle, Cattle Decapitation’s “Humanure” distances itself from the rest of the
pack. The incorporation of all the instruments and vocals (as well as solid
production) create a harmonious effect that give this album its own distinction
and identity. This may not be a perfect album, but it has a lot of replay value
and if it is any indication of what the future holds for the band, things
should be looking bright moving forward.
Highlights: “Applied Human Defragmentation” “Lips and
Assholes” “Polyps”
Rating: 4
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