Cattle Decapitation: Concert Review

I’ve been anticipating this  concert ever since it was announced. Now that I have experienced Cattle Decapitation in their full glory, I am blown away. Although my neck will be hurting for the next week, and some of my comrades left the venue bruised and bloody, it was totally worth the pain. Here’s why:

A Malicious Plague were the opening band. One song would emphasize shredding guitar solos, the next would highlight the noodling bass lines, and yet another song would be centered around percussion.  Each band member excelled in his particular instrument, and together they delivered an excellent performance, though no two songs sounded alike.

Impaled Offering fucking killed it. The vocals were delivered in a low-pitched, deep growl. The guitars were dissonant and caustic as hell, with furious drumming in the background. Whether you are into brutal death metal like Cryptopsy or goregrind like Exhumed, Impaled Offering definitely delivers a raw, violent sound to rival the best in the metal industry.

Yar could  potentially be my favorite act out of the whole bill. They played some songs I didn’t recognize from their self-titled debut, so this was presumably new material from an upcoming album. There is heart and depth behind their aggressive, thrashy sound. Of all the bands who performed, Yar had the most emotive quality. Although the guitar riffs were the focal point, the kickass vocals, percussion, and bass lines all complemented each other.

Fields Of Elysium are focused on musical technique. Although their music is extreme, this is not mosh material. The style is very technical and somewhat reminiscent of Jazz. Sometimes these strange musical arrangements sound brilliant, but on the other hand,  the abrupt tempo changes in both percussion and string instruments can be quite jarring. Nonetheless, there are enough breakdowns and guitar sweeps to satisfy most purists (i.e. metal nerds).

Carrion Kind, characterized by a melodic thrash style,  played many songs that fans would recognize from Conglomerate Of Misery, their debut album released in 2014. They saved their best for last, performing my favorite track, Memoirs Of A  Lost Civilization, as the final song in their set. Catchy drum beats and guitar hooks were overlapped by gutteral vocals. Excellent performance, as always.

Cattle Decapitation are infamous for making incredibly violent, angry music. Although only two members of the current line up are vegetarian, the lyrics remain pessimistic and misanthropic condemnations of mankind’s tendency to perpetually fuck itself over. The mosh pits were insane, and I was ecstatic when they ended the night with Kingdom Of Tyrants, one of their best and most notorious tracks.

Thanks to Metal World Radio, Kronos Creative, and The Locker Room, who made this show possible. Also a special shout out to Attack Research, whose generous sponsorship contributed immensely to the event’s success.

All things considered, this was an amazing concert. Four stars out of five.