“Every Body a Host, Every Body Infected”
If there is one Death Metal band that seems to consistently captivate me and grab my attention, it is Cattle Decapitation. Having grown up in a rural area with a progressive background, I couldn’t help but develop a strong sense of respect for environmental ecology. I went to clear cut protests in high school, I’ve been a supporter of indigenous tribal water rights and the movement to remove the Klamath Dam (which thankfully came through a few years ago and has already seen a healthy increase in Klamath Salmon numbers now that their run has been restored), and I’ve been staggeringly aware of man’s effects on our home. So when I wandered by the local record store one day and saw the promotional art for Cattle’s death grind album Humanure, let’s just say I knew I was going to be on board with their mission statement: Earth First, Humans Last.
As they’ve developed from those early days of noisy guttural death grind into a full-blown melodic death metal outfit, they’ve never strayed from their overarching theme and if anything, have continued to win over more and more fans while remaining informative, musically powerful, and righteously angry. Death Atlas proved to not only be an incredible leap forward in their statement about mankind and the “Anthroposcene,” but also utterly prophetic, as their lead single, “Bring Back The Plague,” although written with the Bubonic Plague in mind, unintentionally lined up with the COVID-19 Pandemic. Having missed out on that tour, I was beyond ecstatic when the band announced they would be performing the album in its entirety for its fifth anniversary.
Tribal Gaze came out swinging with viciously brutal low-end death metal. Being an opener with a stacked lineup is always tough, but they didn’t let that get to them and barreled straight forward with headbanger after headbanger. The sound mixing felt like it needed to be tightened down as the room’s natural reverb was ever-present, but again, it’s not like that was about to stop the never-ending circle pit in the center.
Frozen Soul are fucking maniacs. They came out so god damn hard with their icy “cold school” death metal, and even though vocalist Chad Green was still recovering from an illness, he never let up once. The man is a fuckin tank, and he riled up the crowd every damn chance he could get. It was super infectious. The sound mix definitely improved quite a bit for their set, which I was grateful for.
Frozen Soul upped the ante, but the bar kept getting set higher and higher. Holy shit, Aborted kicks ass. Fast as fuck and utterly devastating. The singer, Sven de Caluwé, is a wisecracking wild man, and 4 songs in got the whole damn crowd to do squats in time to the breakdown. The precision of this band is equally unreal. They never missed a note or tempo shift. If making the band do squats wasn’t already enough, de Caluwé riled up the crowd into a wall of death, stating: “Go ape shit, do whatever you want, act as if you have healthcare.”
Though the first three acts continually raised the bar, when Cattle Decapitation came out on stage, they demolished it entirely. They have honed their sound so much over the last four albums that seeing them return to Death Atlas was an absolute treat for me. I never caught the proper tour for the album, so getting to see them rip into it from start to finish, chef’s kiss. My only real complaint is that it truly sucked being a photographer for this one. Kinda seems to be a trend lately, and I wish I knew why.
What you won’t see me complain about is the sound, which was very good considering how difficult this venue is to mix for. The songs sounded fucking great and really filled out the room. Throw in an outstanding performance by the whole band on top of everything, and you’ve got a great show on your hands. All in all, it was a tremendously satisfying evening to be a fan of extreme death metal music.
Photo Gallery (Descending Top of Bill)
