The Terrasitic Infestation of Los Angeles
Heavy music has been making a pretty big comeback into the public eye lately. My theory is that when the world around us seems intent on reminding us that we are a species that is hardly worth the time and effort it takes to survive, we gravitate toward music that shares that outlook. No band embodies this thesis wholeheartedly as much as San Diego’s Cattle Decapitation, so it should be no surprise that I’m a pretty big fan. That aside, it was one hell of a night for death metal at The Belasco.
Warming up the crowd, which for once was filling up at a relatively quick pace in the land of jaded hipsters, was Castrator, an international group project based in New York City. While relatively new, if you count forming in 2013 as new, Castrator brings decades of experience and a revitalization of old-school death metal sound with pointed lyrics and political themes seeking to actively emasculate those who truly deserve it. Normally an all-female outfit, for reasons unknown they were joined by guitarist Kurtis Layne, who filled in at the quite literally the last possible moment to ensure their ability to join the tour, affectionately titled The Terrasitic Infestation Tour. They brought solid blasting energy and maintained it throughout their 35-minute set. I can’t wait to see where they go from here!
Up next was Ohio’s downtuned death monsters Sanguisugabogg, a band with quite possibly the most indecipherable band logo that I have ever seen, bringing their brand of super low-toned grindy death metal. I must admit, I’m not completely on board with their sound, but their energy was incredibly infectious, and about 4 songs into the set, they introduced a little game whereby vocalist Devin Swank threw a football into the circle pit with the promise of some free merch to whoever managed to capture and hold the football by the end of the song. It’s a brilliant gimmick and caused a fun amount of mayhem among the eager fans.
While the majority of the crowd was here for Cattle Decapitation, I and many others were also very excited to see the legendary Immolation bringing it with their 35 years of experience in the death metal scene, and boy, did these guys bring it! Formed out of the ashes of the previous band Rigor Mortis in 1988, Immolation has continued to build its reputation as one of the standout bands of the death metal scene. Bringing a fiery energy and tight-knit performance, they proved that age doesn’t mean shit, to a surprisingly younger crowd, given the genre. Between bouts of deep growling vocals, Ross Dolan would step away from his microphone to just bash it out on his bass like a maniac, while lead guitarist Robert Vigna looked like his guitar might just fly out into the audience at any moment. Truly a sight to behold!
It’s been one incredible 11-year run for Cattle Decapitation since their sonic shift from Deathgrind to Extreme/Melodic Death Metal with the release of Monolith of Inhumanity in 2012. Since that release, each subsequent album has increased the band’s reputation for being both incredible songwriters and intense performers. My first introduction to them was walking by The Works Records in Arcata, CA, and seeing promo artwork for the Humanure album. I thought it was the most brilliantly, disgusting, in-your-face statement about the treatment of animals by our society that I had seen up to that point, without the anthropomorphic contrivances that groups like PETA make in their videos and ads. They’re a band whose music matches the ferocity of their message that we are fucking up this planet as a species to the point of no return.
Travis Ryan is probably one of the greatest metal vocalists of all time, mastering a gamut of low growls, ferocious barks, and high goblinoid melodies. His energy is utterly infectious, and his bandmates match that energy with furious percussion by drummer David McGraw while Josh Elmore and Belisario Dimuzio play intensely complex arrangements full of high-octane riffs, tempo changes, and melodic harmony. The addition of Olivier Pinard on bass in 2018, really shines on the Terrasite songs, most notably on “The Insignificants,” but the fullness achieved in a live setting brings that little something that is often lost in album mastering on a great number of death metal albums.
Closing with “Pacific Grim,” a favorite of mine from The Anthroposcene Extinction, the band left the stage briefly before returning for an encore of “Kingdom of Tyrants,” the closing song from Monolith of Inhumanity, leaving the audience on a brutally high note. It was one hell of a show.
