CATTLE DECAPITATION
With Cattle Decapitation’s seventh album, ‘Monolith of Inhumanity’, the press sheet actually warns us of sporadic bad language. Seems like a weird thing for a band who aren’t likely to be on any drive time shows (although maybe radio’s changed significantly since I last listened to it) to warn us about but I guess it’s nice to have a heads up. There are seven profanities overall so see if you can spot them. Also, there are no cows this time, just some sort of savage-looking man-monkey creature crawling on a pile of rubbish but cover art disappointment and horrendously bad language aside, this is actually a pretty good album. Those who went along to one of their recent shows will have heard some of the new album already so will have an idea of what to expect and the band seem understandably proud of their effort.
There’s far more going on throughout than purely balls-to-the-wall metal. The album might kick off with the expected levels of heaviness in the form of ‘The Carbon Stampede’ but there are moments of clarity and hints of progression that stop it from being ear-bleed inducing. Prime example of this is ‘A Living, Breathing Piece of Defecating Meat’, which is not only a fantastic title for a song but is also one of the first examples on the album of how the band can mix up vocal styles and musical motifs to create a sound that is all their own. It might be less than three minutes long but they still manage to cram a lot in whilst remaining listenable. Another fine example of them mixing things up (musically) is ‘The Monolith’, which comes towards the tail-end of the album after a number of heavier songs. The song builds up with a slow riff and just adds some simple clean vocals. It’s a beautiful track that you might not necessarily expect to fit with the rest of the songs but is actually a nice addition before the album’s full-throttle closing track.
Even the heavier moments - not that any of it is particularly “light”, such as ‘Projectile Ovulation’ (give yourself a minute to envisage fully the biology behind that) - are well crafted and have enough depth of musical diversity that they never seem gratuitous. With many bands of “this type”, there’s a danger of the layers of music getting lost in the production and mixing process and leaving the finished product with a muddy sound but this is certainly not the case here. It’s clear without being annoyingly polished. In summary: it’s a very nicely done album in all respects and definitely worth a punt if nothing else.
There’s far more going on throughout than purely balls-to-the-wall metal. The album might kick off with the expected levels of heaviness in the form of ‘The Carbon Stampede’ but there are moments of clarity and hints of progression that stop it from being ear-bleed inducing. Prime example of this is ‘A Living, Breathing Piece of Defecating Meat’, which is not only a fantastic title for a song but is also one of the first examples on the album of how the band can mix up vocal styles and musical motifs to create a sound that is all their own. It might be less than three minutes long but they still manage to cram a lot in whilst remaining listenable. Another fine example of them mixing things up (musically) is ‘The Monolith’, which comes towards the tail-end of the album after a number of heavier songs. The song builds up with a slow riff and just adds some simple clean vocals. It’s a beautiful track that you might not necessarily expect to fit with the rest of the songs but is actually a nice addition before the album’s full-throttle closing track.
Even the heavier moments - not that any of it is particularly “light”, such as ‘Projectile Ovulation’ (give yourself a minute to envisage fully the biology behind that) - are well crafted and have enough depth of musical diversity that they never seem gratuitous. With many bands of “this type”, there’s a danger of the layers of music getting lost in the production and mixing process and leaving the finished product with a muddy sound but this is certainly not the case here. It’s clear without being annoyingly polished. In summary: it’s a very nicely done album in all respects and definitely worth a punt if nothing else.
LABEL:
FORMAT:
Metal Blade
Album
MONOLITH OF INHUMANITY
Review by Siân Williams
RUNNING TIME:
43:05
RELEASE DATE:
8th May 2012
TRACK LISTING
1) The Carbon Stampede
2) Dead Set on Suicide
3) A Living, Breathing Piece of Defecating Meat
4) Forced Gender Reassignment
5) Gristle Licker
6) Projectile Ovulation
7) Lifestalker
8) Do Not Resuscitate
9) Your Disposal
10) The Monolith
11) Kingdom of Tyrants
2) Dead Set on Suicide
3) A Living, Breathing Piece of Defecating Meat
4) Forced Gender Reassignment
5) Gristle Licker
6) Projectile Ovulation
7) Lifestalker
8) Do Not Resuscitate
9) Your Disposal
10) The Monolith
11) Kingdom of Tyrants
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:
USA
"Even the heavier moments - not that any of it is particularly “light”, such as ‘Projectile Ovulation’ (give yourself a minute to envisage fully the biology behind that) - are well crafted and have enough depth of musical diversity that they never seem gratuitous."
