Album Review: Cattle Decapitation - Death Atlas
Reviewed by Tim Finch
Cattle Decapitation are not ones to shy aware from hard hitting subjects, in the past their songs have protested the mistreatment and consumption of animals, the abuse of the environment and even touch on misanthropy and genocide of the human race.
Death Atlas is the bands first release in four years and just from the album cover you can tell there is no let up in the bands ethos and willingness to touch on more hard hitting content. The artwork depicts a skeletal grim reaper holding a burning/dying earth on his back. Vocalist Travis Ryan explains "The core concept of this record is humanity's insignificance despite what we've convinced ourselves.”
So as the album starts to spin we are introduced to this new opus by ‘Anthropogenic: End Transmission’ an aural introduction into where the music of this album will take us. ‘The Genocide’ and ‘Be Still Our Bleeding Hearts’ take us through the opening of brutal music and thought provoking lyrical content, delivered by the haunted crowd of Ryan.
‘One Day Closer To The End Of The World’ opens with a wall of blast beats hitting you hard in the face before the subject on the song gets in for a second blow. New band members Olivier Pinard (bass) and Belisario Dimuzio (guitar) have encompasses themselves well into the writing process and as a result there is a progression in the bands sound from previous albums. Expansive meets extreme in nature.
The album is rife with shredding riffs which lay waste to your senses as the listener tries to take in everything that is being presented. It’s an album that takes a number of listens to fully ingest but taking the time and effort pays off in the end. Title track ‘Death Atlas’ perfectly rounds out what is up there for extreme album of the year.
For extreme metal fans the four year wait has been worth it. This is an album of brutal majesty.
Cattle Decapitation release 'Death Atlas' via Metal Blade Records on November 29th.
