Live Review: Cattle Decapitation - New Century Hall, Manchester
Support: Shadow of Intent, Revocation, Vulvodynia
1st February 2024
Words & Photos: Nic Howells
Apparently Cattle Decapitation’s thing now is that they just pop up once a year in the UK with crazy heavy bills and play a blinder? They did this to us a year ago flanked by Signs of The Swarm, 200 Stab Wounds & Vomit Forth, and they’ve only gone and done the double. This stacked and masochistic bill consisted of the filthy sound of Vulvodynia, as well as the musical excellence of Revocation. Some fans did this tour a bit of a disservice in forgetting that Cattle and Shadow of Intent are the co-headliners of this run. Shadow have been blazing a trail through the deathcore world, and then making songs from whatever sounds come out of the hole. Cattle & Co. sought to shake Manchester City centre to its core when this tour rolled through New Century Hall, here’s how they got on:
South Africa’s Vulvodynia kicked things off with The Lion King soundtrack to announce their entrance. Yes, really. This is a bit of a master stroke given that extreme genres are at their best when it’s inherently ridiculous, (see for example Thy Art is Murder walking on stage to Vengaboys for literal years). The Circle of Life was quickly downgraded to a semi circle as the band sliced through the Disney track with opening number, ‘Psychosadistic Design’. The Pig Squeal vocal style of Lwandile Prusent may be so on the fringes of taste that it puts some people off, but beneath it the musical talent on show is exceptional.
This band was like a walking endorsement for Loop ear plugs as they were loud as hell. With both Luke Haarloff and Kris Xenopoulos wielding headless guitars whilst dancing the cancan in watermelon print shirts, it seems anything can happen with this band. The band are especially thankful to the crowd for showing out in light of the monumental travel they had getting here. They finish things off demanding ‘the biggest and fastest circle pit Manchester has ever seen’ as they play through ‘Unparalleled Insubordination’. Not sure if you’ve ever seen someone trying to pit whilst running at x2 speed. But it’s hilarious. Vulvodynia may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but on a Saturday night a shot of whisky hits substantially better.
Revocation followed, who definitely skewed the evening in a more technical direction. Now, four piece death metal when everyone is on instruments may not always be the most visually stimulating, but these guys carried a lot of energy from behind the mic stands. Some bombastic riff work from David Davidson and Harry Lannon takes the place of the dancing and patrolling nature of Vulvodynia, as well as some fantastic facial expressions from the whole pack on stage. Revocation were also probably the chattiest band that doesn't have Travis Ryan in it (He’s such a character). Davidson apes the Cattle Decap vocalist when shouting the headliners out for taking them on tour, and then hypes the crowd up for not just some new shit, but “some new fuckin’ shit”, before playing ‘Confines of Infinity’ which they have debuted on this tour. Revocation also have the crowd absolutely hooked on Ash Pearson throughout as he blast-beats them through the set. The remainder of the set is a furious romp through riffs of ‘That Which Consumes All Things’ and ‘The Outer Ones’ to finish.
From the second Shadow of Intent played a note of opening track We Descend…, there was a substantial uptick in production value. That said, anyone with fears of an epilepsy diagnosis need not attend this show. The lighting was as frenetic as the music when it was on SOI’s set—pure chaos. This had some appeal and pageantry to start with, but as the set continued it did distract from the deathcore masterclass, especially when your vocalist is as intense as Ben Duerr.
One of the small detractors for a band of their station on the bill, and clearly a band on the rise, they rarely speak to the crowd between songs, and though it adds some mystique, it also makes the set seem a bit hurried. One of the rare occurrences though is an impactful “Are you ready for Cattle Decapitation? No you fucking aren’t” just before ‘Melancholy’. Shadow of Intent straddle the line between that band that when you see them supporting a tour, it's the galvaniser to go, and now being the one that can close the night out. Evidence to the the fact is the inclusion of a Bryce Butler drum solo and a Chris Wiseman guitar solo either side of the song ‘The Battle of the Maginot Sphere’. As well as having the balls to summon the ever-taboo Wall of Death as they begin ‘Malediction’. They throw out the idea of walking off stage for it, but their encore song goes to ‘The Tartarus Impalement’ which is a final battering for the crowd.
Honestly, this set was very very good. That said, it felt a bit long for where on the bill they were. Cattle are certainly the star power that took this tour to New Century, but for what Shadow of Intent are putting on, they need their next tour to be one where they play last. People were rabid for them.
Then, the main event. Cattle Decapitation drop right into ‘The Carbon Stampede, with Travis Ryan initially off stage for maximum dramatic effect. Similar to Shadow of Intent, the production crew worked their backsides off for this set. The sound is extra crisp for everyone but the lads on stage as they initially have a problem with their in-ears, which is addressed by the end of ‘The Prophets of Loss’. For everyone else within a 400 metre radius of the venue, it was extra loud, as in Dave McGraw’s drumming shakes the floor loud. They bring out the newer material for ‘We Eat Our Young’ and ‘Scourge of The Offspring’ off of 2023’s Terrasite. This is one of only two times they play songs from the same album back to back, and with all their setlist being based this side of 2010 it makes a very consistent setlist in terms of flow.
Personal favourite album Death Atlas gets a good spotlight in the middle with ‘Bring Back the Plague’ and ‘One Day Closer to The End of The World’ with Shadows Ben Duerr on guest vocals to blistering effect. The main part that sets Cattle apart in terms of their right to this slot on the bill is the little things, their character most of all. Travis drops a cheeky “Ow ya doin Manchesta” before ‘Solastalgia’ that makes it that tiny bit more interactive, amongst other pieces like a David Attenborough sample after ‘Forced Gender Reassignment’ and the many, many wads of phlegm that get shot into the air amidst breakdowns.
The troupe batter Manchester between their key four albums they’ve based the last two tours on. What's astounding about that is that they have almost an entirely different setlist, and is arguably better than their one from March of last year. ‘Dead End Residents’ is their last offering from their most recent album, and they have dusted off 2012’s ‘A Living, Breathing Piece of Defecating Meat’ for this tour, for the first time in half a decade. But the final two tracks, what a final two they are. It feels like Cattle saw the venues for this run of shows and thought “Lets test the foundations”. From 2015, they begin rounding the night of with ‘Plagueborn’, and the crowd surfers start flying. But finally, just as it seems people might have that extra 5 minutes to beat the traffic from the arena over the road, we have the title track, ‘Death Atlas’, for the first time since 2012. This 9 minute scorcher is a hell of an undertaking on record, let alone live. Ending shows like this is exactly how a band gets to a venue almost triple the size of what they played last year.
Cattle Decapitation are by far one of the best extreme bands you can find regularly touring. This has been a slow burn of a rise since they played a blinder at Bloodstock 2022, after two entries at Rebellion, they have leapfrogged expectations by shifting a lot of tickets for this tour. If we aren’t seeing these guys in the Academy next time they’re in the UK. It’ll be a damn shame.
Photo Credits: Nic Howells
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