ABORT Magazine™

Album Review: Cattle Decapitation- Monolith of Inhumanity

Album Review: Cattle Decapitation
Monolith of Inhumanity
Metal Blade Records

The upside of the minimal commercialization of extreme metal is that it allows bands to focus on the music above all else. Cattle Decapitation is a band that takes advantage of this situation and wears its heart on its sleeve with every album. From cleverly constructed lyrical content that condemns humanity for our misdeeds, to brilliantly composed songs interlaced with grindcore, death, melodic death, technical and progressive elements, the San Diego-based quartet never holds back.

C.D’s latest album, Monolith of Inhumanity, well represents its name. With the ruthless starter “The Carbon Stampede” the bar is immediately set high: lucky for us it’s only the beginning. “Dead Set on Living” kicks in next. Like many of the songs on Monolith of Inhumanity, this one features the entire gamut of vocal sounds achievable by a human being. What’s more, in true Cattle Decapitation fashion the layering makes every vocal sound gargantuan. “Forced Gender Reassignment” epitomizes this technique, juxtaposing Travis Ryan’s soaring melodic-saturated-in-evil vocals with his gurgling gutturals.

The beauty of Monolith of Inhumanity is how through all the density and emphasis on an extremely huge vocal sound, each member’s contributions shine through at all times. This is quite the feat and can be attributed to the wide array of styles included. If the band stuck to one particular formula, there wouldn’t be as much room for each instrument to be the main focus at any given time.

What sets Cattle Decapitation’s latest offering apart from other hybrid grindcore bands is the seamless binding together of such different musical inspirations. There isn’t any cutting and pasting here. The combination of influences each member brings to the table acts as a catalyst for something truly unique and arguably irreproducible by any other band.

CattleDecapitation.com

By: Alxs Ness

WANT MORE ALBUM REVIEWS? CLICK HERE

Copyright © 2004-2012 ABORT Magazine. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction of this publication, in whole or in part, in any form or medium without express written permission from Abort Media Publishing Corporation (AMP Corp.) is prohibited. All use is subject to our Terms of Use.

Comments are closed.