Band: Cattle Decapitation
Album: Monolith of Inhumanity (2012)
Genre: Progressive Death Metal/Grindcore
So, if you haven't noticed, it's been a pretty fucking good year for metal, thus far. It seems like pretty much every band is finding a way to completely transcend their previews works (Meshuggah, High on Fire, Spawn of Possession, etc.). Cattle Decapitation is in the same boat. Monolith of Inhumanity, being their fifth effort to date, is a full display of what this band is really made of.
Cattle Decap. seems like one of those bands that you either love or hate. With their anti-meat "agenda," (f you will) some people shy away from the band. Regardless of what the band preaches, the number one thing I've heard people bitch about is the song writing. I'd agree with these people if we were still talking about To Serve Man, the bands first full-length release. The fact of the matter is, Cattle Decap. has come a long way since then, and their musical structure is impeccable on this album. The album has it's own solid, slamming pace, while still allowing every song to have it's own particular sound and pace of its own.
As far as the music itself is concerned, it sounds fucking brutal. The band takes a more solid death metal sound, leaving a lot of their previous grind elements behind. That's not to say the album doesn't grind as well as slam (that's right, there are actual slams). It's just that as a whole, the album sounds far more death metal then grindcore. Returning to the slams, I was rather impressed. Not being a huge Cattle Decap. fan, I'm not sure that slamming has always been their thing, but the slams on this album add a heightened sense of brutality to the album. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the technicality displayed on this album is the most extreme I've ever heard the band get. The songs "A Living Breathing Piece of Defecating Meat," and "Gristle Licker" come to mind.
The sound of the album is crystal-clear. The production makes the technicality of the album shine through perfectly, and it adds a new sense of brutality to it's slamming slower tempos. The guttural vocals sound even deeper and more evil, yet, I had a somewhat hard time hearing the bass at times. It's definitely audible throughout the album, just not as much as I would have hoped for.
True fans of Cattle Decapitation need to get their hands on this album. And, to all of the nay-sayers of the band, I'd recommend you give this album a listen. The band is not what they once were, and they have built themselves into titans of the genre with this release. Get off the internet and go get your hands on this album, you damned dirty apes!
Score: 8.5/10
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