CATTLE DECAPITATION’S THE HARVEST FLOOR: A BEEFY NEW OFFERING FROM DUDES THAT DON’T EAT BEEF
Tuesday, January 20th, 2009 at 1:00pm by Sammy O'Hagar
Grind’s impenetrable wall of noise – even that of its death-infused factions – is difficult by design, most likely to keep the uninitiated away. The issue, though, is that a wall of noise is fairly easy to create: drummer that can play fast blastbeats, guitarists of varying degrees of skill playing in the upper registers, screaming or growling or gurgling singer, bass player optional. Though it’s true for any metal genre, it seems twice as true for grind: the best grind makes sense of the chaos, eschewing the paint-by-numbers quality of the (tens of?) thousands of unsuccessful blastmeisters. Though Cattle Decapitation may seem like another grindy death metal band riding a gimmick, The Harvest Floor, their latest, is a legitimate achievement, skillfully walking the razor-thin line between chaos and precision. Through 37 minutes of jumping between grind, death metal, and brief forays into black metal, the band never seem to sweat. Making sense of the ridiculous speed grind requires a level of admirable expertise; Cattle Decapitation have the sort of skills that put them squarely at the head of grind’s noisy pack.
Though the band push The Harvest Floor to the level of great metal record by the same means most great metal records do – diversifying their approach – there’s still a lot of vicious, borderline-unlistenable (in a good way) material to savor. The guitars play some substantial riffs, but alternate them with atonal squealing and screeching. The drums propel everything forward, predictably at a pace that usually runs the gamut from fast to blistering. And vocalist Travis Ryan’s only moment of clean vocals come at the end of the CD, by way of a raspy, ragged croon mixed back behind the rest of the band’s ominous eye-of-the-storm calm on “Regret and the Grave.”In fact, the diverse portions of The Harvest Floor – the melancholy arpeggios interspersed throughout “The Gardeners of Eden,” the melodic trudging in the middle of “The Ripe Beneath the Rind,” the female cooing on the down-tempo title track – all feel like preparations for the album’s most brutal portions. And those portions, even without the buildups, are deeply satisfying in their own right. Despite the band’s usual velocity – which, despite grind’s decades-long existence, is still impressive – the music beneath it is worth making out, and definitely worthy of at least a sneer and a nod, if not full on worship.
The band’s unique take on death metal’s gore theme (they’re ardent vegetarians with a violently misanthropic world view, singing more about animal rights than serial rapists or Satanic rituals) is still present throughout the record, both lyrically (which, like most death metal and grind, is obscured by growling) and via samples of what seem to be slaughterhouse noises with people being the object of said slaughter. Though a diet of roots and berries aren’t necessary to enjoy the band’s message (just because one enjoys a plate of bacon doesn’t mean they can’t at least give props to the band’s different perspective on gore), the music also isn’t overwhelmed by it, making their well-crafted, well-executed brand of death grind enjoyable by both the PETA and People Eating Tasty Animals crowds. Though fleshing out a chaotic sound ruined Cryptopsy, it’s only made Cattle Decapitation stronger and more enjoyable, rewarding those willing to wait around until the band drop back in at full force with the intensity of a buzz saw after a well plotted trip to the outer reaches. It’s one thing to play fast; it’s another to control yourself amidst the speed. The Harvest Floor’s well-thought-out approach produces results both challenging and gratifying.
(4 out of 5 horns)
-SO
Yeah this album is fucking awsome, I can already tell its going to be one of the best metal releses of the year. These guys just keep progressing with each thing they relese.
They’re great live, but they’re still gimmicky subpar Cannibal Corpse-influenced (i.e. shitty) death metal for scene kids. Actual death metal fans don’t give a shit about this band.
Travis is amazing, but the closest this band ever came to a half-decent album was “Humanure”
“but they’re still gimmicky subpar Cannibal Corpse-influenced (i.e. shitty) death metal for scene kids.”
Are you kidding me? That was probably the dumbest sentence I’ve read this year, by far.
someone is drinking their hater-ade.
“Actual death metal fans don’t give a shit about this band”
If you meant people who only listen to death metal, nobody gives a shit about them either.
I never liked this this band, but the little bit I heard on the stream sounded pretty great.
“Actual death metal fans don’t give a shit about this band.”
A very exaggeratedly untrue statement. Maybe in your neighborhood, but there’s more out there than who YOU know. This is probably the ONLY “death metal/grindcore” act that thinks outside either of those boxes and prove it more and more with each release. This new album magnifies that ideal about 1000x proving for a very diverse, interesting and attention-keeping listen which is aeons more than one can say for the majority of stuff out there.
Let’s hear it from bands that actually PROGRESS like Cattle Decapitation! Leave the death metal purists at home with their slowly decaying sodom records. Some of us would rather move on, thank you very much!
pretty brutal stuff from what i’ve heard
i never could get into them but this new shit is brutal
fucking love this band
I was never really into them whenever I heard their stuff before. Having said that I’m really enjoying their stuff right now…it almost reminds me of The Red Chord; but with their own kind of flavour.
Wow @ “4000 Niggers on a Spaceship”. This is why internet humor fails.
So, one by one:
Clotgargler- Thanks from sparing me the trouble of reading the Cattle Decapitation press release myself. LOL @ pretentious fanboys. (And Sodom are thrash.)
Dudefest- You’re handle is dudefest. Maybe it seems dumb because you are.
Axlotl- K.
great album.
Awesome CD, Into the public bath is the best track imo.
Well… I actually know these guys, and if there is anything they are NOT, it’s scenesters. They’re laid back, they mean business, and their musicianship is unfuckwithable. It’s not really even my style of metal at all, but as a musician, there’s no way I can’t respect what they’ve accomplished with this album.
Well… I actually know these guys, and if there is anything they are NOT, it’s scenesters. I’m really not sure why niggaplease is talking shit. They’re laid back, but at the same time they mean business, which is a good way to do things.
Besides, their musicianship is unfuckwithable. It’s not really even my style at all, but as a musician, there’s just no way not to respect what they’ve accomplished with this album.
2 points for the double post
Thanks, it’s only because I clicked “Submit” THAT HARD.
“They’re great live, but they’re still gimmicky subpar Cannibal Corpse-influenced (i.e. shitty) death metal for scene kids. Actual death metal fans don’t give a shit about this band.”
Wow. Scenes listen to Cattle Decapitation now? It’s about time for those kids to develop a taste for music.
lol.