Cattle Decapitation has always been a strange band to me, and as a result I have taken breaks from listening to them because frankly I wasn’t too happy with the end result. As a big Locust fan I have often said the best days of Cattle Decapitation where when they were called The Locust, but with this new release of the band I must say I no longer feel that way. Now I liked To Serve Man and Humanure, but when Karma.Bloody.Karma came out I was just was bored with the band and pretty much stopped listening to them alltogether, that is until I saw the press video for ‘The Monolith / Kingdom Of Tyrants’ and saw what a vast improvement they have since made. So there’s my background to the band, and here’s my review, keep in mind that due to my break from the band I am oblivious to anything that happened from 2006-now.
Some of the many gripes I had against Cattle Decapitation’s post-Locust sound was that while it packed a punch and had potential, the end result was typically sloppy and muddy, leaving a bitter taste in my mouth after every listen. With Monolith of Inhumanity the change is like night and day: the vocals are oozingly crisp, the drums are FINALLY the perfect tuning and level and the guitars are versatile enough now to create a bulldozer death metal environment with a hypnotically eerie ballad soundscape backing the entire concoction. Overall every aspect of the band is tight, ripped and exactly in the right place.
Another thing I always frowned upon with Cattle Decapitation was how much experimental potential the band members seemed to have but never actually used. I mean you have Travis Ryan’s industrial background, Gabe Serbian’s all over the place madness, and Josh Elmore’s involvement with 7000 Dying Rats, so I would always ask myself why am I not being blown away but Cattle material, well that too has since changed. Leaving behind their cookie cutter song maker, each track on Monolith of Inhumanity stands on its own and provides the listener with a nonstop joyride from start to finish, leaving no bored downtime or filler tracks. Take ‘A Living, Breathing Piece of Defecating Meat’ for example, you get Anaal Nathrakh style bombardment, Cephalic Carnage style intricate grindage, and a colorful array of progressively shifting bodies of death metal all wrapped up with the flare and sound that the band created on the earlier albums, it’s just a fun as hell track. Seconds later comes ‘Forced Gender Reassignment’ and you’re smashed right in the face with some slow paced Defeated Sanity style death metal and the roller coaster ride begins all over again.
I must say though that my favorite part of the entire album is Travis Ryan’s new vocal styles. Already known as a man of a million vocals, I never imagined I would hear “soft” style vocals in Cattle Decapitation’s tool chest but they just make the tracks feel absolutely eerie and disturbing to listen to, I love it. On earlier tracks Travis seemed to stick to a formula that really worked, and while that was fun for awhile you began to expect what was coming, and with Monolith of Inhumanity it is utterly impossible to count the many vocal variations that Ryan showcases across the 10 tracks, it’s just a super fun combination of sheer brutality and strangely bizarre.
Musically speaking I am happy with nearly everyone involved. Josh’s guitar work has tightened up so much that it almost feels like there are backing synths or something filling the music, it’s pretty fucking neat. I like the new tuning and effects he has adopted, it’s a great combination that gives a uncomfortably unsettling feeling and gives the feeling of a deep cavernous void in space, I love it. The drums are so god damn brutal and on key this go around that it almost makes me want to never listen to the earlier material,David McGraw was absolutely the right guy for the job and it’s awesome that he is in the band now. And finally comes the bass, which I am torn on because I loved Tony so much, but I don’t know how the earlier fuzzy bass would work in this new tighter sound, so maybe it’s for the best a new bassist has come in, but it breaks my heart knowing my big bearded bear is gone. But Derek Engemann manages to still keep the noisy fuzzy bass sound intact but somehow he places it in the mix just right to where it sounds pristine and sharp, so no hate from me Derek.
Finally there’s the electronics strategically speckled across this release. Mostly heard in the track ‘The Monolith’ Cattle reach into their bag of tricks and deliver an eerily delightful dark ambient feeling post-rock song that would make John Murphy cream his pants. It acts as the perfect buildup for the final track ‘Kingdom of Tyrants’ and also as a breather from the onslaught of delicious chaos. The other moments come in the form of samples and instrumental effects that give the experimental listener a faint, but lovely reach-around while being willingly penetrated by this beast of a release.
Overall it is really awesome that a band that I listened to nearly a decade ago has recaptured my attention and grown into a much tighter and efficient band, and it’s fun to see that the guys are still at it and having a fun time. Odds are almost every death metal fan has heard of these guys, but if you haven’t, check this release out, you’ll love it.
SHIT RATING: GOOD
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