Written: 10th March 2024
There is an excited chatter in the line that curls through the Islington shopping centre that leads to the 02 Academy. Cattle Decapitation are a few dates into their Terrasite Over Europe Tour and reports of typically rousing performances have already been filtering through various social media outlets. Three support bands are travelling across the continent with Cattle Decapitation: Signs of the Swarm, 200 Stab Wounds and Vomit Forth, each of which offer something slightly different to tonight’s entertainment.
New England’s Vomit Forth start proceedings with a brutal twenty-five-minute set. On stage, vocalist Kane Gelaznik proclaims the band are not always hardcore and not always (death) metal and their music does indeed take elements from both, sometimes more successfully than others. Taking to the stage a mere fifteen minutes after the doors had opened meant that the venue was far from at capacity but the band (and Gelaznik) in particular does everything they can to fully involve as many of those present as possible. With intense and brutal tracks such as Seething Malevolence, the quartet thunder through a set of short vicious songs and while, at times, the sound quality does not do them any favours, by the end of their performance, they receive some enthusiastic applause.
200 Stab Wounds are becoming an increasingly popular band and judging by the increase in numbers in the auditorium, a good percentage of the audience are here to see the Cleveland based quartet. Taking their inspiration from bands such as Cannibal Corpse and Dying Fetus, 200 Stab Wounds deliver pummelling death metal over the course of their set. Although doing nothing to reimagine the genre, they attack the songs with a vibrant freshness and are currently among the best newer bands exploring this territory. Frontman Steve Buhl is particularly convincing and leaves everything he has to offer on stage; Â there is a delightful malicious glee to his introduction to Itty Bitty Pieces. Having recently signed to Metal Blade Records, 200 Stab Wounds will no doubt continue on their upward trajectory with some rapidity.
By the time Signs of the Swarm take the stage, the Islington Academy is almost completely full and as the introduction to Pernicious begins, the venue is ready to receive the towering wall of deathcore that the band is about to construct. Initially, nothing much other than the bass is audible; however, this is soon rectified and the Pittsburgh quartet settle into their groove. Much of what is appealing about the band lies in their rhythmic complexity and syncopated oscillations, which the band display wonderfully during their set. With the majority of the songs culled from 2023’s Amongst The Low and Empty, Signs of the Swarm show a deep - and justified - confidence in their latest material and the audience respond with fiery fervour and passion. Lyrically, the band delve into themes of human emotions and the bleaker aspects of existence with tracks such as Amongst The Low and Empty, Totem and Borrowed Time. Vocalist David Simonich is a towering presence on stage, prowling like an apex predator as he delivers his guttural vocals with an intensity that does not wane for a moment. There can be no doubt that those experiencing Signs of the Swarm for the first time will leave keen to further investigate what the band has to offer.
Approaching their thirtieth anniversary, Cattle Decapitation need no introduction to fans of extreme metal having long since established their credentials as one of the best deathgrind / technical death metal bands in the business, producing album after album of insanely excellent material, particularly over the last fifteen years. After even more people cram into the tight venue and as roadies prepare the stage for the arrival of the headliners, each passing moment means an increase in palpable anticipation. Eventually, the house lights dim and the opening notes of Terrasitic Adaptation fill the air. As the brooding introduction builds and the band take their places, the crowd raise their hands and await the arrival of vocalist Travis Ryan.
Along with their music, Cattle Decapitation can also compete lyrically and conceptually with any band in metal and their latest album, Terrasite, picks up the story of humanity’s demise where Death Atlas concluded. With Terrasitic Adaptation heralding the birth of a new species, Ryan venomously spits out the first lyrics of the evening. Life finds a way / The fauna from the trauma / Culled from the pages of human drama / Our petrified tombs / Now crumbling oothecas / From which a new species of human arises. From the outset, the band are utterly captivating, awe-inspiring and unrelenting. Providing not only an incredible auditory experience, witnessing Cattle Decapitation live is also intensely visceral. The speed and precision with which they play is almost otherworldly, providing a relentless energy that permeates every inch of the venue. As the story of Terrasite continues with We Eat Our Young and Scourge of the Offspring, it is plainly obvious that the band’s latest material is phenomenally popular with those in attendance such is the fervour with which it is received.
As Travis Ryan introduces Dead Set On Suicide just four songs in, the crowd are already at fever pitch, and this dive into a well-loved track from 2012’s Monolith of Humanity sends them into a frenzied metallic ecstasy. Irrational, illogical and preposterously ludicrous / Denatured, deprogrammed to blindly / Go against what we are / Human ideas turned concrete, material / Our funeral drape now hewn from the fabrics of imagination. Ryan’s breathtakingly pinpoint control of his voice belies the difficulty of the vocals he performs, from guttural lows to shrieking highs. As tonight’s performance confirms, Cattle Decapitation are still setting new standards in extreme metal both live and in the studio. Each member plays with a level of intensity that matches the belligerent content of their material. There is an authenticity in their delivery that suggests it is not just a performance but a deeply felt expression of personal and collective conviction. The audience responds in kind and the engagement from them speaks to the band’s ability to use their intentionally provocative lyrics to connect with their fans on a profound level.
Returning to Terrasite for a blazing performance of The Storm Upstairs, the band display the increased variety in their sound they have precisely honed over recent albums. While incorporating slower, groove laden and even progressive sections, the band retain their heaviness throughout. If it were possible, the introduction of Bring Back The Plague during which Ryan comments on how much the band enjoy playing in London, threatens to send the audience into an even deeper fervour and raze the building to the ground; Ryan’s delivery of the cleaner section of the vocal during the track displays just what an expert he is within his chosen field.
Following another track from Death Atlas - Finish Them – the band rampage through one of the highlights of the evening, the sensational A Photic Doom, the interplay between guitarists Josh Elmore and Belisario Dimuzio a testament to their exemplary musicianship. The ominous The Burden of Seven Billion leads into a rapid-fire Mammals In Babylon, David McGraw and Olivier Pinard in deathly and dextrous union. Seven shows into the Terrasite Over Europe tour, the band are staggeringly tight, with a precision and purpose to every note played and ever beat struck. Cattle Decapitation are artists mindful of every detail, not merely content to give an exhibition of technical skill. Pacific Grim and Kingdom of Tyrants conclude an evening of dynamic passion, the almost symbiotic relationship between audience and band charging the air with electrical fury.
Each track played tonight is a chapter in a larger narrative that the band weave throughout their set. Impossible to ignore and still operating at the peak of their powers; each member of the audience leaves the venue safe in the knowledge that they have been watching one of the best and most consistent metal bands in the world. Long may they reign…
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Cattle Decapitation setlist
Terrasitic Adaptation
We Eat Our Young
Scourge of the Offspring
Dead Set on Suicide
The Storm Upstairs
Bring Back the Plague
The Great Dying, Pt. 2
Finish Them
A Photic Doom
The Burden of Seven Billion
Mammals in Babylon
Time's Cruel Curtain
Pacific Grim
Kingdom of Tyrants
