• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5

I wouldn't had bothered checking this one out if I hadn't read that Cattle Decapitation had been making a move toward Death Metal, steering away from Grindcore - in other words, they've started playing music. Unsurprisingly, there is still a good dose grind elements, enough to somewhat ruin the enjoyment of the actual Death Metal parts - and let's just discuss these. Rather fast-paced stuff (sometimes on steroids), with some guitar work that has some tones that occasionally remind me of a 70s sound, which incidentally makes this sound a little weird, but not bad. The vocals are mostly a harsh growl, Death Metal style, sometimes getting more guttural even - overall very well done (if you forget the squealy vocals in the grind parts, that is.) There are a few passages where the mood (can't really use "atmosphere" here) feels a bit horror/evil-like, the kind of stuff you usually expect to find on a Black Metal album - surprising, but not out of place and very effective.

While their Death Metal is nothing out of the ordinary, it's overall well executed, when it doesn't degenerate into grind or isn't twisted through some crappy sound effects (not too much of that, but enough to annoy.) Cattle Decapitation may want to continue to evolve toward Death Metal on their next album and leave out the grind crap - they'd have a winner right there if they can keep going in that direction. In the meantime, this one here is worth checking out - varied, with a number of surprises, and even a few mellow passages, especially on the last two tracks.