Cattle Decapitation’s most recent full-length Death Atlas is best described in the following three words: consistent, heavy and technical. The album begins with the introductory track Anthropogenic: End Transmission. The opening track sets the scene. In a world ravaged by natural disasters and events foreshadowing extinction the listener is drawn into a radio transmission that speaks messages in many languages, eerily finishing with the only words spoken in English.
Carnage rapidly ensues with The Genocide. In classic Cattle Decapitation fashion, this second track sets the speed and tone for the remainder of the album. The following three tracks Be Still Our Bleeding Hearts, Vulturous and The Great Dying maintain the pace of the album and showcase the ever-impressive vocal range of Travis Ryan. More than ever before, Ryan melodically and somewhat gloomily uses his singing voice in such a way as to ensure the grinding death metal of this album is uncannily catchy. It is also worth noting the distinctly political undertone of Ryan’s lyrics is relevant today more than ever. This is particularly noticeable in Vulturous.
The following five tracks One Day Closer To The End Of The World (released as a single in September), Bring Back The Plague (released as a single in October), Absolute Destitute, The Great Dying II and Finish Them bring the Cattle Decapitation fan back to the bands fourth and fifth albums The Harvest Floor and Monolith of Inhumanity. This may well be due to the recognisable and powerful guitar work of Josh Elmore.
The album concludes by highlighting the distinctly technical drum work of Dave McGaw. The final four tracks are With All Disrespect, Time’s Cruel Curtain, The Unerasable Past and Death Atlas. These tracks cap a well solid death metal album.
The title track of the album Death Atlas is in my view the strongest track of this album. This song, as any good title track, should, bottles the entire album into a single digestible track. Cattle Decapitation’s Death Atlas is the band’s seventh album. The band continues to grow and make good solid death metal.
Yet, there is still something missing from the album.
The lyrical theme, the vocal range, the guitar work and technical drumming have been trademarks of this great band for some time. Cattle Decapitation will continue selling a lot of albums, touring the world and selling out shows while they make albums like Death Atlas. However, this band is capable (even if still unrealised) of creating an album that reshapes contemporary death metal. The band’s previous album The Anthropocene Extinction was a step down this path; Death Atlas is by no means a regress, rather, this album is a stepping stone for this great band.
Release Year: 2019
Label: Metal Blade
Category: Album
Country: USA
Reviewed by Sam Lehmann
