Cattle Decapitation - Death Atlas

[eternalcrypt]

My first album review was quite a while ago...since then my taste in metal has become varied. i recently bought this album from HMV after listening to the first 3 tracks on youtube. I was blown away, and have recently started listening to the rest of their discography. I stopped myself from listening any further without buying the CD because there's something so great about CDs. it may sound like I'm romanticising inconvenience, but there's something SO GREAT about having them all on your shelf, flicking through your collection and opening up the incredible album art, putting the CD in the player and sometimes reading the little booklet. but were getting off topic here. from the top....

Death Atlas is, an amazing record. A review by RockHard states it is the "ultimate soundtrack to the downfall of mankind", and it really is; The first thing i noticed? "Anthropogenic: end transmission" gives the whole record this sort of cinematic feel. with a pair of decent headphones it sounds like you are inside the lyrics and it builds up the sense of depth and severity before "the geocide" is delivered. listening to radio transmissions of other countries state (in Travis Ryan's words) "our place in the universe" is harrowing and hits closer to home. according to Travis, 

“The intro music is a collaboration we did with Riccardo Conforti from a phenomenal band called Void Of Silence from Rome. The transmission is meant to symbolize humanity’s place in the universe. At the end, it cancels out—the End Transmission—because we’ve been destroyed. We had to get clearance from NASA to use the sample that’s in this. It’s the 55 languages of planet Earth, taken from the Golden Record that’s on the Voyager space probe that was sent out in the late ’70s. The lady at NASA was super cool and we got everything cleared. It’s by far the best intro we’ve ever had on an album.”

i just think its a really decent, on topic way to start an album. "the geocide", like the entire album, is a roaring, hurdling pile of death metal at full speed and it sounds amazing. the riffing is legendary and the drums are relentless. vocal transitions are smooth and demonic, with a slight echo, creating the sense there's multiple voices. the Van Halen solos are melodic and the peak of the song. the whole album in my opinion is very atmospheric in the non literal sense; it has a certain "end of everything" vibe around it. the lyrics "fuck the future" don't change my mind..."Be still our bleeding hearts" slow things down and create a thicker, dramatic atmosphere. the guitar sounds almost mournful and apocalyptic, the lyrics "death is part of life" are obviously philosophical. the next song, "Vulturous", slow things down a notch too, but only at times. drumming still relentless, the song picks you up and drops you. the vocals are on point and in tune, none of this random screaming shit, only decent on point growls. the song is sonically a blast and has a lot to offer. 

from here on out the album only gets better in my opinion. it slows down at times, thickening up before going quite fast or sometimes re-enforcing this feeling of two planets colliding. the guitar tones and effects placed on them in "times cruel curtain" compared to the drums make the song seem slow and fast at the same time. it carries on into the distance of your headphones, never to be seen again....overall the buildup of songs like "absolute destitute" followed by extreme vocals and those completely ripping guitars is just really effective. 

the instruments chime; "sonically" is the key word here. 

in conclusion? the last track, "death atlas" sums up the album and is heavy, brutal, and oppressive. its nice to see death metal bands exploring other, relevant topics instead of constantly going on about blood, guts, gore, horror, screaming, eternal damnation, satanism and skull thrones and stuff....since "humanure", Cattle Decapitation have refurbished what modern death metal has to offer and will forever be a gem in the community. the album art, displaying a skeleton with a scythe (grim reaper motif?) crippling under the weight of a destroyed world, whilst watching a sand timer, is symbolic: it shows humanity eventually having to deal with a scorched planet, ridden with climate change and war, they have to do something before time runs out. this is no fantasy themed death metal; its relevant, and a possibility in todays society. its a really great piece of art too, always a bonus as ive never been one for bland album covers in death metal. 

i hope this album review was funky enough for you guys, and as i said in my last highly cringy ("im, like, 10 and ive just found metal!") album review, stay brutal 🤘