Cattle Decapitation Paint A Grim View Of The World With 'The Anthropocene Extinction'

Deathgrind veterans Cattle Decapitation return with ‘The Anthropocene Extinction‘, painting a vivid picture of an ecological apocalypse with complex and brutal musical brushstrokes.

Environmentalism is ever-present in the work of Cattle Decapitation. For those of you who are wondering, the Anthropocene is the epoch which began when human activity started to impact the environment in which we live.  ‘The Anthropocene Extinction’ focuses on the Pacific Ocean and the damage done to the ecosystems within. Travis Ryan (vocalist and lyricist) says, "The Anthropocene Extinction is set in the world that we destroyed, and lyrically, it's certainly the most depressing record I've written."

Cattle Decapitation’s sound can be broadly described as deathgrind, a combination of the instrumental technicality of death metal and the ferocious intensity of grindcore. ‘The Anthropocene Extinction‘ is that and more; it is both savage extreme metal displaying musicians at the top of their game and a powerful musical polemic against the oblivious way humanity behaves with respect to the environment.

’The Anthropocene Extinction’ features many notable guests including the legendary Phil Anselmo. He lends his unique voice to the fantastic “The Prophets of Loss” which would not be out of place on a black metal record. "Pacific Grim", the album closer, features Bethlehem's Jürgen Bartsch providing a spoken word part in his native German tongue. It also has a brilliant chorus that oozes the melancholy and desperation that runs through the whole album.

The opener “Manufactured Extinct” is grim and doomy, setting the tone for the music to come. The two instrumental pieces “The Burden of Seven Billion” and “Ave Exitium” create a dark but relatively calm atmosphere preventing this all-out sonic attack becoming overwhelming or tiring.

My personal highlight is “Not Suitable For Life”, which sounds like Ryan is trading vocals with himself as he hops between death growls and his unique high pitched shriek (which is featured more heavily than past albums). Josh Elmore’s guitar solo is the icing on the cake of a song that you can practically smell the anger coming off of. There are some really catchy parts here, no mean feat for music as heavy as this.

If you care about extreme music at all you owe it to yourself to give this, and Cattle Decapitation in general, a listen. The bar was set high after ‘Monolith of Inhumanity‘ but Cattle Decapitation have surpassed themselves by making the most cohesive record of their career.

To find out more about Cattle Decapitation, click here.

Words by Adam Dernie.

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