Cattle Decapitation
Two days before many of us are due to hit the Elysium fields of Bloodstock, San Diego’s Deathgrind veggie warriors, CATTLE DECAPITATION have come to Birmingham to get us in the mood for metal mayhem. This may very well be their first Birmingham show; but as vocalist, Travis Ryan, admits he “can’t remember”.
Dead Hands
DEAD HANDS are first to hit the stage… well, the floor. The mathcore Brummies have planted themselves in the middle of the room; their performance is far too anarchic to be contained on the stage. Their wild gyrating, wacky time signatures and screams into audience members faces are all hard to ignore. It’s a Tuesday night and I’m fresh out of the office; my immediate reaction to this chaotic scene is “WTF is this?” However, their energy and passion make DEAD HANDS hard to dislike. A great warm up, getting me out of my corporate mind-set and prepared for the night ahead.
Coventry’s five-piece deathcore outfit DJINOVA provide pulverising blast beats and some tasty breakdowns. Vocalist Tony Overton barks and squeals his way through some great tracks; including “Mirage” and “Scapegoat”. In a stroke of marketing genius, the group hold a mosh competition, with the most fierce mosher getting a branded t-shirt. This successfully gets the crowd moving and gained them at least one more supporter.
Djinova
So on to our final local support of the evening, SENTENCED. The Black Country’s hardcore/slam troupe has brought in a decent crowd of fans who add their own distinct flavour to the proceedings. The hardcore guys stick out with their posturing and distinctive style of moshing. They flail their arms around wildly like ninjas on ecstasy much to the bemusement of the metalheads in the room. Despite these distractions, SENTENCED hold their own with a decent set which included; the awesome “Led To Sin” which they dedicate to gaming craze Pokemon Go and “Bloodstained Butchery” from their 2015 album “Drowned By Blood”.
Sentenced
Cattle Decapitation
The room is packed tight for CATTLE DECAPITATION. Even a casual glance at their track titles clearly displays the band’s misanthropic sentiment. With two members being militant vegans; they have a lot to say about the state of the world, the negative impact human beings have and our inevitable well-deserved extinction. Even the Starbucks-swilling steak lovers in the crowd can’t help but be converted to the cause (at least for the night) by their heartfelt reality-check.
Heads bang in synchronicity during the immense breakdowns. Unrelenting blast beats combine beautifully with Travis’ enviable vocal range. He grunts, shrieks and snarls his way through a pretty epic set. Showcasing tracks from their latest album “The Anthropocene Extinction” including; “Circo Inhumanitas” and “Not Suitable For Life”. The crowd are also treated to the 2012 “Monolith of Inhumanity” track described by Travis as “gross and not very PC”; “Forced Gender Reassignment”. Closing the set with “Kingdom of Tyrants”; Cattle Decap leaves us high, dry and wanting more. Time certainly flies when you’re having fun.
