Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle
Saturday February 17, 2018 :
I cut my gig going teeth on metal shows in Newcastle, the better parts of my late teens and early 20s was spent at the Hunter on Hunter, Marquis O’Lorne, Cambridge Hotel etc getting a mean case of metal neck, but it’s been a time since I hit up a death metal show. Every few years I’ll dip my toes into whatever they are calling death metal now, and Cattle Decapitation is one of the names I’ve been meaning to make time for, so tonight was a perfect chance.
Psycroptic are the first band I ca, caught and man they are waaaaay better than last time I saw them. Famously described by Bloodduster’s Jason P.C. as sounding like “a typewriter falling down the stairs”, their recorded output has only ever underwhelmed me, apart from the song ‘Sceptre of the Ancients’ from an early album. Tonight they surprise me by kicking arse. The drums are a bit insane at times but one of the things I love about that early 90s death metal was the double kick work, so I have a soft spot for that sound. They have a healthily balanced mix of insane grinding riffs and devastating groove riffs and the band are ridiculously tight. The pit is a churning mass, including a dude in a Hawaiian shirt defending his face with his forearms from the flying dreads of a fella in a shirt with Fuck Me Jesus on the back whirling past him at the edge of the mayhem. I couldn’t tell you a single song name, but they were all killer. I’m unlikely to buy an album any time soon, but I’d go see them again live for sure.
I’d heard of Cattle Decapitation for years, had seen the many interesting album covers (‘Humanure’ is still an eye catcher to this day) but never really checked them out. My ties to death metal are all based around the Floridian sound of the late 80’s and early 90’s, chock full of grooves (Cannibal Corpse, Obituary etc), and it turns out Cattle Decapitation’s super technical brand of death metal didn’t quit hit my death metal itch. They are super talented, and play like a power house to a roaring crowd who lap up everything thrown at them. There are some great grooves and riffs peppered throughout the set, the vocalist is booming and roaring and powerful and the drummer is a rhythmic freak. It all sounds as brutal as the band’s name implies, and the pit explodes for every song, but from half way back in the room as a slightly jaded 35 year old, early Cannibal Corpse fan, it just melds into a furious sound without the room to breathe of the more groove-based-merchants of the genre I worshipped.
A good time is definitely had by all in the room, myself included, but compositionally nothing stands out from the maelstrom in the live setting. Without knowing the songs beforehand to be able to pick up the subtleties of the playing, everything bleeds into everything else. I wish I’d made the time to see The Seer earlier in the night, because I’ve heard nothing but praise for them, but all in, it’s a good night of heavy riffs, and a metal neck free morning.
Reviewer : Roger Killjoy