Cattle Decapitation / Party Cannon – Ivory Blacks, Glasgow (22nd June 2016)

[avatar =”James” size=”50″ align=”left” /]

Now you may be forgiven for thinking, “what the f***!” when you see a name like Cattle Decapitation. ittedly, I thought that first when I heard about the band all those years ago. After one listen however, I was immediately sold on their unique brand of metal. Since then, they’ve gone on to release two critically acclaimed albums and toured across the world but never made it up to Glasgow in that time frame [They, in fact, played Glasgow in 2013 which we interviewed them shortly afterwards. Correction courtesy of Chris Ryan – Thanks!]. So when I heard that they would be playing a couple of dates in the UK around their European festival dates, I was naturally quite excited.

Unfortunately, due to the late running of my interview and the fact that the guys in Cattle Decap are lovely, I missed the majority of the first two bands that were on the bill. For impartialities sake, I won’t be including them in this review. However, what I did hear of Blood Thread I really enjoyed. I hope to catch them again at some point in the future.

The first band which I got to see in full on the stage was Party Cannon. I can only really describe them as “death metal mixed with slam and bit of confetti and balloons”. Having a heavy as balls sound added to feel of the music and as a result, there were quite a few stage-divers and crowd-surfers. This only resulted in the band giving even more energy in their performance which was exemplary. They even played a Dying Fetus cover which I couldn’t find a single flaw with. Top marks for that cover boys.

I have to say though, they weren’t really for me. I can appreciate them in a live situation, but I personally wouldn’t listen to them. There’s a few too many ‘slam-moments’ and not enough real melody/hooks to make it something memorable. That’s not to discredit them at all. They are a good band and can get a crowd going, but they’re not really for me. (8.5/10)

It was then time for the main act of the night. The venue was almost bursting at the seams with the amount of people that had gathered, a stark contrast from some other gigs I’ve been to on Wednesday nights. After a rather speedy changeover, the band were ready to kick off and deliver their unique brand of metal. Opening with ‘Manufactured Extinct’ from the newest album, The Anthropecene Extinction, the crowd erupted with a thunderous cheer and proceeded to aptly ‘destroy’ each other.

The band simply did not relent with their music, taking at most 30 second breaks between songs to either towel off or in Travis’ case, throw water over himself. I can’t blame him to be honest, that venue was so hot that I could see sweat dripping from the walls. This didn’t deter the crowd however who started a human pyramid at one point…

One thing that must be stated is that the band is awe-inspiring to watch. The technical proficiency of every member of the band, Travis (Vocals) included, is simply out of this world. At multiple points, I was thinking “How the hell did they even think of that, let along play it…”.  The crowd that had assembled felt the same at points with multiple cheers when suitably amazing parts reared their head from among the brutal assault.

The only real complaint I have about their set was that it was simply not long enough. Sure, I get that given it was a 16+ there had to be a 10pm curfew. But still, if the doors time had been moved forward then the band could have had more time to play. However, what the band did play was simply outstanding and I can honestly state that they are one of, if not, the most technically proficient and exciting bands to watch. They might not have a massive tank on stage like Sabaton, but they more than make up for it by having music that makes several more experienced bands pale in comparison… (10/10)

Setlist:

• Manufactured Extinct
• The Prophets of Loss
• Your Disposal
• Clandestine Ways (Krokodil Rot)
• Circo Inhumanitas
• The Burden of Seven Billion
• Not Suitable for Life
• Forced Gender Reassignment
• Pacific Grim
• Kingdom Of Tyrants
• Plaugueborne *Encore*

Cattle Decapitation: official | facebook | twitter | metal blade

Party Cannon: facebook | bigcartel