CD Reviews

Review: Cattle Decapitation's The Harvest Floor

Metal Blade (2009)

By DAVID BOFFA | January 27, 2009

3.0 Stars

The problem with most black- and death-metal bands is that they take themselves too seriously. (See: Emperor's alleged arson of Norwegian churches.) Cattle Decapitation, a San Diego deathgrind act, are an exception. There's plenty of thrash 'n' gloom on The Harvest Floor; "Gardener of Eden" avers that humans are the destructive juggernaut that will eventually kill the planet.

But the fake farts at the end of "Into the Public Bath" and vocalist Travis Ryan's inspiration for this song — he finds public pools "just fucking gross" — suggest it's all tongue-in-cheek pastiche. Just remember to keep your guard up.

Breakneck-tempo drum blasts and spastic pinch-note guitar grinds bring the doom on "The Ripe Beneath the Rind." And Ryan details in sewage-sucking growls his vegetarian distaste for dining on "nutrients of contents of mammal," excoriating those who do: "A corpse is still a corpse, of course we dine with no remorse." It's a lot to chew on, but the gallows humor on TheHarvest Floor is decadent.

| More

See more deals

view all

[ 05/29 ] PuppeTyranny present "Beans! Beans! Beans!" @ 95 Empire

[ 05/29 ] "2012 RISD Graduate Thesis Exhibition" @ Rhode Island Convention Center

[ 05/29 ] "TechnoCraft: Where High Tech Meets Handmade," @ Jamestown Arts Center

ARTICLES BY DAVID BOFFA

SOCIAL STUDIES | WIND UP WOODEN HEART | August 04, 2010
It appears that San Francisco indie-pop band Social Studies have a hit with Wind Up Wooden Heart .

THE TERROR PIGEON DANCE REVOLT! | I LOVE YOU! I LOVE YOU! | May 12, 2010
The Terror Pigeon Dance Revolt! are a dance/electronica collective known around the Manhattan/Brooklyn scene for their elaborate live performances, where members wear outrageous costumes made of stuffed animals and have on-stage pillow fights.

BEARSTRONAUT | BROKEN HANDCLAPS | January 13, 2010
There's a distinct absence of wildlife or astronauts on Lowell electronica quartet Bearstronaut's latest release.

REVIEW: FANFARLO AT T.T. THE BEAR'S | December 22, 2009
I wasn't expecting much from London indie-pop band Fanfarlo at T.T.the Bear's last Thursday evening. For the passed month, I had a live performance of theirs bouncing around my iPod, which I downloaded only because I thought their name was cool.

REVIEW: THE WALKMEN AT MIDDLE EAST | September 23, 2009
It was strange to see the sparse instrumentation from which NYC’s The Walkmen drew their atmospheric, honey-dipped sound last Friday at the Middle East.