Be Still Our Metal Hearts:  Cattle Decapitation, Atheist and Company Ignite and Captivate The Glasshouse

  For all the accolades, praise, and bright compliments and truths we say about the Metal bands that we love and cherish, I would humbly say, “being proud”, is an expression I feel we don’t often say enough.  Admittingly on my part as well, but most recently, less than a month or so actually, I said that out loud after listening to Cattle Decapitation’s newest release, Death Atlas.  I’ve listened to the band about a year after To Serve Man was released, 2003 to be exact.  From that record, to one of my favorites in Humanure, the unbelievable leap in musicianship and songwriting with the band’s previous two records, Death Atlas is the band’s most mature, embracing, haunting, and most quality music, they’ve ever done.  As talented, in tune to their surroundings musically and life wise, as the band has always been, I just didn’t know they could release such a bombastically profound record, in which they’ve changed most of their songwriting methods, to recognize their own individual and collective strengths, I’m immensely proud of Cattle Decapitation.  The album also reached #16 on the Top 200 Billboard Albums, so it’s catching on, to say the very least.  Promoting the record on tour, nothing short of an eclectic, quality tour package:  Atheist, Primitive Man, Author and Punisher, and Vitriol.  Five uniquely different bands from one another, and five bands that present something mesmerizing individually, as well as playing after one another, providing a stellar level of storytelling within extreme music.  The Glasshouse in Pomona, California, would certainly be in for a delectable treat, on this Friday evening.

Despite this being the 2nd to last day of this tour, and hitting Los Angeles a week previous, I knew fans would show up tonight, and even with doors opening at 5:30 PM, a decent sizeable crowd got their spot upon the front rail, checking out merchandise from all of the bands, this was the place to be tonight.

On the dot at 6:30 PM, Portland, Oregon’s Vitriol hit the stage, and not hearing them previously, I was quite blown away from the dissonant, sinister sounding Death Metal the band wore on their sleeves.  The musicianship was eye-popping immediately, with the band in sync effortlessly.  From loopy dissonant bending octave chords, to blistering riff structures sprinkled throughout the songs and emotions, Vitriol caught a lot of the attention of the audience tonight.  Lead guitarist and vocalist Kyle Rasmussen was the highlight of their entire set, a vocal attack along with the immense guitar playing displayed, I was floored by the technical brilliance and chaotic deviance he displayed, musically and vocally.  Bassist and vocalist Adam Roethlisberger, in conjunction with the visual and glistening sounds of Vitriol, performed greatly alongside the band, headbanging furiously and as technical, too.  There was a recipe of chaos, ability, memorable songwriting, all wrapped in a Death Metal bow.  Kyle’s crowd banter in between songs was hilarious and humble, you were able to witness Vitriol’s joyful activity on stage on this glorious tour, and it was happily contagious that spread to everyone on the floor.  Their 25-minute set flew by and were the surprise of the night.  Fans of Ulcerate, Gorguts, and Dying Fetus, will enjoy Vitriol greatly, as I surely did.

Vitriol setlist

1.      Pain Will Define Their Death

2.      Legacy of Contempt

3.      Crowded in Retaliation

4.      Hive Lungs

5.      The Parting of a Neck

              The Glasshouse continued to fill with eager Metalheads picking their favorite spot in the venue, and with a rather unusual but visually astonishing setup, Author & Punisher was next.  Industrial Doom/Drone, Tristan Shone is the sole band member, providing all the sounds, machine playing and vocals.  I’ve never seen an Industrial act of any kind, and yes, my experiences with Industrial shows are quite limited, have a full setup with these machine parts that would invoke sound if pulled.  They enhanced the sound and atmosphere with what Tristan was already doing.  As loud and powerful as the music was, ironically my favorite moments of Author & Punisher were the melodic and blissful sounds, as well as Tristan’s clean vocals that added a dimension of haunting, sinister joy.  It worked so well with the harsh tones and loud volume of the music simultaneously.  It took the audience around the last few songs of the set to recognize the uniqueness of Author & Punisher and cheered and even started a small mosh pit during the end of the set.  Although it wasn’t completely for me, I appreciated the dedication of performing all the music from one individual.  Author & Punisher provided a memorable experience for those in attendance, and other Metal tours or especially Industrial tours, I can see the band blow away others of the same type of genre.

Author & Punisher setlist

1.      Pharmacide

2.      Nihil Strength

3.      Nazarene

4.      Ode to Bedlam

5.      A Crude Sectioning

6.      Beastland

7.      Terrorbird

Sort of a bucket list for me initially, Primitive Man was the next band up, to a crowd warming up and engulfing this most quality and memorable evening.  Sludge/Doom Metal from Denver, Colorado, Primitive Man have been creating quite a stir in the Metal community for the past few years, especially their Psycho Las Vegas performance this August.  One of the louder bands tonight, their Doom Metal sound created such a collateral damage like tone, each riff ending created a vicious buzz and ground shattering setting, you couldn’t help but witness the booming carnage.  ELM’s vocal work carried paralyzing overtones, simply imagining a broken soul aching and exclaiming their pain, absolutely the highlight of their set, it brought forth a sound of maniacal reference.  Not to be outdone himself, with only one guitar, ELM also leveled The Glasshouse with a vibrant quake of a guitar tone, that took several listens to uncover the tones and clashing it all provided.  As much as I was learning from witnessing Primitive Man for the first time, seeing this type of Doom Metal live was still a new experience for me.  I admittingly was still getting used to this Metal style live, and it took around the very end of the set, for the music to grow on me.  I’m thrilled to had finally see Primitive Man live, and while still getting used to their style of play, the spiking atmosphere of somber Sludge/Doom Metal was uplifting and characteristic to see.

       The evening became more festive and The Glasshouse was packed at this point, and I also noticed a decent number of younger fans in the audience, for Cattle Decapitation mainly.  But this was going to be a grand lesson in showing those fans a very important Metal band:  Atheist.  Their first show here since the 2011 Scion Rock Fest, to this day one of the greatest lineups I’ve ever seen (Also a free show, can’t go wrong there), and a watershed moment to see them in the very same venue years later.  The crowd exploded in excitement, awe and moshing violence, Atheist’s unquestionable presence onstage ignited a nostalgic and breathtaking lit candle, bringing forth an unholy dose of Death Metal.  30 years ago, Piece of Time was released upon the world, infusing Death/Thrash Metal with Jazz and Progressive elements, one of the very first of its kind, and to see nearly half of the record played tonight, utterly sheer joy.  From the very heart, brain and soul of Kelly Shaefer, surrounding the band with unbelievable musicians with this frenetic, yet masterful energy and play, his desire to play with musicians he most likely feels are better than he is, makes the tightness, notes and overall experience to that extra level.  Guitarists Chris Martin and Daniel Martinez did not miss a literal beat, playing the intro to “Unquestionable Presence” that completely leveled The Glasshouse once the distortion kicked in.  Bassist Yoav Ruiz-Feingold’s constant demand for the audience to not stop moving while providing his slap technique brought the old-school vibe alive onstage.

       Previously mentioning him, and for me at least, the highlight of the entire night:  Kelly Shaefer himself.  To listen and witness Atheist played with this level of technical ecstasy, transcendent riffing and swift song structures higher than the band has been, it was welcoming to see how joyful and meaningful he felt onstage, knowing how difficult the journey of Metal can be for many bands out there, including the very best ones.  As Mustaine, Wiwczarek, Schaffer, Schuldiner, Girard, Schalin, the ones who are responsible for the heavy majority of their band’s music, tenure, and astonishing unbreakable vision, Kelly Shaefer definitely deserves to be on this short list of grandiose figures in the Metal community.  30 years later, Atheist continues to break ground in what’s possible within our Metal, music, and abilities far beyond what you expect from yourself.  One of the tightest performances I’ve ever seen, and I simply cannot wait to see what Atheist does in 2020.

      Atheist setlist

1.      On They Slay

2.      Unholy War

3.      Second to Sun

4.      Unquestionable Presence

5.      Your Life’s Retribution

6.      I Deny

7.      Live and Live Again

8.      Mother Man

9.      Piece of Time

The night was slowing down for no one in attendance, and with the crowd engaged, warmed up, and already an epic night of Metal enjoyed and still one more to go, none other than Cattle Decapitation.  The crowd already started moshing when the intro played through the PA, right into “The Geocide”, from their sensational new record.  Everything I wanted to see and capture on album, was more than represented here live.  With the layers of the music lessened live from album, the chord structures, speed and the menacing melodies were able to be heard even greater, and I cannot tell you how much I’ve enjoyed Death Atlas.  You can tell you love a new record, when you wish said band would play the entire new album from start to finish, hoping they can do that on the next tour.  The previous two records were also well represented here, “Forced Gender Reassignment”, with the sinister riffing that also showed me the underrated amount of different songwriting methods and time eras Cattle has shown over their career.  From the To Serve Man-Humanure, Karma.Bloody.Karma-The Harvest Floor, to their newest start in Death Atlas, seeing the maturity of their abilities is simply a joy to witness.

Death Atlas also compliments the band members too, with their strengths and qualities.  Travis Ryan’s ungodly vocal range and remarkable stage presence especially showed in “Bring Black the Plague.”  Ryan’s wonderous vocal work in the middle section resonated, his diction and incredible use of timing with the lyrics and vocal patterns, just bring this chilling yet positive atmosphere.  He grows with more confidence after each song and tour, and you can tell how much the band loves playing the new record.  I was told by Ross the Impaler, their tour and merch manager, how much Josh Elmore was involved with the new sound of the band.  Seeing the different chord changes, using their previous riffs as transitions for the new sounds, his guitar playing ranged in all sort of facets, showing that as you grow as a musician and person, you become the best individual you can possibly be, and seeing his guitar ability mature to this level, the material just seemed to be so natural to play.  I’ve heard this band since 2003, and I just am overwhelmed at their profound, natural sound.  “Time’s Cruel Curtain” the most melodic song off the new record I feel, brought a drifting yet time stopping feeling in the air.  Cattle Decapitation is tremendous playing fast, and they’re damn good at playing slower, too.  Also adding a second guitar again allows the full-fledged sound on the records live, Belisario Dimuzio did a hell of the job providing a tight rhythm guitar onstage, and it truly brings the music to a heightened level.  Hearing the entire 9-minute epic “Death Atlas” was a savory treat to experience, their 75 minute completely flew by, same as with Atheist, one of the top performances of the night, and their role as headliners needs to be taken seriously, even comparing to other great acts out there.  They’ll be headlining for quite some time, and they absolutely deserve it.

       From very much enjoying a band’s sound throughout the years, to being shocked and blissfully excited on their latest release, Cattle Decaptation have been the very best I seen them, and in my opinion, Death Atlas is 2019  Album of the Year.  Bringing forth a fantastic lineup with Atheist, Primitive Man, Author & Punisher, and Vitriol, these captivating and eclectic tour packages are what separates Metal from nearly every other genre, with all respect.

Cattle Decapitation setlist

1.      The Geocide

2.      A Living, Breathing Piece of Defecating Meat

3.      The Prophets of Loss

4.      One Day Closer to the End of the World

5.      Not Suitable for Life

6.      Forced Gender Reassignment

7.      Bring Back the Plague

8.      Mammals in Babylon

9.      Plagueborne

10.  Time’s Cruel Curtain

11.  Death Atlas

12.  Manufactured Extinct

13.  Your Disposal