Liste der Bands Death Grind Cattle Decapitation The Harvest Floor

Cattle Decaptitation was a band that, a good time ago, I didn't care at all about. Albums like "Human Jerky", "Homovore", and "To Serve Man" were pretty pointless grindcore albums with extremely short songs devoid of melody or memorable riffing. The only reason people listened to this band, it seemed, was the animal-loving, pro-vegan lyrics and misanthropic views on the human race as a whole. Then something different happened. Cattle Decapitation must have started listening to some Cannibal Corpse or something, because 2004's "Humanure" started CD's inclusion of death elements. And that alone made it more worthwhile a listen than all their other albums combined. Next, in 2006, "Karma. Bloody. Karma." switched from grindcore with death metal influence to death metal with grindcore influence, and the progression continued. Finally, this year's album, "The Harvest Floor", continues in the vein of "Karma. Bloody. Karma." which I think is a good thing for the band. The best part about it is that it's better than that album in just about every way imaginable.

The first song, "The Gardeners of Eden", is one of the most memorable songs, starting off with the lovely sounds of a cow being killed. It then proceeds to explode into insane arpeggios and supremely fast drumming for about three seconds before stopping altogether to make way for a low, gurgling bass riff that is really just a gateway for the insanity about to unfold. The best part about the track is the ridiculously high and strangely melodic vocals of Travis Ryan, who also can do extremely low vox.

One of the strange things about this album is how it can use reasonably clean guitars at times while remaining intense and heavy. I don't want to use "The Gardeners of Eden" as an example, but it fits the description. We have other new sounds for the band in the form of clean female vocals on the title track, which is an intro for the closer, "Regret and the Grave". "Regret and the Grave" is the best song on the album, starting off with medium-paced double bass accompanied by cello. Yes, Cattle Decaptiation uses cello on this album.

Some other highlights on the album are "Tooth Enamel and Concrete" and "A Body Farm", both of which are flawlessly executed (pun intended) slices of brutality meant to pulverize listeners.

One note about this album: it isn't immediate. It took a good few listens for me to fully grasp this album and love it. I originally rated it a 17/20, but I was too quick to judge; it is deserving of a 19/20. This is a challenging listen, and to show what I mean, i'll put it into Cattle Decapitation terms: if their past albums were like cows being slaughtered by sledgehammers, "The Harvest Floor" is like using the thing from "No Country for Old Men." It's still brutal, but more precise and not as sloppy. This is a fantastic album, boys--but I still like steak.

Cattle Decapitation has gradually become one of my favorite bands. The first few times I listened to this beautiful album I did not listen to it close enough to take in all the elements that make it The Harvest Floor. At first I thought, just another Death Grind band with a crazy name. Then after listening to this several times and understanding that is possibly one of my favorite albums of all time, this band became crack to me.

Now Cattle Decapitations first few albums were kind of boring grindcore albums, I mean they were not horrible but they do not compare to their last three albums. The Harvest Floor almost seems like it should be from another band because whenever I listen to Cattle Decapitation I listen to nothing but The Harvest Floor. Nothing else really compares to this at all. Now onto what makes this album so great.

Travis Ryan has one of the most unique voices I have ever heard and it stands out the most in THF. His lows are guttural and very deep but it still sounds very distinguished and you can tell what he is saying. His highs sound like his rolling his tongue to make an echo effect and I can not for the life of me figure out how the hell he is doing it. At first I just thought it sounded weird but now I love it. Whatever he is doing I am sure it takes massive amounts of skill and practice.

The guitars are SO tight and fast. Some of the riffs are extremely technical and difficult to keep up with much less play. The guitarist in my band Dismal Decay has been practicing this album for two years now and can finally play the entire album and he usually can learn a song within thirty minutes. Theres also a pretty good amount of bass in the background which adds a good vibe to the guitars.

My favorite songs off the album would probably have to be A Body Farm, We Are Horrible People, The Ripe Beneath the Rind, and Regret and the Grave. Honestly I would pick more but then I would feel like I was leaving the last three or four out. I usually listen to this album as a whole because every song flows together great and that truly makes an album outstanding to me.

The lyrics are so confusing but they are so perfect at the same time. A body farm is talking about how he is killing people and using them as fertilizer in his garden as displayed by the lyrics I am the brutal gardener. I just love the feel of this album and the lyrics make it so much more intense.

That is about all I have to say about The Harvest Floor and I can not wait to see what this years album sounds like. I would have to say that this album is a must for any type of Death Metal fan. I gave this album a 19/20.

PS: I could not get the Regret and the Grave video to work so I chose Reduced to Paste off of the Humanure album.