Cattle Decapitation
Monolith of Inhumanity
Released 8th May, 2012
Progressive Death Metal/Grindcore
Released via Metal Blade Records
Cattle Decapitation is known for their catchy riffs, intense and gore-filled lyrics, and of course their absolutely insane but diabolical vocals. It was no surprise that Monolith of Inhumanity incorporated each of these well-known elements and more. With this album, it really shows how much this band has progressed in their music, going from a more grindcore based song style to adding more structure and memorable riffs into their songs. This was my favorite album of 2012 hands down just for the sheer brutality and for making the music sound heavy without and technicality.
A couple songs that stuck out for me were The Carbon Stampede and Forced Gender Reassignment. Many people are aware that the video for Forced Gender Reassignment was arguably one of the goreiest and most disgusting music videos ever made. However, every time I hear that song I can’t help but windmill at the beginning riff and become excited as the song builds up to the end where it breaks down into a super slammy riff that just finishes it off perfectly. The Carbon Stampede also a phenomenal job of creating build up as the beginning song of the album with a quiet intro that gradually goes into spiraling chaos and heaviness that is consistently heard through the rest of this album.
While I really don’t see any kind of big criticism or gripe about Monolith of Inhumanity, the only thing that seemed kind of off to me was the beginning of the song The Monolith. The slow, drawn out song isn’t something that is commonly used by Cattle Decapitation and found it weird as a song on its own. However, having it be paired with Kingdom of Tyrants in a mini film, it made the song much more of a purpose rather than it just being thrown into the mix of all these fast and brutal songs.
Even after a year, I still find myself enjoying this album and still highly regard it was one of Cattle Decapitation’s best albums. In the span of their career, they’ve definitely grew in their playing and even vocal style, and they will probably continue to grow and to create even faster, more brutal music while, of course, still create music videos and artwork that will make many people squirm. Monolith of Inhumanity is an absolutely incredible album and it’s something every metal fan should listen to!
5/5
Lauren Gowdy
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- Cattle Decapitation – Monolith of Inhumanity (valkyrianmusic.com)
- Cattle Decapitation release new video (valkyrianmusic.com)
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