Composer Reacts to Cattle Decapitation - Bring Back the Plague (REACTION & ANALYSIS)

[@makjak111]

My Intro to the band was of travis (vocals) helping me parallel park my car outside the music venue lol had no clue who he was till he got on stage

[@pietandersen6120]

Hahaha thats fucking great, I wonder what he was thinking

[@CriticalReactions]

OMG really? That's crazy. "Thanks random dude, I'ma go watch this concert now" *moments later* "WHAAAAAAAA?" 😂

[@jbasti227]

@@pietandersen6120 “Don’t know who I am? You will pretty soon 😈”

[@hayesharlan1592]

A tip : you can watch movies on Flixzone. I've been using them for watching a lot of movies these days.

[@alexzanderboston4571]

@Hayes Harlan yup, I have been using Flixzone} for since november myself =)

[@liliIiliIilil]

This was released before COVID was really gaining traction (The album was released Black Friday 2019, November 29th, the single was even earlier, early October). I remember it popping up on my Spotify and then when COVID hit I was like, "Are you happy now, Cattle?"

[@stefanjr]

Travis vocals are truly extraordinary. Concerning the "timing" of the album, I do believe it's mostly a weird coincidence, cause the album "death atlas" could be considered as the finale of the 3 last albums combined.

[@Martybuzzed]

Terrasite: hold my beer

[@stefanjr]

@@Martybuzzed Personally - I like tthe 3 albums prior to Terrasite better. But Terrasite is one hell of an album for sure.

[@isaackmojica8302]

One the sickest but Also most Important messages in extreme music!

[@tropiq]

Cattle is pretty cool, Dave the drummer is a freaking machine, and Travis the vocalist is one of the most versatile harsh vocalist in metal, i'd go for other songs to check them out more for the music but i understand the motivations for this particular track, if you ever want to revisit them i'd recommend "Your Disposal" or "Kingdom of Tyrants"

[@maynardhero]

Happy to see these guys getting some recognition!! They are so brutal and fast, but they also have one of the cleanest sounding shows of their sub-genre "death-grind". Thanks for the reaction!

[@The_Horse-leafs_Cabbage]

Cattle Decap was a surprise to me when I listened to their latest record. I initially assumed they'd be just another "extreme for the sake of extremity" kind of band... But I was surprised by their depth, both in terms of their attitudes and composition (especially with The Uneraseable Past/Death Atlas... A masterpiece of an extreme metal song). I also appreciate the lead vocalist's attitude towards metal vocals, and how he wanted to go outside the mold of standard rough vocals.

[@CriticalReactions]

That's a huge recommendation for them. I'll have to dive in sometime now.

[@theunemployedcyclist4588]

Prior to Monolith for Inhumanity they were "Extreme for the sake of Extreme" IMO. They really evolved for the better starting with that album.

[@DEATHrocket777]

I've binged this album 3 times a day for the last week. Was never into this band until last monday, and all because the week before I had the bridge to this song stuck in my head. After checking out the previous two albums and loving their work on those as well, I must say, I'm a fan. This album is by far one of the very best in any genre I have ever listened to.

[@pelletiermaxime]

A really interesting band that started out pretty much as a joke band releasing a 16 mins album with 26 tracks, but then became very good starting with Humanure. It's rare that a death metal song stays stuck in my head for a while after listing to it, but this is really catchy stuff!

[@robertperner7196]

I've preordered the album and heard it on release day. Right off the bat it was my favorite track on the album. I put some of the lyrics in the signatures of several of my accounts on various message boards and kept telling my friends how awesome this song is. And then 2020 happened...

[@schelest3316]

I've really wanted you to listen to them, they get better and better with every album, especially the latest three, and the most latest one (Death Atlas, where this song is from) is absolutely phenomenal. A bit more context to the band - they are not generally "vegan black metal". Originally they were a deathcore band consisting purely of vegetarians, but now after several lineup changes there are only two vegetarians, namely Travis Ryan, the vocalist and leader, and their guitarist Josh Elmore. In their core the band is not about vegans, but about misantropy and dissatisfaction with humanity in terms of their behaviour towards nature and each other, which gets more and more apocalyptic. They were pretty standard underground deathcore band in the beginning in terms of music, but later they started to change, and then Travis discovered that somewhat clean goblin-ish vocal style and started using it, drastically changing the dynamics of the music. And then they started mixing the harshness with the heavy and dirty melody, and that's when they got completely amazing. As I already said, it's become very prominent in the latest three albums, with Death Atlas being the pinnacle of it. I highly recommend listening the full album and probably react to the Death Atlas the song, which is basically an epilogue to the album and is a nine minute epic. Even better would be reaction to the short film "The Unerasable Past", which includes intermission with the same name from the album and Death Atlas the song itself.

[@CriticalReactions]

Some really good info in there. I like how despite the lineup changes bringing in some omnivores their general message and themes have remained, which is of course because being upset about how humans treat this planet is a universal opinion. 😁

[@Rubbish_]

They started as a goregrind/grindcore band and have become the epitome of deathgrind. Funnily enough Travis Ryan and a few others in the band despise deathcore. Even though Travis pioneered pretty much every vocal style used in deathcore haha 😂.

[@KillerFaceification]

Loneliness by Disq also came out right before the quarantine and it fit this past year so well. "All i wanted was some loneliness, guess i'll have plenty of it soon..."

[@CriticalReactions]

Ooof, another accidentally timely lyrics 🤣

[@maaaaaap]

the part at 2:34 is so sick

[@Hedonite]

A fun story for any who might care I met the guitar player on two seperate occasions with my friends once after a show of theirs as one might do normally. The other time, my friends band and i were in the back lot and here comes josh pulling up to park. And they were rehearsing in the building behind (this was in san diego) and both times josh (and the others) were extremely patient and kind to us teenagers at the time. Talking about mueic and their profound impact on us as musicians an individuals. Ive never met more kind musicians than them. And ill forever remember them being nice to us

[@brunowilliam7529]

What really helped me understand the difference between melodic death metal and death metal is listening to something like In Flames - Moonshild (melodeath) on one side and then something like Entombed (death metal) on the other side. That makes it clearer i think. The original thought of melodeath was to combine harsh vocals with melodic riffs played by 2 guitars in the style of Iron Maiden. So originally it was not about all forms of being melodic but a very specific one (also combined with certain locations and scenes of bands, like Gothenburg). Over time this label has of course become more flexible and less precise which is totally fine. But to really grasp the thought of the difference i think it is easier to go through it historically

[@azdarkforce]

I love Cattle! Also a fan of Brian's reactions, so this is great! My next Cattle request would be Mammals in Babylon, they have a great playthrough video for that and what they do musically there is pretty crazy.

[@thegrimner]

There's actually somewhat of a vegan tradition in Death Metal, and the whole shtick has much deeper roots. It's actually Carcass way back in the late 80s who came up with this concept. They came from the punk scene (as many death and grindcore bands from England did, back in that time) and idea was actually a form of political activism: gross out people to the concept of eating meat by having over the top and gross album covers filled with human and animal body parts and lyrics about decomposing flesh. They kind of missed the mark, though, in the sense that people, though influenced by it, either took it too seriously or not seriously enough. ANd so they ended up being somewhat responsible for thousands of very silly death metal lyrics about blood and gore, and were even accused of forsaking their roots when they started penning more overtly political lyrics. Cattle Decapitation made sure to leave no room for such ambiguity.

[@raen19]

I really enjoyed this song. I'd only ever heard Regret And The Grave before this, which I did like, but just never checked them out any further. But this was great. Thanks for doing this vid Bryan, now I need to go check out more of these guys. Loved your analysis too, as always.

[@thgeremilrivera-thorsen9556]

Catlle Decap is not a vegan band by the way, they always talk about how it's weird how they became "that vegan band" bacause a couple of band members were quite outspoken vegetarians (not vegans) in the early days of the band (but apparently not anymore, if I remember correctly).

[@shryggur]

The Comedy Metal Week would be sick :)

[@CriticalReactions]

Agreed!

[@brunowilliam7529]

Cattle is a great band! I hope you will revisit them in the future, they have a lot to offer :) And i am pretty sure that i heard this song already in late summer or autumn 2019, so it is really just a huge coincidence :)

[@pascalg16]

Cattle Decapitation : Bring Back The Plague. God in 2020 : Alright then.

[@WacekPlacek669]

Seen them live twice. Both were flawless and super intense. If you want some more of Cattle Decapitation then "Pacific Grim" would be my pick. For more melodic side of Death Metal you need to check Be'lakor. They are one of the best bands in genere right now. Be'lakor - The Smoke of Many Fires is just one of great examples of how combination of music and lyrics can create exceptional storytelling :)

[@makjak111]

It was a single so iam thinking it was written pretty early

[@molekyyli]

I decided to give them a try after being recommended by a friend and it took me a while to fully appreciate them since it's way heavier than my "standard choice" (I'm a sucker for MDM) but it still has the elements I long for - some heaviness paired with melodies/softer parts to create a stark contrast + high quality vocals (Travis is insanely good/I really enjoy them). The only difference is CD is not "some heaviness" but a lot of it lol. I hope to find more bands fitting this criteria - outside of/heavier than MDM but not being just one wall of sound/heavy all the way, I find that boring - hey, I'm a chick, I need some tenderness too! lol

[@CriticalReactions]

I'm right there with ya. I'm not really a metal fan but having done these reactions I've finding that I can enjoy some elements of metal but full on heavy riffs and growling is too much for me. I have a room on this community's Discord server for recommendations. I could ask if anyone knows bands that balance the metal in a similar way to CD. If you have any songs that you specifically like from them that could narrow things down too.

[@molekyyli]

@@CriticalReactions Haha, and I thought you look like a metalhead. 😄I actually love growling (prefer it to clean singing) but usually go less heavy/more melodic but I fell in love with them and thus became interested in discovering other similar projects that are heavy but not just one sound of wall. The vocals and other contrasting elements make it interesting and enjoyable to me. So I wouldn't object to your offer, I have an account on Discord but don't use it much, I'm gonna look you up/I don't even know how it works following and groups and such there. :D I like the whole Terrasite album but I guess if you wanted me to name a few fav songs, I guess ... and the World Will Go On Without You, Solastalgia and Just Another Body. And well, growling tends to be an acquired taste for most, I still remember being faced with it in the beginning and was simultaneously drawn to it and not being sure how I felt about it/whether I liked it. 😄

[@CriticalReactions]

@@molekyyli I put the question on Discord and will likely have some responses by today or tomorrow. The community is pretty good about recognizing aspects of music and find other music with similar vibes. As for joining the Discord, it's fairly simple to use. Just follow this link to join the server discord.com/invite/JwJPXNgZV3 I also made a video about navigating and using Discord if that helps. It provides a quick rundown of this community's server and all the rooms in it. kzbin.info/www/bejne/gX_Jm5mJbZx_bq8 And if nothing else, if you're interested but still lost, feel free to ask me for help. Either here in this comment thread or, once you log into Discord, you can DM me.

[@CriticalReactions]

@@molekyyli Like I said, the community came through strong after just 24 hours 😅 Here are some suggestion, written in "band - song title" format: A Wake In Providence - A Darkened Gospel Spire of Lazarus - Dahaka Fit For An Autopsy - Pandora Snake Father - Chasm of Light Worm Shepherd - Ritual Hymns Aephanemer - Antigone An Abstract Illusion - In The Heavens Above, You Will Become A Monster Inferi - No Gods But Our Flesh Drewsif - Collapse Opeth - Bleak *or* In Mist She Was Standing I'm pretty sure that all falls somewhere in the metal category but someone mentioned that post-hardcore might be a good genre too since it also tends to walk a line between heavy and beautiful, though in a different way than melodic metal does. So "Protest the Hero - Bloodmeat" is also a suggestion but it might not be exactly what you're looking for.

[@ckokomo808]

Loved this album. Reminds me of the coincidence of Haken’s Virus last year.

[@PZMaTTy]

The video makes the song more aproachable, this guys are funny but one of the most brutal metal bands hahaha lml

[@benjamincampbell9083]

How can you not love this fucking masterpiece dude Your fucking crazy

[@UltraLolasaurusRex]

Late comer to this video but timing of specifically this song coming out when it did is reminiscent of Slayer’s album God Hates Us All coming out on September 11th, 2001

[@CriticalReactions]

Oh geez. That just....I have no words. What timing....

[@justinvermilyea9192]

Absolutely amazing band live travis has all kinds of cool effects on his vocals death atlas is a fantastic album to do a full album reaction for

[@shryggur]

Oh, and talking about faster bands, it was almost precisely a year ago as you checked out Archspire. I'm curious what would you come up with if re-checked them now

[@CriticalReactions]

Checking out bands with my more open mind is definitely on my checklist.

[@justinvermilyea9192]

Great band met them and hung out with them I think at that time only 2 members were vegan back in 2010

[@athenaparker2675]

A lot of the band's schtick is putting into their lyrics EXTREME misanthropy and subjecting humans to the same miserable conditions that livestock go through, so honestly having these lyrics before the COVID-19 pandemic hit was not at all out of character for them.

[@CriticalReactions]

Interesting. That lines up more with the vegan angle. I might have to dig into them a bit more knowing this context.

[@somberlight]

@@CriticalReactions their best live performance piece "The Prophets of Loss" ends with a line that encapsulates his writing to a tee "We fucking die tonight and that's perfectly alright with me"

[@JunkYardCardGuy]

Anyone notice that there's NO drums set up? It's all "air" drums

[@thelastdaybreathinginetern1385]

Cattle Decapitation!!!!!!!🤘🏽 I have a Cattle Decapitation backpack to.

[@CriticalReactions]

I can't even imagine what kind of imagery would be on a such a backpack 😅

[@evanholman9703]

They're more death grind if you wanna be technical

[@CharlesEMurphy]

I loved that the drummer had no drums.

[@pugmonzzz]

This band has a shirt entitled "Revenge" which shows a cow-headed man, about to decapitate a man-headed cow, which is I think what the band was going for with their name. The cattle, decapitating man.

[@Guilherme-mo2mz]

React to Sold Soul - "dread father" or "harrowing, his calls to the void"

[@zachrabbit5463]

cattle decap is kinda this "what if humans were treated like cattle" type deal as far as the name. They are super talented musicians though and i missed out on their music for a long time because i thought their name was mah so i assumed the music was also meh but i was really wrong.

[@ThanatosBeMyGuide]

Can you please do The Mental Tyrant by Yob? I would love you hear your thoughts on it, or anything by Yob really.

[@nothaber8130]

You should check out death atlas by this band.

[@wolverine669]

You should check out their previous album, The Anthropocene Extinction, as it deals with the results of mankind's influence on the environment, such as the Great Pacific garbage patch

[@No.Man.Is.An.Island9]

I think they were inspired by the inevitable. The idea that some sort of plague would eventually spread around the world has been around for a very long time. Viral and bacterial outbreaks are unfortunately just one of nature's ways of taking care of populations which are too large... I like CD's music and lyrical content. It's not a typical death metal band and their lyrics are truly profound and make you think about how we are progressing as a society and they do bring the important stuff to the forefront. And yes, I also think there's a lot of beauty in the chorus :)

[@georgielol]

You need to listen to Kingdom of Tyrants by Cattle Decapitation.

[@jameswhitehead6758]

I believe they are considered "Death Grind" these days.

[@progperljungman8218]

Great band and song!

[@drock7333]

Sick!!!

[@jonathanhenderson9422]

I've heard these guys a lot but never did a discog run. I've always been somewhat ambivalent about them and this track is no different. I think the crux (for me) is that when bands reach a point of extremity in death metal (and this is also grindcore/deathgrind) injecting melodic elements just comes off as too much of a contrast to really work: the two elements just don't cohere. I think melodeath got away with this because they saved the melodicism for the guitars, and there was a long tradition of melodic guitar leads in metal; but the brutality in extreme metal has always come from the emphasis on rhythm, and you basically have to completely stop that in order to bring in melodic vocals, and this is no different. It sounds like two completely different songs stuck together. As for comedy in metal, one thing I love about Iron Maiden is that they were always very intentionally campy and tongue-in-cheek. BTW, if you want to hear the most ridiculously low growls ever, check out Demilich. They were doing that way back in the early 90s, and they also helped to invent tech-death.

[@CriticalReactions]

I might have to check out Demilich on my own out of curiosity. I'm not sure I'm ready for a full listen through of that yet.

[@jonathanhenderson9422]

@@CriticalReactions Demilich only released one album in '93. It was completely ignored at the time but it's something of a cult classic among DM fans now. Even a single song should be enough to show off the vocals. Guitar work is pretty great too. They were pretty far ahead of their time.

[@UlsterRedGuard]

its a deathgrind band, only 2 of the members are vegetarian

[@Superdudeawesome135]

So is this where everyone starts suggesting Infant Annihilator?

[@theplusplus]

The time has come.

[@CriticalReactions]

My gut reaction to that name is "do I have to?" 🤣

[@vladkillgore8266]

The name "Cattle decapitation" seems more about humanity organized like cattle walking around with their heads cut off. That's my take away

[@nwebster2012]

Just as a heads up, there are no clean vocals in this song. His "goblin" vocals are more melodic for sure, but it's still a growl that he is just manipulating in a more melodic way.

[@progperljungman8218]

I learnt that a pure growl can't be pitched since you don't use your vocal cords.

[@nwebster2012]

@@progperljungman8218 Yeah it's probably not a pure growl, but that's kind of what's unique about him. I've never really heard anyone else do it the way he does. It's still not a clean vocal though. He's adding a natural distortion to it obviously. For some reason people do call them clean vocals occasionally. I've even seen a video where he addresses that and he can't understand why people call them clean when they clearly aren't. Either way he sounds bad ass and that's what matters I guess.

[@nwebster2012]

@@progperljungman8218 I liked that band Boil you suggested by the way. Good stuff.

[@progperljungman8218]

@@nwebster2012 Glad to hear! Sad they split up...

[@progperljungman8218]

@@nwebster2012 Bryan's talking about "fry screams" and there's lots of other "categories" - I often get confused....