February 09, 2022
"I apologize," said the older gentleman with a stifled laugh, "who did you say you all were in line to see tonight?" The lady standing next to him peered over her glasses and said "Be nice to him, dear." Smiling back at them both was one of many concertgoers, dressed head to toe in black: "We're here to see Cattle Decapitation!" Eager to spread the word, the headbanger then began explaining death metal to the couple who hadn't "listened to anything much heavier than Ozzy before".
Returning to Le Poisson Rouge in New York City for the first time since Summer Slaughter 2019, Cattle Decapitation came to bring the heavy, joined by The Last Ten Seconds of Life, Creeping Death, and Extinction A.D.
Hailing from a little to the east of the city, Long Island native Extinction A.D. started the night off fast and furious. Gearing up to release their third album, Culture of Violence, the set was full of thrashing riffs and hardcore breakdowns in the same classic New York style as a Yankee cap and a "Howyadoin?"
What was a surprise, however, was a new kind of circle pit created by Extinction A.D. where those who were not part of the circle were instructed to do push ups in the center of the dance floor. First came the push pit, then came the second pit, and now: the pushup circle pit! Hopefully it, along with the band itself, will be introduced to more stages in the coming year.
A rising star from the same generation of bands that includes Gatecreeper and Genocide Pact, the room filled up quickly for Creeping Death. Crawling out of the deepest void by way of Texas, the quintet delivered their blend of Carcass and General Surgery infused death metal. Between "Doused In Flames," "Humanity Transcends", and "The Edge of Existence", many necks were likely sore the next day from the nonstop head banging.
Releasing their self-titled album this January, The Last Ten Seconds of Life had much to share with the crowd, albeit in the way one takes a hammer to someone's face. For those left standing after "The Sabbath" and "Axe to Grind", the rest of the set was a punishing set spanning four out the band's now six albums.
With COVID-19 delaying support of Death Atlas for over two years, it was, as the tour was appropriately named, Death...At Last, as Cattle Decapitation took the stage. Stampeding through a set that featured "The Geocide", "Vulturous" and "Time's Cruel Curtain", as well as "Your Disposal" from Monolith of Inhumanity and "Plagueborne" from The Anthropocene Extinction, there was more than enough to keep the circle pit at full speed.
Closing with the haunting narration track "The Unerasable Past", the nine minute long Death Atlas title track, and an encore of "Manufactured Extinct", there was a strange atmosphere in the audience as the night came to an end. These songs that, just a few years ago, we tunes to get fists pumping and heads banging now seemed to be more like news articles and historic documents.
"It's like (the band) knew and tried to warn us of what was coming, and we didn't listen", said one fan, exiting wearily from the pit. While times are still challenging, the excitement of the evening in many ways offered a glimpse of the past and, hopefully, what we can return to experiencing in the future.
Photo pass courtesy of Earsplit PR/Earsplit Compound
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