Cattle Decapitation : "Terrasite"

I have covered a lot of death metal albums, and normally I would be reluctant to jump into another one, but these guys are such kings at what they do , when they decide to drop their 10th album , I am more than willing to give a listen as it is not going to be the same old same old. They have in many ways picked up where they left off on "Death Atlas" . However the band believes they have taken a 180 turn. The main difference I can hear is the guitars have a more deliberate thrashing to their grooves. Things are not as blinding fast , but the riffs retain the razor-sharp aggression , but also well constructed and hooky. The more sung vocals also come into play to give the songs more melodic depth than your average band engaging in this brand of heaviness is able to conjure on snarls alone. They do not lean into speed and brutality until "Scourge of the Offspring". Even then it is balanced with varied dynamic elements in play. 

The drummer continues to pound with unbridled insanity on this album, and is one of the best metal drummers in the game. There is more of a traditional death metal sound in play on "the Insignificants". I like the varied vocal colors on this song. It winds up in a more melodic place than expected. 'the Storm Upstairs" starts with a pretty powerful groove, then things go more In Flames with it. It winds around this garden of grinding riffage that finds them in hard core like breakdowns. "...And the World Will Continue to Go On Without You" is an excellent song title that sums up a great deal of the thematic mood to this album. I can appreciate this. The song itself is more ingrained in death metal. The sung refrain of the chorus is a very effective use of cleaner vocals. 

They take their mission of groove more seriously on "A Photic Doom" . Only two minutes into the song and they win me over. They have just gone above and beyond with the execution and arrangements on this album. They do not compromise on aggression yet the songs feel a little accessible to a wider metal audience here. "Solastalgia" is the first song where they really pour on the speed and use it as their weapon of choice. They back off from this in places and use atmosphere to bring more mood, but the emphasis is placed on heavy more often than not. The last song is more sprawling in it's ten minutes. Sonically impressive in terms of where they do, the song writing does not feel like it finds the same level of focus found on the rest of the album until midway in. Despite this I will give this album a 9.5 , as it edges out their previous song, proving these guys can take it to the next level in terms of songwriting. It drops May 12th on Metal Blade.