I don’t know if you’ve taken a moment to stop and take a look around lately, but the whole world is going to shit. It’s been headed that way for a while now, and for a dizzying number of reasons. Cattle Decapitation’s lyrical imagery has been a canary in the coal mine, sounding the alarm about many of them—warning us about the effects of our societal disregard for each other as well as the planet on which we live. There’s no better evidence of this than the band’s 2019 album, Death Atlas, which had fans singing “Bring Back the Plague” mere months before COVID took over the entire world.
The world hasn’t been the same since, and Death Atlas serves as a swan song to our lives before socially distanced Armageddon. Cattle Decapitation has since released another album, the amazing Terrasite, and toured extensively to support it. Death Atlas never got that treatment due to COVID’s effects on touring at the time. Cattle Decapitation decided to right that wrong and give the album the full attention it deserves by playing it front to back on a 26-date North American tour. Joining them on the tour, dubbed “No Fear For Tomorrow,” are Aborted, Frozen Soul, and Tribal Gaze.
It was a cold and dreary evening after a day full of rain, and the crowd arrived to Warsaw collectively mellow. Tribal Gaze took the stage and made it their duty to shift the energy in the room, their heavy, chugging riffs awakening a sleeping giant of circle pits and thrashing hair. Their success was nearly instantaneous.
Tribal Gaze’s set featured tracks from their new album, Inveighing Brilliance, released back in October. The album is—like their set was—quite the heavy hitter.
Frozen Soul was up next. Don’t let the band’s name fool you; their set always brings some serious heat. This was my third time covering the band, and I’m always blown away by their performances.
Vocalist Chad Green told the crowd that the band has been hard at work on their next album and treated everyone to a new single from the forthcoming release. If the track is any indication of what’s to come, fans are in for quite a treat—and a brutally heavy one at that.
The room had already experienced its fair share of moshing and crowd surfers, but that kicked into high gear the moment Aborted took the stage. Vocalist Sven de Caluwé demanded more, and the crowd was glad to oblige, with crowd surfers pouring over the barricade like a metalhead assembly line.
This was my first time seeing Aborted live, and they were firing on all cylinders from start to finish. The band’s setlist drew heavily from their 2024 album, Vault of Horrors, and served as the perfect precursor to Cattle Decapitation.
Covering Cattle Decapitation has become something of a yearly tradition in the best possible way. I’m a simple man—when I see Cattle Decapitation is playing NYC, I block the date off my calendar immediately. Past coverage has already noted ad nauseam how much I love this band, but it bears repeating. Especially when it comes to Death Atlas, an album I’ve listened to so many times and almost always front to back. To borrow a wrestling term, I very rarely mark out when I’m in the pit and a band takes the stage, but when the intro to Death Atlas gave way to the members walking out, I unapologetically marked out hard. I knew what was coming, and I was ready.
With a slam by Dave McGraw on his toms, “The Geocide” was activated. Vocalist Travis Ryan, perched on a riser with his hair blowing in the wind, delivered a scream like only he can. Ryan is one of my all-time favorite metal vocalists, and let me tell you: it is always surreal to lower my camera and be mere inches away from him—especially when he’s performing one of my favorite albums.
The crowd was as locked in as I was, the excitement after each song eclipsed only by the realization of the next song’s imminent arrival. The album sounds incredible live. The only downside is that headphones don’t do it justice as much anymore—not after feeling the music in your chest.
“Time’s Cruel Curtain” is one of my favorite tracks from the band, and I was thrilled to hear it live. As was the beautifully solemn title track, “Death Atlas,” which closes the album but thankfully did not close out the set. The band skipped the encore process, got right to the bonus material, and launched into “A Photic Doom.” Songs from Terrasite closed out the evening, bookending yet another incredible night with Cattle at the helm.
The tour continues across the United States for the next two weeks. I’m already looking forward to the next performance—while keeping my fingers perpetually crossed for a new album.
