Cattle Decapitation played Brighton Music Hall – 12/2

Technical death metal vets Cattle Decapitation brought their stacked Genocidal Tendencies tour to Brighton Music Hall earlier this month, with support from Atheist, Author & Punisher and Vitriol. 

I’ll be the first to admit, tech-death isn’t totally my thing; the grimier, vintage-leaning stuff is the real death metal draw for me. But, I’m always game to make exceptions. Cattle Decap – the death-metallers with a vegetarian and increasingly progressive streak – make a strong case for that with their latest, last month’s adventurous Death Atlas. Plus, a wild supporting bill for this fall’s supporting tour didn’t hurt.

Noise-grinders Full of Hell had to drop off the dates after a deeply awful gear-theft incident, but vicious Portland, OR death metal quartet Virtiol, one-man industrial doom powerhouse Author & Punisher and old-school Floridians Atheist (the true veterans here, with a pedigree dating back to the ’80s) had no trouble picking up the slack. And a slick, bruising set from the evening’s headliners capped off a uniquely diverse night of heaviness that transcended your average snowy Monday in Allston.

Photos from all four sets below.