Death Metal Icons Cattle Decapitation and Immolation Team Up to Take Over Brooklyn
Photography By Sam Valente
Legendary death metal bands Cattle Decapitation and Immolation, supported by scene favorites Sanguisugabogg and local bruisers Castrator embarked on the Terrasitic Infestation Tour to take Warsaw in Greenpoint, Brooklyn (not the one in Poland) by storm.
Opening up the night was Castrator, a death metal band from New York firmly rooted in the sounds of the early 90s. Led by front woman Clarissa Badini, Castrator ripped through songs from their 2022 release “Defiled In Oblivion” that were sure to put fans of early period Morbid Angel and Cannibal Corpse in a frenzy in the pit. Hefty, yet groovy riffs kept the crowd moving for their entire set.
Castrator: Facebook | Instagram | Spotify
Following them was Ohio behemoth, Sanguisugabogg. Playing their trade of groovy and stompy death metal, appealing to the younger fans in attendance, they ripped through a set mostly from their most recent full length, Homicidal Ecstasy, which made up all but one song in their set, the massive closer Dead As Shit from their debut album, Tortured Whole. Despite being a relatively newer band, they had full command of the crowd for the entire runtime of their set. At one point, they even engaged in a game of “murder ball”, where they threw a football in the pit, and whoever was the last person standing with it at the end of the song got a free piece of merch, as if the crowd needed any more reason to move and pile on each other with the lurching heaviness they unleashed on the attendees.
Sanguisugabogg: Facebook | Instagram | X | Spotify
Next up was legendary death metal band Immolation, from just a few miles north in Yonkers, NY (also my hometown). Immolation played a career-spanning set with songs from their 1991 debut, Dawn of Possession, all the way through their most recent album, 2022’s Acts of God. Having been a band for longer than I’ve been alive, they showed what a veteran band can do with tight instrumentation as well as some fun showmanship with founding member Robert Vigna playing his guitar with such precision and flair that it was impossible to turn away. Not to be outdone, vocalist/bassist Ross Dolan, guitarist. Alex Bouks, and drummer Steve Shalaty also put on a death metal clinic to show the kids how it’s done.
Immolation: Facebook | Instagram | X | Spotify
Finally, it was Cattle Decapitation’s turn to take the stage and send people home with an intense display of death metal and grindcore that leveled the building. Playing songs from their four most recent albums, but focusing on 2023’s Terrasite, Cattle Decapitation were a whirlwind of technical death metal riffs, grindcore blasting, and vocals that really need to be seen to be believed. Travis Ryan is truly in a league of his own with his screeching, bellows, and twisted clean(?) vocals that you couldn’t help but hang on every line he delivered with scathing ferocity. Despite some early technical issues, they played on like the professionals they are, and gave the crowd a dazzling display of fast guitar runs, and even faster blast beats, but knowing just when to slow it down to crush everything in their path. It was oppressively heavy in the best way possible.
