Cattle Decapitation, Shadow Of Intent, Revocation and Vulvodynia filled the Electric Brixton with Brutal, Symphonic and Technical Death Metal so infectious that fans will be in recovery for weeks.
Cattle Decapitation – Shadow Of Intent – Revocation – Vulvodynia
Electric Brixton – 30 January 2025
Words: Lucy Dunnet
Photography: Manuela Langotsch
Cattle Decapitation
A corona-drinking, bum-grabbing terrasite sauntered onto the stage, his wing-like legs flapping pitifully as he waved at the crowd; the Cattle Decapitation mascot had arrived. The terrasite’s arrival had the crowd oozing anticipation and squeezing in some last-minute stretches ahead of what was to be a plague of musical chaos. “We let the kids have fun; now it’s our turn,” declared some particularly feral-looking fans.
Travis Ryan, legendary vocalist and self-proclaimed weirdo, kicked off Cattle Decapitation’s performance by shoving his mic in his back pocket and drowning his head with water. At the same time, we were smacked in the back of the head with a cup of beer, but we took this as a symbolic sign of connection rather than the painful, soggy shock that it was.
Grateful we had made our way to the front barriers, we were able to witness Travis hoick spit into the air, catch it, and twist his arms around his face in a bizarre display before launching into The Carbon Stampede.
From the sickly-coloured pentagram lighting arrangement to Cattle Decapitation’s assaulting stage presence, we were enraptured. We Eat Our Young yanked us back to reality when we heard ourselves join in the screams of “We eat our young!” We could not resist the pit for Scourge Of The Offspring and immediately agreed with whoever shouted: “I’ve had seven drinks and been hit multiple times; I’m having a great time.”
The motion-sick-inducing rollercoaster of tempos in Bring Back The Plague, led by David McGraw’s annihilation of his drum kit, kept us moshing like wild beasts. Guitarist Josh Elmore was grounded in his focus and intensity, while Olivier Pinard (bass) and Belisario Dimuzio (rhythm guitar) displayed some of the slickest helicoptering and headbanging.
“Now THAT’S a pit.” The pit stretched the Electric Brixton’s limits for the set finisher, Death Atlas, with an appropriate wall of death, giving Cattle Decapitation fans one last chance to demonstrate their obsession with this boundary-pushing band. Travis Ryan left one final impression on the crowd by running to the front barrier and charging, handing out fist bumps and hugs to as many humans as possible.
Cattle Decapitation are a bombardment of insanely good Metal, incomparable goblin-esque melodies, and performance antics so captivating you have no choice but to submerge yourself in their musical depiction of humanity’s infestation of the world.
Shadow Of Intent
All grins and unexpected cheeriness were transformed into challenging stares and darkness; Shadow Of Intent brought the night with them onto the stage and the accompanying promise of excitement.
We Descend…-ed straight into a pit, a barrage of bodies that immediately brought back the smiles as we realised how fantastic the energy for Shadow Of Intent was in the Electric Brixton. Ben Duerr’s shrieks reached such a high pitch that our loop experience earplugs weren’t high-tech enough to allow them through; they came out immediately.
Shadow Of Intent’s melodic magnificence shone through in Melancholy, with the crowd screaming out “falling into oblivion” with unfettered intensity. The moshers and crowd surfers were non-stop, and the band never once broke out of their dark, grin-less personas, somehow giving us goosebumps despite the raised temperatures.
Ben Duerr’s harsh conductor hands demanding a wall of death interrupted our crowd surfing conveyor belt system. The moshers were only too eager to comply, and the black pit was lit up. Jarring drum beats ripped through us almost as aggressively as the crowd surfer who managed to rip out a chunk of our hair. Did we care? No. Shadow Of Intent’s addictive melodies and jarring drum beats released so many endorphins that we stopped feeling pain.
“You fuckers disappeared,” one fan was shouting. “Yeh, we got swallowed by the pit.” Shadow Of Intent were an ominous force of Symphonic Deathcore brilliance, with grim reaper-like stage presence and music that caused even the most stoic of fans to break out grinning.
Revocation
The Boston-based Technical Death Metal outfit, Revocation, brought a level of unexpected cheeriness to the stage despite the brutality of their setlist. The only times guitarist and vocalist Dave Davidson wasn’t grinning was when the band synced up with their ‘is it a bad smell or is this just really cool’ facial expressions.
Musically, Revocation are really exciting. Davidson’s application of his Jazz guitar studies leading to some insanely cool groove rhythms and shredding guitar solos. By song three, Teratogenesis, a pit had been born, albeit a beer rink of a pit that saw several eager fans hit the floor immediately. The enthusiasm from the crowd was so great that heads were banging to all sorts of time signatures, and limbs were flinging in all directions.
Davidson told us that London was one of their favourite cities. With this knowledge in mind, the crowd screamed extra hard for their new song, Confines of Infinity. The mosh pit was like a tornado: far more dangerous on the edge of it than in it.
The band’s intensity was so exciting to watch and listen to that we highly recommend getting as up front, close and personal as possible.
Vulvodynia
The South African slammers, Vulvodynia, kicked off the night of infectious Death Metal carnage at the Electric Brixton. With the line for Cattle Decapitation’s merch stand winding its way from one side of the venue to the other, Vulvodynia’s onslaught of brutal slams and growls served as excellent entertainment for the queuers.
Guitarist-turned-vocalist Lwandile Prusent growled and shrieked with youthful energy, immediately owning the stage and inspiring multiple fists to pump into the air. Vulvodynia’s consistently catchy beats and riffs had some fans headbanging so aggressively low we feared for the ground’s safety.
Instantly headbangable and visually entertaining, with watermelon one-pieces and Hawaiian flower chains adorning some of the band, not to mention Prusent’s waving of his sweat towel, Vulvodynia smashed the night’s opening set.
