PHOTOGRAPHED FOR VANDALA MAGAZINE
The Starlite Room was packed full of excited metal fans on Monday night, as death-grind kings, Cattle Decapitation, were visiting Edmonton on their North American Extinction Tour, promoting their newest record "The Anthropocene Extinction", and demolishing cities in their path.
Tampa, Florida's own, Dark Sermon, was first up to kick off the night. Delivering a ritualistic performance of blackened heavy metal, Dark Sermon left an impression on Edmonton that won't soon be forgotten. Up next was Black Crown Initiate, a personal favorite of mine, and despite being the odd band out on the bill due to their frequent (and lovely) clean harmonies between guitar and vocals, Black Crown Initiate always shows Edmonton what's up. Co-headlining the night was Australia's grindcore thunder from down under, King Parrot. It's always entertaining to see King Parrot live, the 5 piece from Melbourne, AUS. always put on a performance that's nothing short of wild! Warming up the crowd for what was yet to come, King Parrot had their Starlite Room audience all moshing, headbanging and stage-diving like crazy! It's always a pleasant sight to see people having so much fun at concerts, and this definitely a common thing whenever King Parrot is in town.
Lastly, our much anticipated headliner, Cattle Decapitation, took to a foggy and dimly lit stage as their first visit to Edmonton in 6 years. Appearing as silhouettes through the fog, the band immediately boomed into the first track off of their newest album "Manufactured Extinct" followed by "The Prophets of Loss". This resulted in the audience falling into a frenzy of aggressive moshing and break-neck headbanging, that stayed consistent for a majority of the set. Annihilating the remainder of their 12 song set, Cattle Decapitation fired on all cylinders with numerous tracks both old and new, all while maintaining their audible attack from start to finish, and leaving Edmonton with a sterling impression; Rejuvenating that of their previous performance, 6 years ago.
