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The Harvest Floor is a brutal album and Cattle Decapitation have opted for chaos over song writing. While this album has plenty of memorable riffs, more often than not the songs take an unexpected turn long before settling into a comfortable groove. This is spastic, stop-on-a-dime, brutal death metal. The Harvest Floor's greatest strength is the element of surprise. Both musically and vocally this album is all over the map. Chugging groves give way to blistering blast beats, with a few slightly melodic sections thrown in for good measure. While primary utilizing a guttural growl, vocalist Travis Ryan is all over the map. Often dropping his growl to a deeper register, or using a high pitched "insectoid" vocal as a change up.
In the end, "The Harvest Floor" is a good album. I think the problem that Cattle Decapitation will run into is that they are kind of in between genres at this point. This stuff may have too much grind for the death metal crowd and be too technical and clean for the grind crowd. Although I personally enjoy the album, I can't see this ever being something that I listen to often. It's chaotic nature will relegate it to something that I listen to as a change of pace or for shock value.
Rating: 78
Reviewed By: Garett F.