REVIEW: Cattle Decapitation, Immolation, Sanguisugabogg, Castrator at Warsaw | 11.30.2023

Show Reviews

Dec 5

Written By

Cattle Decapitation’s “Terrasitic Infestation” tour stopped at Warsaw in Brooklyn Thursday night, bringing with them a stacked supporting lineup of Immolation, Sanguisugabogg, and Castrator. This is the band’s first headlining tour in support of their latest album, Terrasite, following an opening slot on the epic Decibel Magazine Tour earlier this year – my first time seeing the band live.

Spotify Wrapped informed me last week that Cattle Decapitation was my #2 most spun artist (behind Ithaca if you're curious), and with good reason. I love this band, and I was excited to have the opportunity to shoot them again.

THE SHOW

Castrator set the brutality bar high when they opened the evening with a relentless set of thrashing death metal. Drawing material from their debut album, “Defiled in Oblivion", vocalist Clarissa Badini had a ferocious vocal delivery and a matching stage presence.

Castrator's rapid-fire melodies made it impossible not to bang your head. The crowd did much more than that, harnessing the power of the riffs by spinning up more than a few circle pits to match the energy.

Sanguisugabogg kept the momentum going with an onslaught of anthems, their song "Face Ripped Off" providing an apt title description of the experience of watching the band perform.

Sanguisugabogg took their mosh pit demands to the next level by introducing a game they called "murderball," which involved tossing a football into the mosh pit at the beginning of the song and the winner being whomever had the ball in their hands by the end of it. The fans were eager to accept the challenge, battling it out until the end of the song when one fan held the football defiantly into the air.

New York death metal pioneers Immolation were up next and the packed Warsaw crowd was sure to make them feel right at home. The band was formed the same year that I was born, if that gives you any idea as to how long these guys have been at it, and they're still delivering sets with tight precision and focused intensity.

Immolation's setlist tapped a large handful of the band's albums, including their most recent release, Acts of God, which came out in February of last year. Songs both new and old demonstrated their brutality, raising the bar set earlier by Castrator to an even higher level.

There was a great deal of anticipation, both from myself as well as the crowd, as the stage changed over for Cattle Decapitation. After an awesome night of metal, we were ready for the main event.

The band opened with "Terrasitic Adaptation," the opening track of Terrasite, and followed with the album's second and third tracks before switching gears to "Dead Set on Suicide" from their 2012 release, "Monolith of Inhumanity." The setlist drew primarily from Terrasite as well as Death Atlas. Coincidentally, these are the two albums most responsible for Cattle Decapitation's ranking on my Spotify Wrapped – I've been listening to them on repeat throughout the year. Seeing the songs live, however, is on another level.

With a "fuck yeah, Brooklyn!" from vocalist Travis Ryan thrown in between songs, the band left no moment unthrashed while the mosh pits and crowed surfers were in full force. Cattle Decap came, they tore it up, they left; but not before returning for an encore performance of "Kingdom of Tyrants." It was a fantastic set from start to finish.

THE SHOOT

Warsaw reopened a few months back after undergoing some renovations, and this was my first time there since the updates were made. The space looks great and I was excited to be back – it's not everywhere that you can enjoy death metal and pirogies under the same roof.

All in all, this was a low-stress shoot. The bands put a great deal of energy into their performances which always makes my job easier, and the compositions were coming naturally. For no reason other than it just not happening organically, I didn't do much in the realm of double exposures. Realizing this midway through Cattle Decap's set, I tried to start doing some but quickly decided to bail; I was happy with the regular photos I was getting anyway.

I recalled from last time shooting Cattle Decap that their stage lighting was frantic and I'd need to be dialed in to get my shots. While this time around was still dark and strobe-y, it felt much easier for me to get a variety of shots. I'm excited about a number of them, particularly a few of my shots of vocalist Travis Ryan. My photos from the band's show at Irving Plaza didn't output any "that's the one" shots of Ryan, whereas this time around I have a few that I really like. It's always a good feeling to get a shot that you dig, but it's an even greater feeling to get a shot that you dig of a band that you really dig as well.

With December now upon us, 2023 is winding down but we're not done just yet – coming up next is Meshuggah with In Flames and Whitechapel out on Long Island. A mind-blowing lineup at one of my favorite venues; I'm very much looking forward to it. See you there!