Cattle Decapitation - Terrasite

Death Metal and Grindcore are two genres that go hand in hand. While Death Metal is a more aggressive and dirtier version of Thrash Metal, Grindcore can be considered as the logical conclusion of Hardcore Punk. Thrash Metal is also influenced by hardcore punk. So, both extreme playstyles were merged into one genre, which became known as Deathgrind. Cattle Decapitation from San Diego, California, is one of the most prestigious representatives of this subgenre and has released its tenth full album called Terrasite on May 12, 2023.

In 1996 the band was founded and their ultra-brutal deathgrind was initially still rather frowned upon and it is already evident that the band's beginnings were musically cumbersome. One aspect that has artistically distinguished them from the crowd since their foundation is the content of their lyrics. The initial band members are vegetarians and vegans, and the focus of the lyrics is on animal rights and environmental protection, with these issues being presented very explicitly and with a clearly identifiable misanthropy. Is the new album convincing or does Cattle Decapitation remain to be looked down at with a tired smile?

Cattle Decapitation - From Jokes to Pioneers

Before Terrasite is analysed in detail, we look at their previous work in a time lapse. With their first few albums, which, in addition to unclear production, could not record a uniform thread, Cattle Decapitation didn't exactly make themselves popular. Since the third album "To Serve Man", Cattle Decapitation has been signed with the prestigious label Metal Blade Records. Only after the third album, with works like "Humanure" and "Karma.Bloody. Karma' the band was able to demonstrate a qualitative quantum leap, even if not quite convincing yet.

When "Monolith Of Inhumanity" was released in 2011, everything changed suddenly and the band managed to integrate extremely untypical arrangements in a meaningful way while maintaining the hateful and uncomfortable basic tone for which they were already known. The predecessor "The Harvest Floor" already flirted with unorthodox ideas, but these could be refined in the follow-up work, in particular the strange quasi-clear vocals, which, despite melodious qualities, sound thoroughly tormented at the same time. This should lead to a completely new sound, which should make Cattle Decapitation a pioneer on this level.

Terrasite - the horror of human existence

Already the name in conjunction with the abominable cover artwork speaks volumes: The logical continuation of a parasite, a being, which exists primarily to seek out and get rid of host bodies, would be the terrasite. This rhetorical re-creation goes from micro - to macrocosm. A terrasite, which according to Cattle Decapitation is man himself, is a perishable state of being that taps into and sucks the entire earth dry.

On the cover is a destroyed ecosphere, in which a new form of life, the titular terrasite, rises from the peeled shell of its previous human countenance. This cover features strong body horror vibes, which Canadian director David Cronenberg made himself immortal in the film world. Even the facial expression of the newly created form of life tells of an unspeakable sadness about the fate on which humanity is currently on a collision course with. Hardly any other band can give humanity a reckoning as grotesquely and profoundly as Cattle Decapitation, but does its high-altitude flight last, or does Terrasite regress back to jokes?

The album begins with ominous sounds and dehumanized screams in the background, announcing the opener "Terrasitic Adaptation". These oppressive intro sounds are followed by quasi-orchestral sounds and Black Metal influenced guitars that evoke the impending, man-made apocalypse. In addition, inhumanly fast blast beats are lined up, which stand in a functional contrast to the rather rocky guitars.

Travis Ryan's brutal but multi-faceted voice, along with the insanely well-played instrumentalization, refreshes the Cattle Decapitation formula once again. Then comes the first single release "We Eat Our Young", in which the Black Metal-esque influences continue in the form of unyielding blasts and tremolo riffs. The song is amazingly groovy and comes to a brilliant and at the same time violent end, in which the song title is repeatedly roared ferociously. Lyrically, Cattle Decapitation stands out from the extreme metal world because it is a clear denunciation of modern humanity and its fatal consequences for the environment, the animal kingdom and especially for human coexistence itself, and this critique is poetically put into words.

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Cattle Decapitation - High art concealed behind apparent smut

The third track of the album, "Scourge Of The Offspring", gives the audience a new classic Cattle Decapitation chorus for the first time on the new record. This is characterized by the pairing of a melancholic basic mood, mainly generated by exceptional guitarist Josh Elmore, and the truly unique harsh yet clean vocals. Aggression and melancholy in one breath, and at this point it should be stressed that these "clear vocals" - passages by Travis Ryan have never been heard before in this way and haven´t been heard in any other way until now. At this point, an improvement of the songwriting of the previous album "Death Atlas" is evident, because there the same arrangement tactics were applied on each song, so that the overall work lacked much of an impact.

Then comes "The Insignificants", which turns out to be a rather typical Cattle Decapitation song, which easily changes pace. In the end, it becomes much more interesting again, because the initial orchestration returns and for the first time in the band's history, an actual clean vocal passage appears. They proclaim that humans are only animals that need to be eradicated.

"The Storm Upstairs" is up next, which brings the first half of the long player to an end. The second half of the album starts with "... And The World Will Go On Without You". This track travels even further back into the band's early days, symbolized by nasty slams. Bombastic arrangements that lead into another epic climax make track six another highlight of the record. "A Photic Doom", which includes one of the most lyrical highlights and opens up a nightmarish horror scenario.

Here is a world in which humanity has permanently darkened the sky and as a result, by solar radiation, finds death and eventual destruction. A horrible irony when the sun is the original source of life. The Black Metal elements are heard again through the next track "Dead End Residents", where even trumpets are used effectively to underline the apocalyptic grooves.

Hateful vulnerability

The last two tracks make the progressive part of Cattle Decapitation's band DNA rush up again. On "Solastalgia", for the first time in their career, a spoken word passage is used and the chorus goes under the skin. The last track is the ten-minute finale "Just Another Body", which starts with a depressing and bleak piano. Based on this piano-determined tone, the song rises into an infernal crescendo and explodes into one of the most epic Cattle Decapitation songs. All the aspects that have been present during Terrasite are brilliantly reused again and the runtime never seems to be inflated. Once again, as on track four, the chorus is performed with clear vocals and later coupled with the distinct shrill style.

Album conclusion

Terrasite is another win in the versatile discography of Cattle Decapitation. The unusual choruses are used more thoughtfully again, and the excellent lyrics create deep chills over the entire body of the audience. The only shortcoming would be the barely existent bass, yet Cattle Decapitation have found their formula since "Monolith Of Inhumanity" and expanded progressively, with occasional hiccups. It is a band with a clear musical and lyrical identity of their own, and with their hateful world view, Cattle Decapitation stick out from the broad crowd. Hardly any other band can use their music so bluntly to highlight the horror of human existence with its accompanying social and environmental effects.

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