Cattle Decapitation is an American deathgrind band formed in San Diego, California, in 1996. The band's current lineup includes vocalist Travis Ryan, guitarists Josh Elmore and Belisario Dimuzio, bassist Olivier Pinard, and drummer David McGraw. Since 2001, none of the founding members remain with the band. Despite not being in the original lineup, Ryan and Elmore are the only constant members on all of Cattle Decapitation's eight studio albums.
History
Cattle Decapitation was formed in 1996 by singer Scott Miller, guitarist Gabe Serbian, and drummer Dave Astor. [5] The band put out their first material in 1996 with a demo called Ten Torments of the Damned. Scott Miller left the band in circa 1997 and Travis Ryan joined the band. In 1999 their first EP Human Jerky was recorded and in 2000 their second EP Homovore was recorded. The two EPs were both recorded at Double Time Studios with recording engineer Jeff Forrest. Guitarist Gabe Serbian ended up leaving the band 2001 to focus on The Locust. Guitarist Josh Elmore and bassist Troy Oftedal joined the band right after.[citation needed]
Cattle Decapitation's first album To Serve Man came out in 2002 and saw controversy in Germany, where distribution company SPV refused to handle the album due to its graphic cover.[6] The cover of the 2004 album Humanure, featuring a cow excreting human remains, was reportedly censored without permission from the label in some outlets. Record store owners did not display the album, making it difficult for customers to find and buy it.[7]
Dave McGraw in 2018
In August 2009, Cattle Decapitation parted ways with long-time bassist Troy Oftedal because of "musical and personal differences".[8] Cattle Decapitation's album Monolith of Inhumanity was released in 2012. It received positive reviews upon release.[9][10]
The band spent the majority of 2014 writing The Anthropocene Extinction.[13] Alongside the announcement of the album title in May 2015, the band released the first song of the record, titled "Manufactured Extinct".[14] It was released through Metal Blade on August 7, 2015.[15]
On April 30, 2018, two Native American teens were pulled out of a Colorado State University tour by the police for being "too quiet" and wearing "dark clothing."[16] When the band found out that one of the brothers was wearing Cattle Decapitation T-shirts, they offered the brothers "free guest list spots for life."[17][18]
In August 2018, the band announced the addition of Cryptopsy bass player Olivier Pinard, as well as the promotion of touring rhythm guitarist Belisario Dimuzio to being a full time member,[19] thus making the group a five piece for the first time. The recording of the seventh studio album Death Atlas began in May 2019,[20] and was released on November 29, 2019.[21]
In November 2022, the band announced at a concert in Las Vegas that they planned on releasing a new album in May 2023. At the show, they played the new song "We Eat Our Young" from the upcoming, then unnamed album.[22]
The band released their eighth album, Terrasite, on May 12, 2023, which currently stands as their most popular album.[23]
Lyrical themes
Cattle Decapitation's songs protest the exploitation and consumption of animals, the abuse of the environment and subjects such as misanthropy and genocide of the human race. Much of the band's music is based on putting humans in the situations that animals are subjected to, for example animal testing, slaughter, etc. The band's lyrics are largely concerned with human impact on the environment, the ethics of eating meat and animal rights.
Ryan comments: "Josh and I are what you would call "vegetarian". We've tried and tried to be as up front about that as possible but the entire media world thinks we are hardline vegan, which in turn trickled down to fans and we're just not. I've been vegan at points but I try to be as correct as possible and point blank, there's times on tour where I just don't know if what I've been given to eat has eggs or dairy in it and the road is rather unfriendly to us. We aren't afforded the luxury of going to a Whole Foods at 3 am after a show. At that point it's fucking Taco Bell or something disgusting. You're driving down the road burning fossil fuels and your vehicle is covered in the carcasses of insects and sometimes birds and other animals. So how far does one take it? This is why I can't claim vegan. I live my life with as much compassion as I can for others, the environment and the animals though. At home it's much easier."[24]
Metal author and journalist Garry Sharpe-Young once acknowledged the band as "one of the few metal bands whose message hits as hard as their music".[6]
