Cattle Decapitation exploded onto the scene in the late 90s and the early 2000s with a breed of socially conscious Death Metal that could be compared to Gojira but with a much more misanthropic and hostile perspective.
Their latest album Terrasite is very much a continuation of their Deathgrind sound and perspective about humanity’s constant assault on nature and the inevitable destruction of the planet and you can feel the bitter disdain throughout. This is an incredibly aggressive record that oozes contempt and while Gojira talks of fixing it before it’s too late, Cattle Decapitation all but literally states “We need to be eradicated”.
Travis Ryan continues to prove himself to be a monstrous vocalist who at times barely sounds human on tracks like ‘We Eat Our Young’. His screams and low growls give this primaeval effect as if he was some creature that existed separate from humanity and grew into this horrible abomination in the shadows. Even his clean vocals are unnerving on tracks like ‘Scourge of the Offspring’.
The drum work from Dave McGraw is punishing with some of the most intense double bass sections you’re likely to find this year, ‘The Storm Upstairs’ drum intro is so infectious and bombastic that it quickly becomes a focal point for an already highly progressive song with lots of twists and turns.
There’s an air of doom throughout the album, the slow-droning sections are also fantastically timed and make the more abrasive moments all the more effective. The ‘Insignificants’ and ‘The World Will Go On Without You’ have a bleak atmosphere about them, it’s as if each song depicts this gigantic battle for survival only to end with the realisation that there’s no hope and we’re all abandoned and left to die on this cursed Earth.
The absolute highlight of the album is the final track, ‘Just Another Body’, which starts out with this melancholy piano intro and shifts into this grinding leviathan that loudly demands you curb the self-important perspective that humans have worth as a species because you will ultimately become just another body, sustenance for a world you helped destroy.
The vivid imagery alone is enough to put this in the running as one of the best death metal songs of the 2020s but it’s the balance of impeccable musicianship, experimentation, blinding fury and futility that put it above all else. It could be a perfect album closer.
Cattle Decapitation is a band that can espouse a message that some would dismiss as preachy but deliver in a way that can make the listener think more deeply about the message. Besides the message, they have created something truly special. As of May 2023, this is my Album of the Year.
Terrasite is available now via Metal Blade Records.
