Cattle Decapitation
Cattle Decapitation is an American deathgrind band from San Diego, California, formed in 1996. The band's current lineup includes vocalist Travis Ryan, guitarists Josh Elmore and Belisario Dimuzio, bassist Olivier Pinard, and drummer David McGraw. Cattle Decapitation have released eight albums, the most recent being Death Atlas, which was released on Black Friday 2019 (November 29).[5]
Cattle Decapitation | |
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Cattle Decapitation in 2016 | |
Background information | |
Origin | San Diego, California, United States |
Genres | |
Years active | 1996 | –present
Labels |
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Associated acts | |
Website | cattledecapitation |
Members |
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Past members |
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History
Founded in 1996, Cattle Decapitation's songs protest the mistreatment and consumption of animals, the abuse of the environment and touch 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. While the band started with an entirely vegetarian lineup, only two current members are vegetarian, namely Travis Ryan and Josh Elmore.[6][7]
The 2002 album To Serve Man saw controversy in Germany, where distribution company SPV refused to handle the album due to its graphic cover.[8] 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.[9]
Former member Gabe Serbian is a member of the band The Locust.[10] 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".[8] In August 2009, Cattle Decapitation parted ways with long-time bassist Troy Oftedal because of "musical and personal differences".[11] Cattle Decapitation's album Monolith of Inhumanity was released in 2012. It received positive reviews upon release.[12][13]
Cattle Decapitation has toured with extreme metal acts including Suffocation, Cryptopsy, The Black Dahlia Murder, Deicide, Behemoth, Hate Eternal, Krisiun and Job for a Cowboy.[14] The band also participated in Metal Blade Record's Scion A/V Showcase in late 2012.[15]
The band spent the majority of 2014 writing a new record.[16] The tracking for the album was announced to have been completed on February 14, 2015. On May 20, 2015, Cattle Decapitation announced the title of the new record was The Anthropocene Extinction. Alongside this announcement the band released the first song of the record, titled "Manufactured Extinct".[17] It was released through Metal Blade Records on August 7, 2015.[18]
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."[19] 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."[20][21]
In August of 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,[22] thus making the group a five piece for the first time. The recording of the seventh studio album Death Atlas began in May 2019, and was released November 2019.[23]
Lyrical themes
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]
Members
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Timeline
Discography
Cattle Decapitation discography | |
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Studio albums | 9 |
Music videos | 8 |
EPs | 2 |
Split albums | 1 |
Demos | 1 |
Studio albums
Year | Album details | Peak chart positions | ||||||||||||
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US Heat. [25] |
US Indie. [26] |
US Hard Rock [27] |
US Billboard 200 [28] |
GER [29] | ||||||||||
2000 | Homovore
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— | — | — | — | — | ||||||||
2002 | To Serve Man
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— | — | — | — | — | ||||||||
2004 | Humanure
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— | — | — | — | — | ||||||||
2006 | Karma.Bloody.Karma
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— | — | — | — | — | ||||||||
2009 | The Harvest Floor
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16 | — | — | — | — | ||||||||
2012 | Monolith of Inhumanity
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6 | 32 | 18 | — | — | ||||||||
2015 | The Anthropocene Extinction
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— | 5 | 5 | 100 | 88 | ||||||||
2019 | Death Atlas
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— | — | 3 | 116 | 56 | ||||||||
"—" denotes a recording that did not chart. |
Compilation albums
- Medium Rarities (2018)[30]
EPs
Year | Album details |
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1999 | Human Jerky
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2000 | ¡Decapitacion!
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Split albums
Year | Album details |
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2005 | Cattle Decapitation / Caninus
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Demos
Year | Album details |
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1996 | Ten Torments of the Damned
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Music videos
Year | Title | Album | Director(s) |
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2002 | "To Serve Man" | To Serve Man | Brett Herpich |
2004 | "Reduced to Paste" | Humanure | N/A |
2009 | "Regret and the Grave" | The Harvest Floor | Gary Smithson |
"A Body Farm" | N/A | ||
2012 | "Kingdom of Tyrants" | Monolith of Inhumanity | Mitch Massie |
"Forced Gender Reassignment" | |||
2013 | "Your Disposal" | ||
2016 | "Clandestine Ways (Krokodil Rot)" | The Anthropocene Extinction | |
2017 | "The Prophets of Loss" | Paul McGuire | |
2020 | "Bring Back the Plague" | Death Atlas | N/A |
References
- Andy Hermann.Seeing Cattle Decapitation at Los Globos Just Made Me a Deathgrind Fan. LA Weekly. January 6, 2015.
- Bayer, Gerd, Heavy Metal Music in Britain (Ashgate Publishing, 2013), p.60.
- "Staff Review: Cattle Decapitation – The Anthropocene Extinction | Sputnikmusic". SputnikMusic. August 12, 2015. Retrieved February 23, 2019.
- Cattle Decapitation at AllMusic
- Cattle Decapitation to Release New Album Death Atlas on the Most Metal of Release Dates | MetalSucks, 2019-07-12, retrieved 2019-10-23
- "Cattle Decapitation: vegetarian death metal". NUVO. Retrieved 3 January 2015.
- Matt, Metal (6 July 2012). "CATTLE DECAPITATION'S TRAVIS RYAN: THE METALSUCKS INTERVIEW".
- Metal: The Definitive Guide, page 169
- Sanford, Jay Allen (November 19, 2008). "Cattle Decapitation Veggie Burgers, plus History of San Diego Music Parts 1 thru 7". www.sandiegoreader.com. San Diego Reader. Retrieved December 9, 2008.
- metalweb interview Archived 2008-07-23 at the Wayback Machine
- "Cattle Decapitation Parts Ways With Bassist, Announces Replacement - Blabbermouth.net". BLABBERMOUTH.NET. Archived from the original on August 16, 2009. Retrieved January 3, 2015.
- "Review: Cattle Decapitation – Monolith of Inhumanity". Archived from the original on 2014-01-01. Retrieved January 3, 2015.
- "Cattle Decapitation – "Monolith of Inhumanity" Album Review – Thrash Magazine". Retrieved January 3, 2015.
- "JOB FOR A COWBOY announce headlining tour with CATTLE DECAPITATION & WHITECHAPEL – Metal Injection". 1 March 2010.
- "SIX FEET UNDER, CATTLE DECAPITATION And More Confirmed For Scion A/V Label Showcase". bravewords.com. Retrieved January 3, 2015.
- "Cattle Decapitation – Writing Material For New Album – Metal Storm".
- Staff writer(s); no by-line. (May 20, 2015). "CATTLE DECAPITATION to release The Anthropocene Extinction this August via Metal Blade Records". www.metalblade.com. Metal Blade Records. Retrieved May 21, 2015.
- "PHILIP ANSELMO To Guest On New CATTLE DECAPITATION Album". 20 May 2015.
- "Safety | Colorado State University". archive.is. 2018-05-05. Archived from the original on 2018-05-05. Retrieved 2018-05-05.
- Swenson, Kyle (2018-05-04). "Two Native American brothers were touring a Colo. college when a parent called police. They say it was racial profiling". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2018-05-05.
- "(4) Cattle Decapitation – Posts". archive.is. 2018-05-05. Archived from the original on 2018-05-05. Retrieved 2018-05-05.
- "Cattle Decapitation announces new band members | Metal Blade Records". Retrieved 2019-10-23.
- CATTLE DECAPITATION TO BEGIN RECORDING EIGHTH STUDIO ALBUM. loudwire.com. GRAHAM HARTMANN. March 25, 2019.
- INTERVIEW: TRAVIS RYAN OF CATTLE DECAPITATION. July 22, 2015. moshville.co.uk
- "Cattle Decapitation – Chart History". Billboard. Retrieved May 20, 2015.
- "Cattle Decapitation – Chart History". Billboard. Retrieved May 20, 2015.
- "Cattle Decapitation – Chart History". Billboard. Retrieved May 20, 2015.
- "Cattle Decapitation – Chart History". Billboard. Retrieved May 20, 2015.
- "Discographie Cattle Decapitation". GfK Entertainment. Retrieved April 13, 2019.
- Andrew Sacher (September 20, 2018). "Long-rumored Cattle Decapitation Rarities Compilation Finally Coming This Fall". BrooklynVegan. Retrieved September 20, 2018.
External links
Media related to Cattle Decapitation at Wikimedia Commons - Official website
- Cattle Decapitation at Metal Blade
- Cattle Decapitation at AllMusic