Cattle Decapitation

The history of Cattle Decapitation is an intriguing one on a personal level. All founding members of the band have long exited it, with one of them having done so in the year the band was formed, that is 1996. The last one to leave, Dave Astor (drummer), bid farewell to the rest of the guys before the release of the band’s third record. However, surprisingly, the shuffling in the lineup was never a problem for Cattle Decapitation. Although the group did start out as a deathgrind band without a clear message—the evidence of which can be found on their first demo, Ten Torments of the Damned—after the vocalist Travis Ryan joined their ranks, everything changed. Since then, their butchery has gained a strong ideological dimension, with their focus firmly on the issues of modern civilization — the destruction of the planet and the lack of respect for animal rights. 

Therefore, from their debut record onwards, Cattle Decapitation have remained on the message with the explicit loudness of their lyrics and their categorical and often controversial cover art. The first three albums released by the Americans were characterised by the brutal, at times even primitive, extreme bashing from the whereabouts of goregrind with some death metal tinges. With the 2004 album Humanure the band began to move more decidedly towards death metal and from Karma.Bloody.Karma onwards, they’ve started working in progressive elements. With such clear-cut foundations, the band’s style began to crystallize. The wider audience came to appreciate it especially at the heights of Monolith of Inhumanity, released in 2012, the elevation of which the San Diego band is yet to descend from. Their latest and most popular yet record is the 2023 album Terrasite.