Cattle Decapitation: From Extinction To Evolution
Extreme metal comes in all shapes and sizes but there are few bands which have made such an earth shattering impact as CATTLE DECAPITATION. They have been paving their own path of gore and disgust for the human race for over two decades and like a fine wine continue to get better with age. 2012’s Monolith Of Inhumanity ushered in a new era for the band as they began to experiment with their sound, incorporating a variety of different elements which enabled them to broaden their musical palette. Frontman and founding member Travis Ryan was a particular catalyst for this evolution by introducing almost melodic vocal stylings into his expansive arsenal. With these changes came more responsibility to take care of his health and make suitable preparations for touring.
“I finally started doing warm ups when integrating different styles which actually sound a lot closer to singing rather than the standard death metal style vocals. Up until that point I’d just have a joint and a beer and that wouldn’t help anybody!” Jokes Travis. “We were on tour with SUFFOCATION and their sound guy showed me a technique which I’ve been doing ever since. It’s more challenging live as I’m doing six or seven vocal styles now. In the studio you are standing there in an air conditioned room with a lot of time on your hands to sit and perfect something. All the clean-ish melodic stuff that I do is always done first so there is no voice degradation. You want to get the best sound possible for an audio document which is going to outlive you after you’re dead.”
2019 brings the latest chapter in the series in the form of seventh full length release Death Atlas. An album which was devised from the most unlikely of sources. “I hate to say it but it all started from a merch design that I thought up. I then thought ‘you know what? this would be a great idea for an album cover!’. The album title popped into my head and I was like ‘that’s fucking it!’” declares Travis. “It all made sense, especially coming off the last record. My ideas usually start from one word, a sentence or an image of some sort and I’ll come back to them later to decide which ones are worth pursuing. If something grabs me when I’m listening to the music then I’ll go with that. This is the first time this have ever happened so easily. It’s always been something which has to have been really figured out and it was cool how it just kinda happened! I never expected it to lead to something so profound and something which could be expanded upon.”
Death Atlas marks the first instance in the bands history where they have recruited a second guitar player in Belisario Dimuzio who accompanies the newly enlisted Olivier Pinard on bass duties. Usually this kind of transitionary period can be unsettling for musicians but Travis if confident that this lineup is destined for great things.
“This is probably one of my favourite lineups we’ve ever had, maybe the best!” Travis says. “New blood always brings in a certain amount of hunger and that always helps with the song writing. It’s just been fantastic. Our writing process has never just been the result of one person. It’s always been a culmination of ideas. I don’t really write any of the riffs or anything but the vocals do play a big role in the song writing. When I go to pen lyrics and my parts I need to switch it up to make sure everything slots in. It was easily written and recorded. The recording process was the smoothest we’ve had in this band’s history. I’m a very impatient person and the whole time I’m thinking about the end product and wanting to be there to we can listen to it back. My favourite part of the process is editing and mixing and putting the songs in order to make sure they flow. That’s one of my favourite parts.”
This release more than ever has focused on providing some of most diverse and expansive material that the band have constructed to date. This was a decision that was not a spur of the moment impulse. “Years back we started integrating stuff that we personally like and listen to. It may sound strange but one big influence in this decision was European festivals, we started writing parts with those in mind.” he says. “Big open chords and open parts which display the feeling we get when we are at those festivals. We’ve always been very grind/death metal and that doesn’t necessarily translate well in a festival environment. Introducing more of these melodic elements, big grandiose sections has been something that we’re very happy with and we’re implementing much more emotion which I personally like. We’re not writing it to be accessible. The band is called CATTLE DECAPITATION! There is a ceiling to what we can do and we’d be crazy to think we could be on the mainstream stage. It just happens to be the sound that we like ends up being a little more accessible. There are moments of this record which people could misconstrue as ‘mainstreamy’ but it’s definitely not the case or something we’re actively going for but I love those parts! The last 20 minutes are an emotional powerhouse. The track Death Atlas is probably our finest moment. I’m really fucking happy with it.”
Death Atlas is out now via Metal Blade Records.
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