Album Review // 2023-05-09

Cattle Decapitation

Terrasite

Released: 2023-05-12

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This album carries a lot of weight; it is, in fact, dedicated to Gabe Serbian, who was a founding member of this band. The news of his death, as well as Travis Strnad's death, hit the band hard. For Travis Ryan, the song Just Another Body, specifically, came to be from this dark place.

The band said Terrasite needed to be a 180 from Death Atlas. The concept had been here since Death Atlas, but this album was going to be Cattle Decapitation rebirthed.

The name, Cattle Decapitation, makes a gory statement. It incites visions of brutality. I remember seeing album artwork, such as for Human Jerky and Humanure, for this band that turned me off! I came into this review only hearing a few songs by them.

As I wrapped up this journey through suffering and pain depicted through this music, the timing was crushing. My pet rat, which I have only had just over a month, is dying. And of course, being the melancholy person I am, it made me think of the many people and animals in this world that are suffering at any given moment. When you think about it, this world is full of heartbreak. This material is going to hurt to listen to in the future. It has been seared with this time into my brain.

Here are my thoughts on this album.

Album Art

The album art is... album art. I know it impresses many people. The band has described the terrasite being depicted as a cross between a human and a cockroach that is supposed to be in its nymph stage. Very unsurprisingly this would be considered an immature form. And the reality is a lot of nymphs change stages and don't look or act anything like they did in the previous stage. This one has an awful look of disdain and fear. The band feels this fits right in with the name of the album which, to them, translates to earth eater. The remains crushed underneath also add to this idea of the destruction. This terrasite is standing overtop, looking very guilty, but driven. The band says this to point out the way we destroy the planet as humans. Not something I would personally frame to admire, but it has a purpose behind it.

Mood

I actually came into this album thinking it was going to be an extreme example of people trying to push their agenda. I am a vegetarian (not vegan), but I have never been a fan of pushing my thoughts on others. I heard that this band was out to push veganism. I had seen the blatant artwork. But I was pleasantly surprised and had to eat my own thoughts with the lyrics and atmosphere created on this album. 

As I think of the mood, pictures come to my mind, as usual. A bit of noise that sounds like a group of terrasites and something clanging in the background making you think there are likely more of them, and maybe scavenging through trash cans. It does give you that wasteland, no place to hide, deserted vibe. There is a feeling of danger and death around the corner.

I am sitting outside and the sunshine has come out. I can hear bugs buzzing and it reminds me of what the band said: this is meant to be a daytime horror. But I have to say, it seemed thoughtful, not just horror for the sake of horror. A realistic kind of horror.

Vocals

This vocal style is all over the place, and I know for some the amount of variance isn't preferred. Personally, I think the variety stays in the impressive category, but I am not a huge fan of the high-singing voice. The singing reminds me of the Bee Gees on crack. I don't understand the draw to want to sound like this, though I realize it is one of their defining features. I doubt that this is what naturally came out when Travis started singing. It took a lot of work to perfect this style. And let's face it - not everyone sounds like this, so it makes them unique. I do really like the lower singing; it is quite chill. The singing does bring an edge of anguish. The high-pitched screams were also not my first choice, but it worked and is not that surprising for this style. The growl is my favourite technique used on this album. I am glad they chose to lay off the pig squeals for this album. I had heard a song made up of entirely pig squeals they did previously.

Music

I suppose in a way I was just expecting straight-up death metal here, but I have to say, the layout of these songs shows these people are seasoned at writing music. I do like that there is shifting throughout the album, leaning one way to another, but still staying focused on a track. There are moments for each instrument to shine. From the doomy opening lines, to the fast-paced drumming that knows when to slow down, to emotional guitar riffs, these songs feel more polished than I expected. Background sounds and guitar effects add to the feeling like you are watching a movie from the apocalypse. Many of these choruses are quite memorable. I have had the entire album stuck in my head.

Lyrics

I did my best to hear the lyrics on this album, but I will correct them if need be, once the lyrics have been released in full.

Terrasitic Adaptation

I think this is about the adaptation and changes the nymph goes through, and ultimately, we are the nymph. We are changing to adapt, to not think and do things that are hurtful, selfish, and not intelligent. 

I strive to change, but in positive ways. I want to learn. But I totally get where this is coming from. Even when we try, we all do suck as humans. We are imperfect.

Driving my poison is a secret 
your far successful, terrasite
You make one, you make another
your never nervous, end in sight
so far adaptation for violation of all the life
you polluted you much polluted

We Eat Our Young

The reality is that many animals eat their young, or have to fend off other cannibals of their species. The choices we make and ways that we focus on ourselves, as humans, lead to taking from instead of nurturing each other. This is a world that can't be trusted and we must protect ourselves.

Homo sapiens have made it perfectly clear
We can't control ourselves
Living a life perfectly fine with blindly multiplying
Conscious of ruination coursing through our own bloodlines

Who even are we?
What is our endgame?
What's with this army that survived when "the end" came?
Ah! The fleshy architеct!
Bold in design but fucking out of its mind
With self-indulgencе and a self-worship
Birthing in stifling numbers as the planet worsens

Scourge of the Offspring

How many times have we not thought of how we would impact others by our actions? How many times have we chosen to just not care? How often do we choose to do something that builds instead of destroys? This song does a good job of using the image of a terrasite infestation as something that causes death and destruction and doesn't look back.

We came to destroy
We're alive to cause abject suffering
The troops are deployed
Ultimately, unanimously outnumbering
Live to feast upon everything
Feed to dilapidate our surroundings
Enveloped by kindred societies
Evil, corrupt heterogeneities
From the pupa to a nymph
Molting each stage of our lives 'til cold and stiff
Now thriving terrasites, dramatic shift
Now as a parasite humanity persists

The Insignificants

Again here we are reminded of how we sink into our nature. We can't trust others, and often we can't even trust ourselves.

Just when they're judging
a creature completely critiquing
accept this completely terratistic ........ legion
This is what's written 
This is what humans are
Insignificant imbasols
It's written in the sea of stars

We have always been the violence It has always been in silence
The human is an animal
Forgive us
Never trust

The Storm Upstairs

It makes you think about what you are bringing children into. The world certainly hasn't gotten more compassionate or loving. This song goes so far as to say that the world should be euthanized.

What a time to be alive when you realize life is what you despise
You stand for beautiful, you stand for .....
First, talk about the ........
On the edge of cynical
It is longing for euthanasia, in desperation

...and the World Will Go On Without You

This title makes me think of a few conversations I have had in my life. I told a person the reality was, that if I was gone tomorrow they would move on and find another friend, find another person to replace me, and they agreed. They weren't being rude, just real. The wheel continues to turn and nothing is stopping it. 

I think it means I should try my best while I am here.

Every human shame and hate
spark the hate for your mistake
And the world will go on without you

Every human's banishment
Nightmare starts when you are awake
And the world will go on without you

Every human will forsake
Their own logic their own fate
And the world will go on without you

A Photic Doom

I struggled to make out the lyrics in this one, but I think the title says a lot. It speaks to the idea of what life needs and what it isn't getting. In many cases, it is barely surviving.

Dessecration, I guess it does console the day
I don't have any control 
begin or waste the load
no sign of life

Dead End Residents

This is the valid thought that we strive for stuff in life that doesn't help and can't be taken with us.

Falling into this new world
Screaming into an open void
another opportunist voracious undying
they just keep coming
dead end residents

Just look around, the time to die is now
The final trumpet sounds
Now you 
Just look around, society is undone
No time to touch now
No one to wear the crown

Solastalgia

 A well-thought-out name, referring to changes in your home environment such as the impact of a fire. On a lower scale, we are living change all the time and not taking notice of the impact. Because we are so focused on the here and now, we aren't motivated to make positive changes. I think this song is about negative changes because of an idle attitude.

Your eyes are the only future
Your clutching, fading and falling apart
watching the world you know disintegrate
Catch fire, your situation already dire
Consequences you fulfill from two centuries past
Our world has finished, expired
Two more nights, we are banished inside the living

Just Another Body

I think this title, and each time I hear it in the song, is very impactful. Imagine seeing a body and not caring who it is, what its story is, how they died. It speaks of death and destruction that is so intense that the bodies are piling up. And obviously an incredibly personal one for Travis.

I am just a body
alike I am rotting
a storm of flies
that hides behind his eyes
I am just a body
lightly

remembering the crime that is our lives
reflection of a time where all was left behind

Playlist Picks

This album is definitely a whole package. The artwork, music, and lyrics all come together to paint a very sad picture.

Terrasitic Adaptation will make it to my list because it is forever in my head, and I think it was a great way to open this album up.

The Insignificants will make it to my playlist. It has the right amount of variance to keep me interested.