Album Review : Cattle Decapitation - Terrasite (2023)
American deathgrind legends Cattle Decapitation have reached a level of popularity and relevance most extreme metal bands don’t even dare dreaming about. Their creative integrity, brutality and craftsmanship made them one of the most respected bands of their generation. But they’re reached a point in their career where they know who they are and what type of music their audience expects and it's a tricky spot to be in for any artist. At that point, it becomes really easy to record the same album over and over.
On their new record Terrasite, Cattle Decapitation managed to balance their trademark fierceness with enough out of the box ideas to add another layer to their already compelling legacy.
The elements that make Cattle Decapitation such a unique band are distilled to their purest essence on Terrasite. Namely the grandiose, cinematic delivery of their songs. It's something that few other death metal bands have or even care about. While others are usually obsessing over technicality and/or brutality, Cattle Decap incorporate these two elements to a grander, more ambitious end-of-the-world narrative. It was also present on Death Atlas through electronic interludes, which were a hit and miss with fans.
The difference between Death Atlas and Terrasite lies in the minimalist setup the band used to create atmosphere. There’s little to know electronics involved. A little keyboard here and there, including on the opener Terrasitic Adaptation, but otherwise Cattle Decapitation just plays different. With a frontman like Travis Ryan who can hit such a large range of interpretation, the band explores many storytelling nuances that are just inaccessible to others and it all starts with the explosive Terrasitic Adaptation.
Discordant piano drenched in reverb, a swelling keyboard, a clean guitar riff played in minor key. This dramatic setup leaves places to a tidal wave of blast beats and high pitch screeches that wasn’t unlike the start of The Geocide, the opener from Death Atlas. Terrasitic Adaptation is straightforward, but it’s commanding. It shocks you into the mindset you need to be in when you’re listening to a Cattle Decapitation record. It also segues into the absolute planet crushing monster that is We Eat Our Young.
What a song, seriously. It’s one of the best thing Cattle Decapitation has ever recorded in my opinion. Alternating between breakneck brutality and groovy, chugging riffs that follow along Travis Ryan’s fatalistic narration, it opens up into an atmospheric tremolo picking interlude halfway through before the obliterating finale. What is up with Ryan being so good and convincing when he's repeating the same line over and over again? It will make you hurl "WE EAT OUR YOOOUNG" out of context for hours.
Scourge of the Offspring was the second pre-release single from Terrasite. It's a solid song too, but its more complex and intellectual nature makes it look a little pale I thought in comparison to the emotional shock therapy I just went through. It still has a catchy chorus when Travis Ryan uses his goblin vocals in a more emotional fashion than he usually does and a percussive drumming performance from David McGraw, but I was not ready for such a change in emotional registry. I never am with any listens.
Fortunately, the two following songs The Insignificants and The Storm Upstairs picks up the unwavering brutality. The former is chuggy, groovy (almost slammy number at times) where Ryan explores the lower nuances of his vocal range including some awesome gurgles. The latter is one of my favorite songs on the record. It’s one of the most dramatic and energetic tracks on Terrasite, but it has a lot of space to breath you can hear and feel the torment in every note played. The gap between anger and despair.
By slowing down the riffs-per-minute, it also highlights the pounding performances from David McGraw and Olivier Pinard who really command the tempo of this song.
…and the world will go on without you is a bitter, cynical number packed with blast beats and displaying what is perhaps one of the most impressive performances by Travis Ryan. It goes from angry to heartbroken where Ryan performs another beautiful, surprisingly emotional chorus about the futility of ego. It’s another piece that’s more cerebral, but it's a grower. Cattle Decapitation obviously appeals to angry people, but they are one of the rare bands who do a great job at addressing where this anger comes from.
The third single A Photic Doom was one of my least favorite songs on Terrasite. Same goes with Dead End Residents. They’re more straightforwardly death metal than the others. They’re not bad songs by any means, but they lack the powerful identity other numbers have on such a strong record. A Photic Doom is the better of the two and has a this breakdown-like part in the middle that is fun and stands on its own. Dead End Residents is a more atmospheric piece that faces a little bit of ear fatigue at this point.
The penultimate song on Terrasite Solastalgia more than makes up for it, though. Once again, what a song. Josh Elmore and Belisaro Dimuzio play very different riffs on it. One is chuggy and dirty, the other is clean and brittle, creating such a unique and dynamic atmosphere. Travis Ryan growls a super dramatic, heartbroken : "WHAT THE FUCK DID WE DO? WHAT THE FUCK DID WE THINK WE COULD PROVE?" halfway through that highlights the proper emotional tone of the song. It's another grower.
Just Another Body is… well, it's different. I appreciate what they were trying to do here and they definitely earned the right to experiment a little. The only criticism I would have with this song is that they don't commit to it enough. It's very much a deathgrind song that veers into black and doom metal. If you want to go doom, just go doom guys. You've earned it. Just Another Body is a pile of ideas but nothing precise or cutting, which are important variables to upkeep when you're a precise and cutting band.
*
Terrasite is very much up there with The Anthropocene Extinction and Death Atlas among Cattle Decapitation’s best records. It’s a nasty, cutting and dramatic record filled with repulsion towards mankind and apocalyptic fatalism. We Eat Our Young and Solastalgia are two of the best songs the band has ever put together. It's powerful, original and bolsters the creative integrity that make Cattle Decapitation’s renown. It is their best yet? Too soon to say, but I fucking love this record.
