Long-running San Diego, California-based deathgrind summoners CATTLE DECAPITATION will release their tenth studio album, Terrasite, May 12 via Metal Blade Records, today unveiling the record’s first single, “We Eat Our Young.” Watch the video created by Dave Brodsky and Allison Woest of MyGoodEye below.
Though many bands have tried, no one articulates the real apocalypse humanity is facing as vividly and succinctly as CATTLE DECAPITATION. With 2019’s Death Atlas, they reached the apex of this, perhaps leading some to believe they had no place left to go beyond such an achievement, but alas, they return with Terrasite, which is as bold a statement as they have ever made.
“After a record like Death Atlas, you have to make a turn,” notes guitarist Josh Elmore. “Everything about that album – the concept, artwork, music, etc, was a final statement. The only way to move forward is rebirth. In approaching the newest record, it was not only necessary to keep the musical trajectory the band has been aiming towards since the beginning, but also to further explore the ambient/textural elements that were part of Death Atlas.”
As such, Terrasite pushes their sound further into more epic and varied territory, and in the hands of vocalist Travis Ryan the governing concept takes a new and disturbing direction. “I wanted to do the 180° opposite of Death Atlas. I already had the concept idea from years back and since Death Atlas was so dark and brooding, I wanted a completely opposite effect – I wanted this to take place in the daylight. I’ve always found daytime horror to be really unsettling so I wanted to make sure what was going on on the cover took place in the light of day, which also finds its place within the lyrics.”
The title is a word invented by Ryan that brings together “Terra-” meaning “earth” and “-site” derived from the Greek word “-sitos” which means “food.” “The combination of the two means ‘earth-eater.’ It’s a metaphor for humanity’s role in the destruction of the planet and is a play-on-words of the very fitting word ‘parasite.'”
This is vividly brought to life in the artwork by longtime collaborator Wes Benscoter (Vader, Kreator, Bloodbath, Hypocrisy). “We see the nymph stage of this human/cockroach hybrid that is more of a fully grown being that has just molted from its ootheca stage, startled, confused, frightened but also pissed off.
The band once again worked with producer Dave Otero (Cephalic Carnage, Allegaeon), who knows the members’ individual styles and how to coax the best out of them, bringing in Tony Parker of Midnight Odyssey to handle piano and synths.
