{"id":6562,"date":"2012-05-30T00:00:12","date_gmt":"2012-05-30T00:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=6562"},"modified":"2012-10-18T13:57:07","modified_gmt":"2012-10-18T13:57:07","slug":"feature-cattle-decapitation-05-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/feature-cattle-decapitation-05-12\/","title":{"rendered":"CATTLE DECAPITATION – The Monolith (May 2012) | Features \/ Interviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

CATTLE DECAPITATION – The Monolith<\/strong><\/span>
\nAnthony Morgan<\/span>
\nMay 2012<\/span><\/p>\n

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Cattle Decapitation (l-r): Josh Elmore, Dave McGraw, Derek Engemann and
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From late September until early November 2010, San Diego, California-based death metallers Cattle Decapitation toured across North America as part of the California Blood tour package, pairing the outfit with supports like Dallas, Texas-based death metallers Devourment. Following the conclusion of the California Blood tour package, Cattle Decapitation convened at their rehearsal space in National City, California to begin authoring compositions to form a seventh studio full-length effort. All of 2011 was dedicated towards the writing process.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe usually get this stuff done in like fix to six months,\u201d muses Travis Ryan, vocalist for Cattle Decapitation. \u201cThis one took awhile because we all had pretty hectic work schedules, and we all have real jobs and shit. It was kind of a pain in the ass, but the outcome was really good. We wanted to try something different this time, so we went with Dave Otero in Colorado. That was the only drag, having to leave home without pay for awhile and go to Colorado to do this. It was in the middle of winter too, and one of the colder spots of the United States. There were many days where we were snowed in, and had to stay cramped in this little apartment attached to the studio. It was kind of fun, but I realised that the only thing worse than being in a van with four dudes for a month is living in an apartment with four dudes for a month (laughs). It was kind of challenging, but the record came out so fucking close to what we wanted that everything went really well.\u201d<\/p>\n

The resultant album \u2013 May 2012\u2019s Monolith Of Inhumanity<\/em><\/a> \u2013 was cut from January until February at Flatline Audio in Denver, Colorado with aforementioned producer Dave Otero. Cattle Decapitation\u2019s Denver sojourn strengthened concentration levels. \u201cBig time,\u201d the frontman reckons. \u201cWe were with a new guy, so we didn\u2019t really know what to expect. We went in there extremely focused, and the same with him. He just would not stop talking about how well prepared we were compared to most bands that he deals with. I guess we were one of the most prepared bands he\u2019s ever had in his studio (laughs), so that helped a lot. It helped expedite things a lot, and we were able to focus. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere was fucking hardly any internet connection at the time, so we were able to just sit, listen to our mixes, and work on stuff. I actually went in there with one song worth of lyrics, and they weren\u2019t even finished. That\u2019s the first time I\u2019ve ever done that. I\u2019ve always been extremely way more prepared than that, but this time I wasn\u2019t. I actually had one set of lyrics, and that actually ended up being one of the better songs. That first week I was able to go in there and knock it out, and everything just came out way better than we thought it would.\u201d<\/p>\n

Working with Dave Otero was a positive experience. \u201cIt was awesome because he\u2019s got the best set up I\u2019ve ever seen for bands that wanna come in, especially from out of town,\u201d Travis enthuses. \u201cThat\u2019s funny, because he usually only records bands from there in Denver. I don\u2019t know how many he\u2019s really done outside of Denver, but he\u2019s got the perfect set up for international or bands from elsewhere in the States. His studio is attached to a house which is attached to an apartment, which all the bands stay at. We were able to stay there for the whole month \u2013 five weeks, or whatever it took \u2013 so that was a big bonus. On top of that, it\u2019s weird that he mainly does local bands. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the probably first time where we had somebody who really sat there and coached us, like a producer should. We\u2019ve always gone in trying to be co-producers of the records, but this time we just laid it in his lap and said \u2018Work your magic.\u2019 We\u2019ve seen what he can do for other bands. He\u2019s done the whole Cephalic Carnage discography pretty much except for one album, I believe. They\u2019ve always said nothing but good things about him, and have always told us about how we should go with him. The one good thing about him was his drive to record us was really high. He always would tell people \u2018If only I could get my hands on these guys, I could work wonders.\u2019 That\u2019s the kind of mindset we want a producer to have going into it, and I think that really helped a lot as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cHe got right in there, man,\u201d the singer continues. \u201cHe pulled the best performances out of us, and there\u2019s times where he threw in his two cents for changing riffs or almost even rewriting parts. There\u2019s a few things we just didn\u2019t have a firm grasp on going in there just because, like I said, we barely had any time to write the damn thing. We had plenty of time, but with our conflicting work schedules it made it much harder. We felt we were going in there way more unprepared than he felt we were; he thought we were the most prepared band he\u2019s ever seen, whereas we thought we were going in there a little half-cocked. The studio always turns things around though, for me at least. It always changes everything, and for the better too. <\/p>\n

\u201cWith this record and the last record, there\u2019d be songs where I was like \u2018I\u2019m not sure. I don\u2019t know about this part\u2019 or or \u2018I don\u2019t know about this line or this riff.\u2019 Then we\u2019d get in the studio and everything would change, and my perception of it would totally change. This one was really no different. I love hearing the finished product, but I hate recording \u2013 it bugs me. I hate tracking and I hate the boredom, but I love hearing the end result. One of my favourite parts is hearing everything together and hearing the songs as an album, the way they should be heard. This record and the last record I felt are the most put together albums, where there\u2019s an actual flow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Christening Monolith Of Inhumanity<\/em> was a more difficult process than naming past Cattle Decapitation efforts. \u201cI spent the last few years wondering what the hell I was gonna do,\u201d Travis confesses. \u201cWith the last few albums, I\u2019ve had the title a couple of years before they even came out. I usually come up with all that stuff way in advance, and this was the first one where I didn\u2019t really have anything. I was just kind of waiting for a spark or something to pop into my head, but there just wasn\u2019t much coming. I was writing lyrics. I had a couple of ideas, but nothing was really sitting well and that was the thing. I actually did have ideas and they were kind of cool and stuff, but I needed that one \u2018Oh shit, that\u2019s it. That\u2019s the one.\u2019 It wasn\u2019t happening for a while. What I like to do is play on themes or words or whatever that were brought up on the previous albums. On The Harvest Floor<\/em><\/a> (January 2009) there was mention of a monolith, and in the song \u2018The Monolith\u2019 it\u2019s basically a metaphor for technological advances by our species. I started to think \u2018That\u2019s a lot like 2001: A Space Odyssey<\/em> (1968). What if we did something that was almost that same idea from that film, but thousands or millions of years later? Here we are, and the monolith still stands.\u2019 <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a metaphor for humans\u2019 unwavering destructive attitude and force, how destructive we are. It\u2019s also a metaphor for our technological advancement. What you see on the cover is people devolving in front of your eyes, reverting back to apes. It was a quick way to get that idea across I felt. I gave that idea to Wes Benscoter the artist, and he really liked the idea. These concept ideas are sometimes hard to make readable on the cover, where anybody can look at it and go \u2018Oh, I see what you did there.\u2019 This one was a little more of a challenge, but I think he nailed it. I love the guy. He\u2019s an amazing artist; it just so happens that he\u2019s designed the artwork for all of our records, and is our guy. That\u2019s pretty much the concept of the record.<\/p>\n

\u201cSongs that point to that would be the last song \u2018Kingdom Of Tyrants\u2019. There\u2019s also a glorified intro I guess you could say that is right before that song called \u2018The Monolith\u2019. Those lyrics deal a lot with basically what\u2019s on the cover, and definitely the opening track \u2018The Carbon Stampede\u2019. I kind of did that on purpose to where the opener, closer, and everything in between is kind of the meat of it. With every record I do this thing where there\u2019ll be a few songs that deal with whatever\u2019s going on on the cover. We don\u2019t really do concept records. To me concept records have a flow, and tell a story. They\u2019re like a book like King Diamond and maybe even Iron Maiden, but mostly King Diamond. I probably do a little more of what Iron Maiden does, which is there\u2019ll be a song or two relating to what\u2019s on the cover and in the layout. Then the rest of the stuff will just be random ideas \u2013 random thoughts \u2013 just thrown in there with everything else really.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThere\u2019s a couple of sequels to previous tracks from years ago on the album, for example. I always liked how Carcass would do sequels to their songs; they did a couple of those and I always liked that idea, maybe lyrically doing sequels to older tracks. The song \u2018Projective Ovulation\u2019 is a sequel to the song \u2018Bukkake Tsunami\u2019 from the album Humanure<\/em> (June 2004). \u2018Bukkake Tsunami\u2019 dealt more with sperm whereas this one deals with the human ovum, the female egg. It\u2019s in relation to over-population. Then there\u2019s another song which we recently released called \u2018A Living, Breathing Piece Of Defecating Meat\u2019, and that is sort of a sequel to the song \u2018Gestation Of Smegma\u2019 from the EP Human Jerky<\/em> (1999). That was a song about an extremely, brutally deformed life form. I wouldn\u2019t call it human, but it\u2019s made up of cells. Now the thing is all grown up, and needs to be an adult now. I go all over the place. There\u2019s all sorts of stuff for people on these records. I like to mix it up.\u201d<\/p>\n

In discussing Monolith Of Inhumanity<\/em>, the mainman stated that Cattle Decapitation has always attempted to \u2018break the mould of what\u2019s acceptable\u2019 and \u2018push those boundaries further.\u2019 \u201cMore like what\u2019s acceptable in extreme music, be it death metal or black metal or whatever the fuck people call it,\u201d he clarifies. \u201cThere seems to be a formula that people have to stick to, and if they don\u2019t they\u2019re pigeonholed into some sort of subgenre. We just kind of want to do our own thing, and I think that for one thing doesn\u2019t seem to be very accepted. Unfortunately it just seems to me the general public needs things spoon fed to them; they need a face put on whatever the hell is in front of them. They need an explanation, and they lack all senses of irony. They need to be spoon fed, and we\u2019re trying to sort of break that I guess by a lot of juxtaposition of different genres. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere are some sort of… people are calling them clean vocals, but I don\u2019t think we even refer to them as that in the studio. It\u2019s just melodic highs is what I call them (laughs). They\u2019re still raspy and still screechy though, and there\u2019s a tonality to them and melody in there. That\u2019s actually something I\u2019ve been wanting to do a lot more of since we recorded our fifth album Karma. Bloody. Karma<\/em> (July 2006). I tried to do a little bit on there and then I started doing a lot more on The Harvest Floor<\/em>, and now this one. They\u2019ve gotten even more melodic, and have a lot more tone to them. That\u2019s something you don\u2019t find in this style of music at all. We were just trying to blur the lines, and push boundaries as much as possible. We like to break tradition, as long as it\u2019s tasteful and makes sense. We don\u2019t wanna just come out with a bunch of crap for the sake of doing something different. We really just do what we wanna hear. Hopefully people like it. If they don\u2019t, then oh well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Uniting opposite extremes might be one interpretation. \u201cWe do a little of that, but to me there\u2019s not so much of a focus on that,\u201d Travis cautions. \u201cThe track \u2018The Monolith\u2019 is very down tempo and very non-metal (laughs), but it\u2019s very dark and sinister at the same time. We listen to a lot of different stuff, and we like to try to integrate that with the Cattle Decapitation sound which I guess is just utter intensity. It\u2019s always had this level of intensity to it that we try to maintain. Sometimes we\u2019ve gone off that path, but we always pretty much come back. I think this record and The Harvest Floor<\/em> is where we really found our sound.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the vocalist discussed, melodic highs surfaced on Karma. Bloody. Karma<\/em> and have become more of a presence with each subsequent album. Whether melodic highs have reached their zenith as far as Cattle Decapitation full-lengths are concerned or will become even more of a presence on future outings is a subject for debate. \u201cThat\u2019s actually a great question,\u201d Travis compliments. \u201cI was thinking about that just the other day or so. I was actually wondering if anybody was ever gonna actually ask me that (laughs). To tell you the truth I don\u2019t have an answer, but that was something I thought about. I think about this kind of stuff as well. Am I pigeonholing myself into having to do that on every album? Is it going to be well received? That part I don\u2019t really care about because this is the one record where I listened to the fans. Usually we don\u2019t really, no offence to them. Opinions are like assholes. When I see good reviews of us \u2013 good meaning they\u2019re positive reviews about our music \u2013 a lot of the time they\u2019re just as wrong as some of the bad reviews we see. Rarely do I see anybody that\u2019s really hitting the mark, so I don\u2019t pay much attention to reviews or what people think. <\/p>\n

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\u201cWe did go out on a limb on The Harvest Floor<\/em> though, doing some different stuff on it. It was like \u2018I wonder what people think of this.\u2019 We listened to the fans and stuff, and there was an overwhelming response to that record \u2013 a positive one. A lot of kids were like \u2018Dude, I really like these weird vocals you\u2019re doing.\u2019 I didn\u2019t expect that, because I was just trying something new. I noticed that over the years I\u2019ve added a little bit of tonality to my screechy highs or whatever, and I want to delve into that a little more. Luckily a lot of kids liked it, and were cheering me on to do more of that. That was the one thing where I actually paid attention to the fans, and what they wanted to hear. They said \u2018We want to hear a lot more of that.\u2019 I was like \u2018Cool. So do I. Good. We agree on something.\u2019 I added a bunch more. I don\u2019t know. Just whatever I feel like doing I\u2019ll do, and hopefully nobody will try to stop me I guess (laughs).\u201d<\/p>\n

Reviews are merely the opinion of one individual, and the same can be said about what constitutes \u2018hitting the mark.\u2019 \u201cI guess it\u2019s whether we agree with it,\u201d the frontman chuckles, queried as to what he feels constitutes hitting the mark. \u201cWe\u2019re the ones writing this shit, you know what I mean? The mark would be whatever we decide, because we did write the music. Sometimes I feel they hit the mark, and it\u2019ll be something that I wish they didn\u2019t figure out because it\u2019s embarrassing or whatever. I\u2019ve got no examples for you, but that\u2019s also to me hitting the mark \u2013 if it\u2019s how we also feel. The truth is out there; whether it\u2019s opinion or fact, the truth is out there. When somebody calls it out I would say that is hitting the mark, like \u2018He\u2019s right there. You can\u2019t deny that.\u2019 The farther we come along, the bigger we get or whatever, and the more people that our records get in front of… This happens with every artist. <\/p>\n

\u201cObviously when you\u2019re in front of more eyes, you\u2019re gonna be more critiqued. There\u2019s just been a lot less negative critiques I feel on our last couple of records, but there\u2019s always gonna be those Windows warriors that just can\u2019t be satisfied with anything. That\u2019s why taking people\u2019s opinion into account doesn\u2019t matter. At the end of the day, all that matters is whether you\u2019re happy doing it and what you wanna do. If people don\u2019t like what they hear, then fuck them (laughs). Fuck them. We\u2019re talking about destroying humanity, so we don\u2019t really give a shit what they think (laughs).\u201d<\/p>\n

Future Cattle Decapitation records could equally boast an entirely different vocal direction. \u201cPossibly,\u201d Travis ponders. \u201cThe thing is, it\u2019s been an evolution. Kids have always said \u2018Why don\u2019t you sound the way you do on record when the band plays live?,\u2019 and there might be a couple of production reasons for that. I don\u2019t know, but one thing I can tell is it\u2019s different from night to night and it\u2019s different from room to room. PA systems are gonna be different every time. For one thing, my instrument \u2013 the vocals, the structure of my body \u2013 is organic. It\u2019s always gonna be somewhat tweaked \u2013 somewhat different \u2013 and I like that. I like that quality. I don\u2019t know why people get weirded out by it. I like it. I always liked when I went to see bands and they played a part differently, or there was a change to something. It was just fucking cool. I\u2019m an attention deficit poster boy; unfortunately, that\u2019s how I\u2019m chemically wired. I like to keep things different and switch them up all the time, and that very well may happen. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe thing is, I feel I\u2019ve dialled it in. We\u2019ve kind of honed our sound to where we actually have a sound now. This is the first time ever that I\u2019ve seen people say \u2018No matter how different they get, you can always tell it\u2019s Cattle Decapitation,\u2019 and that\u2019s fucking awesome. To me that\u2019s success. To me that\u2019s hitting the mark, because that\u2019s what we\u2019ve actually been trying to do. One thing we\u2019ve been trying to do is maintain our sound. We want people to know it\u2019s us when they hear us, and I think the vocals help to do that a lot because of how different I\u2019m willing to switch things up. One thing about these vocals or whatever is we\u2019ve been touring for so long now is it\u2019s an evolution, and the way it has evolved is by working in different environments. When kids ask me \u2018What should I do to strengthen my voice?\u2019 or \u2018\u2026 find my sound?\u2019 or whatever the fuck, I always tell them that. I always tell them to play in as many different situations. <\/p>\n

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\u201cIt all really just comes down to experience, so over the years I\u2019ve developed different ways of doing them \u2013 different things. That\u2019s how a lot of these high vocals happened. I wasn\u2019t doing this ten years ago, and that\u2019s just how it happened. It was through a slow progression \u2013 a slow evolution \u2013 by playing in all sorts of different environments. Experience really does make a difference. I think that\u2019s why a lot of these new, younger bands all sound the same, piggy backing off of what the last guy did and trying to make that more insane. This whole movement \u2013 whatever you wanna call it \u2013 is extremely exactly what I\u2019m talking about. It\u2019s like \u2018We\u2019re gonna throw in five times the amount of Meshuggah parts or whatever than the last guy.\u2019 It\u2019s like \u2018Fuck, dude. Can\u2019t you sing using your own ideas?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Such musicians are arguably attempting to impress their friends and peers. \u201cOr something, yeah,\u201d the singer concurs. \u201cThe YouTube generation is what I call it. It\u2019s like \u2018Look at me, look at me, look at me.\u2019 There are a lot better players out there than there was before, but I guess I wish they would all fucking think for themselves instead of doing what everybody else is doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Guitarist Josh Elmore, meanwhile, commented that the group had \u2018spent a lot of time thinking about structure on this record.\u2019 \u201cThat\u2019s more on them,\u201d Travis reasons. \u201cI know that we definitely wanted some time to let the songs mature, and tried to stay a little more away from the start-stop-start-stop kind of shit. For me structure wise, I happened to have a couple of different influences. I don\u2019t even wanna mention them. I don\u2019t want to freak people out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Encouraged to supply additional information, the mainman speaks further. \u201cI\u2019m influenced by the cadence of some rappers and stuff like that, like Eminem and shit like that (laughs). I\u2019m not influenced by rappers in the sense of \u2018Okay, I\u2019m gonna try this part here and see what I can do.\u2019 I would never, ever try to fucking integrate hip hop with metal \u2013 it\u2019s a fucking joke. I would obviously never do that. Being influenced by the way somebody puts words together is how I\u2019m influenced by say Eminem or somebody like that. It\u2019s solely how they put words together, and how they make things rhyme that shouldn\u2019t. That\u2019s an influence for me, I will admit freely. Fuck everybody that wants to put words in my mouth. \u2018Oh, he likes rap.\u2019 It\u2019s just something different, a way of looking at something. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t wanna bastardise death metal any more than we already have (laughs). That\u2019s kind of what everybody\u2019s been doing since it came out. For instance, Carcass or Napalm Death were hard to categorise. It wasn\u2019t goregrind, or death metal. I guess that was the start of deathgrind or whatever, Utopia Banished<\/em> (Napalm Death, June 1992), Harmony Corruption<\/em> (Napalm Death, September 1990), and the first few Carcass records. That\u2019s the school that we come from. I don\u2019t know about Dave… I know that Dave likes a lot of these bands (laughs). That\u2019s the school that we come from. Our band has been searching for the happy medium between the school of old death metal and modern production. Not so much what people are playing nowadays \u2013 I don\u2019t give a fuck what they\u2019re playing \u2013 but their production is pretty damn impressive. As fake as it fucking may be, it\u2019s shiny and people are attracted to it. Production wise, on this one and the last one we were trying to find that medium between the more organic sound that we\u2019ve always had and the newer, more modern production sound.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was publicly announced on August 12th, 2009 that Cattle Decapitation had parted ways with bassist Troy Oftedal due to \u2018musical and personal differences.\u2019 \u201cNobody\u2019s even asked about that,\u201d Travis divulges. \u201cWe kind of came to a crossroads with Troy, and had to part ways with him. Some of it had to do with… what we said I think was musical and personal differences. It\u2019s the same band shit. We got tired of each other, and had to change it. We had to do something, so we made the change. I don\u2019t think we even had anybody in mind or lined up. We tried a couple of guys, but it was just like \u2018How hard is it? Come on.\u2019 Troy was unable to go into Canada, so we had a guy do Canada and Europe with us. Troy ended up falling ill in Europe, so he had to fly home and we continued the tour with another guy \u2013 our friend Rahsaan Davies. He helped us out for awhile, and then we needed somebody permanent. Rahsaan wasn\u2019t really able to do the permanent thing, so Dave \u2013 through his travels or whatever \u2013 befriended Derek who was in a band called Unmerciful. We knew of that band. <\/p>\n

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\u201cWe watched a video of him playing one of our songs, and he nailed it. This guy has an amazing ability to learn stuff extremely quickly. He brought a lot to the table as far as writing, which was a relief because Troy was a big part of our songwriting. It could\u2019ve gone either way; the guy could\u2019ve just absolutely sucked at songwriting, or not been the guy at all. That turned out to be very, very far from the truth. He ended up being a perfect guy to write the record with; he had a lot of riffs to bring to the table, and he was extremely hungry to do that. That\u2019s what we needed. We tried out a couple of guys that were just like \u2018What the fuck were you thinking coming here and wasting our time?\u2019 (laughs). Derek (Engemann) didn\u2019t. He flew out, and we tried him out. We did a tour together, and then when we got back from that tour he moved out here. We did another tour, and then we started writing a month or so after we got back after the holidays. The rest is gonna be history I guess.\u201d<\/p>\n

Structuring compositions is one of Derek\u2019s strengths, the vocalist feels. \u201cHe\u2019s got another band called Christ Hate where he\u2019s the singer \/ songwriter and guitar player, the main guy,\u201d he informs. \u201cHe\u2019s no stranger to that. He\u2019s not just the bass player or whatever; he\u2019s actually a pretty well-rounded musician. I think helping out with songwriting was really one of his strong points. That, and he\u2019s a big, tall dude with long hair and is pretty fun to watch when we\u2019re playing live. He\u2019s really a character, and brought a lot to the table. Metal Blade saw us with him, and they were like \u2018Fuck yeah. Finally. Not just a bunch of short-haired dudes.\u2019 He\u2019s pretty much a beast.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pre-ordered copies of Monolith Of Inhumanity<\/em> included collectors cards featuring individual members of Cattle Decapitation. The cards were designed by Tom Bunk, creator of 80s collectors cards The Garbage Pail Kids<\/em>. \u201cBasically when I was a kid, Garbage Pail Kids<\/em> trading cards were really gory, gruesome,\u201d Travis remembers. \u201cThey were fucking huge, everywhere. I still have my collection, which is fucking crazy. They consumed my life for a couple of years when I was in Catholic school, of all things (laughs). Basically our friend \u2013 who was our manager a few years ago \u2013 is probably one of the biggest collectors of these things, and one of the biggest fans. He really dorks out on them. He met Tom Bunk or something years ago, and he\u2019s always kept in contact with him. He just asked him one day \u2018Hey, would you be interested in doing this card series for a band called Cattle Decapitation?\u2019 He told him about it, and Tom was just like \u2018You know what? That sounds fun.\u2019 <\/p>\n

\u201cIt had been awhile since he had done any Garbage Pail<\/em>-oriented stuff. He has done a lot of stuff for Mad<\/em> magazine over the years, and was one of the original artists for Garbage Pail Kids<\/em>. It was just \u2018If we can make this work, then fuck yeah. We have to do it.\u2019 Even though it\u2019s cartoon-y, it\u2019s funny because I said \u2018Alright, you know what? We\u2019ve had way too much cartoon-y kind of stuff. Let\u2019s make things a little more serious.\u2019 What did we do? We came out with the most blatantly cartoon-y thing we\u2019ve ever done. Again though, it\u2019s one of those things where it\u2019s like \u2018Well, fuck. How can we pass this up?\u2019 When we got the Humanure<\/em> cover, I looked at that and it was like \u2018It wasn\u2019t what I had in mind for this cover, but how can we pass it up? It\u2019s perfect; it makes too much sense, and it\u2019s just too perfect. We have to do this.\u2019 We ran with it, and now these Garbage Pail<\/em> Kids cards were part of the pre-orders for our new album. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re probably gonna still carry the cards for awhile. It\u2019s just something cool to have, just a little different thing. We\u2019re always trying to push boundaries of what\u2019s acceptable, and having your own Garbage Pail Kids<\/em> cards in this kind of music is kind of pushing it. It\u2019s pretty stupid, but we like it. We think it\u2019s cool. Not many people out there can say they have their own Garbage Pail Kids<\/em> cards designed by one of the guys who originally did them. It\u2019s kind of a cool thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Cattle Decapitation (l-r): Josh Elmore, Travis Ryan, Derek Engemann and Dave
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Albeit having attended Catholic school, the frontman is no longer a practising Catholic. \u201cThere\u2019s not many who go through Catholic school that end up practising afterwards, there really isn\u2019t,\u201d he cautions. \u201cThat\u2019s one of the dumbest moves a parent can make, sending their kids to Catholic school and thinking that that\u2019s gonna work. The fucking percentage of kids that come out of those things that are fucked up in some sort of way, either pregnant right out of school, or drug dealers, or into drugs, or whatever… The second you hit public school, it\u2019s on. Eight or whatever years of being held back from being able to fucking do anything… We were fucked up bastards, man. We would beat each other up out on the lawn, we would catch butterflies with these butterfly nets. We were supposed to be catching them, viewing them, and figuring out parts of the butterfly. These kids would take fucking magnifying glasses, burn their wings, and fucking rip their wings off. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s one of the most stupid moves you can make as a parent, sending your kid to Catholic school. Out of all religions, the Catholic religion is just of the most off-base, fucked up things. I\u2019m so glad to be away from that environment. Thanks to my parents putting me in that environment, I will always forever now be a staunch poster child for why not to send your kids to Catholic school. Read my lyrics, man (laughs). That\u2019s why you don\u2019t send your kid to goddamn Catholic school. It\u2019s funny, because now they realise. They were just trying to do the right thing, and I understand that.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs long as you tell a priest in a confessional and say however many \u2018Hail Mary\u2019\u2019s, then everything\u2019s okay though. What the fuck kind of shit is that? What the hell kind of teaching is that for a kid? Why the fuck does this pervert want to sit there and listen to this fucking shit all day? Has anybody ever asked themselves that? I have a lot of great memories and stuff, but I have horrible, horrible memories too. I haven\u2019t set foot on those grounds since I walked off, and I\u2019ve made myself not do that. I will not set foot on those grounds. Churches are beautiful pieces of architecture and I always loved the sound of choirs singing at midnight Mass, but I\u2019m very, very against organised religion and particularly Christianity. Catholicism is pretty much why you see what you see when you read my lyrics. That\u2019s the beginning of the warp that kickstarted everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Monolith Of Inhumanity<\/em> was released on May 7th, 2012 in Europe, on the 8th in North America, and on the 30th in Japan, all through Metal Blade Records.<\/p>\n

Interview published in May 2012. All promotional photographs by Matthew Zinke.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CATTLE DECAPITATION – The Monolith Anthony Morgan May 2012 Cattle Decapitation (l-r): Josh Elmore, Dave McGraw, Derek Engemann and Travis Ryan From late September until early November 2010, San Diego, California-based death metallers Cattle Decapitation toured across North America as part of the California Blood tour package, pairing the outfit with supports like Dallas, Texas-based […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[316],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6562","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cattle-decapitation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6562"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6562\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7063,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6562\/revisions\/7063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}