UMUR
"Humanure" is the 3rd full-length studio album by US, California based grindcore/death metal act Cattle Decapitation. The album was released through Metal Blade Records in June 2004. It´s the successor to "To Serve Man" from 2002, and it features one lineup change since the predecessor as drummer Dave Astor has been replaced by Michael Laughlin.
Stylistically the material on "Humanure" is a combination of goregrind and death metal. Early Carcass is an obvious influence (especially as a result of the deep growl/higher pitched snarling vocal combination), but Cattle Decapitation put their own mark on the genre. If the cover artwork didn´t give it away, Cattle Decapitation write politically charged lyrics. A lot of them dealing with how humans treat animals as a food ressource.
"Humanure" is a well written album featuring loads of powerful riffs, intricate drumming with tempo changes, and the above mentioned brutal vocals. There could have been a little more variation between tracks, because it´s not always clear when one track ends and another begins. The individual tracks are all of a high quality though, so the one-dimensional nature of the material is not a major issue.
The sound production is professional, detailed, and overall suits the material well. So upon conclusion "Humanure" is a another step up in quality compared to the preceding releases by Cattle Decapitation, and while there are still features which could be improved upon (more songwriting hooks and less one-dimensional songwriting), "Humanure" is overall a quality grindcore/death metal release, and a 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.