CATTLE DECAPITATION — To Serve Man (review)

CATTLE DECAPITATION — To Serve Man album cover Album · 2002 · Grindcore Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
UMUR
"To Serve Man" is the 2nd full-length studio album by US, California based grindcore/death metal act Cattle Decapitation. The album was released through Metal Blade Records in July 2002. There have been a couple of lineup changes since the release of "Homovore (2000)" as guitarist Gabe Serbian has been replaced by Josh Elmore, and Troy Oftedal has been added as the band´s bassist.

Stylistically especially the change on the guitarist post has had an impact, and while the band´s core style is still predominantly grindcore based, there are now a couple of death metal traits in the music too (especially closing track "Chuck Blower" features death metal elements). The riffs are at times pretty sophisticated for the style, and Elmore is generally a very adventurous guitarist. The vocals on the album are pretty extreme. Travis Ryan´s vocal style is deep growling layered with high pitched screams. The lyrical universe is still an odd blend of vegan extremism/political agenda, violence, and bizarre humour. It´s hard not to find song titles like "Testicular Manslaughter", "Long-Pig Chef and the Hairless Goat", "Hypogastric Combustion by C-4 Plastique", and "Colonic Villus Biopsy Performed on the Gastro-Intestinally Incapable" oddly charming.

The sound production is decent but not perfect. The drum sound is a bit "artificial" sounding, and the mix is often a bit thin (lacking bottom), but overall the sound suits the music pretty well, and it´s probably an aquired taste if you´ll enjoy the sound production. So upon conclusion "To Serve Man" is a relatively high quality release by Cattle Decapitation, although they were still a little rough around the edges at this early point in their career. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.
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