Cattle Decapitation is an American deathgrind

Deathgrind

Deathgrind is a musical genre that fuses death metal and grindcore. The genre, along with pornogrind, is related to the goregrind subgenre...

 band from San Diego, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, formed in 1996.

History

Originally founded in 1996, Cattle Decapitation's songs protest the mistreatment and consumption of animals as well as the abuse of the environment

Environmentalism

Environmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology and social movement regarding concerns for environmental conservation and improvement of the health of the environment, particularly as the measure for this health seeks to incorporate the concerns of non-human elements...

. Lyrics may also focus on subjects such as misanthropy

Misanthropy

Misanthropy is generalized dislike, distrust, disgust, contempt or hatred of the human species or human nature. A misanthrope, or misanthropist is someone who holds such views or feelings...

 and genocide

Genocide

Genocide is defined as "the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group", though what constitutes enough of a "part" to qualify as genocide has been subject to much debate by legal scholars...

 of the human race. Much of their music is based on putting humans in the situations that animals are subjected to (animal testing, slaughter, etc). All current members of the group are vegetarians

Vegetarianism

Vegetarianism encompasses the practice of following plant-based diets , with or without the inclusion of dairy products or eggs, and with the exclusion of meat...

, except for Dave McGraw.

Their 2002 album To Serve Man

To Serve Man (album)

To Serve Man is the third studio album by American death metal band Cattle Decapitation. The title is a reference the Twilight Zone episode To Serve Man.-Track listing:- Personnel :*Travis Ryan – vocals*Josh Elmore – guitar*Troy Oftedal – bass...

saw controversy in Germany, where distribution company SPV refused to handle the album due to its graphic cover. The cover of the 2004 album Humanure

Humanure (album)

- Credits :*Travis Ryan - Vocals*Josh Elmore - Guitar*Troy Oftedal - Bass*Michael Laughlin - Drums*Bill Metoyer - Engineering & Mixing*Brad Vance - Mastering...

, featuring a cow excreting human remains, was reportedly censored without permission from the label in some outlets. Record store owners did not display the album, making it difficult for customers to find and buy it.

Former member Gabe Serbian

Gabe Serbian

Gabriel Serbian is an American drummer and guitarist, most famous for his work in The Locust, Cattle Decapitation, and Holy Molar. He is recognized as a very capable drummer, as showcased on recent Locust albums...

 is a member of the band The Locust

The Locust

The Locust is a musical group from San Diego, California, United States known for their unique mix of grindcore speed and aggression, mathcore complexity, and new wave weirdness.- Style :...

. Former member Dave Astor was a member of The Locust

The Locust

The Locust is a musical group from San Diego, California, United States known for their unique mix of grindcore speed and aggression, mathcore complexity, and new wave weirdness.- Style :...

.

Metal author and journalist Garry Sharpe-Young once acknowledged the band as "one of the few metal bands whose message hits as hard as their music".

Cattle Decapitation has toured with many death metal bands including Suffocation

Suffocation (band)

Suffocation is an American death metal band that was formed in 1989 in Long Island, New York. The band comprises vocalist Frank Mullen, guitarists Terrance Hobbs and Guy Marchais, drummer Mike Smith and bassist Derek Boyer. Suffocation rose to prominence of death metal and created a blueprint for...

, Cryptopsy

Cryptopsy

Cryptopsy is a Canadian technical death metal band from Montreal, Quebec, formed in 1988. The band has sold over 300,000 records.-Necrosis :...

, The Black Dahlia Murder, Deicide

Deicide (band)

Deicide is an American death metal band formed in 1987. Their first two albums, Deicide and Legion, are ranked second and third place in best-selling death metal albums of the SoundScan era.-As Amon/Carnage :...

, Behemoth

Behemoth (band)

Behemoth is a Polish blackened death metal band from Gdańsk, formed in 1991. They are considered to have played an important role in establishing the Polish extreme metal underground, alongside bands such as Vader, Decapitated, Vesania and Hate....

, Hate Eternal

Hate Eternal

-Biography:Hate Eternal was formed in 1997. The group's original line-up included Erik Rutan - guitars/vocals, bassist and co-vocalist Jared Anderson, drummer Tim Yeung, and guitarist Doug Cerrito of the band Suffocation...

, Krisiun

Krisiun

Krisiun is a Brazilian death metal band, founded by Alex Camargo , Moyses Kolesne , and Max Kolesne . Since its formation, in 1990, the group recorded two demos, Evil Age in 1991, and Curse of the Evil One in 1992, and self-released an extended play titled Unmerciful Order in 1993...

 and Job For A Cowboy

Job for a Cowboy

Job for a Cowboy is a American death metal band from Glendale, Arizona. Formed in 2003, the band's debut album Genesis was released in 2007, peaking at #54 on the US Billboard 200 and selling 13,000 copies in its first week of release. The second album, 2009's Ruination, sold 10,600 copies in...

. Their latest album The Harvest Floor

The Harvest Floor

- Personnel :* Travis Ryan – vocals* Josh Elmore – guitar* Troy Oftedal – bass* David McGraw – drums...

was released in 2009.

In August 2009, Cattle Decapitation parted ways with long-time bassist Troy Oftedal because of musical and personal differences.

Discography

Date of Release	Title	Label
1996	Ten Torments of the Damned Ten Torments of the Damned Ten Torments of the Damned is a 7" EP which was released in 1997 by Cattle Decapitation. The album is currently out of print, and there are only 4000 copies believed to be in existence. The length of the entire album is just over 8 minutes.... demo	Self-released
1999	Human Jerky Human Jerky Human Jerky is the first full-length album by deathgrind band Cattle Decapitation released in 1999. It was first released as an LP by Satan's Pimp, and was later re-released as a CD by Three One G.-Track listing:...	Three One G Three One G 31G Records, or Three One G, is a San Diego, California based record label, started by grindcore and hardcore musician Justin Pearson in 1994...
2000	Homovore Homovore Homovore is the second LP by Cattle Decapitation. It was released in 2000 on Three One G. The LP was pressed on "lavish cow-colored vinyl", or white with black splotches. The band employs quite a bit of dark tongue-in-cheek humor on this album, as suggested by the titles of the songs.-Track listing:...	Three One G Three One G 31G Records, or Three One G, is a San Diego, California based record label, started by grindcore and hardcore musician Justin Pearson in 1994...
2000	¡Decapitacion! ¡Decapitacion! ¡Decapitacion! is a single from Cattle Decapitation. All three tracks on this single are in Spanish and can be originally found on the album Homovore.-Track listing:... single	Accident Prone
2002	To Serve Man To Serve Man (album) To Serve Man is the third studio album by American death metal band Cattle Decapitation. The title is a reference the Twilight Zone episode To Serve Man.-Track listing:- Personnel :*Travis Ryan – vocals*Josh Elmore – guitar*Troy Oftedal – bass...	Metal Blade Records Metal Blade Records Metal Blade Records is a record label which was founded by Brian Slagel in 1982. The U.S. corporate office for Metal Blade is located in Agoura Hills, California. It also has offices in Arizona, Germany, Japan, Canada, and the UK. The label is distributed in the U.S. by Sony BMG Music...
2004	Humanure Humanure (album) - Credits :*Travis Ryan - Vocals*Josh Elmore - Guitar*Troy Oftedal - Bass*Michael Laughlin - Drums*Bill Metoyer - Engineering & Mixing*Brad Vance - Mastering...	Metal Blade Records Metal Blade Records Metal Blade Records is a record label which was founded by Brian Slagel in 1982. The U.S. corporate office for Metal Blade is located in Agoura Hills, California. It also has offices in Arizona, Germany, Japan, Canada, and the UK. The label is distributed in the U.S. by Sony BMG Music...
2005	Cattle Decapitation/Caninus Cattle Decapitation / Caninus Cattle Decapitation/Caninus is a split 7" record between Cattle Decapitation and Caninus.-Track listing:*Tracks 1-6 Cattle Decapitation*Tracks 7-16 Caninus...  split 7"	War Torn Records
2006	Karma.Bloody.Karma Karma.Bloody.Karma -Personnel:* Michael Laughlin – drums* Josh Elmore – guitar* Travis Ryan – vocals* Troy Oftedal – bass guitar, piano * John Wiese – electronics...	Metal Blade Records Metal Blade Records Metal Blade Records is a record label which was founded by Brian Slagel in 1982. The U.S. corporate office for Metal Blade is located in Agoura Hills, California. It also has offices in Arizona, Germany, Japan, Canada, and the UK. The label is distributed in the U.S. by Sony BMG Music...
2009	The Harvest Floor The Harvest Floor - Personnel :* Travis Ryan – vocals* Josh Elmore – guitar* Troy Oftedal – bass* David McGraw – drums...	Metal Blade Records Metal Blade Records Metal Blade Records is a record label which was founded by Brian Slagel in 1982. The U.S. corporate office for Metal Blade is located in Agoura Hills, California. It also has offices in Arizona, Germany, Japan, Canada, and the UK. The label is distributed in the U.S. by Sony BMG Music...

Band members

Current

• Travis Ryan – vocals
  Singing
  Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
  
   (1999–present)
• Josh Elmore – guitar
  Guitar
  The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
  
   (2001–present)
• Dave McGraw – drums
  Drum kit
  A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
  
   (2008–present)
• Derek Engemann – bass guitar
  Bass guitar
  The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
  
  (2010–present)

Former

• Scott Miller – guitar, vocals (1996)
• Gabe Serbian – guitar, drums on "Ten Torments" (1996–2000)
• Dave Astor – bass on "Ten Torments" (1996–2002)
• Kevin Talley – live drums (2006)
• Michael Laughlin – drums (2004–2007)
• Troy Oftedal – bass (2001–2009)
• Rahsaan Davis – bass (2009)