CHAOS & CARNAGE 2024 w/ CATTLE DECAPITATION, CARNIFEX + SPECIAL GUESTS

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 now 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,” states 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.”

Written both separately and during sessions together in San Diego - which required certain members to regularly fly into the city - the record came together naturally, though not without personal struggle. Every member of their current lineup - Elmore, Ryan, guitarist Belisario Dimuzio, bassist Olivier Pinard and drummer David McGraw - has grown to fill their musical niche in the band, and learned how to get the best out of each other, making for their most accomplished work to date. Roaring to life with the savage yet hauntingly melodic “Terrasitic Adaptation” and advancing through the likes of the relentless “We Eat Our Young” and culminating with the ten-plus minutes of “Just Another Body”, it is an album that constantly shifts dynamics, and demands a variety of emotional responses. “All the Cattle hallmarks are there; ripping blasts, abrasive and aggressive guitar/bass riffs and Travis’s varied vocal approach; but this record just feels different. I don’t know how else to put it. There is a deep richness to the guitar tones and a more prominent bass guitar presence, the drums parts are assaultive, but tasteful and Travis’ vocals are as varied as they’ve ever been but with an added emotional depth. The whole record sounds like a somber panic attack; like mourning the loss of a loved one at Mach 3,” says Elmore. “The trademark Cattle intensity is always there, but this time at paces that range from frantic to controlled and driving but with more focus on menacing heaviness. The ambient and effect-laden guitar presence also takes up a much larger part of the whole experience.”

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 meaning ‘earth-eater’, as 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. “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 and ready to join the rest of its brood in finishing humanity’s job of destroying the Earth.” When asked where he is coming from lyrically on this record, Ryan frankly states “from a place of distress. Anger, rage, resentment, depression, anxiety, a poor outlook on our species both on a day-to-day level, a broader, worldly level as well as a philosophical level.” For example, the lyrics of “A Photic Doom” “are more of just a metaphor for being alone in your head and turning away from the life that is exposed by the light of day. Shaking your fist at the sun for exposing this place to us. For uncovering the depravity of our species and casting light onto subjects rather than letting them rest in the darkness”. Then there is “Scourge Of The Offspring” which “makes up the bulk of the album’s concept that the first song “Terrasitic Adaptation” and the cover art sort of set into motion. In the first song we find out what's going on on the cover, and this song deals more with what our children will end up being - adult humans, shat out and left to make sense of this world only to end up being part of the problem simply by existing.”

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. Just prior to joining his bandmates, and with some lyrics yet to be written, Ryan received some tragic news, with friend and Cattle Decapitation co-founder Gabe Serbian taking his own life. “The news and all the pressure going into the album spun my head completely around and out of control. While not being able to properly grieve the loss of Gabe - a friend who meant so much to us and was attached to an incredibly large network of friends that begins locally and stretches across the globe, my mind went into an incredibly dark place and then within a couple weeks of being there we learned that our friend Trevor Strnad (The Black Dahlia Murder) had taken his life as well. It just felt like things were unraveling for so many of our friends whom we consider family, having lost a couple friends after two years of everyone trying to get through the pandemic and navigate through this to come out on the other end with everything still together.” All of this informed the lyrics to the epic closer “Just Another Body”, Ryan stating “all these months later, after many listens, it still has a shroud around it that will never disappear. It was written during some of the hardest moments in this band’s career.” 

With the record finally realized, and dedicated to Serbian’s memory, the band are looking ahead to touring, promising sets rich with Terrasite songs as well as some tracks people have not heard live in years. They are also understandably proud to still be going strong after two and a half decades, and to have stayed relevant. “We are one of the few bands that have never rested on our laurels and keep pushing ourselves to improve. At this stage of our careers we could easily be trying to rewrite Monolith Of Inhumanity (2012) over and over, but since we did not and have never settled that way, the end results were The Anthropocene Extinction (2015), Death Atlas (2019) and now Terrasite, which have pushed us further into more mature and experimental territory,” says Elmore. “I just feel with the way things change so drastically nowadays, especially the last three or four years, that it’s surprising an extreme metal band can not only be around for so damn long but still stay anchored in this constantly changing scene that’s dictated where it’s going to go by younger generations - and still maintain relevance,” adds Ryan. “Our band truly is an anomaly. I’d prefer to keep it that way.”
 

Jake Dieffenbach: Vocals
Brody Uttley: Guitar
Jon Topore- Guitar
Adam Biggs: Bass / Vocals
Jared Klein: Drums

Reading, Pennsylvania's Rivers Of Nihil have never fit neatly into a box, but with 2018's Where Owls Know My Name, they transcended all labels applied to them. Returning in 2021 with The Work, they have forged further into new territory, delivering an album that is as cerebral as it is visceral, and that covers a staggering sonic range, definitively placing them in a category of their own.

With the first track penned in the fall of 2018, while the band were touring Owls, the writing process for the album was long, lasting well into 2020. Even before the music industry shutdown that happened concurrently with the Covid pandemic, the band intended to take most of 2020 off to focus on writing, meaning that their schedule was not disrupted. However, even with the whole album demoed out musically, they were not initially sure what they were working with. "We didn't really know if it was all going to connect together in any kind of logical or interesting way. It wasn't until we got the vocals done that it was clear what we had on our hands: something that actually somehow all worked together," says guitarist Brody Uttley, who describes the album as a "Sound World," a term coined by a friend. "It's an album that almost sounds like a place rather than a thing. It puts you in this world where you're not exactly sure what is going on at certain points, but eventually, it all comes together. It's harsh and cold, but also warm and inviting," he adds.

For the guitarist, writing music came together smoothly, never having to push to find ideas, and in spite of the raging pandemic. "I don't think on any other release I was able to insulate myself from external noise like I did on this one. The amount of work that went into it is obscene, but I felt like I was just floating through this 'sound world' the whole time, kinda grabbing ideas off of the vine and seeing how they worked."

Lyricist and bassist Adam Biggs' experience was somewhat different, finding the process more challenging, but this was ultimately to the The Work's betterment. "It felt like a huge demand to get this record written during one of the weirdest times imaginable. It gets to the point sometimes after a lot of touring that you can forget how to be creative, because you've just been playing your - now old - material for several years. Writing this record, for me, meant almost entirely reconnecting with creativity after what I'd consider to be a lengthy hiatus."

While The Work is a very dense, inarguably heavy collection, it is far too dynamic to consider it solely a metal record, and there is a genuine warmth that shows through, particularly on "Wait" and the gorgeous "Maybe One Day," and the band have included far more clean vocals alongside the screaming that tears through many of the heavier tracks. Adds Biggs, "It spans a lot of different styles, ideas, and emotions. The twists and turns are pretty drastic for your modern day metal record. There's a lot of what you already know we do, and a lot of what you've never heard us do before."

Courtesy of their friend Zach Strouse, saxophone once again adds extra layers of atmosphere to the collection, utilizing baritone, soprano and alto saxes to great affect. "We really wanted the sax to be more of a texture on this album rather than a featured instrument. So while it may seem like there is more sax, the only 'true' sax solo is in 'The Void From Which No Sound Escapes.' For most cases on the rest of the album, he is just sort of reinforcing the songs in his own way, which is exactly what I wanted. I didn't want to tell him how to sound or what to do really. I just wanted his response to the material, and he definitely did a fantastic job."

While there is a central concept driving the album, Biggs elects to keep the specific details to himself so that listeners can relate to it in their own way, but he explains where the title comes from. "What does life all really boil down to in the end? You can be lovey-dovey about the good times, and savor the sweetness that life sometimes provides, but beneath everything is work, struggle, someone is always getting a raw deal, someone's always sweating it out in the mines somewhere so you can enjoy your diamonds. This has always proved true in everything I've ever done in life. Most people reading this know me as a member of a successful band, but beneath it is constant work. Physical, emotional, spiritual work. All the time. Every day. And I know that it's like this across the board for just about anyone in at least some capacity, so I figured this subject would be relatable to a lot of people."

"Focus," one of the album's standout tracks, is a meditation on the writer's - and possibly the listener's - relationship with drugs, starting with having been medicated for ADD as a kid. "That was not uncommon for the time. Maybe it was for the best, maybe not. But it did kick off a relationship with drugs that has been pretty interesting. I've gone through long periods of sobriety, and I've been on the complete other end of that. What I find is that drugs are largely disappointing. The expectation is that they can relieve your mind, or change your thinking. But for me, it always just feels like a slight shift in focus." Then there is "The Void From Which No Sound Escapes" and "MORE?", which are thematically linked. "It's about expectation and delivery. 'Void' is the expectation, they want what you have, and you have to give up a bit of yourself to give it to them. The 'what' and 'they' in that sentence aren't super important. But I think everyone has a 'what' and they know a 'they' that wants that from them, and we all feel some obligation to deliver."

With guitars and synths/keys tracked at Uttley's home studio, the band then we went back for the third album in a row to Carson Slovak and Grant McFarland at Atrium Audio to do drums, vocals, bass, sax, and mixing. "We've done so many sessions with those guys that they're basically an extension of our band at this point. They usually know what we like, and we always encourage them to roast us to make stuff better," says Uttley. Alongside the band, James Dorton from Black Crown Initiate provided some vocals on "Episode," Grant McFarland played cello on "The Void From Which No Sound Escapes", and Uttley's friend Stephan Lopez helped out with all of the field recordings, an integral part of the sonic textures of the record.

There's no denying that the finished product is something unique and marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter for Rivers Of Nihil, though Biggs states he has never gotten anywhere by thinking about the future of the band. "We always just sort of do this thing and it grows. I guess that could change at some point. But thinking about things that way doesn't seem to get me anywhere either. Better to focus on the work in front of us, as it turns out," he adds, referencing the album's title. "If we've learned anything for certain in the last year or so, it's that the future can be murky, we're not really owed anything, and it can all be taken away any second. But for now, we press on."