Over the span of a decade, Cattle Decapitation has forged its not-so-humble beginnings in gore-grind into one of extreme metal's most relentless forces, encompassing a sound as schizophrenic as their record collections but with a determined lyrical stance resolutely damning the ills of humanity.

After a couple early line-up shifts, “Human Jerky,” Cattle Decapitation's first full-length, was released in 1999 as LP-only by Nevada label Satan's Pimp. The album featured the bass-less trio of Travis Ryan on vocals, Gabe Serbian on guitar and Dave Astor on drums. Serbian and Astor split duties with the ubiquitous arty-grind act The Locust. “Human Jerky” as well as 2000's “Homovore” (released by San Diego's Three One G label) showcased Ryan's obsessively gore-oriented musings laced within his pro-vegetarian/anti-human posture. In keeping with the spirit of the genre as well as the lyrical urgency, the 90's trio was additionally known for its ultra-short songs and unforgettable live performances (Ryan was known to occasionally perform in a mask sewn
of beef jerky). The band procured Venezuelan installation artist Nelson Garrido's arranged pieces of deceased livestock for two unmistakable album covers.

The early twenty-first century brought about a slew of changes in personnel and increased sonic brutality. Shortly after the release of Homovore, Troy Oftedal filled the formerly-vacant bass slot. Josh Elmore (previously of notorious humor-grind act 7000 Dying Rats) was brought into the fold on second guitar only to take on sole duties after Serbian's departure to focus on The Locust. The revised line-up carved their debut for Metal Blade with 2002's “To Serve Man,” a coalescence of brutal grind and death metal with an increased spotlight on Elmore's arrival. After months of touring in support of the album, the band parted ways with longtime drummer Dave Astor and swiftly brought aboard good friend Michael Laughlin, formerly of San Francisco's tech-grinders Creation is
Crucifixion. With Laughlin instantly adding an increased rhythmic dynamic to the group, the relentless tour cycle was resumed straight up to the release of 2004's “Humanure.” The album offered a beefed-up production, an evolved song craft and artwork that perfectly depicted the ultimate revenge on humanity, a cow excreting human remains (resulting “Humanure” as their most-banned album domestically as well as overseas). The band's experimental leaning on this record reared its head in the form of a ten-minute long track constructed almost entirely of slaughterhouse field recordings.

Between more tours Cattle Decapitation recorded 2005's split 7” shared with the canine-fronted grindcore oddity Caninus. This material saw a return-to-form in terms of song lengths but introduced an increasingly-diverse range of extreme metal. This has laid the framework for 2006's full-length, “Karma.Bloody.Karma.” In Ryan's words, “This will be
the most nihilistic, pessimistic and hateful record we’ve ever done lyrically. Musically, imagine the Caninus split material, just longer in every way.” The album features guest appearances by Joey Karam (The Locust) and John Wiese (Sunn0))),Bastard Noise) and
production by Billy Anderson (Swans, Mr. Bungle, Melvins).

The Locust: This band needs no introduction, but for those that have been living under a rock for the past 6 years or so, visit www.thelocust.com for more details. This band was started by drummer David Astor years ago. Guitarist Gabe Serbian joined on second guitar while both still maintained in Cattle Decapitation. Gabe now fills in David's spot on drums.

DisreantiyouthhellchristbastardassmanX: This is Bassist Troy Oftedal's Escothrash band. They're from Escondido, California, a suburb of San Diego's North County. They have numerous 7"'s available and any other info you need on them can be found at www.geocities.com/killtheold They've been banned from just about every venue in Southern California that they've played at, mainly due to their "no-nonsense" approach at pissing people off. Everything from the singer slicing himself open, standing naked covered and covering others in his own blood to releasing 500 live crickets at the Che Cafe during a performance. Seems nobody knows good entertainment these days.....

5/5/2000: This is vocalist Travis Ryan's previous project with now Ceation Is Crucifixion bass player, Nathan Berlinguette. It's comprised of mostly keyboards, tape loops, guitar and other ambient noise sources. The band's name comes from the idea that the world was going to end on May 5th, 2000, studied and concocted by scientists all over the world, and there's even a book about it. They have an album out on Accretions Records and have since disbanded. The album is a beautiful piece of work that is a complete turnaround to their current bands. Recorded at Hit Single Studio in El Cajon, California and mastered by the industry's best at Capitol Records in Hollywood, California, this album entitled, "Fin", is a long journey through the world of dronology with some abstract beats thrown in there. Fans of Labradford, Aphex Twin and Swans will love this release. It almost didn't happen, too. Actual Physical fighting, and personal differences always plagued the duo, and after a few years of calculating feelings and chances to progress in music, the two have decided to put together a compilation of unreleased tracks and live material for the aprropriately named CD, "Reflektionen Musique".

"...very nice debut of dronologist electronica...Beautifully intense." - Aquarius Records

"Violent waves of dissonance capped with planet shaking beats... a cosmic breed of sound. " - Ink 19

Please see also: www.zucasa.com/rfzc/albums/552000.html

UUM: This is Travis Ryan and Troy Oftedal's noise project. Formed in 1997 by installation/performance artist Chris Reynolds and Travis Ryan, the two immediately released a CD on Vinyl Communications. Recorded by the Spacewurm in his studio/print shop, the album is a full 74 minutes of sonic terrorism. It is believed to be the WORST selling album on Vinyl Communications to this date! See if you can even still order it at: www.vinylcomm.com. The band gave up as far as that lineup when Chris did one of his final acts of public terrorism: He went into the La Jolla Museum of Modern Art, started "making out" with a $6,000 art piece and grabbed it and headed for the door only to be tackled by security, completely destroying the art piece. It is believed that there is a video tape of this and we're still trying to locate it for a future video release featuring his daring act of art(?) and a live performance on the cheesy local cable access show, Yourself Presents....The band now consists of Troy Oftedal and his Tannerin, a slide theremin developed by Paul Tanner for Brian Wilson (The Beach Boys) and Troy's grandfather....There are only 4 of these in existence. Matt Ottley of DisreantiyouthhellchristbastardassmanX joined at the same time as Troy with his unique brand of metal scraping=2 hard drives found in a dumpster with contact mics and effects. All of the sound from these two sources is then put through the UUMLOOP, Travis' brand of feedback, similar to K.K.Null's "Nullsonics"... There are no releases at this time with this lineup, but if you or someone you know wishes to put some of this out, contact Travis at
humanjerky_2000@yahoo.com

Releases:
UUM/Creation Is Crucifixion split floppy disk
(lmtd.ed.of 50=only 40 came out without errors)
You can find this in the Media Clips section.

"Silla Sonida:Public Humiliation For The Well-Tempered Speaker" (VC131) CD

"Eatabolafuk" (source material for "Silla Sonida..." on special package cassette-SOLD OUT)

"Titanium Expose Magazine #2" (track with lock groove on 7" that comes with the mag.)

Upcoming:
"KCR live in studio compilation" (Accretions) 2xCD
(a $120 monitor was blown in the making of the UUM recording for this CD)