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.”

Shat out of hell, indeed. That’s the sonic stench that permeates the epically unpronounceable, utterly indecipherable and altogether uncompromising sound of Ohio’s notorious gore-merchants, SANGUISUGABOGG. Homicidal Ecstasy, the ‘Bogg’s second Century Media platter of splatter isn’t merely a return to the “down-tuned drug death” that defined 2021’s Tortured Whole. It’s the fluid-streaked byproduct of a band that hit the road like crazed serial killers and never looked back as they plunged deeper into a celebration of Mortician-worshiping brutal death metal sounds and splatter classics like Dead-Alive. They also became a badass live and studio proposition in the process.
 
“Everything became more legit,” states vocalist Devin Swank. Indeed, SANGUISGUABOGG has emerged from the pandemic, toured the US and Europe and with Homicidal Ecstasy made a record that will go down as a benchmark for modern death metal. They’re no longer that band of meme-inspiring miscreants. “The musicianship, the production, the lyrics – which delve much more into horror and body horror – are more thought-out,” says Devin. “It’s not just a bunch of dick and fart jokes.”
 
Make no mistake - the ’Bogg hasn’t gone soft. From the album’s gurgling opener, “Black Market Vasectomy”, Homicidal Ecstasy is very much SANGUISUGABOGG. It maintains the queasiness-inducing feel of 2019’s debut EP, Pornographic Seizures while serving up a bloody dollop of refined riffage. “Face Ripped Off”, which features Jesus Piece frontman, Aaron Heard testing the lows of his throat, is bowel-rattling as it gets while tracks like the manic “Skin Cushion” accelerates, swerves and then smooshes the senses courtesy of drummer Cody Davidson’s almost jazz-like rhythms.
 
“After lockdown, once the restrictions from Covid lifted, we were hungry not just tour but start writing again,” recalls Devin. “Ced [Davis] had moved from bass to guitar and Drew [Arnold] also started playing guitar. The feeling was the sky’s the limit. That’s when we started writing and adding new songs like ‘Necrosexual Deviant’ to the set – and starting to see the new songs getting better reactions than songs from the previous two records!”
 
It was Davidson who once again helmed production duties for Homicidal Ecstasy. Heading from tour to the studio, SANGUISUGABOGG blasted through a set of road-hammered songs before handing off mixing duties to Converge guitarist and vaunted studio vet, Kurt Ballou (High on Fire, Nails) at God City Studios in Salem, Massachusetts. “I would call that our ‘Come to Jesus’ moment,” says Devin. “We’re huge fans of Kurt’s music and love the sound of his records. We wanted to work with him long before we were signed to Century Media and what we got back exceed our expectations He took SANGUISUGABOGG and made it sound like us on steroids!”
 
SANGUISUGABOGG’s bloody rise (their name, in fact, is an anagram for ‘Bloody Toilet’) was as unexpected to the underground death metal sect as it was for the ‘Bogg.. After releasing Pornographic Seizures in 2019 on the cult Maggot Stomp label, the foursome quickly won fans for their blasts of sludgy, determined riffing, tongue-severed-from-cheek, gross-out humor and nods to hardcore and 90’s East Coast death metal. “The logo definitely helped,” smirks Devin. “It’s the Nike swoosh of death metal!” Hitting the road with the likes of Creping Death, Frozen Soul and Vomit Forth, SANGUISUGABOGG received a pile of plaudits including Brooklyn Vegan putting them on a Most Anticipated Albums list next to genre titans like Carcass. “We got mentioned on NPR shortly after we dropped the first track off our EP!” says Swank, still in disbelief. “SANGUISUGABOGG was literally something that came together out of thin air. The first time we got together, we wrote and recorded our first four songs. Something was in the air.”
 
In the face of Covid-19 and a worldwide shutdown and shitshow, the ‘Bogg got down to business. Signing to Century Media, they recorded Tortured Whole and hit the road as the locked-down world started to get on its feet. Later that year, they teamed with the infamous Troma Films collective on for two video clips that featured battling penis monsters, boner implants and Troma’s own Sgt. Kabukiman!
 
The 2021 US “Frozen Whole” tour with longtime friends and labelmates, Frozen Soul cemented SANGUISUGABOGG as standard-bearers for death metal’s next generation. “It definitely felt like the torch was being passed from that Swedish sound that was an homage to early-90’s death metal to a more brutal, direct approach and influences like Suffocation and Pyrexia,” says Devin. “Everything is cyclical. We made it even more direct, bouncy and grimy.”  Tours with Nile, Terror, The Acacia Strain and a run of dates as main support to Cannibal Corpse leading into Decibel Magazine’s Metal & Beer Fest in Philadelphia solidified SANGUISUGABOGG as a force in their own right, “It still blows my mind that a band like Terror or Cannibal Corpse, bands that are legends to me, that I’ve been listening to for years would even think to take us on the road,” marvels Devin. “It’s even more mind-blowing to me that their fans would get off on what we do!”
 
Homicidal Ecstasy isn’t merely a musical maturation for the gore-obsessed boys of the ‘Bogg. While Swank’s lyric writing sessions are still “fueled on coffee with a horror movie playing in the background”, this isn’t exclusively the gross-out show of SANGUISUGABOGG past. “It goes deeper this time, into the psycho-sexual, body-horror, why what some people see as perverse or fetishistic, can also be perfectly normal,” says Devin. “There’s even a song called ‘Mortal Admonishment’ where I talk about how I deal with death. I wanted to write a song about my grandmother and how I got the news about her cancer and how I internalized it. It’s standard in death metal to talk about death but who has talked about the grieving process?
 
“It’s kind of an homage to real life,” says the frontman. “When shit hits the fan, no one’s really safe.” Reconstituted, regurgitated and reenergized, SANGUISUGABOGG walks among us. Let the Homicidal Ecstasy begin!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

IMMOLATION is a name long synonymous with the extreme music scene, delivering some of the most unique and creatively dark death metal the underground has witnessed over the past 32 years.  Their latest release, “Atonement” (Nuclear Blast), proved that this is one band that does not look back, continuing to push the limits and remaining a vibrant force for the future of a genre they helped define.
Since the release of their debut album “Dawn of Possession” (Roadrunner) in 1991, IMMOLATION has been paving their way down an ever-evolving path of uncompromising musical devastation!  Never a band to rely on their previous efforts, IMMOLATION has continued album after album to refine and hone their most identifiable style and sound, creating some of the darkest and most adventurous death metal the scene has ever heard.   With such classic albums as “Here In After”, “Failures for Gods”, and “Close To A World Below” (Metal Blade), as well as their more recent critically acclaimed releases, “Unholy Cult”, “Harnessing Ruin”, “Hope and Horror”(ep) and “Shadows In The Light” (Listenable/Century Media),  the band has developed into one of the premier extreme acts of our time. 
2010 saw the next step in IMMOLATION’s evolution with its Nuclear Blast debut, “Majesty and Decay”.   With the release of “Majesty and Decay” IMMOLATION not only surpassed their previous releases musically, but had started a new chapter in their career with the added mix/mastering talents of Zack Ohren (Castle Ultimate Studios).  Together with long-time producer Paul Orofino (Millbrook Sound Studios), the combination proved to be the key to some of the most powerful sounding IMMOLATION material to date!  Not only had IMMOLATION taken their abilities so much further, with some of the most disheartening musical landscapes the band has ever created, but the sound and production were taken to new levels as well, unleashing all the unrelenting force the band truly offers!  With their most solid production recorded at that time, accented by the remarkably stunning artwork of then newly recruited Par Olofsson, “Majesty and Decay” became an instant classic!   
Not too long after, 2011 saw the release of IMMOLATION’s second ever ep entitled “Providence” (Scion A/V).  This five-song ep of all new original tracks was released by Scion A/V (Toyota) as an online free download, available for fans worldwide.  Free cds and vinyl were only available during the band’s U.S tour for this ep, making it an even more sought-after release! Overall “Providence” proved again that the combination of Orofino & Ohren, with Par Olofsson once again at the artistic helm, was a team to keep!  Production and artwork were once again some of the bands best.  “Providence” was not just an ep, it proved to be a five-song mammoth that found itself on top release lists for that year!  With IMMOLATION creating an interesting collection of avant-garde, yet extremely catchy songs” Providence” set the tone for where the band was heading, and a taste of what to expect from their next full length lp.
With 2013’s “Kingdom of Conspiracy”, the band took things to another level of intensity.   With this, the band’s second full length record for Nuclear Blast, it was clear that IMMOLATION had found themselves at their most refined and strongest point to date.  “Kingdom of Conspiracy” was without a doubt their most complete, menacing, and grimmest culmination of musical madness the band had ever released!  While conceptually taking a dim and bitter look at the realities of our world today, adding an Orwellian twist to its not so distant future, all our fears are soon realized in this soundtrack that mirrors our world more than we choose to accept.   And with speeds and intensity beyond anything the band had recorded before, “Kingdom of Conspiracy” became an instant classic to both their fans and piers. 
February 2017 saw the release of “Atonement”, the band’s 10th full length album, their third for Nuclear Blast Records.  “Atonement” was truly a defining moment for IMMOLATION, having some of the most mournful orchestrations the band have dared to delve into, redefining themselves once again and coming out holding the torch high!  An unrelenting collection of catchy, intense and darkly imaginative tracks, each song on “Atonement” is a testament to the pure style and creativity that makes IMMOLATION who they are.  Each song on this record is uniquely different from the next, with each one incorporating so many of the classic IMMOLATION elements that put this band in a league of their own when it comes to extreme metal.  “Atonement” is an album that takes the listener on a musical journey that touches on all the extremes; the slow and heavy, the fast and savage and the dark and haunting.    “Atonement” is hands down the band’s best produced release in their 32-year history.  Recorded once again at Millbrook Sound Studios with producer Paul Orofino, mixed and mastered by Zack Ohren (Castle Ultimate Studios), and once again featuring the amazing cover artwork of Par Olofsson along with additional artwork by the very talented Zbigniew Bielak, “Atonement” truly had extreme music fans foaming at the mouth!  With pinpoint accuracy and violent melodic prowess, and lyrical content touching on the dark realities of humanity and the world we have created, the epic feel and dominating power delivered by “Atonement” was able to please fans of death/black metal and all extreme music! 
On the success of “Atonement” IMMOLATION conquered the world stages from 2017-2019, touring relentlessly through almost every continent on the planet!  With extensive runs taking the band throughout North America, Europe, Central America, Asia, Australia, South America and Japan, the band performed hundreds of dates in theatres, clubs and open-air festivals worldwide…bringing their unbridled live energy to thousands of metal fans! 
Now, while the world continues to wait for a return to normalcy, IMMOLATION prepares for their new album.  And be certain, a dark and powerful album it will be!   For once again, as proven before, these seasoned artists of darkness plan to go beyond all expectations, both musically and in their future live shows, to bring their listeners senses burning down to the ground in a pile of ash…thanking IMMOLATION for every minute it took them to get there!

Castrator was born from the depths of the old school death metal scene.Their music creates a brutal experience that will leave the listener craving more. The band came to life in 2013 with a small run of a 2 song demo. After, the excitement those two songs created, Castrator later released another demo titled "No Victim" which was released in 2015. This caused a buzz in the metal scene and attention to the band where they were asked to bring their brutality to live shows and festivals. Castrator has continued the buzz in the metal scene ever since and now more than ever With a highly anticipated album “Defiled in Oblivion” released by Dark Descent records, they are ready to bring their music to masses with more live shows and tours. Castrator draws from the 30 plus collective years of experience of its members and is now poised to dominate and emasculate the world!!