Music

Death by Decibels Tour

With Cattle Decapitation and Malevolent Creation.

By Jake McGee 

Cattle Decapitation hates you. The San Diego death-metal band's lyrics are all about annihilating mankind. Think of it as vengeance laid upon humanity for raping the earth and everything on it, the band says. The brutally intense group — whose members are vegetarians, by the way — bulldozes through songs like it was on its way to an anger-soaked gangbang with members of Cannibal Corpse and Pro-Pain.

Cattle Decapitation, which is coming to town this week as part of the Death by Decibels Tour, plays some badass metal. Bassist Troy Oftedal and guitarist Josh Elmore mesh perfectly with whichever drummer is beating the skins this week, while singer Travis Ryan shifts from a deep growl to a high-pitched screech in a mere nanosecond. Everything about the group — from its blood-splattered album covers to its vicious song titles — is brain-achingly merciless. No surprise that the guys admit that their work can be taken as an aural suicide note. Then again, they're just as cool with the idea of animals taking over the world, keeping us around as their pathetic playthings.