Cattle Decapitation: The Belasco - Los Angeles, CA - 12/20/25
Cattle Decapitation is a deathgrind band from San Diego, California. Despite their name, the band’s lyrics deal with the exploitation and consumption of animals, abuse of the environment and genocide of the human race. The band’s original lineup consisted of all vegetarians, but now only vocalist Travis Ryan and guitarist Josh Elmore are the only remaining vegetarians remaining in the band. In 2023, they released their eighth studio album Terrasite to positive reviews from fans. Since then, Cattle Decapitation has been actively touring in support of the new album. This year, they were performing their 2019 seventh studio album Death Atlas in its entirety. The last stop on the tour was at the Belasco in Los Angeles. A Saturday at a show like this was the perfect way to unwind after a long work week. Fans were so ecstatic for this amazing show that it was packed to almost sold-out capacity.
Cattle Decapitation were the last to come out on from the lineup and by then, fans were hot and sweaty from all the moshing they had been doing all night. Still, they had the energy to keep going for one of metal’s best bands. The lights went out, and the packed venue roared with excitement as the band made their way to the stage. After the intro track finished, the band jumped into the first song “The Geocide,” the first track from the Death Atlas album. The brutality of the music filled the venue and, naturally, the fans continued to mosh and smash into each other. The next two songs were also from the DA album, “Be Still Our Bleeding Hearts” and “Be Still Our Bleeding Hearts.” Travis Ryan is one of metal’s best singers and he proved with every song he sang. His singing style ranges from deep guttural growls to ear-piercing shrieks. Cattle Decapitation continued to play more songs from their DA album who many consider it to be their best album to date. Some of those songs included “Vulturous,” “Bring Back the Plague” and “Finish Them.” Cattle Decapitation is one of those bands that don’t need theatrics or fancy getups to make their show better. Their music alone gets you pumped up and will have you raising your horns and banging your head. The last song from the album was played which was the title track, “Death Atlas.” A beautiful 9-minute epic song that even features Ryan doing clean vocals. Once the album finished being played, they immediately jumped into their latest 2023 album, Terrasite. Up first was “A Photic Doom” followed by one of their best songs, “We Eat Our Young.” Ryan thanked the audience for coming out as well as mentioning that this would be the last song of the whole tour and he would now leave them with one last song for the night. The last song performed was one of their best songs “Scourge of the Offspring.” The fans continued to mosh and gave their last bit of energy to the band. The show came to an end, and there were nothing but smiles amongst the fans as they had been more than satisfied with the whole tour. Hopefully it’s not long before Cattle Decapitation come through again to pulverize their fans with metal.
