CARCASS
SYMPHONIES OF SETLISTS
ALMOST
HALLof
FAMOUS
HALL OF FAME
VENOM PARADISE LOST
TO HELL AND BACK
STUDIO REPORT
D E C I B E L M AG AZ I N E . C O M
FREE
20
classic LPs we tried to induct
ORANGE
GOBLIN FLEXI DISC
INSIDE! Don’t see it? Then subscribe!
EXHUMED TORCHE NOISEM LORD DYING FULGORA ARMAGEDDON WRETCH ALSO
MAR 2015 // No. 125
E XT R E M E LY E XT R E M E
LIVING COLOUR
EXTREMELY EXTREME
March 2015 [T125] decibelmagazine.com
64 LEVIATHAN COVER STORY
The damage undone
features
reviews
20 heiress Entitlement has its privileges
36 wretch The gates of slumber awaken and reopen
75 lead review SoCal’s Night Demon do the NWOBHM proud
22 fulgora Super grind freaks
38 call and response:
76 album reviews Artists who ain’t bad, despite having their albums unceremoniously dumped in the dead of winter, including Marduk, Blacklisted, Ghoulgotha and Hateful Abandon
upfront 10 metal muthas:
noisem
Let’s hear it for the boys 11 set fire Inside a Carcass comeback set list 12 low culture There’s no social justice, there’s just us 13 brewtal truth Thrash Zone’s extreme mandate 14 cry now Just in case—this is satire 16 live review From the Mandylion’s den 18 studio report:
paradise lost
What’s plaguing them lately
24 lord dying Wiping off the grime 26 armageddon > the Michael Bay version 28 sannhet Undefined variables 30 generation of vipers Cobra commanders refuse to retreat 32 lotus thief Comprehensive strategies 34 mors principium est Pouring out a fifth
exhumed
Inside Death Metal with Matt Harvey 40 torche Restart with heart 42 q&a: cronos Sweat like a pig, die like a fox 44 special feature
the top 20 almost decibel hall of fames Our hall of fails
54 the decibel hall of fame From clothes to chops, Living Colour were a Vivid force in ’80s metal
sub:culture 92 horrorscope Spin the blackest circles 96 south pole dispatch Applied sciences
COVER AND CONTENTS PHOTO BY SHIMON KARMEL Decibel (ISSN 1557-2137) is published monthly by Red Flag Media, Inc., 1032 Arch Street, 3rd Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19107. Annual subscription price is $29.95. Periodical postage, Philadelphia, PA, and other mailing offices. Submission of manuscripts, illustrations and/or photographs must be accompanied by a stamped, self-addressed envelope. The publisher assumes no responsibility for unsolicited materials. Postmaster send changes of address for Decibel to Red Flag Media, 1032 Arch Street, 3rd Floor, Philadelphia PA 19107. Copyright© 2015 by Red Flag Media, Inc. All ISSN 1557-2137 | USPS 023142 rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission of the publisher is strictly prohibited. 2 : M A R C H 2 0 15 : D E C I B E L
www.decibelmagazine.com
EXTREMELY EXTREME
March 2015 [T125]
PUBLISHER
Alex Mulcahy
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Albert Mudrian
CONTRIBUTING WR ITERS
alex@redflagmedia.com albert@decibelmagazine.com
MANAGING EDITOR
Andrew Bonazelli
andrew@decibelmagazine.com ART DIRECTOR
Bruno Guerreiro
bruno@decibelmagazine.com
just words
PHOTO BY JEF WHITEHEAD
MARKETING/ PROMOTION BOOKKEEPER
CUSTOMER SERVICE
The result is one of my favorite experiences ever working with an artist on a Decibel cover story, and one I would have never imagined possible all those years ago.
albert mudrian, Editor-in-Chief
Megan Matuzak
finance@redflagmedia.com
Patty Moran
patty@decibelmagazine.com
CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS
Chuck BB, Mark Rudolph
ADVERTISING
Albert Mudrian
albert@decibelmagazine.com
“I’m not interested in being
in your magazine. At all.” Leviathan’s Jef Whitehead from the editor provided this response to Decibel’s first interview request back in late 2005. To be fair, the appeal came from our J. Bennett, who has a long, hilarious history of poking the often-humorless bear that is underground black metal. And considering that Decibel had only been around a little over a year—and had recently run a cover story on a Christian metalcore band—I don’t know how we could have expected any other kind of reply. Fast forward nine years, and a lot of things have changed (Hey, our last truly regrettable cover is now seven years ago!) More importantly, that same J. Bennett is now a welcome guest in the home Jef shares with his girlfriend Stevie Floyd and their six-month-old daughter Grail. The reason for the visit: Jef’s first in-depth interview about his life; the musical movement he helped birth and legitimatize as an artistic force in the U.S. over the last two decades; and the ridiculously awesome new Leviathan LP, Scar Sighted. If that wasn’t shocking enough, Jef actually proposed the idea to pose with Grail in our photo shoot, and was even kind enough to tattoo our intrepid reporter after their interview (I think you can spot the work in the photo above). The result is one of my favorite experiences ever working with an artist on a Decibel cover story, and one I would have never imagined possible all those years ago. Today, Jef Whitehead is nurturing a healthy family, while the singer of that Christian metalcore band we naively awarded a cover is currently serving a six-year sentence for a murder-for-hire plot to kill his wife. Maybe the “dark side” isn’t so bad after all.
James Lewis
james@decibelmagazine.com
540.878.5756 UNDERTONES SECTION
Drew Juergens
drew@decibelmagazine.com
Online DECIBLOG EDITOR
Andrew Bonazelli
ONLINE ADVERTISING
Ben Umanov
andrew@decibelmagazine.com
ben@blastbeatnetwork.com
MAIN OFFICE
1032 Arch Street, 3rd Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19107 Tel: 215.625.9850 / Fax: 215.625.9967 www.decibelmagazine.com RECORD STORES
Anthony Bartkewicz Adrien Begrand J. Bennett Shawn Bosler Brent Burton Richard Christy Liz Ciavarella-Brenner John Darnielle Jerry A. Deathburger Chris Dick Sean Frasier Jeanne Fury Ula Gehret Nick Green Jonathan Horsley Neill Jameson Scott Koerber Daniel Lake Shawn Macomber Shane Mehling Kirk Miller Justin M. Norton Andy O'Connor Matt Olivo Dutch Pearce Etan Rosenbloom Rod Smith Zach Smith Matt Solis Kevin Stewart-Panko Adem Tepedelen Jeff Treppel Jeff Wagner CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGR APHERS
Jimmy Hubbard Shimon Karmel Scott Kinkade Jonathan Pushnik Ester Segarra Josh Sisk Gene Smirnov Frank White
To carry Decibel, call 1.215.625.9850 x105 DECIBEL SUBSCRIPTIONS
Decibel subscriber service/change of address: 215.625.9850 x105 or contact@decibelmagazine.com To order by mail: Consult the subscription page To order by phone: 215.625.9850 x105 To order by fax: 1.215.625.9967 To order online: www.decibelmagazine.com VISA/MASTERCARD/DISCOVER accepted Subscribers: please alert us of any change of address 6-8 weeks before the date of your move. Decibel is not responsible or obligated to re-ship issues missed because of a move we were not informed of 6-8 weeks before the move took place. DECIBEL BACK ISSUES/MERCHANDISE
To order by phone: 1.215.625.9850 (10 a.m. – 5 p.m. EST) To order by fax: 1.215.625.9967 To order online: www.decibelmagazine.com Decibel (ISSN 1557-2137) is published monthly by Red Flag Media, Inc., 1032 Arch Street, 3rd Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19107. Annual subscription price is $29.95. Periodical postage, Philadelphia, PA, and other mailing offices. Submission of manuscripts, illustrations and/or photographs must be accompanied by a stamped, self-addressed envelope. The publisher assumes no responsibility for unsolicited materials. Postmaster send changes of address for Decibel to Red Flag Media, 1032 Arch Street, 3rd Floor, Philadelphia PA 19107. Copyright ©2015 by Red Flag Media, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission of the publisher is strictly prohibited. PRINTED IN USA
ISSN 1557-2137
|
USPS 023142
fanbase READER OF THE MONTH shows are happening. The trick is to find the guy standing outside with a Cannibal Corpse shirt. That guy is always there like a heavy metal beacon. Club FF, DGBD and V-Hall usually have something good happening once or twice a month. The shows are really intense. Cover is usually $20 for five bands, and you get free beer. There are hardcore, thrash, death, doom and black metal bands. Lately, it’s lots of death metal and metalcore. Korean bands put everything they’ve got into their music. Also, with Korea being a homogenous society that stresses conformity, nobody in the scene is just casually into metal. They are die-hard metalheads.
Andrew Whitmore Culpeper, VA
You spent over three years living in South Korea. Did you get a sense that any kind of extreme music was happening there?
It’s really easy to dismiss South Korean music as nothing more than “Gangnam Style” and nine-member girl groups, but there is an exciting extreme music scene happening. You just have to do the legwork (literally and figuratively) to find it. After you’ve spent hours translating fan blogs and message boards to find bands and shows, you then have to walk around the nightlife districts of Seoul trying to find the underground clubs where the
6 : M A R C H 2 0 15 : D E C I B E L
We understand that you had metal in the household from a young age. What got you interested in metal, and what was the first metal album you owned?
My parents didn’t believe in censorship, so they let me and my brother listen to whatever we wanted as long as we didn’t repeat the bad words. My dad was really into metal when I was growing up, and was a huge influence. In ’88, he went to the Monsters of Rock tour and came home talking about this band that he saw called Metallica. At the ripe age of six, when he played …And Justice for All and I first heard the opening of “Blackened,” I was hooked on the heavier stuff. I have fond memories riding around with my dad, airdrumming to the breakdown in “One,” yelling, “Darkness! Imprisoning me!” I kept asking my dad to make me copies of his tapes, and before long I had an extensive
collection of ’80s and ’90s bands like D.R.I, Slayer, Sepultura and Entombed. The first album that I bought with my own money was a cassette of Schizophrenia by Sepultura. I wanted to buy Beneath the Remains, but it was out of stock at the time. You currently work for the Library of Congress. How does your job influence your music listening habits?
I’m a Film Archivist, and have a variety of different duties that require different listening. The vaults are dark and cold, especially if I’m working back there for a couple hours. If I’m working in the vaults, I usually listen to black metal. While I’m inspecting film, I have to be really focused and gentle. Some of the films are very old and delicate, and that requires finesse while working with them to prevent damage. For some reason, death metal helps me to focus and notice every detail. If I have to do a lot of heavy lifting and transporting of collection items, straight-edge hardcore with lots of jud-jud breakdowns does the trick. Thrash and crust help me to get through the hours of data entry and cataloging of collection items. Jef Whitehead of Leviathan is on the cover of this issue. If you had the chance, what would you ask Jef to tattoo on you?
Most of the tattoos I have are Asian or Irezumi-styled. I would ask for something with that aesthetic. I’ve wanted to get a halfsleeve of an Oni doing battle with a giant squid for a while.
Chuck BB is the illustrator of the graphic novels Black Metal, Vol. 1. and Black Metal, Vol. 2 For more info and art, head over to chuckbb.com
Taake Striden Hus
“Taake’s album’s range in quality from excellent to absolutely essential.” - Stereogum
VOICES london the new album featuring the songs “Hourglass” & “Last Train Victoria Line” “dizzying and jaw dropping” - Ave Noctum
1349
The Candlelight Years
INSOMNIUM
The Candlelight Years
HATEFUL ABANDON Liars Bastards
“adventurous & ambitious” - Cvlt Nation
www.candlelightrecordsusa.com
www.candlelightrecordsusa.bandcamp.com join us at www.facebook.com/candlelightrecords follow us on twitter @candlelightusa
FALLOCH
This Island, Our Funeral
“haunting & evocative.” - Terrorizer
candlelight
web gems presents:
f Suckness o s o ie n h Symp In which we recount the most the insane and inspired posts of g blo month from our comrades in
SUMAC’S NEW TRACK IS ALL YOU HOPED IT WOULD BE
FORTY-ONE METAL AND HARD ROCK ALBUMS THAT WILL BE 10 YEARS OLD IN 2015 Who doesn’t love a good round number, specifically the number 10? You know Decibel does, as we just celebrated our 10-year anniversary last year, so this compendium of 41 album covers takes us way back to the glorious, metalcoredriven days of 2005. What up, Chimaira? Como esta, Trivium? How’s it hangin’, pre-incarceration As I Lay Dying? Mind you, some good records came out that year as well. The Red Chord’s Clients was our first perfect-10 review, and Gojira, High on Fire and Napalm Death put out some killer records as well. Anyway, you should own, uh, I don’t know, a third of this stuff?
Flip forward a few pages and you’ll see Kevin Stewart-Panko’s so-so review of this new Profound Lore supergroup, featuring members of Isis, Botch/Russian Circles and Baptists. But since KSP can not be trusted to speak authoritatively about anything, here’s what Vince has to say about “Thorn in the Lion’s Paw” (spoiler alert: it’s pretty much exactly what KSP thinks): “It’s a ripper from start to finish, all eight minutes of it. Unsurprisingly, Sumac sounds much like the sum of their parts, but there are no specific elements you can point to and say, for example, ‘that’s the Isis-like part,’ which is a good thing—Sumac are entirely their own beast. What I’m drawn to most about the track on first listen is the dynamic—‘Thorn’ has all sorts of peaks and valleys, all in the name of moving the song forward without getting too dramatic for drama’s sake. For example, the song proper doesn’t start until more than a minute in, but the intro sets the tone perfectly and feels integral to the story.”
MONSTER MAGNET The Duke
MACHINE HEAD Now We Die
TAGS: SUMAC, ISIS, BOTCH, RUSSIAN CIRCLES,
TAGS: AS I LAY DYING, THE RED CHORD
IRIS DIVINE RELEASE NEW SONG, HAVE RECORD LABEL INTEREST! Go, extreme metal synergy! MS have been championing Virginia-based prog/djent heroes Iris Divine for years, and in late December, our own Dan Lake posted an interview and track premiere on the Deciblog. Everyone wants to see them get signed, and evidently they’re in the red zone. Vince echoes our positive vibes on “A Suicide Aware,” gushing, “It’s exactly what we’ve come to expect from this band—super proggy musicianship wrapped up in a catchy, hooky shell (think: Dream Theater’s more poporiented songs)—only even more refined than ever before. Cannot wait to hear this full album on whatever label will have Iris Divine.”
There’s not really much to add to this 43-second video of a housecat more or less doing what the headline suggests other than the post’s first comment: “If I wanted to watch a pussy sing deathcore, I’d watch Emmure videos.”
TAGS: IRIS DIVINE
TAGS: LORNA SHORE
DESIRE FOR SORROW
Revelation Through Affliction
DEATH METAL KITTY LIP SYNCS TO LORNA SHORE’S “LIFE OF FEAR,” MELTS HEARTS
Visit www.metalsucks.net 8 : M A R C H 2 0 15 : D E C I B E L
LIVING COLOUR
Cult of Personality Visit the official Decibel channel at Metal Injection http://www.metalinjection.tv/decibel
EPIC PUISSANCE & WORSHIPPING RIFFS!
OUT
A PERFECT SOUNDTRACK ON THE ROAD TO THE ENDLESS APOCALYPSE!
FEB 10 !
Available as LTD First Edition 6 Page Digipak & 4 Bonus Tracks, LTD Vinyl and Download!
A DRAMATIC DEATH/BLACK METAL SOUNDSCAPE! OUT
DARK, ATMOSPHERIC & MAJESTIC!
FEB 10 !
A MONUMENT FULL OF NATURE ROMANTICISM -
OUT
A CINEMATIC & EPIC JOURNEY!
FEB 10 !
Available LTD First Edition 4 Page Digipak and Download!
Available as Limited Edition 4 Page Digipak & Bonus Trackand Download!
family values
now slaying Wonder what Decibel world HQ has been rocking for the past month? Well, here are the records we listened to most when we weren’t trying to squeeze into our old Body Glove wetsuits.
Metal
Muthas Because not all of us were spawned in the darkest recesses of hell
This Month's Mutha: Wendy Phillips Mutha of Sebastian and Harley Phillips of Noisem
Can you tell us more about yourself?
I am 37 years old. I was a teenage parent. I graduated high school while working to support myself and Sebastian, along with my husband, Sebastian and Harley’s dad Tony. I have dedicated most of my time to being a stay-at-home mom until the boys were older.
sports until he was about seven. He has always liked punk music. One of the first bands he loved was the Misfits, and Black Flag has always been one of his favorites. What did you think when your sons went on the Decibel tour last year?
I raised my boys to be themselves. Sebastian always wanted to be in the spotlight and was very active. At times he could be a handful. Harley has always been very laid back and observant.
I could not have been more proud—or scared. My boys were doing what they have always wanted to do: play music. They are my babies and it’s hard to just let them go. They are both still so young. But they have done things and seen places that I haven’t had the opportunity to do or see.
Where in Baltimore did the boys grow up? Do they come from a big family?
Did you give them any tips on taking care of themselves on the road?
The boys were raised in Dundalk [Baltimore County]. At holiday get-togethers, there are about 30 of us.
I told them to eat properly, stay hydrated and take their vitamins—not that they took my advice. I told them to look out for each other. No drinking and driving, and no girls in the van!
How did you raise your sons? Were they easy to parent or a handful?
When did the boys start developing an interest in music?
Sebastian was a musician right out of the womb. He was in his first band at four years old. He played drums and his dad played guitar and sang. They played together until Sebastian was about 13. Harley was more interested in cars and 1 0 : M A R C H 2 0 15 : D E C I B E L
Jeff Walker of Carcass says your sons might have tried to sneak a few beers during the tour. Thoughts?
They are very honest with us. They have shared many stories from the road with us… and about you, Mr. Walker. —JUSTIN M. NORTON
Albert Mudrian : E D I T O R I N C H I E F Krieg, Transient Living Colour, Vivid Leviathan, Scar Sighted Monster Magnet, Spine of God Invincible Force, Satan, Rebellion, Metal ---------------------------------Andrew Bonazelli : M A N A G I N G E D I T O R Helmet, Strap It On Deftones, Around the Fur Katatonia, Discouraged Ones Krallice, Dimensional Bleedthrough YOB, Clearing the Path to Ascend ---------------------------------Patty Moran : C U S T O M E R S E R V I C E The Heads, Everybody Knows We Got Nowhere (reissue) Naam/White Hills/Black Rainbows/ The Flying Eyes, 4-Bands Split (Vol. 1) SQÜRL, EP #3 The Cramps, Blues Fix EP Courtney Barnett, The Double EP: A Sea of Split Peas ---------------------------------Bruno Guerreiro : A R T D I R E C T O R Pig Destroyer, Prowler in the Yard Darkthrone, Dark Thrones and Black Flags Electric Wizard, Time to Die Verma, EXU Napalm Death, Apex Predator - Easy Meat ---------------------------------James Lewis : M A R K E T I N G / P R O M O T I O N S Paradise Lost, Lost Paradise Gridlink, Longhena Pan.Thy.Monium, Khaooos ACxDC, Antichrist Demoncore Incantation, Diabolical Conquest
GUEST SLAYER
---------------------------------Sanford Parker : C O R R E C T I O N S H O U S E / B U R I E D AT S E A Death Grips, Government Plates Run the Jewels, Run the Jewels 2 The Bug, Angels and Devils Aimon, Aimon The Haxan Cloak, Excavation
TIM TRONCKOE
ego box
SET FIRE Decibel ventures backstage to break down your favorite artists’ set lists THIS MONTH:
JEFF WALKER of CARCASS WHEN WHERE
September 10, 2008 Sonar, Baltimore, MD
How democratic is the process of making a Carcass setlist?
Well, it’s diplomatic in the sense that everyone gets to suggest songs, but then there’s always the right of “veto!” Some songs we’ve never performed outside of the studio, some Bill [Steer] won’t sing anymore, some just don’t go down well in the live arena, etc. There are songs we feel we have to perform—they are perceived as our “hits” or just go down well, or are just damn fun to play! This gig was well before Dan Wilding and Ben Ash joined; how many members got a say in mapping this out during the initial reunion shows?
All four of us. The multiple appearances of “Intro Tape”: Are those just samples?
It’s the intro from and the in-between song samples from Necroticism played from an iPod. Just to keep the songs from the third album “authentic.” Also, it’s a bit more interesting than listening to Walker’s pathetic drunken attempts at humor, and gives him less chance to offend the audience.
The set closes with a medley that incorporates elements of Symphonies, Heartwork and Necroticism. Why did those particular songs flow so well together?
’Cause we play them in that sequence and it works—simple as that! We gaffer-taped the songs together nicely! This date was one of your first American gigs since originally disbanding. By that point, had you gotten over any initial nerves via playing the Euro/Australian festival circuit beforehand?
Well the only real nerves I remember were with Mike [Amott] and Bill, who had to take a good totty of whiskey right before going on stage for the first initial few shows. As for me, any “nervousness” manifests itself as slight stress— I’m pretty angsty and on edge before we play. I think this is down to the pressure of trying not to disappoint anyone and to meet any expectations of the audience. Whereas when we were young, we were more cavalier. There’s a definite feeling of trying to live up to the band's reputation—again, nothing that a third of a bottle of bourbon can’t fix!
One Swansong track made this show’s cut, “Keep on Rotting in the Free World” (you’ve broken out “Black Star” plenty of times since). Was there any trepidation in going back to a record you got so much shit for, even for one song?
Nah, we figured that song would work well live, and we wanted to represent every album that we had ever recorded. That record has a bit of an unfair stigma about it—it’s kind of turned into a cliché now to have a downer on that album. It’s… a gateway album for many and its actual sales (more than Reek or Symphonies) tell a different story: a lot of people love that album. For the band, though, it’s a recording with a negative vibe due to the circumstances surrounding the creation of it. You dedicated “No Love Lost” to Albert and noted that Decibel is great bathroom reading, and even better when you run out of toilet paper. How has the inclusion of the flexi disc affected your wiping habits?
You can now eat your dinner (the discs make nice disposable plates) at the same time as you take a dump before wiping your ass on the latest unread South Pole Dispatch. A D E C I B E L : M A R C H 2 0 15 : 1 1