DARK AMERICANA EXHORDER REDISCOVERING OUR BLEAK MUSICAL PAST IN THE STUDIO
VARATHRON
HIS MAJESTY AT THE SWAMP HALL OF FAME
SUNN O))) LIFE OF NOISE
REFUSE/RESIST
ALSO
NOCTURNUS AD GAAHLS WYRD MARYLAND DEATHFEST XVII BIG BUSINESS HAUNT IDLE HANDS GATECREEPER
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POSSESSED JUNE 2019 // No. 176
To Hell and Back
proudly presents
BLA ZING. DESERT. METAL .
THE NEW ALBUM 03 | 05 | 2019
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earmusicofficial
METAL MADNESS SHOP IN STORE OR ONLINE AT FYE.COM
MEGADETH
YEAR OF THE KNIFE
WHITECHAPEL
SUNN O))
DEATH BY DESIGN EXCLUSIVE 4LP TRANSPARENT VINYL
ULTIMATE AGGRESSION
THE VALLEY
LIFE METAL
ALLEGAEON
AFTER THE BURIAL
LORD DYING
THE DAMNED THINGS
APOPTOSIS
EVERGREEN
MYSTERIUM TREMENDUM
HIGH CRIMES
MAYHEM
ICED EARTH
BELZEBUBS
PERIPHERY
GRAND DECLARATION OF WAR
ENTER THE REALM OF THE GODS
PANTHEON OF THE NIGHTSIDE GODS
PERIPHERY IV: HAIL STAN
AFTER THE BURIAL
IN THIS MOMENT
BORN OF OSIRIS
EVERGREEN EXCLUSIVE TRANSLUCENT GREEN VINYL
BLOOD EXCLUSIVE RED SMOKE VINYL
THE SIMULATION EXCLUSIVE OPAQUE RED VINYL
EXTREMELY EXTREME
June 2019 [R 176] decibelmagazine.com
upfront 8
metal muthas Hear her
10 live preview:
maryland deathfest xvii More blast for your buck
12 low culture Edge Lords 13 no corporate beer Ghoul’s Fermentor could not be reached for comment 14 studio report:
exhorder
Respect their authority 16 deafkids Come again? 18 big business Altered beasts 20 idle hands Pragmatic darkness 22 haunt Soaring higher 24 inculter Vision quest 26 vaura Let’s get weird 28 wormwitch Which witch is which?
features
reviews
30 nocturnus ad Paradoxical outcome
63 lead review Full of Hell will make you cry now, cry later with Weeping Choir
32 sunn o))) Drone gets a good shellacking 34 q&a: gaahl The best wyrds 38 special feature:
dark americana Sometimes good guys don’t wear white
42 the decibel
64 album reviews Records that didn’t need to spend $447 million dollars this offseason, including Amon Amarth, Death Angel and Origin 80 double negative An excellent day for an exorcism
hall of fame Varathron forge a brotherhood of Hellenic black metal on His Majesty at the Swamp
52 Death Lives! COVER STORY COVER AND CONTENTS PHOTOS BY LEVAN TK
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, paid at 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. © 2019 by Red Flag Media, Inc. ISSN 1557-2137 | USPS 023142 All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission of the publisher is strictly prohibited. 2 : J U N E 2 0 19 : D E C I B E L
Dungeon bastards
Mudrian with an unmasked Ellefsen, March 2019
www.decibelmagazine.com
June 2019 [T176]
PUBLISHER
Alex Mulcahy alex@redflagmedia.com
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Albert Mudrian albert@decibelmagazine.com
AD SALES
James Lewis james@decibelmagazine.com
DIRECTOR OF MARKETING AND SALES
As the father of two young children,
I don’t attend many shows these days. Unless it’s a Decibel event that I’ve booked, my responsibilities are squarely at home, packing elementary and pre-school lunches for the next day or polishing off copy while the rest of the family is fast asleep. But in late March, I entered dimensions unknown and attended the first date of Håvard “Mortiis” Ellefsen’s recent 10-city U.S. tour showcasing his older material. It was sometime in 1995 that I simultaneously acquired both Mortiis’ Ånden Som Gjorde Opprør and the Selvmord LP from his sadly overlooked Vond project. Obviously, his ex-Emperor pedigree—our pointy-eared man played bass on the recently Hall of Fame-inducted Emperor miniLP—was what got me in the door, but that goblin face peering from the Ånden cover sealed the deal. The actual music was dubbed “dark ambient” and nothing like black metal, which was actually a welcome concept by 1995. The packaging was unique and beautiful—I still recall discovering the hidden message beneath the CD tray on the back of the insert card—and the two lengthy tracks were simplistic, but majestic. Undoubtedly, no other metal subgenre relies as heavily upon atmosphere as black metal, but for my limited imagination, Ellefsen’s minimal keyboard strokes evoked more vivid images of ancient castles and pastoral landscapes than speedy tremolo-picking ever has. While I loved the first three Mortiis full-lengths (a.k.a. “Era 1”), by the end of the ’90s, Ellefsen aggressively began moving the project in more electronic and industrial directions, exiting a troll-filled domain and entering a dance club packed with PVC “pentagram” shirts. And while Ellefsen clearly harbored misgivings about his earlier work, an entire generation of fans were obsessing over it and emulating the foreboding eeriness of his synthesizer-driven soundscapes, giving birth to the micro-genre known as dungeon synth. This was all news to me until about two years ago, roughly when Ellefsen began reissuing his now highly-coveted early releases. Around then, heavily Mortiis-indebted acts like Old Tower, Spectral Kingdom and Charnel Oubliette finally appeared on my radar. And that’s just the tip of the Medieval prison! I mean, there are more dungeon synth acts than Mortiis memes right now. Despite all this recent momentum, the prospect of an “Era 1” Mortiis tour sounded like an ambitious booking to my traditionally shaped ears. So, I bought tickets to the Baltimore show, drove through four hours of traffic and walked into the venue hoping I wouldn’t be one of 30 people. To my pleasant surprise, a couple hundred attendees were already in the room—including a member of Integrity and a dude in a Blood Incantation shirt who tried in vain to start a pit. By the time Ellefsen finished his hour-long unveiling of the secrets of his kingdom, a line that stretched the length of the room queued up at the merch table. So, no, I probably won’t get out any more often. But on the rare occasions I do, take me to the dungeon. albert mudrian, Editor-in-Chief
REFUSE/RESIST
ART DIRECTOR
Alex Yarde alex.yarde@redflagmedia.com
Michael Wohlberg michael@redflagmedia.com
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CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS
Chuck BB, Ed Luce Mark Rudolph
Online DECIBEL WEB EDITOR
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CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Anthony Bartkewicz Adrien Begrand J. Bennett Nathan T. Birk Shawn Bosler Dean Brown Louise Brown Richard Christy Liz Ciavarella-Brenner Chris Dick Chris Dodge Sean Frasier Nick Green Raoul Hernandez Jonathan Horsley Ben Hutcherson Neill Jameson Scott Koerber Daniel Lake Shawn Macomber Shane Mehling Justin M. Norton Andy O'Connor Dayal Patterson Dutch Pearce Forrest Pitts Greg Pratt Jon Rosenthal Joseph Schafer Rod Smith Zach Smith Matt Solis Kevin Stewart-Panko Adem Tepedelen Jeff Treppel J Andrew Zalucky CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS
Jason Blake Ester Segarra Josh Sisk Gene Smirnov Levan TK Hannah Verbeuren Frank White
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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, paid at 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 ©2019 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
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READER OF THE
MONTH Michael Norton Standish, ME
You suffer from Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, which severely limits your mobility. Despite that, you do a fair amount of graphic design work and attend metal shows in New England somewhat regularly. What’s been your key to overcoming such physical limitations?
Patience. I know that there are others who could have worse problems than me. Determination. I am always figuring out that there are different ways to get things done. Keeping busy creatively and always having something to work on has kept me focused. Heavy metal helps me to work out any frustrations that I might have. Screaming and headbanging are required! A sick sense of humor also helps! I wouldn't say that I suffer from DMD more like cursed at times!
schizophrenia, a serious brain disorder. After he passed from taking his own life, I decided I would honor him by making a film and to spread awareness about his disability of mental illness. He was a skateboarder and a good person. The film, Brothers, has evolved over the process and has had a life of its own. Our hometown of Standish, Maine decided to dedicate a skatepark to my brother with a sculpture. My brother brought the idea of a skatepark to the town when he was a teen and he worked hard to get others involved. The film also includes how my family has dealt with the loss of my brother. One scene even shows me attending a Kreator show! After working alone for a few months, I hired filmmaker Reggie Groff to help bring the film to completion.
Please tell us about the documentary you're working on about your brother, who passed away in 2016.
You have been a Decibel subscriber for over a decade. What would you like to see more of and less of in the magazine? Or are we already fucking perfect?
In 2012, my brother was diagnosed with
Perhaps to see more articles about the artists
6 : J U N E 2 0 19 : D E C I B E L
who create art in the metal community. What about Metal Muthas and Metal Granmuthas? It would also be cool to see an all-inclusive Autopsy issue! I really enjoyed reading the Cannibal Corpse Special Issue. I would say there is plenty to read about, certainly not lacking in that department. The writing is very witty and the graphic design and the layout of the magazine is superb. Possessed's Jeff Becerra graces the cover of this issue. In our cover story, he’s quoted as saying “The goal of any paraplegic is to be recognized as a man, not a man in a chair.” How do you want to be recognized?
I’d like to be recognized as a person first and not just that guy in the wheelchair. I live a relatively normal life and don't want people to feel bad for me. I would like to be known as a hard worker and that I never give up. Remember me for being funny and creative with my art. I don’t want to be labeled as inspirational just because I have a disability and use a wheelchair. I live my life fully, visiting breweries, making movies, meeting people, making mead and hot sauce. I exist and I have a wide range of interests and projects. I am one who is truthful, a hell raiser, comfortable with who I am, which is metal as fuck!
Chuck BB is the illustrator of the graphic novels Black Metal, Vol. 1, 2 and 3 For more info and art, head over to chuckbb.com
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NOW SLAYING Wonder what Decibel world HQ has been rocking for the past month? Well, here are the records that we spun most while not giving a shit about your hot take on The Dirt.
Because not all of us were spawned in the darkest recesses of hell
This Month's Mutha: Amy Lee Mason Mutha of Chase Mason of Gatecreeper and Spirit Adrift
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
I was born in Phoenix, AZ, and raised in nearby Mesa. I grew up in a fragmented, somewhat dysfunctional home. I wanted to provide Chase with a more stable upbringing, and I think my husband Jeff and I provided that for him. Chase has two brothers and a sister [who] live in different states. They have all been to see his shows, and have even brought along a friend or two to join them. What was Chase like growing up? Was he interested in music from an early age?
When Chase was very young, he was so smart, funny and cute. When he was two years old, his favorite movie was the Beatles’ Help. He would often sit in front of the TV with his little plastic guitar and play and sing along with the movie. Chase also loved performing from an early age. He had several plastic guitars during his childhood. He would often ask us to come upstairs to his bedroom to hear him play. He would say, “Wanna see my concert?” The plastic guitars were later replaced by a drum set. In junior high and high school, he was in several different bands he formed with his friends. Many times I hauled around drums, guitars and sound systems in the back of our old Suburban as he played shows in various places. What are your impressions of his onstage persona?
I think he looks rough and tough, which is funny 8 : J U N E 2 0 19 : D E C I B E L
to me. That’s not the Chase I know. He’s a selfproclaimed “mama’s boy.” What's something that most people don't know about your son?
Chase is soft-spoken and has a heart of gold. All his little cousins, nieces and nephews adore him. Since he was young, he has had the ability to relate to and communicate with people of all ages. Through the years, I have watched him help people when he could hardly help himself. He is a kind soul. Do you have a favorite of any of Chase's bands?
I would have to say that of his current bands, Spirit Adrift is my favorite. It’s a little more my style. After his struggles with addiction, how rewarding is it to see your son healthy and fronting a critically-acclaimed band?
We are extremely proud of Chase and his sobriety. We also realize it is a daily choice and struggle to keep sober. In his line of business, he is constantly surrounded by and reminded of his past, but he is strong and determined. He has come a long way! There were times in his life that we weren’t sure if he would live another day. We are so happy to see him healthy and doing something he loves. We hope Chase’s visibility and success will help others who suffer with addictions to see that there is hope. —ANDREW BONAZELLI
Albert Mudrian : e d i t o r i n c h i e f Various Artists, The LEGO Moive 2 The Second Part, Original Soundtrack Nocturnus AD, Paradox Varathron, His Majesty at the Swamp Baroness, Gold & Grey Def Leppard, Pyromania ---------------------------------Patty Moran : c u s t o m e r s e r v i c e Fu Manchu, Godzilla’s/Eatin’ Dust Spaceslug, Lemanis Nebula, Charged Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats, Wasteland Deafheaven, Ordinary Corrupt Human Love ---------------------------------James Lewis : a d s a l e s Possessed, Revelations of Oblivion Nocturnus AD, Paradox Origin, Abiogenesis A Coming into Existence Thanatos, Thanatology: Terror from the Vault Enkidu, To the Maggots ---------------------------------Mike Wohlberg : a r t d i r e c t o r Baroness, Purple Totaled, Lament Black Breath, Sentenced to Life Triumvir Foul, Urine of Abomination Crypt Sermon, Out of the Garden ---------------------------------Alex Yarde : d i r e c t o r o f m a r k e t i n g Tyler Childers, Purgatory Nails, Unsilent Death James Blake, Assume Form Pig Destroyer, Phantom Limb Mt. Joy, Mt. Joy ---------------------------------Vince Bellino : e d i t o r i a l a s s i s ta n t Eye Flys, Stems Crowbar, Odd Fellows Rest Pan-Amerikan Native Front, Tecumseh’s War Noisem, Cease to Exist Crowhurst, III
GUEST SLAYER
---------------------------------Matt Harvey : e x h u m e d , gruesome, pounder, ect. Bernard Herrmann, North by Northwest Original Soundtrack Zapp, Zapp Aseptic, Senses Decay Triumph, Allied Forces Inepsy, City Weapons