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JUNE 2023 // No. 224
charlie koryn
Ascended Dead/ Morbid Angel (Live)
david bland full of hell
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Jeramie Kling
Venom Inc./ Inhuman Condition
Eric Morotti Suffocation
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June 2023 [R 224] decibelmagazine.com
Hell Freezes Over COVER STORY COVER AND CONTENTS PHOTOS BY DAVE CREANEY
upfront 8
obituary: jim durkin Honoring a fallen angel
10 metal muthas A blossoming love 12 low culture New month, same shit 13 no corporate beer Brew after reading
14 sunrot They’re here, they’re queer, you're prolly used to it 16 bandit Put a little hate in your heart 18 smoulder Drawn to power 20 cloak Burning ever darker 22 dozer Clean riffs for a murky future
features
reviews
24 voidceremony Anything but threadbare
36 immortal Army of one
26 usnea Shining a light on our darkest creations
38 enforced Born to fight
69 lead review Cattle Decapitation deliver a record of homegrown death metal that is anything but buggy with Terrasite
28 drain Proof positive 30 deep cross Thawing out 32 wild beyond Space age evil 34 defiled Letting their hair down
40 q&a: the acacia strain Vocalist Vincent Bennett is full of questions but doesn’t have the answers 44 the decibel
hall of fame Following a departure from black metal orthodoxy, a switch in vocal duties and a number of different labels, it’s time for Fleurety to enter our hallowed Hall with Min tid skal komme
70 album reviews Records from bands that prefer Power Trip over “Power Trip,” including Fugitive, Haunt and the Ocean 80 damage ink It’s not gonna be alright, and that’s gotta be OK
Decibel (ISSN 1557-2137) is published monthly by Red Flag Media, Inc., P.O. Box 36818, 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, P.O. Box 36818, Philadelphia, PA 19107. © 2023 by Red Flag Media, Inc. All rights reserved. ISSN 1557-2137 | USPS 023142 Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission of the publisher is strictly prohibited.
2 : JUNE 2023 : DECIBEL
This month’s Upfront section features a pair of vocalists in Smoulder’s Sarah Ann and Bandit’s Gene Meyer that are also regular Decibel contributors. Over the magazine’s 19-year history, we’ve enlisted numerous extreme metal musicians to write for us. So many, in fact, that while listening to the new Decibel Records-released Venomous Concept album—which features former Decibel columnist Kevin Sharp on lead vocals—longtime writer Daniel Lake opined that we should encourage the formation of new projects based solely around our musician contributors, simply because “It’s time. The world needs this.” So, move the fuck over, ghost of Lou Pearlman—I’m curating the next big thing(s).
Lineup: Kevin Sharp (vocals) • Matt Olivo (guitar) J. Bennett (bass) • Richard Christy (drums) Style: old-school grindcore This one is a total no-brainer, in that no brains should be required for listening to or performing it. Just blast, burn and howl. Tapping Colin Richardson to produce it. He’ll take 11 days just to get the snare sound down, but it will be totally worth it.
Lineup:
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June 2023 [T224] PUBLISHER
Alex Mulcahy
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EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Albert Mudrian
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James Lewis
james@decibelmagazine.com DIRECTOR OF MARKETING AND SALES ART DIRECTOR
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Michael Wohlberg
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Patty Moran
COPY EDITOR
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BOOKCREEPER
Tim Mulcahy
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Chuck BB, Ed Luce Mark Rudolph
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Albert Mudrian
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James Lewis
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Neill Jameson (vocals) • Jon Rosenthal (guitar) • Matt Solis (guitar) Eugene Robinson (bass—are you gonna tell him he can’t play it?) Mookie Singerman (programmed drums)
Style: trve USBM Lyrics are taken straight from Neill’s long-running Low Culture column, which works out nicely because Rosenthal and Solis are largely incapable of writing songs under 15 minutes long.
Lineup: Jerry A. Deathburger (vocals) • Jeff Walker (bass) John Darnielle (guitar) • Richard Christy (drums)
Style: death fuckin’ metal Darnielle keeps up via guitar pointers from engineer Erik Rutan. Richard Christy is forced to keep drinking rat shit coffee just to keep pace with all these new bands. Jeff Walker shoehorns a Die Flüffers cover into the set. Everyone breaks a foot.
Lineup: Albert Mudrian (all) Style: dungeon synth Totally original take on the subgenre that doesn’t sound exactly like Era 1 Mortiis. What can I say? I’ve got a nose for this sort of thing.
albert mudrian, Editor-in-Chief
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Emily Bellino Adrien Begrand J. Bennett Dean Brown Liz Ciavarella-Brenner Chris Dick Sean Frasier Nick Green Raoul Hernandez Addison Herron-Wheeler Jonathan Horsley Courtney Iseman Neill Jameson Kim Kelly Sarah Kitteringham Daniel Lake Cosmo Lee Jamie Ludwig Shane Mehling Tim Mudd Justin M. Norton Dutch Pearce Forrest Pitts Greg Pratt Jon Rosenthal Brad Sanders José Carlos Santos Joseph Schafer Kevin Stewart-Panko Eugene S. Robinson Adem Tepedelen Jeff Treppel J Andrew Zalucky CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS
MAIN OFFICE
Lineup: Chris Dodge (bass/vocals) • Shane Mehling (bass) Blake Harrison (programmed drums/ironing board) Style: powerviolence It might seem ridiculous for a trio to have two bass players, but Shane breaks his arm within the first 90 seconds of every live performance.
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Decibel subscriber service/change of address: 215.625.9850 x105 or contact@decibelmagazine.com To order by mail: Consult the subscription card 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., P.O. Box 36818, 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, P.O. Box 36818, Philadelphia PA 19107. Copyright ©2023 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
Brian Krasman Duquesne, PA
The Pittsburgh metal scene has its fair share of legends among its ranks, like Dream Death and Derkéta, but can you tell us some upstart Yinzers we need to keep an eye on?
Pittsburgh’s metal scene is pretty damn prolific, though Pittsburgh is anything but progressive musically, so it’s kind of a wellkept secret. Trad warriors Lady Beast are awesome, and their singer Deb Levine is one of the most charismatic people on the planet. She also puts together the annual Metal Immortal Festival here in town. (Come see us in September!) Horehound has the sludgy doom thing down to a science, and they play all the time and always deliver. Their singer Shy Kennedy heads up the annual Descendants of Crom fest, which is insanely fun and wellrun. Ritual Mass are death metal killers; Vale
6 : JUNE 2023 : DECIBEL
is an immersive atmospheric solo black metal project; Narakah will take your head off; Uzkost wield a black metal and doom buzzsaw; Pyrithe are indescribable chaos; and Vicious Blade carry the burning torch of thrash with a violent edge. You’ve been a subscriber since 2010—holy crap, thanks! What’s kept you around so long?
Well, I love the magazine. I’m not blowing smoke here: It’s honestly a highlight of my month. Wait, is that sad? I’ve actually been a reader since the [beginning], as I got the Dillinger Escape Plan issue #1 in the mail somehow. I’m guessing I got on a mailing list based on also being a metal scribe, but it was an awesome surprise. It was exactly what I was looking for, and in 2010, I think I was tired of trying to track it down each month in stores and didn’t want to miss anything. You can’t make me leave! Tell us about your It’s the Beer Video podcast. I think this technically counts as a podcast, right?
I have to credit my friend Zakk “Old Man” Weston
(of Low Cunning infamy) for the idea. He’d occasionally drink perversely old beers and comment. During the pandemic, I kindly asked if I could steal the idea to entertain myself. It started off just me in my kitchen drinking a beer and giving my thoughts on Instagram, and then my friend Helen wanted to come on as a guest. So, we did one together, had a good time, and now we’re a team (fun fact: we have never met in person)! The only rule is whatever we’re drinking we cannot have ever had before. Perverse can/bottle art and weird beer names are a plus. We’re not experts; we’re just having fun, and there is literally no editing done. I cannot stress this enough. We talk about metal, yelling cats often make appearances, we make fun of Ron DeSantis, and we just launched our YouTube channel a couple months ago. Frozen Soul are on the cover of this issue. They’ve only been active since 2018, so with that in mind, who’s your favorite new jack death metal band of the past five years?
Well, that’s rad as fuck because I really love Frozen Soul and am psyched for the new record (I own Frozen Soul socks!). It’s hard to pinpoint one, so I’ll toss out a few names: Putrescine, Konvent, the mighty Castrator, Worm and Majesties, whose new record has so many riffs, they should be investigated! Get on their level!
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
BY
the fall of 1986, the Bay Area thrash scene was established and fiercely competitive. Metallica had Kill ’Em All, Ride the Lightning and Master of Puppets. Exodus had Bonded by Blood. Possessed used thrash as a template to help create a new genre: death metal. That type of talent and ferocity would intimidate lesser bands. Dark Angel arrived midway through the decade unfazed and supremely confident. They turned heads with their debut We Have Arrived and upended thrash with Darkness Descends, widely considered one of the best thrash metal albums ever.
Guitarist and Dark Angel co-founder Jim Durkin, an architect of that sound, died at 58 on March 8. A cause of death was not released. Durkin is survived by his wife Annie and remembered by peers and rising bands for his hellacious riffs and idiosyncratic guitar playing. “The first time I heard We Have Arrived, I thought I’d discovered a new lower plane of hell,” says Craig Locicero, guitarist for Dark Angel’s thrash peers Forbidden. “It was unlike all the other thrash I knew. Then came Darkness Descends. That was a blur of insane riffs and relentless energy that shocked the hell out of me. Jim was one of the sweetest and kindest riff-masters I’ve ever known. The world needs more guys like him.” Even in 2023, Darkness Descends is a revelation. If you could compare it to any album from ’80s 8 : JUNE 2023 : DECIBEL
thrash, it would be Slayer’s Reign in Blood. Both albums aren’t just fast, but sound genuinely evil. Like Slayer’s Jeff Hanneman, Durkin created sounds and tones with a guitar that didn’t seem quite of this earth. In addition to the first two Dark Angel albums, Durkin played on Leave Scars. He left Dark Angel in 1989, rejoined a decade ago and has been a part of the band since. He also played in other thrash acts including Dreams of Damnation and Hirax. “He became one of my best friends and helped me through two of the most painful events in my life,” says Dreams of Damnation vocalist and former Nuclear Blast publicist Loana dP Valencia. “He’s a forefather of thrash, an ancestor to all current incarnations of thrash and even black metal bands. The musical bloodline is
direct. He was an elder statesman of the nascent scene, a tape-trading founding member of this immense, globe-spanning community.” Immolation guitarist Alex Bouks says Durkin’s playing was integral to his development. “Jim was one of the greatest guitar players in thrash history and is criminally overlooked,” Bouks explains. “Dark Angel was a big deal for all of us in the early death metal scene. His insanely brutal, fast and dark riffs and super chaotic virtuoso leads profoundly influenced what I do today.” Bouks says when he heard Darkness Descends his life changed. “The record was mind-blowing and hugely influential on my journey into what would become the death metal genre,” he explains. “Jim was the guy steering the ship. Without his contribution, the death metal world would not be what it has become.” “I only met Jim a couple of times, but he was always super friendly and humble,” offers Death Angel drummer Will Carroll. “His vicious and demented riffs propelled Dark Angel a cut above other thrash metal bands. His influence can still be heard and cannot be overstated. I look forward to hearing the new Dark Angel, which will be a living tribute to his legacy.” Safe travels, Jim. Thank you for all you left for generations of metal fans. —JUSTIN M. NORTON
PHOTOS COURTESY OF RICK ALSUP
OBITUARIES
NOW SLAYING Wonder what Decibel world HQ has been rocking for the past month? Well, here are the records that we spun most when we definitely weren’t watching old Britpop documentaries on YouTube.
Because not all of us were spawned in the darkest recesses of hell
This Month’s Mutha: Rebecca Davies Mutha of Katie Davies of Pupil Slicer
Tell us a little about yourself.
In the ’80s, I was a model, traveling all over the world for work. For several years after that, I worked in a special needs school, then I left work to have Katie. It was just the two of us as Katie was growing up. I was a stay-at-home mum, and it was a great time; I’m so grateful to have had it. Now I live alone and play with three different orchestras three nights a week and love to read. Pupil Slicer are known for wildly chaotic metallic hardcore. Did Katie exhibit an interest in outsider art growing up?
As we were home-schooling, it offered us the luxury and freedom of looking at things from different perspectives. Kate’s inquiring mind naturally came at all concepts from extraordinary angles. The music Kate has made is to mathematical precision in timing to create a disordered, mind-bending effect. It demands a painstakingly systematic process to produce discordant, disturbing, claustrophobic uneasiness. Only with an understanding of musical devices could one serve up such sounds. Katie has referred to themself as sheepish and nonconfrontational in interviews, a far cry from their musical persona. Thoughts?
Kate finds conflict draining and debilitating, preferring a predictable, amiable, calm environment, with sweet homely elements. When psyching up for a performance onstage, the daggers are out. Kate bounds about, taking off in flight like a mythological creature, ready to devour. Fearlessly slaying with venomous stares, 10 : J U N E 2 0 2 3 : D E C I B E L
prowling for prey whilst roaring at your face, like a monstrous specter. Howling in excruciating pain, to the point of horror, then soothing into ambient oblivion. The Salvador Dali co-written 1929 short film Un Chien Andalou notoriously includes a shot of a sliced eyeball (which we understand did not influence Pupil Slicer’s band name). What are some of your favorite movies?
People have attributed their own interpretation to the name, which, true to form, is complimentary and generous. In honor of the Great Metal Vanguard, Pupil Slicer raucously found the most macabre, barbaric and horrible name as a salute to the tradition and to be worthy of a place in it. I love nothing more than period dramas with horses and carriages and elaborate scenes, sets and costumes. My favorite film is A Good Year with Russell Crowe, and more recently, I really enjoyed Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio. Katie delivers more melodic vocals for parts of the title track of sophomore album Blossom. Do you prefer those to their harsher approach?
Katie is going to be surprised when the audience chants the choruses from Blossom back. It’s just so catchy and a burst of color. I love it! On the first album, Mirrors, the screaming is incredibly arresting to the senses, with guttural, abrasive, howling tones. Katie is expressing a connection to inner despair. Baring all spirit and soul, to be burned to the root of all hope and then rise again, it’s not an easy listen as a mum. The respect I have for the bravery and honesty on display is immeasurable. —ANDREW BONAZELLI
Albert Mudrian : e d i t o r i n c h i e f Godflesh, Purge Smoulder, Violent Creed of Vengeance Veriluola, Cascades of Crimson Cruor Agalloch, Faustian Echoes Suede, Suede ---------------------------------Patty Moran : c u s t o m e r s e r v i c e Ceremony, Rohnert Park Gel, Violent Closure OFF!, Free LSD Fu Manchu, Godzilla’s/Eatin’ Dust Snail, Terminus ---------------------------------James Lewis : a d s a l e s Frozen Soul, Glacial Domination Flereuty, Min tid skal komme The Acacia Strain, Failure Will Follow Pupil Slicer, Blossom Agalloch, The Serpent and the Sphere ---------------------------------Mike Wohlberg : a r t d i r e c t o r Pupil Slicer, Blossom Frozen Soul, Glacial Domination Fugitive, Maniac The Acacia Strain, Failure Will Follow Cattle Decapitation, Terrasite ---------------------------------Aaron Salsbury : m a r k e t i n g a n d s a l e s Night Demon, Outsider Venomous Concept, The Good Ship Lollipop Drowningman, How They Light Cigarettes in Prison Since Day One, All American Gospel Hour Sarcosuchus, Demo
GUEST SLAYER
---------------------------------Brandon Cosair : d r a g h k a r / d r aw n a n d q u a r t e r e d
Century, The Conquest of Time Spirit Possession, Of the Sign... Savage Oath, Savage Oath Brocas Helm, Black Death Desaster, Hellfire’s Dominion