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SEPTEMBER 2023 // No. 227
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NORTHWEST TERROR FEST 2023 SEATTLE’S DOUBLE DOSE OF DEATH REVIEWED
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September 2023 [R 227] decibelmagazine.com
Death is Not the End COVER STORY COVER AND CONTENTS PHOTOS BY SCOTT KINKADE
upfront 8
metal muthas Can’t slow down her love
10 northwest
terror fest 2023 review Because Creepsylvania Terror Fest is just too far
12 low culture Disorder in the court 13 no corporate beer Pilsner? I hardly know ’er!
features
reviews 69 lead review Godthrymm’s sophomore album Distortions needs no marketing obfuscation to wow with its masterful doom metal
14 will haven Because VII, VIII, IX
24 dead heat From coast to coast
32 church of misery Bloody Sabbath indeed
16 godthrymm The art of sorrow
26 ashtar And then there was one
34 spirit adrift Here comes the rain
18 crypta Pain into power
28 nuclear remains Freaking out
20 an autumn for
30 ringworm If it ain’t broke
36 q&a: oxbow Vocalist Eugene Robinson is a lover and a fighter
crippled children As autumn turns to winter
22 1476 What’s old is new again
40 exclusive:
united forces: an archive of brazil’s raw metal attack, 1986-1991 excerpt Stand by for Exciter (and Venom)
44 the decibel
hall of fame
70 album reviews Records from bands that are totally super serious about quitting Twitter this time, you guys, including Blut Aus Nord, Cavalera and Outer Heaven 80 damage ink Blow on
Fully anticipating their final recording, Opeth go all-out and secure their long, storied future with turning-point album Still Life
Decibel (ISSN 1557-2137) is published monthly by Red Flag Media, Inc., P.O. Box 36818, Philadelphia, PA 19107. Annual subscription price is $34.95. 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.
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The Melodic Death Metal Sensation from Finland - With Janne Wirman (Children Of Bodom) and Petri Lindroos (Ensiferum)
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September 2023 [T227] PUBLISHER
Alex Mulcahy
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EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Albert Mudrian
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skimming this magazine since 2012, this month’s Horrendous cover no doubt feels like an inevitability. If the glowing review and subsequent placement of their debut LP, The Chills, in our Top 40 Albums of Year list wasn’t aggressive foreshadowing, then 2014’s follow-up album Ecdysis cracking No. 3 (before their Anareta record took home Decibel’s Album of the Year honors only 12 months later) should have shadowboxed your fucking face in. Not long after, they recorded “Sentenced” for the Decibel Flexi Series, which years later I ranked the No. 2 dB Flexi of all time, and that’s only because the No. 1 spot was occupied by Dutch death metal legends Asphyx, who secretly wrote a theme song for the magazine that I can’t pronounce without sounding like I have a severe speech impediment (“Deathibel”). Along the way, we booked Horrendous to open the Charlotte date of the first-ever Decibel Tour in 2012, asked them to perform at 2016’s oneoff Choosing Death Fest, selected them to open every date of the stacked 2017 Decibel Tour and added them to the 2018 Philadelphia edition of Metal & Beer Fest. Then, while we were still disinfecting our produce a few years ago, we responsibly filmed them for our pandemic-induced 200th Issue Extremely Ex-Stream event before most recently asking them to annihilate last year’s Metal & Beer Pre-Fest in Philly. But this road to the tens of dollars in riches that comes with a Decibel magazine cover wasn’t always paved with gratuitous plus-ones and unlimited drink tickets. As the band confesses in Sean Frasier’s revealing and refreshingly self-aware feature, despite the considerable early accolades, Horrendous’ challenging fourth record, 2018’s Idol, retrospectively feels like a lateral move, if not a half-step backwards. This makes what the quartet achieves on new album-of-the-year contender Ontological Mysterium even more rewarding for both the listener and the artists who created it. And for a certain magazine that has been death-grunting their praises for over a decade, the only thing more rewarding than saying “we told you so” is knowing these four dudes deserve all of this. albert mudrian, Editor-in-Chief
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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., P.O. Box 36818, Philadelphia, PA 19107. Annual subscription price is $34.95. 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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PHOTO BY SCOTT KINKADE
Even if you’ve only been casually
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Abelardo Mayoral Vancouver, BC
You’re the owner of the Invisible Orange in Vancouver. Tell us what that is.
The Invisible Orange is a concert promotion company in which we organize around 40 to 60 concerts each year in Vancouver, lately organizing events in other parts of British Columbia, such as Vancouver Island and Interior BC. I also book cross-Canada or Canadianregional tours for independent bands. It also means that I’m a sadist that likes to torture himself, as if having a day job in health care analytics consulting wasn’t enough craziness. But seriously, it’s amazing. I get to meet many artists that I admire, and discover new ones by constantly being out at live shows. And stay connected with local fans and bands, old and new. I love it. You’re originally from Hermosillo, Mexico. Is that also where you first became a metalhead? If so, was there a significant metal scene there growing up?
Yes, that is where I became a metalhead, together with friends my age in late elementary. We would listen to radio shows [and] MTV’s Headbangers Ball, and browse the metal
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store at the public market together. Back then, we couldn’t afford to have a large collection of albums … so I would always aim to buy albums that I knew none of my friends had, as we would all lend the albums or make copies for each other. There was a solid scene for what I remember— way larger than it is today with respect to metal. Hermosillo is known today for its psych and indie rock scenes, with bands that play Coachella and the like, but almost no new metal bands. Back then, we had so many metal and punk bands that some friends and I created a website in the late ’90s to catalogue [them all]—something like a local Metal Archives, called RockSonora.com. We had gigs every weekend, in backyards, car shops, empty lots, which made up for not being able to access the touring circuit until you were old enough to drive to Arizona for shows. I loved growing up there even when it is literally hell, often reaching 120°F in the summer. Horrendous are on the cover of this issue, and Opeth’s Still Life is the Hall of Fame induction. Tell us one progressive death metal band who hasn’t appeared on our cover yet who should, and one who deserves a Hall of Fame induction.
Oh man, I can’t wait for the new Horrendous. I have it on presale since it’s not out yet at the time of this writing. The HOF album that comes to mind quickly and easily would be Edge of Sanity’s Crimson, as it is quite influential. Underrated in the extended circuits, but certainly very
appreciated by the many artists it touched, and a good number of fans in different circuits. For the cover, I would love to see “Hevy Devy,” Mr. Devin Townsend, who also gives very interesting interviews. You could pair him up with Anneke van Giersbergen, with whom he collaborates a lot, and I will need an extra copy of that to put in a frame. You’ve been lobbying our editor pretty hard about bringing a Metal & Beer Fest to Vancouver. For the rest of us reading this now, make your best elevator pitch!
Vancouver is a beautiful city that would make a great vacation festival destination for metalheads from all corners. We offer beach, mountain, forest and urban landscapes, all of them right in the city. The local scene is very friendly, and we will make great hosts. This is on top of the amazing talent that exists here, which frequently blows my mind. Artists from Europe, Japan, Mexico and many other countries do not require a visa to perform in Canada, so that opens opportunities for some unique bookings by eliminating the sometimesprohibitive visa costs. We have over 70 craft breweries in Vancouver, and over 250 in the province of British Columbia. The craft beer market share in BC is a staggering 30 percent, which is more than twice the USA average and three times the Canadian average! So, to recap, we have a great city, scene, artist logistics, beer options and cheap currency. Bring it on!
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
A start-to-finish victory of the Heavy Metal titans. U.D.O. in absolute top form, with Udo Dirkschneider and Peter Baltes reunited! NEW U.D.O. ALBUM «TOUCHDOWN» OUT 25.08
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“A touchdown indeed, well done!” SPARK (CZ), Zdenek Pospisil
“U.D.O. at their best - traditional heavy metal the way it’s meant to be!” LEGACY (DE), Christian Wachter
“U.D.O. keeping their roots alive with tons of energy - classic heavy metal as it should be!” SCREAM (NO), Kim Olav Svines
“A masterclass in heavy metal while being aware of the world we live in!” ROCK TRIBUNE (BE), Vera Matthijssens
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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 preparing to publish half a million words worth of books this year.
Because not all of us were spawned in the darkest recesses of hell
This Month’s Mutha: Paola Romeo Mutha of Dom Romeo of End Reign/A389 Recordings/ex-Integrity
Tell us a little about yourself.
I’m 71 years old, and I have three children and six grandchildren. I was born in a little town in Italy called Pico, just outside of Rome, but I’ve lived in Toronto since 1964. I like to think I’m pretty hip for a nonna (Italian for “grandmother”)! Is there any truth to the story that young Dom wanted Van Halen 1984, but you told him it was sold out and gave him Lionel Richie Can’t Slow Down instead?
It’s true. Back then, I kind of hoped he’d grow out of the “crazy music” thing. Now, though, so many years later, after all the places he’s been and things he’s done, I couldn’t be prouder of him. Dom had to suspend his label’s operations in 2018 in part due to wanting to have more time with his family. What are your impressions of him as a father?
He’s raised three beautiful children, so that’s definitely his greatest accomplishment. His kids are a lot of fun, too, because he’s worked hard to share his interests with them while helping them develop passions of their own. It’s hard for me sometimes because I don’t get to see them as often as I want. But, like a good Italian son, Domenic calls me multiple times a week. And if he doesn’t, you can be sure he’ll hear about it! Dom famously “wore down” Dwid Hellion with questions about Integrity until he eventually became a member of the band. Does that dogged persistence run in the family?
Does it ever! His father was from Reggio Calabria in Italy, and we call people from Calabria “testa dura,” which means hard-headed. All three of
my kids are stubborn, but Domenic was (and is) probably the most stubborn of them all. The more I told him no about something, the more he’d want to do it. Do you know he managed to hide his first tattoo for MONTHS before my husband or I ever saw it? Still, this “dogged persistence,” like you call it, could get him into trouble. He’d never stop when it came to jokes and pranks, pushing those buttons over and over again. I’m sure a lot of people out there wouldn’t mind smacking him in the head sometimes, including me! He’s also a tastemaker, working with multiple bands who have moved onto bigger labels (specifically Relapse). Do you share his taste in music?
Are you kidding? To me, it’s nothing but a bunch of screaming! Once in a while, these bands would come and stay at our house while Domenic was playing shows with them. They were all nice boys, but that wasn’t music! Give me Elvis Presley or Julio Iglesias over that noise any day. Dom was a big horror movie aficionado in his youth. Did he ever force you to watch any with him?
You know, that’s one thing we actually have in common! My husband always hated scary movies, but I loved them, so I’d watch them with Domenic. When he was young, the first one we watched was The Howling. After that, we would go to the video store every week and rent all the famous ones. As he got older, he would find and bring home horror movies I’d never heard of to watch together. So, I guess he probably got that from me! —ANDREW BONAZELLI
Albert Mudrian : e d i t o r i n c h i e f Godthrymm, Distortions Horrendous, Ontological Mysterium Uada, Crepuscule Natura Agalloch, The Serpent and the Sphere Biohazard, Urban Discipline ---------------------------------Patty Moran : c u s t o m e r s e r v i c e The Black Delta Movement, Recovery Effects Subhumans, The Day the Country Died Acid Mammoth, Under Acid Hoof Adolescents, Adolescents The Black Angels, Wilderness of Mirrors ---------------------------------James Lewis : a d s a l e s Horrendous, Ontological Mysterium Godthrymm, Distortions Khemmis, Hunted Agalloch, The Serpent and the Sphere Cavalera, Bestial Devastation ---------------------------------Mike Wohlberg : a r t d i r e c t o r Horrendous, Ontological Mysterium Cannibal Corpse, Chaos Horrific Kublai Khan, New Strength The Zenith Passage, Datalysium Lamp of Murmuur, Saturnian Bloodstorm ---------------------------------Aaron Salsbury : m a r k e t i n g a n d s a l e s Moonscape / Unarm, Split 7-inch Godthrymm, Distortions KEN mode, VOID Dead Heat, Endless Torment Khanate, To Be Cruel
GUEST SLAYER
---------------------------------Samantha Mobley : f r o z e n s o u l Fulci, Tropical Sun PeelingFlesh, PF Radio Fluids, American Piquerist XXX Reaping Flesh, Abyss of Existence Phobophilic, Enveloping Absurdity
PHOTO BY
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DAVID GONZALES