Decibel Magazine - January 2015 [#123]

T O P ALBUMS of

40

2014

E XT R E M E LY E XT R E M E

AT THE GATES GODFLESH PALLBEARER W HO 'S # 1 ?

D E C I B E L M AG AZ I N E . C O M

BLOODBATH

FLEXI DISC INSIDE! Don’t see it? Then subscribe!

A L SO

JAN 2015 // No. 123

SPAZZ CRETIN ANGUISH UNLOCKING THE TRUTH NADER SADEK HATE ETERNAL PIG DESTROYER ENCOFFINATION

a year in the life of

MASTODON

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January 2015 [T123] decibelmagazine.com

COVER STORY

Hitting the motherl ode

70

upfront 12 metal muthas:

adam jarvis

Explosions in Maternity Ward 6

20 sss Planetary fitness trackers

13 killing is my business At the chart of darkness

22 stench They don’t deny it, they supply it

14 grinding it out Grinding to a halt

24 wizard rifle Use your confusion

15 brewtal truth The hop underworld rules

26 nader sadek Nader’s latest raiders

16 cry now Lawless dorkness

28 encoffination Pallbearers of bad news

18 studio report:

30 nero di marte Extreme conditions

hate eternal

An imperfect storm

features

reviews

34 cretin Loony bin tunes

83 lead review Bloodbath enlists Nick Holmes to inadvertently recite their last rites

38 q&a: unlocking the truth Teen titans talkin’ trash 43 the top 40 albums of

2014

Long live The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck 58 the decibel hall of fame Hilarity ensued on Spazz’s seminal powerviolence barrage La Revancha

32 anguish You sad, bro?

84 album reviews Albums that are the reason for the season (in the abyss), including the latest from Old Man Gloom, American Heritage, Shellac and more

sub:culture 94 sub:culture Assimilate The Thing into your rental queue 96 south pole dispatch Red flagged for content

COVER AND CONTENTS PHOTO

BY HRISTO SHINDOV

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.

4 : J A N U A R Y 2 0 15 : D E C I B E L

www.decibelmagazine.com

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January 2015 [T123]

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 CONTROLLER

Nicole Jarman nicole@redflagmedia.com

CUSTOMER SERVICE

just words

Bros to the Grindstone (L-R) Mudrian, Sharp and Carlson, in fine form as always

Patty Moran patty@decibelmagazine.com

CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS

Chuck BB, Mark Rudolph

ADVERTISING

Albert Mudrian

albert@decibelmagazine.com

540.878.5756

Dunno about you, but team

Decibel is ready to kick 2014’s ass out the door. Not that from the editor it was a bad year; quite the opposite, in fact. It’s just that for the past two months, our production schedule has made every workday feel like a 10-hour Adam Jarvis blast beat to the face.

As we’ve thoughtfully reminded anyone with eyes or ears for the past 12 months, Decibel turned 10 in 2014. We celebrated that birthday with a pair of sold-out New York shows in October. That same evening, we announced the lineup of next year’s Decibel Tour: At the Gates, Converge, Vallenfyre and a special guest we’ll tell you about later this month (hint: they are prominently featured in this issue’s Top 40 Albums of the Year list). Without a breath, we plunged face-first into our annual special collector’s issue—this year, we tackled the Top 100 Doom Metal Albums of All Time—before blasting out this year-end bonanza you’re holding now in just six fucking days. Look, we’re not complaining (that’s our managing editor’s job); we’re all just tired. So, we bid adieu to 2014 with an eye toward more naps in 2015.

While we’re saying goodbyes, I’d be remiss if I didn’t offer two more.

The first is really more of a see-you-around, as Etan Rosenbloom’s Killing Is My Business is moving from the magazine to the Deciblog, starting next month. Ultimately, his music industry primer column can better serve our community online. Wondering if you’re infringing copyright laws on your Throatplunger covers EP? Now you’re always only a click away from finding out.

Another “Upfront” staple, however, isn’t merely relocating. As his beloved grindcore institution Brutal Truth are officially re-retiring, this issue also marks the final installment of Kevin Sharp’s Grinding It Out column. Just as records like Extreme Conditions Demand Extreme Responses, Need to Control and Sounds of the Animal Kingdom shaped my younger days, Kevin’s five-year run as a Decibel columnist is something I’ll keep close to my heart. Don’t expect our man to grind quietly into the sunset, though. New music from Primate and Venomous Concept is imminent.

And if you’ve ever read Grinding It Out, you surely know how much Kevin loves travel. Expect to see (and hear) him again shortly.

To paraphrase the old Brutal Truth mantra: Work. Grind. (Rarely) Sleep. Grind on, partner. albert mudrian, Editor-in-Chief

UNDERTONES SECTION

Drew Juergens

drew@decibelmagazine.com

Online DECIBLOG EDITOR

Andrew Bonazelli

ONLINE ADVERTISING

Ben Umanov

andrew@decibelmagazine.com

ben@blastbeatnetwork.com

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 Nick Green Jonathan Horsley Scott Koerber Daniel Lake Shawn Macomber Shane Mehling Kirk Miller Justin M. Norton Andy O'Connor Matt Olivo Dutch Pearce Etan Rosenbloom Kevin Sharp Rod Smith Zach Smith Matt Solis Kevin Stewart-Panko Adem Tepedelen Jeff Treppel Jeff Wagner CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGR APHERS

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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, 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.

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fanbase READER OF THE

MONTH though, folks at metal shows are some of the nicest, most down-to-earth, and least murderous I’ve met. (By the way, I was one of the 12 people in attendance at that epic Nachtmystium show in Richmond several years ago.) But if you commit a horrific act of violence against an innocent human being—especially a child—I’m coming after you, regardless of what kind of music you like.

Matt Breeding

Winston-Salem, NC You’re a prosecutor at the local DA’s office.

What do you think the odds are that you’ve incarcerated any of our subscribers?

I’m not sure. What is the correlation between the music somebody listens to and their conduct? I prosecute people who commit violent crimes: murders, armed robberies, violent home invasions. So, while I can’t imagine somebody listening to Velnias and then robbing a convenience store or murdering his girlfriend, I’m sure there are a few people out there who’ve had their worldview shaped by the violently misanthropic content of different types of extreme metal. In my experience,

8 : J A N U A R Y 2 0 15 : D E C I B E L

Not to dwell on your job, but you’re totally an adult and stuff, and we find that interesting. Are your co-workers aware that you’ve likely at least considered carving “Slayer” into your arm at one point in your life?

Just last week, a homicide detective walked in while I was blasting Ruins of Beverast’s “Rain Upon the Impure,” and he just slowly backed out of my office with a wide-eyed look of terror on his face. As you undoubtedly know, it’s difficult to convert people to extreme metal. I keep trying, but in the meantime, I guess I’ll continue going to shows by myself. Incidentally, that’s my favorite way to decompress after a long and stressful trial.

This issue features our annual Albums of the Year list. You’re the first civilian to learn that

Pallbearer’s Foundations of Burden is our #1 album for 2014. So, tell us: Did we fuck up or what?

Music is so subjective, and what resonates with one person may sound juvenile to another. Y’all do an excellent job with your Top 40, and I’ve found some of my favorite albums mining your year-end lists—Rwake’s Voices of Omens, Rosetta’s Wake/Lift and Ludicra’s Fex Urbis Lex Orbis, to name a few. I would have picked Panopticon’s Roads to the North as 2014’s Album of the Year. It’s incredibly intimate, evocative and haunting. Having said that, though, Pallbearer is a solid band that just keeps getting better. They played in Chapel Hill Halloween night, but I ended up taking the kids trick-or-treating and missed it.

You’re the father of young children. Next month, Decibel introduces a Heavy Metal Parenting column. What are some topics you’d like to see addressed?

Interesting. My wife and I talk a lot about the kind of music I listen to and the impact it may have on the kids. Any time my fouryear-old gets in my car, he wants to listen to Agalloch. Although Ashes Against the Grain may be fairly harmless, I don’t think I would be a huge fan of him listening to Beherit’s Drawing Down the Moon or stumbling upon my Watain collection. For the most part, grown-ups can compartmentalize and disregard the evil imagery, satanic lyrics and dark themes of extreme metal; little kids, not so much. There are a lot of meaty topics y’all can cover in that column.

I look forward to it.

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