OCTOBER FILE DON'T YOU OF FAME PALLBEARER FORGET ABOUT THEM DIE KREUZEN HALL
REFUSE/RESIST
RILEY
GALE 1986-2020
DROPDEAD HAUNT
GENGHIS TRON SVALBARD ISENGARD UNDEATH WAYFARER CHROME WAVES
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NOVEMBER 2020 // No. 193
Soul Survivors
FLEXI DISC
E XT R E M ELY EXTREME
November 2020 [R 193] decibelmagazine.com
upfront 8 obituary:
riley gale The metal community loses a friend and ally
10 metal muthas Hopping proud 12 low culture Popular opinion 13 no corporate beer You ever try to drink a beer… on weed? 14 in the studio:
genghis tron
Taking a hiatus from hitaus
16 undeath Looking forward to uncanceling tours 18 chrome waves Live for the moment 20 svalbard All the small things 22 vatican shadow Burn, baby, burn 24 isengard From kvlt to cult 26 wayfarer Loved to death
reviews
30 haunt To the power of one
59 lead review Scott Ian and Dave Lombardo join Mr. Bungle to give their most straight-forward thrash offering yet on the re-recorded Revenge of the Easter Bunny Demo
34 q&a: pallbearer Brett Campbell won’t forget his touring days 38 the decibel
hall of fame Die Kreuzen lose their hardcore inclinations and early fanbase in favor of long-term appreciation and happiness with their sophomore effort October File
Let There Be Light COVER STORY
COVER AND CONTENTS PHOTOS BY DAVE CREANEY
28 draghkar Long-distance relationships
features 32 dropdead Action/reaction
48
60 album reviews Releases from bands that want it to stop, just please stop, including Carcass, Krallice and Satan 80 damage ink No Buzzkill
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. © 2020 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 : NOVEMBER 2020 : DECIBEL
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REFUSE/RESIST
November 2020 [T193]
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within hours of word that Riley Gale passed away was as unprecedented as the depth of emotions many of them conveyed. You could have spent hours scrolling through online reactions as friends and fans processed disbelief and grief in real time. I did because after listening to Nightmare Logic repeatedly and reaching out to a few mutual friends of ours, I didn’t really know what else to do. I won’t attempt to do Riley’s legacy justice here. Besides, our own Shawn Macomber, who authored our February 2019 Power Trip cover story—a favorite of Riley’s, actually—handles that eloquently elsewhere in this issue. But the impact that Power Trip and their fallen frontman have had on underground punk and metal in a relatively short period of time is both undeniable and extraordinary. Time is the operative word, of course. We don’t have much, and Riley, in particular, got far less than he deserved. If these past six months of pandemic-enforced sacrifice have taught us anything, hopefully it’s a better appreciation for what we do have, when we have it. Whether that’s the stability of a job, the ability to attend a show or something irreplaceable like the presence of a loved one, nothing is permanent. It’s easy to forget that. But it will be impossible to forget Riley Gale. Swing at the world.
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
READER OF THE
MONTH band is jamming. Brisbane, Fortitude Valley and West End is where the metal action is at (about 100 kms/60 miles away). I’ve been gigless this year. Just missed out on Obituary and Wormrot in January—sold out super quick! Spewing I didn’t get to see Wormrot (have seen Obituary twice before).
Matt Strickland
Mooloolah Valley, Queensland, Australia
You’re a psychologist who works with kids and families. Has being a lifelong metal fan prepared you in any way for such a challenging/rewarding profession?
You’re an Australian who has been subscribing since issue No. 114. First, thanks for the longtime support. Out of curiosity, just how long does it take for the magazine to get to you anyway?
Absolutely! Growing up, I always felt a bit different; and even though I didn’t recognize it at the time, metal acknowledged these feelings, told me that they were kinda normal and helped me to feel that I belonged to something. My first metal show was Metallica on the …And Justice for All tour, and I remember feeling like I belonged. Lots of the kids and teenagers I see feel anxious and disconnected for some reason or another, and metal has helped me to understand this. Some of my clients have been headbangers, and so a brief chat about what’s on the stereo (or Spotify playlist these days) helps them to settle and feel and get connected. If it’s been a tough day, then a bit of Dreamarcher, Celtic Frost or Gatecreeper helps!
Hey, no problem! My wife bought some of my subscriptions, so it might even be earlier. I love the mag, man. I think you guys do an awesome job of expressing the passion, but being cerebral enough that I don’t feel like I’m treated like a dumb arse! I also love [the] Hall of Fame, Metal Muthas, the reviews—all of it, really! During COVID, there was definitely a delay, but normally about three to four weeks; worth the wait!
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Your city has a total population of just over 3,000. Based on that, we’re guessing— pre-pandemic—that not too many metal shows were rolling through town. Where would you travel to catch the nearest gig?
Not too many metal gigs in town unless my
We’re old, diSEMBOWELMENT are the defining Australian extreme metal band to us. What are some current Australian metal bands that Decibel is totally blowing it by not covering more?
Oh man, I feel like I’m letting the side down. Being a family man, business owner and being in a band means I don’t get out to see local bands very often anymore. Metal is such an international thing these days, as I’m sure you guys know, that I listen to bands from everywhere. You know, you’ve got the obvious ones—Portal, King Parrot, Lo!, Misery. Something that might need a Hall of Fame is Mortal Sin’s Face of Despair! It’s a super underrated album, panned by some critics, but I find myself going back to it and thinking it is totally awesome! Gee, I feel like I’m not repping hard enough for Australia here; those damn European, Nordic and U.S. bands are taking up my time!
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
OBITUARIES
RILEY
A
GALE 1986-2020
s the kinetic, fiery frontman and wildly imaginative lyricist for thrash
metal-revitalizing Texas supernova Power Trip, Riley Gale, who passed away on August 24 at the brutally young age of 34, often served as an enthusiastic guide to the darker, more nihilistic side of existence: For example, though searing Nightmare Logic (2017) album opener “Soul Sacrifice” spans a mere 10 lines, it manages to get “You falter in your judgment / Now your spirit is mine to break” in the first stanza and “I stand on your throat / To silence your life / Your punishment? Soul sacrifice!” in the last. The head-turning early Triple-B Records comp track “The Hammer of Doubt” (2010) warns, “Keep searching for the light / Waste your life hunting something that you’ll never find / You want the absolute? / There’s only one thing you got to do / Feel the barrel touch the front of your head… As the hammer strikes the pin / Ask yourself: “Is this how you thought it would end?” Manifest Decimation (2013) jam “Power Trip” strikes a similar sinister tone: “You want to double down? Well, I’ll break you twice / Buy into the bullshit with your head as the price.”
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Yet as Victor Hugo noted during an 1878 speech marking the centennial of Voltaire’s death: “There are good abysses: Such are the abysses in which evil is engulfed.” And Riley Gale’s abyss was a very good, evil engulfing abyss. He was, much like the Voltaire of Hugo’s tribute, a man who “waged the splendid kind of warfare… the war of thought against matter, the war of reason against prejudice, the war of the just against the unjust, the war for the oppressed against the oppressor, the war of kindness.” Yes, Gale’s vision and artistry had its malevolent twists and baleful turns—not to encourage despair, but, rather, by naming the unadulterated reality of our internal and external adversaries, to more effectively push on toward positive self-actualization, community and love. PHOTO BY HRISTO SHINDOV
“As we struggle in the fight to survive,” Gale sings on Nightmare Logic’s title track, “Through strange domains and vicious ways / From the darkest depths we will arise / This realm will be their demise.” On the 2018 Adult Swim single “Hornet’s Nest” Gale extols, “Our united forces / Thousands of singular voices” hanging above the heads of oppressors and enforcers of conformity “like the Sword of Damocles.” He uses the anthemic grinder “Crossbreaker” as an opportunity to ask, “Are you caught up in the storm?” before unfurling a map to self-liberation: “A warrior reborn; with the knowledge to guide him home / Become the center of the void and let go.” It is a message that clearly resonated deeply, as anyone who basked in the transcendent ferocity and synergistic unity of a Power Trip performance well knows. The circle pits may have ground to a halt (on this plane of existence, anyway), but mark these words: There are metalheads yet unborn who Gale will inspire and raise up; souls will continue to be stirred, ambitions stoked, and lives changed across decades to come for those seekers compelled to hit play on Manifest Decimation or Nightmare Logic. Not because Power Trip is on Prince Harry’s iPod or that Gale was eulogized by everyone from Fox News to Ice-T to Obituary to Kreator to Virginia House of
Delegates member Danica Roem to comic book artist Becky Cloonan—though that degree of cultural bridging is certainly its own remarkable testimony. Instead, dig just below the marquee mourners and you’ll find legions of salt-of-theearth members of the underground expressing deep, authentic grief and appreciation for the life, message, myriad kindnesses, unrelenting honesty and realness of Riley Gale. “I want people to feel connected,” Gale told Decibel in a February 2019 Power Trip cover story. “What I see in our crowd is [people] who understand how fucked up and cruel the world is, but despite it all, want to be good to each other and have an outlet to express their frustrations in a safe and cathartic way that doesn’t lead to real fights, or harming themselves, or bottling it up inside until it becomes poisonous. In that respect, they’re us and we’re them, and none of us have to fake shit with each other. If I ever want to be something I’m not, I’ll go into acting. That’s not what Power Trip is for.” As his friend and Dark Operative label head Brent Eyestone wrote shortly after Gale’s death, “If Riley meant anything to you artistically, personally or otherwise, please carry his spirit forward in all your creations and accomplishments. He was rooting for you, too.” To circle
back around to Hugo, “There is only one power, conscience in the service of justice; and there is only one glory, genius in the service of truth.” Gale, as extreme in his constant conscientious self-reflection as he was onstage, checked both boxes indelibly. So, how to sum up, for now, this short, but earth-shaking life? Franz Grillparzer’s 1827 eulogy for another genius—albeit one operating in a different subgenre—Ludwig Van Beethoven seems apropos: “As the behemoth storms through the seas, so he strained the boundaries of his art. From the cooing of the dove to the rolling of thunder, from the most intricately woven of idiosyncratic artistic devices to the terrifying point where achieved form becomes the lawless clashing forces of nature, he had reckoned everything, grasped everything… Until his death he retained a humane heart toward all people… devoted his talent and life to the whole world! So he was, so he died, so he shall live for all time. [G]overn your pain! You have not lost him, you have gained him. Not until the gates of our life close behind us do the gates to the temple of immortality spring open.” Power Trip forever. Riley Gale forever. Now, let’s fuck this shit up. —SHAWN MACOMBER
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