SWANS
CHILDREN OF GOD HALL OF FAME
INCANTATION SECTS & VIOLENCE
MACABRE FULL-TIME KILLERS
TOMBS WEATHERING THE STORM
REFUSE/RESIST
ARMORED
SAINT
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DECEMBER 2020 // No. 194
ALSO
E Y E S T O T H E S K Y SÓLSTAFIR UNANIMATED BLOOD INCANTATION ETERNAL CHAMPION BOTANIST THE OCEAN PORTRAYAL OF GUILT OF FEATHER AND BONE
FLEXI DISCS
INCLUDED
REINVENTING THE STEEL
20th ANNIVERSARY EDITION Newly mixed by Terry Date, producer of Cowboys from Hell, Vulgar Display of Power, Far Beyond Driven and The Great Southern Trendkill
CD & DIGITAL OUT NOW INCLUDES RARITIES, COVERS, AND INSTRUMENTAL MIXES SILVER VINYL OUT JAN 8
AVAILABLE AT PANTERA.COM
© 2020 Elektra Entertainment Inc., a Warner Music Group Company.
EXTREMELY EXTREME
December 2020 [R 194] decibelmagazine.com
upfront
features
12 metal muthas Our first proper plural
18 eternal champion Getting into knives
30 macabre Murder junkies
14 low culture Daddy’s girl
20 of feather and bone You smell that?
32 incantation The cult never dies
15 no corporate beer Did you ever take the time to listen to your beer?
22 botanist Cleansing plague
34 sólstafir Shine a little love
24 the ocean Closing the book on pre-history
36 q&a: tombs Regrets, Mike Hill has a few, but they can’t stop him now
16 in the studio:
unanimated Paid in blood
26 celestial season Doomed to repeat
reviews 40 the decibel
hall of fame Swans’ interpretation of the American gospel leads them past the Iron Curtain with avant-garde masterpiece Children of God
28 portrayal of guilt Alone together
50
61 lead review Eternal Champion vanquish any notion of a sophomore slump, armed with the razor-sharp Ravening Iron 62 album reviews Releases from bands that feel better now than they did 20 years ago in March of 2020, including Idle Hands, Nothing and Pallbearer 80 damage ink Didn’t mean to make you cry
ARMORED
SAINT Salvation of the Nation COVER STORY COVER AND CONTENTS PHOTOS 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, 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. 6 : DECEMBER 2020 : DECIBEL
• H EAV Y W EIG H T 1 8 0 g T R I P L E B L AC K V I N Y L • L I M I T E D E D IT IO N M E X ICAN F L AG T R I P L E C O L O U R E D V I NYL • DELUXE 2 CD BOOK FORMAT • 2 C D D I G I PA K OUT NOVEMBER 20, 2020 Facebook.com/ironmaiden
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REFUSE/RESIST
December 2020 [T194]
Some of you may have noticed that
the last of issue of Decibel was a return to our “normal” monthly page count, a hefty step up from the pandemicinduced “Virginia Slims edition” (as one astute reader called it) we’ve been forced to publish for the previous five months. This month, we’ve maintained that satisfying bulk, thanks in large part to our ad sales director James Lewis, who has worked tirelessly in a climate where many labels were reluctant to release new albums (and when they did, they were often understandably hesitant to spend on them). Decibel’s long-suffering art director Mike Wohlberg hasn’t had to polish any sales pitches, but in scant moments that no reasonable person would describe as “downtime” between our monthly issues since May, he’s had to design not one, but two books. The latest of which is a 540-page fucking behemoth, which we’ve been hammering away at for the past three years (more on that next month). When the U.S. went into lockdown back in mid-March, our intrepid customer service guru Patty Moran still managed to safely get to our abandoned office twice a week to process the orders in the Decibel webstore. If you’ve ordered anything from us since the start of the pandemic, it was Patty who made sure that, even if you ran out of toilet paper, your bathroom was stocked with essential Decibel items. I’ve not seen James since he left my home office in March. I’ve not seen Mike since last December at LAX when we departed victoriously from Metal & Beer Fest: Los Angeles. I don’t think I’ve seen Patty since I was at the home office the day before last year’s Philly edition of Metal & Beer Fest. I will, of course, meet up with each of them again at some point, and that is largely thanks to both the remarkable asskicking they’ve done since March, and the continued support from our advertisers—and from you, dear reader, at a time when very little was certain. It won’t be forgotten. albert mudrian, Editor-in-Chief
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
ART DIRECTOR
Aaron Salsbury aaron@decibelmagazine.com
Michael Wohlberg
michael@redflagmedia.com
Patty Moran
CUSTOMER SERVICE
patty@decibelmagazine.com
COPY EDITOR
Andrew Bonazelli
BOOKKEEPER
Tim Mulcahy
tim@redflagmedia.com
CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS
Chuck BB, Ed Luce Mark Rudolph
Online DECIBEL WEB EDITOR
Albert Mudrian
DECIBEL WEB AD SALES
James Lewis
albert@decibelmagazine.com james@decibelmagazine.com
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Vince Bellino Adrien Begrand J. Bennett Dean Brown Louise Brown Chris Chantler Richard Christy Liz Ciavarella-Brenner Chris Dick Chris Dodge Sean Frasier Nick Green Raoul Hernandez Jonathan Horsley Neill Jameson Sarah Kitteringham Scott Koerber Daniel Lake Andrew Lee Shawn Macomber Shane Mehling Justin M. Norton Andy O'Connor Dutch Pearce Forrest Pitts Greg Pratt Jon Rosenthal Joseph Schafer Rod Smith Matt Solis Kevin Stewart-Panko Eugene S. Robinson Adem Tepedelen Jeff Treppel J Andrew Zalucky CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS
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READER OF THE
MONTH they love. You can’t get more genuine than that. Since the beginning of the pandemic, clearly people have more time on their hands, and so I think we are starting to see a lot of additional metal podcasters throwing George Washburn their hats in the ring. Adamstown, MD I know a lot of artists, unable to tour, are also turning to podcasting You and a number of other like-minded metal as a way of reaching their fans. And as far as fans—including former reader of the month I’m concerned, the more the merrier. Metalheads Will Cook—host a long-running show called Podcast is all about celebrating the metal commuMetalheads Podcast. How have you seen the nity, and we think of it as one big metal family. metal podcast landscape change since the start of the pandemic?
I started the Metalheads Podcast a little over six years ago as just two people, and over the years we have expanded to a crew of six: Jay Dickinson, Will Cook, John Comisky, Matt Stewart and Markisan Naso. I feel the chemistry that everyone brings to the team is what makes us special. It’s not just a dry podcast where we throw facts and opinions at you; this is a group of friends together for an evening to drink beer and talk about the music
10 : DECEMBER 2020 : DECIBEL
MHP is infamous for exhaustive episodes several hours in length. What’s the longest you’ve ever had a guest sit through an episode?
So, as luck would have it, our longest episode ever was just a few months ago, and the guest was none other than Decibel’s James Lewis. We asked him to come on for our 2020 midyear episode where we drank a lot of beer and counted down our top 25 albums from the first half of 2020. Poor James was reluctant to come
on in the first place, and then when he came on, the episode ended up running over seven hours long. Normally, our episodes run three to four hours. We are definitely a longform podcast, but this one was monstrous. James was a great sport, and we look forward to having him on again. Like your co-hosts, you’re a huge craft beer enthusiast. What are the top three beers you’ve had in 2020?
While all of the Metalheads Podcast crew are craft beer enthusiasts, I’m definitely the low man on that totem pole. The other guys are way more active with hunting down beers. However, I still pick up my fair share. In podcast fashion, I’ll count down my top three from this year so far. In the No. 3 spot is Black Death from Mad Science Brewing, just a few miles from my house. It’s a Black IPA and looks very metal. For my No. 2, I will go with Baltimore’s Nepenthe Brewing and their Alpaca Fracas! Double IPA. My No. 1 is Adroit Theory and their Evangelion XIII Bardiel. I’m going to get stabbed by Will, but this is a hazy (a no-no word on the pod) triple IPA. I live about a half-hour from Adroit Theory, and Mark Osborne, the owner, makes a ton of great-tasting beer with wickedly metallooking artwork. One of their artists did our podcast artwork. I would recommend trying anything from this brewery.
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
NOW SLAYING Wonder what Decibel world HQ has been rocking for the past month? Well, here are the records that we spun most in between logging first and third graders in and out of Google Classroom all day.
Because not all of us were spawned in the darkest recesses of hell
This Month’s Mutha: Margo Pedrick (left) This Month’s Step-Mutha: Kittye Bright (right) Mutha and Step-Mutha of Isaac Faulk of Blood Incantation/Wayfarer
Tell us a little about yourselves.
Active participation in music runs through our extended family. I also teach Tai Chi and ride horses. Love of family, friends and the ongoing exploration of what it is to be a creative human being keep me engaged in life. A highlight of 2019 was going to the Fire in the Mountains festival! KITTYE BRIGHT: I’ve always loved singing harmonies, from choirs to folksy duos and groups. For my day job, I work with families, lawyers and judges as a child custody evaluator. MARGO PEDRICK:
Did either of you have any kind of influence on Isaac’s musical evolution?
When I was nine months pregnant with Isaac, his dad and I joined others on the Boulder Pearl Street Mall to play a benefit concert for the rainforest. I stood right in front of the drummer and bassist, enjoying Isaac’s rhythmic in utero movements! I ponder that perhaps Isaac’s drive to explore way beyond feel-good music is his way of forging a trail toward wholeness. Light needs dark, yin needs yang. KB: I encouraged Suzuki piano lessons, saxophone in the fifth grade, and bass guitar and drum lessons in high school. His dad and I, along with Margo and her two cousins, performed together for a few years as the Little Snake River Band. Whether that was a positive or negative influence on Isaac is still up for debate. MP:
To the best of our knowledge, Margo, you’re the only Mutha we’ve interviewed so far with a “Metal Mom” T-shirt. What are the origins of that? MP:
After attending various gigs over many
12 : DECEMBER 2020 : DECIBEL
years, the idea came a couple of years ago to take a Wayfarer T-shirt to a shop and have them put METAL MOM in two-inch white letters across the back. Now 71, I’m usually the oldest person at a venue, and enjoy it when people let me know they like it: a pat on the shoulder, or a thumbs-up when it’s impossible to hear over the music. It also saves me if I stand too close to the stage! Kittye, we understand you let Isaac’s first band practice in your basement his senior year of high school. Any horror stories, or was fun had by all? KB: Surprisingly, the bandmates were always respectful, no matter how rough they looked with their spikes, all-black clothes and demonic tattoos. I got so used to the noise that when a friend dropped by once and incredulously asked, “How do you stand it?” I frankly replied, “Stand what?” We had a signal of me flashing the light on and off at the top of the stairs that meant, “Time to stop!” Never once did any of the guys beg, “Aw, come on! Just a little while longer?”
Isaac has eight credited bands on Encyclopaedia Metallum. Other than music, what else is he obsessive about? MP: Isaac’s pretty chill, so not very obsessive, but values: friends and family, honest interactions, world history, mythology, ethics and environment. KB: Definitely veganism and animals. He loves dogs and cats. Before metal, he was obsessed with all things Japanese: anime, Pokémon and [Hayao] Miyazaki movies. —ANDREW BONAZELLI
Albert Mudrian : e d i t o r i n c h i e f Tombs, Under Sullen Skies Black Anvil, As Was Bad Religion, Against the Grain Necrophobic, Dawn of the Damned GWAR, Scumdogs of the Universe ---------------------------------Patty Moran : c u s t o m e r s e r v i c e The Limiñanas, Shadow People Th' Faith Healers, Imaginary Friend Idles, Ultra Mono Can, Tago Mago The Black Angels, Death Song ---------------------------------James Lewis : a d s a l e s Enslaved, Utgard Carcass, Despicable Undeath, Lesions of a Different Kind Vital Spirit, In the Faith That Looks Through Death Clutch, Slow Hole to China: Rare & Re-Released ---------------------------------Mike Wohlberg : a r t d i r e c t o r Eternal Champion, Ravening Iron Jesus Wept, Apartheid Redux Tombs, Under Sullen Skies Bergeton, Miami Murder Ruins of Beverast/Mourning Beloveth, Don't Walk on the Mass Graves ---------------------------------Aaron Salsbury : m a r k e t i n g a n d s a l e s Necrot, Blood Offerings Tørsö, Community Psychosis Holy Molar, Live at The San Diego Metropolitan Correctional Center Question, Reflections of the Void Various Artists, Nativity in Black
GUEST SLAYER
---------------------------------Gina Gleason : b a r o n e s s Honey, Nightmare Come to Life The Jesus and Mary Chain, Automatic Nirvana, Almost Everything: The BBC Sessions (bootleg) Control Denied, The Fragile Art of Existence Tsjuder, Desert Northern Hell
PHOTO BY JASON BLAKE