IMPERIAL TRIUMPHANT NECROT
1
NAPALM DEATH no.
who's
REFUSE/RESIST
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30 YEARS
OF A
METAL MONSTER
JUDAS PRIEST PAINKILLER
HALL OF FAME A
JANUARY 2021 // No. 195
L
S
O
EXODUS DIRK VERBEUREN CADAVER DEEDS OF FLESH UNDERGANG FROZEN SOUL CONTRARIAN HERETICAL SECT
EXTREMELY EXTREME
January 2021 [R 195] decibelmagazine.com
upfront 8 metal muthas Smuggling Live Cannibalism in Disney cases 10 low culture Smells like teen spirit
14 contrarian The technicalities of time 16 bloodbather Silent, but deadly 18 deeds of flesh Outliving the body
11 no corporate beer Dan’s the man
20 gama bomb You gotta fight for your right to party
12 in the studio:
exodus
22 heretical sect A morning star in the southwest 24 undergang Three’s company 26 frozen soul Almost trapped in ice 28 cadaver Waking the
But they’re not gonna like it
54
features
reviews
30 q&a: dirk verbeuren The uber-prolific drummer has a Metal Archives listing that reads like a stock ticker
65 lead review Hatebreed drop an album heavier than mom’s spaghetti with Weight of the False Self
35 special feature:
66 album reviews Releases from bands that could really use some acetaminophen right about now, including Fuck the Facts, Killer Be Killed and Tombs
the top 40 albums of 2020 No GBK, no Judas Iscariot
80 damage ink I have something to say
One More Shot at Glory
COVER STORY COVER PHOTO BY GEORGE CHIN/ICONICPIX • CONTENTS PHOTO BY ROSS HALFIN
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 : JANUARY 2021 : DECIBEL
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REFUSE/RESIST
January 2021 [T195]
PUBLISHER
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Albert Mudrian
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U.S. presidential election. But today is election day in America. Well, technically, about 100 million Americans voted before election day, so this is more like release day for that new album that’s been streaming in full on Bandcamp for the last two weeks. Except with perhaps slightly more at stake than simply discovering if those 17 new Striborg albums are any good. On the subject of black metal (see, I really don’t want to write about the election), you may have noticed that we recently announced the publication of USBM: A Revolution of Identity in American Black Metal through Decibel Books. Longtime Decibel contributor Daniel Lake has spent the last three years tirelessly fashioning 100 interviews into a compelling 544-page book that some keyboard warriors are, of course, eager to complain about before reading a single fucking word of it. The rest of you will find an exhaustive chronicle of the oft-maligned movement’s messy birth and awkward growth while the author confronts the sketchy actions/beliefs that a handful of the scene progenitors committed/held (despite a few artists' best efforts to sidestep them). If you were gracious enough to pre-order a copy, they should be shipping your way in late November. And if you are one of Decibel’s devoted deluxe subscribers, please know that the Decibel Flexi Series celebrates its 10th anniversary in this issue, which is not something I counted on 10 years ago. I did, however, trust Brutal Truth to deliver the first-ever entry in the series. A decade later, old friend and former Decibel columnist Kevin Sharp steps up yet again (along with our good Napalm Death pals) to deliver Venomous Concept’s ridiculously timely "Vote Clown Party" (what election?) flexi disc. Love to those dudes, to all of the other bands who've contributed to the series, to Holy Mountain Printing, who have sponsored most of these discs, and to Pirates Press, who have printed every last one of them. But most of all, thanks to all of you lovely people who have supported this crazy endeavor by subscribing, allowing us to produce over 120 of these floppy pieces of magic. albert mudrian, Editor-in-Chief
DIRECTOR OF MARKETING AND SALES
ART DIRECTOR
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CUSTOMER SERVICE
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CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS
Chuck BB, Ed Luce Mark Rudolph
Online DECIBEL WEB EDITOR
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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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I really don’t want to write about the
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
READER OF THE
MONTH hung my paintings in his store, and I’ve had paintings in public since then. I haven’t had anything turned into merchandise for bands, but during the COVID shutdown, I painted the state of West Virginia as a rotten head (inspired by Repulsion) for the West Virginia band CHUD.
Stephen Martin Charlestown, WV
Have you developed any constructive new hobbies without the opportunity to attend live shows this year?
I wouldn’t say any new hobbies developed besides attempting to play tennis with my wife and my daughter beating me on video games. Right before COVID shut everything down, I was commissioned to do Star Wars paintings for a May 5 tattoo party (which didn’t happen), so I ended up painting the six bounty hunters from The Empire Strikes Back. After that, I painted a bunch of old comic panels, and random stuff like Ms. Pac-Man and GWAR. Judas Priest’s Painkiller is the Hall of Fame/ cover story for this issue. What were your three favorite albums of 1990?
“Were” or “are”? Because I can give you two lists! I’m sure I’ll miss or forget an album,
6 : JANUARY 2021 : DECIBEL
and it’s only three, so I can’t say Lunachicks or Anthrax. I’d go with the first Disharmonic Orchestra album [Expositionsprophylaxe]; it’s like death metal Voivod. Second would be Rust in Peace—that album will never get old. Scumdogs of the Universe is my last pick. I remember the day 29 years ago when my cousin popped [GWAR’s] Live From Antarctica in the VCR in my dad’s garage and blew my mind. You do a fair amount of painting. Have you ever been commissioned to create album or merch art by any bands, or do you strictly paint for yourself?
I started painting about 20 years ago because I was depressed with everything and needed an outlet, so my paintings were never seen outside of my house for the longest time because I didn’t care if anyone saw them. Eventually, a friend
Disharmonic Orchestra are one of your alltime favorite bands. Give us your Not to Be Undimensional Conscious Hall of Fame pitch.
Well, I told Albert 20 or 30 times to induct it, so the word is “harassment” if it’s not inducted. [Laughs] The drumming is brilliant, the lyrics are out of this world, guitars roaring like the ocean, that funky bass, and that band picture! Music sounds kinda boring after listening to Disharmonic Orchestra. I love Iron Maiden and the Ramones, but Disharmonic hit a special spot in me that loves weird progressive metal like Atheist and Voivod. The Vladimirs from Cincinnati are also a great band to check out, with the members in other great bands like Sono Morti and FaithXtractor. I’d also say induct Sigh, Lunachicks, [Blood Duster’s] Str8 Outta Northcote, [Brutal Truth’s] Kill Trend Suicide and a bunch more, but I’ll stop at Sleater Kinney’s The Woods.
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 while compulsively refreshing fivethirtyeight.com every 20 minutes for the last three weeks.
Because not all of us were spawned in the darkest recesses of hell
This Month's Mutha: Karen Jones Mutha of Alex Jones of Undeath
Tell us a little about yourself.
I was born in the Bronx, and spent most of my childhood and adult years living in the NYC suburbs; in 2002, my husband Owen and I decided to relocate to Rochester, NY, to be closer to his family. I’m a librarian, and I’ve always worked in business settings. I’m currently working part-time from home, but hoping to ease into retirement along with Owen within the next few years. My big loves are dogs (including our rescue dog Ralph), travel, NYC, theater, reading, music and art. Oh, and coffee. Any particular reason why he changed his stage surname from Joseph to Jones?
Unfortunately, we had no idea when we named him Alex that there was going to be an InfoWars nutjob with the same name, and I think Alex got really tired of people mentioning it, so he was experimenting with different variations—like using just his first and middle names. Now he’s switched back to Jones because he is proud of his surname and he’s just going to ignore the comparisons to the other Alex Jones, who will hopefully fade into obscurity soon. All three members of Undeath had never played in bands together before forming. What were some of Alex’s interests outside of music?
He really enjoys getting out in nature, camping and hiking, which I have to attribute to the influence of his partner, since I am pretty much the opposite of “outdoorsy.” He also loves art, which may be attributable to all the times we dragged him to the Met when he was growing up. 8 : JANUARY 2021 : DECIBEL
And he’s a true Rochesterian and supports the Bills through all their ups and downs. Undeath put out a limited-copy VHS-only release called Live From Hell this year. Do the two of you share any favorite movies (VHS or otherwise)?
I think we share a love of a lot of classic films, and also some of the Disney films he grew up watching. We still have some of those Disney VHS tapes in our basement, but now we just watch them on Disney+ (which I initially got, of course, so I could watch Hamilton). Are you a fan of some of the old-school death metal bands Undeath are inspired by, like Cryptopsy or Cannibal Corpse?
I’ve got to confess that death metal is probably the one genre of music that I’ve really not explored. I like classical, ’80s new wave, Broadway and, of course, all of the ’70s singersongwriters that were big when I was in my teens. But I’m trying to expand my horizons! We’re really proud of Alex and the band! What’s something most people wouldn’t know about Alex?
As a child he was very artistic and spent many hours creating his own comic strips. He had one set of characters called Rufus Rodney (the bad guy) and Toasty (the good guy, who was a piece of toast), whom I still remember very fondly and ask Alex to draw every once in a while. I have a collection of all of his comic strips saved for posterity! —ANDREW BONAZELLI
Albert Mudrian : e d i t o r i n c h i e f Sépulcre, Ascent Through Morbid Transcendence Bad Religion, Stranger than Fiction Judas Priest, Painkiller Metallica, Ride the Lightning Obituary, Live at the Dynamo Open Air 1992 (bootleg) ---------------------------------Patty Moran : c u s t o m e r s e r v i c e Sick Thoughts, Songs About People You Hate PJ Harvey, Dry The Jesus Lizard, Goat Skull Cult, New Mutilator Beta Boys, After Dark ---------------------------------James Lewis : a d s a l e s Carcass, Despicable Nader Sadek, The Serapeum Undeath, Lesions of a Different Kind Necrophobic, Dawn of the Damned Nasum, Inhale/Exhale ---------------------------------Mike Wohlberg : a r t d i r e c t o r Judas Priest, Painkiller Lamp of Murmuur, Heir of Ecliptical Romanticism Paradise Lost, Obsidian Tombs, Under Sullen Skies Fawn Limbs, Sleeper Vessels ---------------------------------Aaron Salsbury : m a r k e t i n g a n d s a l e s L.O.T.I.O.N., Multinational Corporation, Alphabrain Nitelight, Nitelight Plays: Death’s Symbolic Curl Up and Die, We May Be Through With the Past… Curl Up and Die, But the Past Ain’t Through With Us Municipal Waste, The Last Rager
GUEST SLAYER
---------------------------------Zachary Ezrin : i m p e r i a l t r i u m p h a n t Pyhrron, Abscess Time Mr Bungle, Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny Demo Indricothere, Tedium Torpor Stasis Kilter, Axiom Encenathrakh, Thraakethraaeate Thriathraake
SVALBARD
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The third stunning full-length “When I Die, Will I Get Better?” from England’s SVALBARD presents a true evolution in sound and a steadfast moral compass in approach.
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CONFLUENCE
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MOTHERS WEAVERS VULTURES West coast power trio GRAYCEON return with their epic new full length entitled “Mothers Weavers Vultures”. The band’s 6th album finds them fine tuning their ever evolving adventurous sound.
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Death Metal titans GLORIOUS DEPRAVITY (members of Pyrrhon, Woe, Mutilation Rites, Belus) present their crushing debut entitled “Ageless Violence”. Seven sinister compositions of old school death metal in the vein of Cannibal Corpse, Death, Ripping Corpse, Suffocation and Deicide.
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