Decibel #209 - March 2022

DEAD KENNEDYS TEN YEARS IN THE MAKING: FRANKENCHRIST HALL OF FAME

SAXON VENOM PRISON CHAOTIC GOOD

THE FAST & THE FURIOUS

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March 2022 [R 209] decibelmagazine.com

upfront 8

metal muthas The better to hug you with

10 exclusive:

decibel magazine metal & beer fest los angeles 2021 review A series of firsts and lasts

14 low culture Saving this for later 15 no corporate beer Smoking a six pack a day 16 in the studio:

the gathering Together apart

18 backslider The shape of punk to come 20 eight bells Build back better 22 mizmor We’ve got a bigger problem now 24 night cobra The ’80s are back in black 26 author & punisher Happiness in misery 28 hammerfall A new dawn for heavy metal

features

reviews

30 saxon The day is theirs

65 lead review Foregoing their celebrated brand of death metal and armed with only a synthesizer, Blood Incantation uncover the secrets of the cosmos in spectacular fashion on Timewave Zero

32 zeal & ardor No, seriously, what did you think this was about?

34 amorphis From humble beginnings to metal deification 36 q&a: venom prison Vocalist Larisa Stupar uses the strength of the gods to overcome mental anguish 40 the decibel

hall of fame All four original members of punk powerhouse Dead Kennedys share all the obscene details about their infamous third album Frankenchrist

66 album reviews Releases from bands that are brushing up on their Greek to prepare for 2022’s variants, including Cult of Luna, Shape of Despair and Voivod 80 damage ink Don’t give away the farm

52

Kill ’Em With Kindness COVER STORY COVER AND CONTENTS PHOTOS BY ANDREW DOENCH

Decibel (ISSN 1557-2137) is published monthly by Red Flag Media, Inc., P.O. Box 36818, 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, P.O. Box 36818, Philadelphia, PA 19107. © 2022 by Red Flag Media, Inc. All rights reserved.

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There are a significant number of

music fans who discovered the world of extreme metal through punk rock.

I am not one of those people. Don’t get me wrong; it’s obviously a totally viable and logical path. Certainly, the crossover of so many bands that synthesize both genres is great enough that the world had to christen that subgenre with its own name. But for me, it was extreme metal that brought me to punk and, more specifically, the Dead Kennedys.

In the days before internet algorithms—when bread was a nickel and we walked five miles to school each way—young, financially challenged, largely friendless metal fans like myself relied heavily on zines and college radio for band recommendations. Beyond that, if you wanted to dig into history, either a) album thanks lists, b) the band shirts your favorite bands wore, or c) the band logos adorned on their guitars and basses served in place of authoritative subgenre books.

Back then, Jeff Hanneman and Max Cavalera were both regularly photographed not far from the famous “DK” logo. And in 1991, that was strong enough of an endorsement for me to acquire a copy of Bedtime for Democracy without hearing a note of it beyond a kid attempting to sing the chorus of “Chickenshit Conformist” to me in Social Studies class. Upon pressing play, I thought, “Jesus Christ, this sounds like the B-52’s!” So, while the lyrical concepts connected with my 16-year-old lizard brain, the music would have to wait.

Ironically, it wasn’t until two years later—when I’d heard Sepultura’s bruising cover of “Drug Me” and Napalm Death’s blasting take on “Nazi Punks Fuck Off”—that I reconsidered my first impressions of the Dead Kennedys’ music. I guess those dudes were right all along.

While DK’s first two spazzy, anxious-sounding records clearly make sense as influences for any early-’80s musician intrigued by speed, it’s the band’s expansive third album, Frankenchrist, that nets the Dead Kennedys their long-awaited first Hall of Fame induction in this issue.

Extremely extreme credit goes to veteran contributor Justin M. Norton, who, despite having his interview requests turned down by one ex-member for the better part of a decade, eventually got the classic DK lineup to all discuss the record’s—and the band’s—complicated legacy. It’s one that inspired metal outfits as diverse as Vio-lence, Mayhem and Trivium to all release Dead Kennedys covers within just the past few years alone. Who knows? Maybe they’ll help get some metal kids into punk.

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March 2022 [T209] PUBLISHER

Alex Mulcahy

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

alex@redflagmedia.com EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

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COPY EDITOR

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Vince Bellino Adrien Begrand J. Bennett Dean Brown Louise Brown Chris Chantler Richard Christy Liz Ciavarella-Brenner Chris Dick Sean Frasier Nick Green Raoul Hernandez Addison Herron-Wheeler Jonathan Horsley Courtney Iseman Neill Jameson Sarah Kitteringham Daniel Lake Andrew Lee Shawn Macomber Shane Mehling Justin M. Norton Andy O'Connor Dutch Pearce Forrest Pitts Greg Pratt Jon Rosenthal Brad Sanders Joseph Schafer Rod Smith Matt Solis Kevin Stewart-Panko Eugene S. Robinson Adem Tepedelen Jeff Treppel J Andrew Zalucky Bradley Zorgdrager CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS

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good resource for Arizonans, but also craft beer fans traveling to the state. We will be expanding and rolling out further metal content, including metal-influenced breweries across the country and metal shows and tours that are hitting our state. The Arizona craft beer scene is on fire, and we have over 80 partners. The guys at two of our partner breweries, TCBC and Harbottle, are big metalheads, as are many others. We’re happy to support local, and champion beer and metal however we can.

Matthew McKee Mesa, AZ

You’re the owner of the AZ HopHead Alliance.

Can you tell us a little about this organization?

AZ HopHead Alliance is a project I started in late 2020 after my position in the hotel industry was eliminated due to the pandemic. I looked at it as an opportunity to create something that combined what I am most passionate about: craft beer and heavy metal. It is a website focused on Arizona craft breweries, tap rooms and anyplace that has a significant craft selection; not just the everyday national big box breweries. Our site is influenced by our love of metal, and our logo speaks for itself. There are links to the establishments, tap lists, new releases, an events calendar, merchandise and much more. It’s a really

6 : MARCH 2022 : DECIBEL

Arizona is obviously famous for Sacred Reich, Flotsam and Jetsam and Gatecreeper, so let us know what AZ metal bands most metal fans are missing beyond that.

Being a heavy music fan for nearly four decades, my tastes run the gamut from Sabbath to Spiritbox and all else in between. Of course, Sacred Reich and Flotsam and Jetsam were early, influential bands, and I’m a big fan of Gatecreeper, who I’ve seen many times. I’m excited about the upcoming Decibel Tour. In terms of recommending bands, it’s kind of like recommending beers; I prefer for people to form their own preferences, as styles and tastes are so variable. I might like a particular DIPA or stout, but someone else might think one or both suck. In terms of bands, Spirit Adrift, featured on your cover late last year, is a favorite. Bands are real entrepreneurs; I applaud any of them that are passionate about making and playing music and take that leap. Other Arizona bands I appreciate include Thra, Suicide

Forest and Adavant. All are distinctly different, but worth a listen.

You’ve been to all three California editions of Metal & Beer Fest. What did you enjoy most about them, and where do you feel there is room for improvement?

The fest is a great way to wrap up a full metal calendar each year. Each of the L.A. events were positive and had some real highlights. The inaugural Los Angeles show at the Wiltern had such a great lineup with Triptykon [and] Godflesh, and it was my second opportunity to see Riley [Gale] (R.I.P.) and Power Trip. There were so many great breweries, including faves Three Floyds and TRVE. The upstairs setup was great for the breweries and seeing the bands, and there was lots of merch. 2019 at the Observatory had a lineup that included my first Possessed performance and Carcass. The beer setup was not adjacent to the stage, so that was not ideal, but the merchandise setup in the outside courtyard area worked well. 2021 at the Belasco knocked it out of the park with the VIP setup. The merchandise package was insane and the ability to walk from the breweries to the viewing area in seconds was phenomenal. Music highlights were Deadguy and Cave In. I was unfamiliar with SpiritWorld before the show and thought they were amazing.

Lastly, I hate slow security lines and did not deal with that at all in 2021. I’m looking forward to the festival again in 2022, and hope to make it to the one in Philly sometime.

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 considering quitting this job and going back to work at the Parks Department.

Because not all of us were spawned in the darkest recesses of hell

This Month's Mutha: Suzanne Tigert-Moore Mutha of Justin Moore of Teeth

Tell us a little about yourself.

I was born and raised in Knoxville, TN. I attended the University of Tennessee with a major in liberal arts. I lived in Le Havre, France for two summers during high school, [then] New Orleans, Nashville and Los Angeles, where Justin was born. I moved back to Knoxville in 2008, and I have been here since. I remarried for the third time here in Knoxville in 2016. This one’s the keeper!

I was a competitive bodybuilder for several years and won my weight division at the U.S. Bodybuilding Championship in 1985. I have worked in many fields, but the most recent have been as a massage therapist while living in L.A., and currently an esthetician here in Knoxville.

Retiring is not something I’m ready to do. I still work a couple days a week. I love my profession.

Teeth’s lyrics are strikingly literary at times.

What kind of books did Justin read growing up?

Justin read a lot of philosophy books. In particular Camus, Nietzsche, Sartre and Machiavelli. He also started reading Stephen Hawking when my father gave him his copy of A Brief History of Time.

From apartment fires and studio lease terminations to the pandemic, there have always been obstacles for Teeth records. Did Justin always exhibit this much perseverance?

Justin has always lived to the beat of his own drum. Literally, from a very young age. Justin 8 : MARCH 2022 : DECIBEL

feels life deeply and profoundly. I would say yes, he has always shown perseverance, because to not have it would be to give up. I don’t think he considers that an option. Especially where Teeth is concerned.

What were your thoughts the first time you heard Justin’s death metal voice?

I laughed. Leave it to Justin, who has a beautiful voice, to sing pig vocals (my label for it, but in good humor, not judgment). Which, of course, is an art unto itself. It takes a lot of practice and work to get it right.

Do you enjoy the type of extreme music your son plays, or do you prefer other genres?

Honestly, no, I don’t enjoy it. However, I do respect it and know it has a place in the music world. I know enough to hear some incredible instrumentals happening. I enjoy several genres, but I have to say ’70s rock is my go-to.

What’s something that most people would be surprised to learn about Justin?

That Sade is one of his favorite artists! That’s just one that I find kind of funny. Seriously speaking, Justin is one of the deepest souls I’ve known. He is also one of the kindest and most gentle souls. There are a lot of things about Justin that would surprise people. He still surprises me, and I probably know him better than anyone. —ANDREW BONAZELLI

Albert Mudrian : e d i t o r i n c h i e f  Type O Negative, World Coming Down  Type O Negative, Life Is Killing Me  Type O Negative, Bloody Kisses  Type O Negative, October Rust  Type O Negative, Dead Again ---------------------------------Patty Moran : c u s t o m e r s e r v i c e  Satánico Pandemonium, Espectrofilia  Sepultura, Arise  Dead Kennedys, Bedtime for Democracy  The Clash, Give ’Em Enough Rope  The Coup, Party Music ---------------------------------James Lewis : a d s a l e s  Immolation, Acts of God  Immolation, Failures for Gods  Immolation, Here in After  Immolation, Atonement  Immolation, Kingdom of Conspiracy ---------------------------------Mike Wohlberg : a r t d i r e c t o r  The Acacia Strain, It Comes in Waves  The Acacia Strain, Slow Decay  Perturbator, Lustful Sacraments  Grinning Death’s Head, Cataclysm  Mizmor, Cairn ---------------------------------Aaron Salsbury : m a r k e t i n g a n d s a l e s  Malignant Altar, Realms of Exquisite Morbidity  Creeping Death, The Edge of Existence  SpiritWorld, Pagan Rhythms  ISIS, Oceanic  You and I, Complete

GUEST SLAYER

---------------------------------Stu Folsom : s p i r i t w o r l d  Lucinda Williams, Car Wheels on a Gravel Road  200 Stab Wounds, Slave to the Scalpel  Godfather666, Love & Rage  Creeper, Sex, Death & the Infinite Void  Ringworm, Birth is Pain

PHOTO BY SEAN JORG

DECIBEL MAGAZINE METAL & BEER FEST: L.A. 2021

Love requited  Marking only the third live performance of Jane Doe in its entirety, Converge shared the love with an the West Coast

A

fter two years away from California—and three from L.A. proper— WHEN: December 10-11, 2021 Decibel Magazine Metal & Beer Fest PHOTOS BY HILLARIE JASON returned to Los Angeles for a weekend of exclusive full-album sets, unlikely reunions and at least one farewell performance. Plus, an insane beer lineup featuring nearly a dozen collaborations between artists and brewers. Only two months removed from our annual Philly edition, we conquered hangovers and bangers to file the best of what we remember. —ALBERT MUDRIAN

another local(ish) death metal opener. (In hell, shows will only be local death metal openers.)

Wielding eyebrow-raising headless Strandbergs, the guitarists teased out a side of old-school death metal often overlooked: melody. I’m talking about those early Entombed/Dismember/ Morbid Angel moments where unabashedly anthemic refrains floated above the battlefield.

If you closed your eyes, you could imagine it was the early ’90s, with Earache and Roadrunner A&R in attendance. You would be wearing Blue Grape sweatpants, of course. —COSMO LEE

SABER

NIGHT DEMON

The Belasco, Los Angeles, CA

WHERE:

Fast-rising heavy metal locals Saber kicked

things off by kicking down the doors at beerthirty sharp. Complete with spandex, studs, leather and sunglasses that have never even heard of grunge (or the ’90s, for that matter), the five-piece wasted no time turning the event into a proper party that even the most brutal of death metal fans couldn’t help but appreciate. Early attendees who might otherwise be milling about slowly (likely nursing a pre-fest hangover) found themselves crushing beers to catchy choruses, 10 : MARCH 2022 : DECIBEL

soaring leads, fist-pumping riffs and more fun than anyone was prepared for with the first band of the evening. After that first note of the set, there was absolutely no going back— dBMBFLA was in full swing, in style. —JAMES LEWIS

RIPPED TO SHREDS

The Bay Area band did exactly what it said on the tin, namely the cheerful “I  Blast Beats” emblazoned on frontman/guitarist Andrew Lee’s shirt. But while the drumming indeed blasted and skanked with aplomb, this wasn’t just

Heavy metal flag-bearers Night Demon gave a

masterclass in the old ways on Saturday, playing songs from both of their full-lengths, 2015’s Curse of the Damned and 2017’s Darkness Remains, plus 2020 single “Kill the Pain.” The trio, fronted by bassist and singer Jarvis Leatherby, brought a high-energy performance befitting of their first Los Angeles show since 2018. Jamming eight songs into a 30-minute time slot kept the band moving at a brisk pace, almost edging into speed metal territory at points. Ever faithful to genre

conventions, Night Demon ended their set with “Night Demon,” from 2012’s eponymous Night Demon EP. Heavy metal is meant for the stage, and Night Demon displayed exactly why with their performance. —VINCE BELLINO

EARLY GRAVES

“You’ll never see us again.” These were the bittersweet parting words of John Strachan, vocalist for punk/hardcore/metal amalgamation Early Graves. The first night of the fest weekend laid claim to both EG’s first show in six years and their predetermined final performance, inciting a charged performance both aggressive and antagonistic, with Strachan regularly insulting the crowd in hopes of a reaction. With a set focused primarily on sophomore effort Goner, full of firestarters such as the title track, “Faith Is Shit” and “Rot,” the one notable exception was “Pure Hell” off final album Red Horse, played in tribute to the group’s original vocalist, the late, great Makh Daniels. With a heavy-hearted goodbye, we look forward to what future projects may rise from this grave. —MICHAEL WOHLBERG

REPULSION

“We’re doing the gig and the soundcheck at the

same time,” Repulsion vocalist/bassist Scott Carlson quips when a monitor issue materializes just seconds into the band’s first song.

Luckily, the problem is resolved quickly and the Flint, MI grind pioneers plow through a ripsnorting set that includes the usual suspects— “Maggots in Your Coffin,” “The Stench of Burning Death,” “Black Breath,” etc.—from their only LP. As guitarist Matt Olivo brings the shred and drummer Chris Moore makes blasting look effortless, Carlson pulls comedy faces for his wife Erin, who is rocking along up front in her vintage Repulsion tee. The coup de grace? An ace cover of Venom’s “Schizo,” complete with shout-out to Decibel’s 40th anniversary coverage of Welcome to Hell. —J. BENNETT

SACRED REICH

The one-two punch of original Headbangers Ball

staples “The American Way” and “Independent” that opened the first Sacred Reich show in two years would be a difficult act for any legacy thrash band to follow. Good thing, then, that Sacred Reich’s 2019 reunion LP, Awakening, stands shoulder-to-shoulder with its late’80s/ early ’90s predecessors, allowing new numbers “Divide & Conquer” and “Salvation” to blend seamlessly with puffy-tongued Converse classics of yore. And for any old-school heshers (and/ or members of Deadguy) reeling from the late omission of “Surf Nicaragua” from the set, at least there was Adroit Theory’s The American Way oat cream IPA to deliciously drown your sorrows in. —ALBERT MUDRIAN

 Can you hear me now?

Technical issues laid to rest, Repulsion’s Matt Olivo tears through the band’s latest hits

CONVERGE

For me, and likely many others, Jane Doe is an

internal world. The iconic cover, the impressionistic typesetting, the sonic hailstorm—it’s all mysterious and makes one’s mind go places.

So, while “Concubine” drew first blood like often before, it was surreal to hear it followed by… the rest of the record. Even the songs Converge never play, the ones that had bassist Nate Newton and drummer Ben Koller winking at each other for mistakes the rest of us didn’t hear.

It was a dream come to life. While the pit was volatile as ever, much of the crowd, witnessing a masterpiece, maintained a respectful reverence.

Closer “Jane Doe” bathed the room in waves of electricity, collapsing decades into memories for a lifetime. —COSMO LEE

SPIRITWORLD

The members of SpiritWorld confidently strode onto the Belasco stage to the soundtrack of dark country music, largely adorned in western attire with the look of a seasoned outfit. The reality, however, was that this was the Vegas outfit’s first

show since frontman Stu Folsom reconfigured the project from a punky alt-country/rockabilly band to an unrepentant thrash/hardcore shootout.

Drawing from 2020 debut Pagan Rhythms (plus a pair of unannounced new ragers), the band’s airtight riffs bobbed heads like the grooviest bits of Slayer, Obituary and Lamb of God, while Folsom’s hip-hop cadences and smooth MC stage moves upstaged any current hardcore frontperson you care to name. Clearly, there is a new sheriff in town. —ALBERT MUDRIAN

ACXDC

Foregoing the “Beer” in Metal & Beer Fest, these

Satanic straight-edge grinders took to the stage Saturday in a manner so unassuming that it did little to prepare the audience for the frenzy to come. With a short, hushed introduction, Antichrist Demoncore burst forth with a sludgy instrumental to get crowds gathered and feet stomping both onstage and in the Belasco’s pit.

Introductions aside, the quartet picked up the pace and blazed forward with their brand of crunchy grindcore, offering a healthy dose DECIBEL : M A RCH 2 0 2 2 : 11

DECIBEL MAGAZINE METAL & BEER FEST: L.A. 2021

Bringers of heavy  Heart-stopping performances from headliners Cave In (l) and openers SpiritWorld (r) marked a series of firsts that will last in history

of material from their latest full-length, Satan Is King. “We have 10 minutes left,” announced vocalist Sergio Amalfitano at one point, “so here’s 20 songs.” ACxDC may have an ABV of 0.0%, but early attendees to the night’s festivities were certainly knocked on their asses. —MICHAEL WOHLBERG

CRYPT SERMON

In a field of growlers and speed demons, Crypt

Sermon were the proverbial rainbows in the dark. Taking the stage to rousing intro fanfare, they pummeled for a bit before dropping into a sweet spot of earthy majesty. The acid test of “Dio doom” is live vocals, and Brooks Wilson rose to the occasion, moving heaven and hell while negotiating keyboard parts and some degree of costume changes (OK, stripping down), planned or not. (Taking the stage in all white at a metal fest is quite the power move.) “Christ Is Dead” crushed and soared. I don’t drink, but this set turned the mental beer in my hand into a flagon of mead. —COSMO LEE

GHOUL

For anyone who sought refreshment after the

punishing riffs of Crypt Sermon (perhaps with an Extremely Extreme Hazy Triple IPA official festival beer from Adroit Theory), the sudden appearance of tarps covering the stage monitors hinted that next up would be Creepsylvania’s finest.

However, even dedicated Ghoulunatics weren’t ready for the keg-pounding, blood-spraying, 12 : MARCH 2022 : DECIBEL

limb-removing fury that would ensue at the gnarled hands of the slapstick troupe of dungeon bastards that accompanied Digestor, Cremator, Dissector and Fermenter. Yes, you read that correctly: Fermenter. And if the crossover (see what we did there?) with the Ghost Town Brewing Numbskull red IPA wasn’t selling point enough, and the barrage of gore-splattered, fun-soaked riffs didn’t cut it for you, the stage banter and hijinks alone were well worth the price of admission. —JAMES LEWIS

GATECREEPER

Despite technical difficulties, Gatecreeper

brought some of the most thunderous sounds of the fest. This “stadium death metal” outfit clearly has been straining at the leash of the pandemic. As the saying goes, “Play to the back of the room,” and the big, fat pocket of the drums and monstrous guitar tones got heads banging from floor to balcony. Chase Mason’s vocals, fearsome from the outset, have somehow gotten more commanding over time. “You guys try our beer?” he asked, referring to the band’s collaboration with Wake Brewing. “That’s cool, I trust you,” the sober frontman deadpanned.

They’ll have to bring vats of the stuff when the band eventually plays [Insert name of corporation or cryptocurrency] Arena. —COSMO LEE

DEADGUY

Los Angeles is a long way from New Jersey,

but there’s a first time for everything. In this

instance, it was the metallic hardcore legends’ first-ever Los Angeles show—and the third show of their reunion, which began at Metal & Beer Fest: Philadelphia. Attendees got three full album sets over the course of the weekend, as Deadguy tore through a front-to-back set of their 1995 Hall of Famer, Fixation on a Co-Worker, as well as a few choice cuts from the Work Ethic EP. Deadguy closed their set with “John Dear,” a fitting counterpart to Converge’s “Jane Doe,” also the conclusion to their set. For 45 minutes, the words “Die With Your Mask On” inspired joy— and a few rowdy moshers—instead of dread.

—VINCE BELLINO

CAVE IN

Synchronicity occurs during Cave In’s Saturday night headlining set. The Boston heroes are playing their 1998 classic Until Your Heart Stops in its entirety, and it occurs to us that the first time we ever saw them was probably within a few months of its release. Nearly 23 years later, the band hasn’t lost a step. Yeah, they’re older now—we all are—and, sadly, bassist Caleb Scofield isn’t with us anymore. But the magic of eternal rippers “Moral Eclipse” and “Juggernaut” is still there, which can’t be said of a lot of other bands’ material from this era. Converge bassist Nate Newton is one of the only people on Earth fit to play Caleb’s parts, and he delivers the fucking goods. The whole band does—as usual.

Long live Cave In. —J. BENNETT

Y ISEMAN

TNE

BY COUR

It’s 80 Degrees in Late December ’ve been thinking a lot about creation

and creators. No, not the God question or something deep about the universe, but the hubris that it takes to bring something into the world that wasn’t there before, that you somehow deemed necessary for everyone else to experience. Because that’s the name of the game here, even for those who don’t really share their work with anyone because it’s “just for them.” That’s an even greater level of hubris because they’ve decided that they’re going to wave their prick at you by letting you know they do something, but you’re undeserving of it.

What a crock of shit.

I’m mostly known because I’ve written a few things online that caught attention and landed me here in the first 30 pages of this magazine every month. But if it wasn’t me, it would be someone else. It was someone before me and likely will be after me. Time kind of floats on that way and pushes us downstream with it, moves us out of the way so that a new generation can come in and fuck up a perfectly good thing the way we ourselves fucked up a perfectly good thing. That’s the nature of creation and the nature of existence itself.

I guess I am going to go a bit into existential questions. I’m nothing if not consistently inconsistent.

It’s probably different now but think about every person who’s ever written a book or a piece of music. Now think about how much of that has been preserved. Countless writing and music has been lost to the ages before we had some way to record them. Now, think about the last hundred years or so. Even still, with recording and printing, a lot of great—and not so great—work has been lost. The world is littered with the corpses of forgotten creations.

In a way, it’s a romantic thought, right? That we’re surrounded by these ghosts of ideas and, somehow, through the power of osmosis, we can channel this creativity stuck in limbo.

14 : M A RCH 2022 : DECIBEL

Now, bring your mind to the present. Think of how many websites you’ve scrolled through just today that exist to archive these sorts of things. YouTube, Reddit, Facebook, Pornhub.

Every single thing you or I do is now archived somewhere, at least until the bombs drop and the servers give out. We exist in a time of unparalleled cultural preservation. Staggering amounts of resources are consumed every minute of every day in order to keep these machines running, so that every moment, every idea, doesn’t get consigned to being one of those ghosts I just mentioned.

It’s an overwhelming thought that, unlike any other time in human history, we’re able to hold onto everything so that nothing becomes a memory. We don’t have to use that part of our brain anymore; there’s no need for it.

Everything we’ve ever experienced is now available at the touch of a button, the stroke of a key.

And, holy shit, does 90 percent (give or take) of it fucking suck. Have you ever tried going through random YouTube videos related to something you’re interested in and not walked away with a greater knowledge of the subject, just the burning sensation that you just lost precious time from your life to watch some asshole open a box he got in the mail? Or listen to some dimwit prattle on about how she graduated from clown college and now has a far-right YouTube channel? Or hear skeletons of songs that never will get finished and shouldn’t have been written in the first place? Jesus fucking Christ.

This kind of stupid shit existed before technology. While we’ve probably lost some great works throughout the millennia, we’ve also been saved from some horrendously awful shit.

So, if you’re grateful for anything in life, be grateful that the universe eventually wipes all stupidity clean away and we only have to experience the stupidity of the here and now, and not then and later.

Smoked Beer Appreciation Is Firing Up

S

moked beers feel a little metal,

and not just because of their association with fire. They are divisive, not for the faint of heart and unapologetically bold, but in a way that embraces tradition over new bells and whistles. While they don’t stand to rival the almighty IPA, smoked beers are experiencing a notable appreciation surge thanks to talented brewers who are passionate about this style.

While fun myths about smoked beer’s origins abound—say, that a brewery in Bamberg, the German city credited with birthing the style, burned in the Middle Ages, effectively smoking its malt—the truth is that until the 1600s, all beer was somewhat smoked. You kiln your malt to brew with it, and until developments in malt kilns, that was done over fire. Where there’s fire, there’s smoke. Even after this technology reached Germany in the 1800s, some breweries kept purposefully smoking beer.

Schlenkerla is one, and still the best-known maker of smoked beer, or rauchbier.

Breweries far younger than Schlenkerla, though, are taking up the torch. Jason Ranck, head brewer at Pennsylvania’s Neshaminy Creek Brewing Company fell for rauchbiers on his first Bamberg visit in 2010. It became the style he homebrewed the most, and he brought that enthusiasm to Neshaminy Creek in the form of Croydon Is Burning, a “Bambery-Style Smoked Lager.” It has won medals at the Great American Beer Festival in 2016, 2017 and 2021.

 Smoke ’em if you got ’em (from l) Threes Brewing’s Short Fuse, Dovetail Brewery’s X01 and Neshaminy Creek Brewing Co.’s Croydon is Burning have a burning passion for smoked beer

Croydon Is Burning, plus Falconry Club—a grodziskie, or Polish smoked beer—both remain traditional takes. “I love the balance and nuance and don’t feel a need to deviate too far from that,” Ranck says.

In Chicago, Dovetail Brewery also wows drinkers by specializing in traditional methods and Continental European styles.

Brewer and creative manager Jenny Pfäfflin notes that the rich heritage of Franconian beers (Franconia is a region of Germany that includes Bamberg) inspires Dovetail’s beers, which, of course, includes the rauchbier.

That’s not to say there’s no room for invention. Dovetail also brews X01, which they call a “Flanders Rauch,” referring to the red-brown, sour Belgian Flanders ale.

They age their rauchbier in barrels with a Flanders-style blend of Brettanomyces and Lactobacillus for acetic fruitiness, unexpected for a smoked beer but a winning flavor combo.

In Brooklyn, Threes Brewing proves how light smoked beers can be with Short Fuse, a smoked Helles lager aged in foudres to complement the smoke with a subtle wood accent.

At just over 4%, Short Fuse has light smoke aromas alongside toasty bread and marshmallow and floral fresh hops.

Even these reinterpretations start with traditional methods, though. Ranck says malt can be smoked on beechwood, oak, cherry or

applewood, or mesquite; beechwood is classic for rauchbier, oak for grodziskie. (Pfäfflin adds that brewers can also use yeast from a previous smoked beer to ferment a beer sans smoked malts, creating a gentler smoke character.) Each wood imparts different characteristics, but other ingredients factor in.

“In my opinion, the best smoked beers are less about the smoke than what you put around it,” Threes Brewing head brewer Matt Levy says. “Those other ingredients help balance and integrate the smoke.” Levy adds that Short Fuse and another Threes smoked beer, Solid Air, both use the same beechwoodsmoked malt, but “taste totally different.”

Speaking of taste, how does one wade into smoked-beer territory, especially now that brewers are creating so many stellar examples? After all, while some are diehard rauchbier fans, others might find the smoke strange or too similar to, say, ham.

Levy encourages people to try various versions, since different ingredient combos might move the needle, and to enjoy these in nature, fittingly around a campfire. Or just forge through with three pours.

According to Pfäfflin, “There’s a great Franconian saying: ‘It takes three glasses of rauchbier before you decide whether you like it.’ Because by the end of that third glass, you’ve either been completely converted, or you’re drunk and don’t care.”

DECIBEL : M A RCH 2022 : 15

THE GATHERING

STUDIO REPORT

THE GATHERING ALBUM TITLE

Beautiful Distortion RECORDING DATES

October 2020 – September 2021 STUDIOS

Studio Arnold Mühren (Volendam) and Bauwhaus Studio (Amsterdam) ENGINEERS

Patrick Mühren and Attie Bauw RELEASE DATE

April 29, 2022 LABEL

Psychonaut Records

IT’S

been almost a decade since the last time

Dutch/Norwegian atmospheric rockers the Gathering were in a studio. The band’s previous studio album, 2013’s Afterwords, was hand-signaled to possibly be their last. But sometime in 2017, the Gathering hinted at new material. Fast forward to 2020.

When the pandemic-stricken outfit headed into two Netherlandsbased studios to record their 11th album—with lineup intact from 2009’s The West Pole—they surely didn’t realize they’d still be calibrating Beautiful Distortion more than a year later.

“Due to COVID-19, it was difficult to write and eventually record music with all the restrictions in place,” says drummer Hans Rutten. “We could not physically come together, but at some point we found a way, taking advantage of the digital possibilities. Lots of Zoom sessions [between the Netherlands and Norway], rehearsing when possible, and writing and recording in small groups, all at a very slow pace. The vocals were recorded in Norway with a direct line between Attie Bauw [Amsterdam] and Silje [Wergeland, in Norway].”

Lockdowns hindered, but didn’t block the Gathering from re-enlisting famed producer Attie Bauw, who had first come into view as jack-of-all-trades on the group’s celebrated 1998 LP How to Measure a Planet? Ever the sonic perfectionists, the quintet was

keenly focused on Bauw’s new Dolby Atmospowered studio, allowing for not just a traditional stereo, but also a state-of-the-art surround sound recording. Ostensibly, the tracking was completed in September 2021, but the mix sessions have taken an outstretched trajectory.

Indeed, the long gap between the final mix and release played on the Gathering’s collective minds, which is why the advance release of new song “In Colour” was so crucial.

“We thought it was a good thing to let people hear already what we had been working on,” Rutten says. “We had been saying for years that new material was coming; people were starting to doubt if this was really the case. With the previous record, [2012’s] Disclosure, we released the song ‘Heroes for Ghosts,’ I believe, almost a year before the release date.”

Fans of the Gathering will no doubt finally see Beautiful Distortion this spring, while acolytes of 1992 debut album Always… can rejoice that something special is brewing for its 30th birthday. —CHRIS DICK

STUDIO SHORT SHOTS

FILE UNDER DEFILED: CASTRATOR PREP WRECKING BALL OF A DEBUT LP Castrator bassist R.M. recently informed Decibel that the NYC-based all-female death metal group has been hard at work on its debut full-length, out next year on Dark Descent. The new album is called Defiled in Oblivion, according to R.M., who also told us that Daniel Gonzalez (Possessed, Gruesome) helped with production.

“We have had a lot of challenges along the way,” relates R.M. “We[’re] all in different cities and time zones, so we had

16 : M A RCH 2022 : DECIBEL

to do everything remotely, but with today’s technology it was possible. We feel that with this lineup and these new songs we made all the right decisions, and are super proud of the outcome.”

Joining the band most recently are guitarist Kimberly Orellana and vocalist Clarissa Badini (Vicious Blade). Regarding their new singer, R.M. tells us, “[Badini] fits the band perfectly and is exactly who we needed to make these songs what we were looking for.” R.M. hopes the new record will be out next summer, and says fans should expect “brutality and sickness” and “real death metal!” She promises, “We have a lot of plans for this record and plan to do a lot of promotion and touring.” —DUTCH PEARCE

BACKSLIDER

BACKSLIDER

The world may be out to get them, but Philly trio is armed with a cross-genre crusher

TO

backslide is to relapse or return to one’s old ways, but Psychic Rot, the new album from Philly power trio Backslider is the furthest thing from a regression.

Rather, Psychic Rot is a dirty fusion of extreme subgenres, taking Backslider’s sludgy hardcore punk sound to the next level. ¶ “These days it’s a little hard to live in the world without feeling like you’re constantly under attack in some way,” explains guitarist and shouter Logan Neubauer. “The general environment of the modern day feels very hostile and unsettling and uncertain; it’s kind of to me about the way external factors in general can exacerbate internal mental things.” ¶ With each release, Backslider work to carve out a unique musical niche for themselves. On Psychic Rot, Neubauer and his bandmates—bassist Jake Smith and drummer Jake Cregger—find inspiration in thrash, goth rock, post-punk, noise rock, prog, death metal and sludge; but ultimately, everything comes back to punk. ¶ “We have these foundational nuclei musical elements that everything is based off of,” says Neubauer.

18 : MARCH 2022 : DECIBEL

“So, it can grow in different directions, but there’s always that core sonic sensibility or aesthetic that kind of ties it all together; [that’s] the way I think of it. I always see us as an extension of the extreme hardcore punk band of the late ’80s, like Siege and Infest and Jerry’s Kids and Negative Approach, then leading into ’90s powerviolence.”

The trio recorded Psychic Rot at Developing Nations with noted producer Kevin Bernsten (Full of Hell, Integrity, Noisem), who has recorded every Backslider release since 2012’s Maladapted EP. Bernsten plays in Baltimore grind outfit Triac alongside Cregger, adding to the dynamic of familiarity that exists between producer and band.

Cregger and Bernsten serve as “bullshit detectors” in Backslider, reining in the more outlandish ideas that Neubauer and Smith bring to the practice room. Add in the fact that Bernsten just “gets” the sound that Backslider operate

within, and it’s easy to understand why the Philadelphia trio has consistently returned to Baltimore to record.

“I feel like his recordings don’t sound very sterile,” Neubauer notes. “Because of our influences being based in the music of the past where there isn’t a ton of compression and there’s not this or that, I feel like him being able to capture the clarity of the live band experience without it sounding flat and dull matches with what we do really well.”

Despite Backslider’s considerable length of time as a band—nearly an eternity in punk years—the members’ enthusiasm and drive hasn’t waned. “Our drive is always going to be there to do it,” Neubauer attests.

“Because of the friendship that goes into it and our sincere love for this kind of stuff at our age, that’s what keeps it together. I feel like we’re just as passionate about it, maybe more.” —VINCE BELLINO

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EIGHT BELLS

T

ouring with voivod was one of Melynda Jackson’s best moments as a musician, as well as a learning opportunity.

But it wasn’t long after that 2016 tour that things started to fall apart for her band Eight Bells. The lineup that recorded Landless fizzled. Jackson worked with a number of people to see if they’d fit, with mixed results. Still, she wasn’t able to let go of the band. ¶ The persistence paid off. Roughly five years after her last record, vocalist/guitarist Jackson found ideal collaborators in bassist (and Decibel staff writer) Matt Solis and drummer Brian Burke (No Shores, Cave Dweller). The new Eight Bells album, Legacy of Ruin—their first in a half-decade—ably explores big-ticket feelings like grief and loss and humanity’s push to consume regardless of the outcome. It’s a bittersweet and often beautiful record with quirky power that isn’t beholden to genre, ably meshing dark pop, shoegaze and doom. ¶ “There were many people in the band over the past five years, and for various reasons, nothing stuck,” Jackson explains. “It took a long time to find the right people, and people who would commit to playing music that’s not easily categorized for almost no money.

20 : MARCH 2022 : DECIBEL

There was also a lot of depression and questioning if I wanted to continue playing music. I was frustrated trying to hold a group together.”

Burke joined after moving to Portland from Arizona. Solis also moved to town, and Jackson reached out when she learned he was looking for a new band. Solis and Jackson quickly discovered that they worked well together. “Melynda made it clear that she wanted me to feel comfortable adding parts and changing things around if I wanted to,” Solis says. “On ‘The Well’ they didn’t have a transition for the heavy middle section into the next long clean section, so I spent some time working things out in my head and came in with an entire part that ties the two together. That’s something I definitely appreciate about playing in this band—we’re very collaborative and just focused on making each song the best it can be.”

Solis also performed harmonized vocals with Jackson—a first for

his career. “I knew it would be interesting because I’m harmonizing with a female voice, which is a totally different approach than I’m used to,” Solis says. “Melynda’s voice is obviously higher than mine, so we worked a lot on figuring out where my range could fit.

Some of the vocal harmonies were already written, so I just had to learn them and adjust a bit as necessary, but the vocal harmonies we wrote together came out organically. It was just based on where both of our voices could comfortably sit within the music.”

Jackson says she is the happiest she’s ever been with the band, and adds that this recording has displaced the Voivod tour as her personal highlight. “I had to go through a lot to get to the point where I could record these songs with other people,” she emphasizes.

“I have a huge sense of gratitude that I could be in a place recording these songs.” —JUSTIN M. NORTON

PHOTO BY CODY KETO

EIGHT BELLS

Melynda Jackson survives five years of ripping headaches to rebuild an experimental metal powerhouse

MIZMOR

MIZMOR

Black/doom/drone solo artist can handle the truth, just not those who can’t

ON

the earliest ‫( רומזמ‬Romanized as Mizmor) releases, multi-instrumentalist A.L.N. used seismic doom riffs to wrestle with his relationship with Christianity, a religion he was still in the process of breaking away from. On Wit’s End, his new 12-inch for Gilead Media, the now-staunch atheist has turned his critical eye outward, taking on something much thornier in the process. ¶ “Christianity is really just an example of the bigger issue,” he says, “which is dogmatic thinking, magical thinking, holding fast to your beliefs in the face of new evidence.” ¶ Like any reasonable person who’s had the misfortune of looking at a social media feed in the past two years, A.L.N. quickly found himself overwhelmed by the cavalcade of misinformation that emerged in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. “Everyone’s got a family member or a friend that’s this way,” he laments, “but just seeing our process as a people for vetting information completely erode into reposting what’s in our echo chamber, it really brought that all to light how quick we are to embrace

22 : MARCH 2022 : DECIBEL

disinformation and conspiracy theories. I know it’s been going on for a while, but I was just bombarded with that reality in light of the pandemic, and it really made me mad.”

It was that anger—paired with his belief that humanity’s superstitious mindset will ultimately lead to our self-destruction—that inspired A.L.N. to write “Wit’s End,” the record’s crushing, 15-minute Aside. The song’s graceful, lugubrious doom will appeal to anyone who fell in love with Mizmor via albums like Yodh and Cairn, even as it adds new wrinkles to the project’s familiar sound. More radical is the B-side, an ambient drone inversion of a worship hymn A.L.N. wrote when he was still a practicing Christian.

Its title, “Pareidolia,” refers to the phenomenon of seeing faces in inanimate objects—an analog, A.L.N. explains, for seeing meaning in inherent meaninglessness, the

way he did when he was still living with religion.

“This magical thinking that I detest, that the A-side is a statement against, you flip the record and it’s my own statement of being there,” A.L.N. says. “But it’s inverted; it’s played backwards.” To listen to the songs back-to-back is to get a sense of the long journey their maker has undertaken, from the harrowing apostasy of Mizmor’s origins to the pulpit of science and reason that A.L.N. stands on today.

Whether he’s layering sludgy, distorted guitars or experimenting with tape manipulation, the animating energy is always a pure expression of A.L.N.’s creative spirit.

“Thematically, it’s all the same story that I’m telling,” he says. “I just like the idea that whatever is coming from that place for me, no matter how different it sounds, is all the Mizmor story.” —BRAD SANDERS

NIGHT COBRA

NIGHT COBRA

First strike is deadly for Houston metal traditionalists

W

hen asked what exactly about ’80s heavy metal is so appealing, Night Cobra singer Christian Larson enthuses, “Everything. All the music from this period is just jaw-dropping amazing. Most of the bands have a unique sound and are all still part of the same scene. I mean, from that time period we got Slayer, Venom, Exciter, Trouble, and the list goes on. All these bands have basically launched their own subgenres of metal. Next, the artwork just looks so good. There is a reason everyone is trying to use this style again today. It just screams metal! Nasty, dirty and just magical. This is also a time where the bands all looked cool. You see early pictures of bands like Mercyful Fate or Slayer and instantly you wanna go hear them or buy the record.” ¶ That passion for classic metal is palpable on Dawn of the Cobra, Night Cobra’s stellar debut album for trad metal label High Roller. Equal parts Mercyful Fate, Witchfinder General and Jaguar, the Houston band nails the aesthetic as only devoted students of the form can.

24 : MARCH 2022 : DECIBEL

Larson cites “The Neuromancer’s Curse” as the best introduction to the LP: “The song has a good mixture of all of the styles that make up Night Cobra. It’s also a take on the William Gibson book Neuromancer.

I try to bring a tech noir feeling into the band with the lyrics, and I also think our sound plays a little part in that as well. I always saw Night Cobra as something out of the future/past or how the future was supposed to be according to ’70s science fiction. High-tech, lowlife heavy metal that sounds like it was made on the concrete streets of a city. So many bands go in the fantasy direction, but I wanted to do something different.”

Some folks might recognize Larson as the singer for black metal band Necrofier, who just put out Prophecies of Eternal Darkness in late

2021; in addition to planning Houston’s Hell’s Heroes festival, it’s been an incredibly busy time for Larson.

“I spent a good amount of downtime during pandemic life working on the Necrofier and Night Cobra records,” he says. “It was actually nice to be able to concentrate on both of them without a ton of the usual distractions. Now that everything is firing on all cylinders, it does get a little insane. Thankfully, the Necrofier and Night Cobra release dates were spread out by three months or I might have gone totally crazy.

“Now it’s a balancing act of what is coming up and fitting everything together,” he concludes. “The secret is to take a break from it all a couple of times during the year.

This recharging makes doing everything so much more attainable.”

—ADRIEN BEGRAND

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AUTHOR & PUNISHER

Tristan Shone’s industrial revolution brings power apparatuses to the people

T

he doom scene is cliché. We’re always singing about the apocalypse. But it was coming true.” ¶ A global pandemic gave Tristan Shone an extended period to focus on a ninth full-length of glitchy synth-sludge under his chosen moniker, Author & Punisher. And what he unearthed was a sonic reflection of the world and how we’re choosing to live in it—the sweeping, end-of-the-world soundtrack Krüller. ¶ “I started at square one, spending a few weeks not even writing songs but just working on tone,” Shone says. “And for me that was huge, because you get stuck with old software or anything you haven’t changed. I was able to get the exact tone I wanted, much thicker and fuller and really wide. It’s hard to mix. But since I mixed it, I decided to go this way.” ¶ And that decision fills the speakers, a highly detailed digital landslide of melancholic hooks and electronics bolstered by guest appearances that include both Danny Carey and Justin Chancellor of Tool. But rising above it all is Shone’s powerful (and sometimes heartbreaking) vocals.

26 : MARCH 2022 : DECIBEL

“I’ve always been singing a little bit,” he says. “But I wanted to change the aggressive tone. I pulled the distortion off everything. There was a melody in my head for the song ‘Drone Carrying Dread,’ and I thought it might come off sounding like country or Creed. [Laughs] But I think it sounds more like Pink Floyd.”

Of course, there’s Shone’s songs and then there’s the industrial contraptions he’s built to play them. Part engineering nerdery, part aesthetic marvels, he and a couple partners are looking to now put similar devices in the hands of others.

“We’re starting with three products that are reminiscent of what I make,” he says of his new boutique business Drone Machines. “It’ll all be open source and built with parts like aluminum. Raw steel. Granite.

Materials that people aren’t usually

using for controllers. We want these to last forever.”

And they’ll also reflect Shone’s artistic perspective on the actual goal of these things: “My stuff is very caveman. I think people make the mistake that this is very high-tech and I’m doing something futuristic.

It’s actually incredibly low-tech. You press a thing and move it. I would say it’s deceptive like that. I’m not being Robocop; it’s the opposite. It’s trying to make live music more live.”

Now comes the task of making these products, promoting the record, and staying optimistic that Author & Punisher can get back on the road and back to normal.

Because even if we are facing doomsday, Shone hopes that Krüller inspires some to rage against the dying of the light.

“I want to give people that heaviness that makes them feel good.”

—SHANE MEHLING

PHOTO BY BECKY DIGIGLIO

AUTHOR & PUNISHER

HAMMERFALL

They may not have reinvented the power metal wheel, but these Swedes might have perfected it

F

or a long time, especially in the beginning, people would laugh at us,” says HammerFall guitarist Oscar Dronjak.

“They would say, ‘Why are you playing ’80s metal music?

Nobody likes this anymore!’ I can’t tell you how many times we heard this. People would actually say to us, ‘OK, the second album is pretty good, but surely you can’t mean that you’re going to continue with this?! When are you going to play some real music?!’ I’m not joking. HammerFall is fun for me, but it’s serious. Dead serious.” ¶ This missive originates from Decibel asking Dronjak about “Brotherhood,” the first track off HammerFall’s newest album, Hammer of Dawn. The working title, “Hello, Cleveland,” was based on where the Swede first conceived the song, but he and vocalist Joacim Cans were sure that if they kept the title as-is, it would be perceived as too tongue-in-cheek. ¶ “Brotherhood” posits itself in the pantheon of classic HammerFall tracks like “Hearts on Fire,” “Renegade,” “Always Will Be” and “Glory to the Brave.” It’s a rollicking rip of a track imbued with the steely essence of Manowar, Judas Priest and Helloween.

28 : MARCH 2022 : DECIBEL

Elsewhere, Hammer of Dawn flies heavy metal’s storied flag high with its eponymous video single, “No Son of Odin,” “Live Free or Die” and “Venerate Me,” the latter featuring icon King Diamond.

“I remember when we recorded ‘Venerate Me,’” Dronjak says.

“There’s a part before the last chorus where I said to Pontus [Norgren, guitarist], ‘Imagine if King Diamond were to sing on this part.

That would be so awesome!’ I was half joking. Pontus said, ‘I’m sure he’ll do it.’ I thought he was kidding, but he wasn’t. He asked King shortly thereafter, and because we had so much time to do the record, King was able to do it. It’s crazy to think I’d have one of my biggest idols on a HammerFall album.”

HammerFall’s 12th studio album is not only an indicator that heavy metal lives on, but also that the Swedes still have a long life ahead of them.

The well runs deep indeed. Even

though Hammer of Dawn continues where Dominion (and the two records before it) left off, it’s energized by soul and spirit anew. The songs, the multi-faceted production (courtesy of HammerFall, Jacob Hansen and Fredrik Nordström) and the overall aesthetic give off a similar vibe as when Iron Maiden rekindled their own flame on 2000’s Brave New World.

“I say this after every album we’ve done, but it truly feels like we’re still relevant,” enthuses Dronjak. “With this album, we still mean something. We’re not making an album just to tour for it. We’re making music that we feel matters to us. I’m most proud of the fact that we’re still going and we’re making some of our best music of our career. As long as we feel we’re contributing and moving, then it’s all the validation we need to continue forward. We’re truly getting to a place where we’re perfecting HammerFall.” —CHRIS DICK

PHOTO BY TALLEE SAVAGE

HAMMERFALL

New Wave of British Heavy Metal lifers

are still fighting the good fight

L

by adem tepedelen photo by steph byford et’s be clear about one thing in regard to U.K. quintet Saxon, now in their have been together (mostly continuously) since

fifth decade together: They weren’t part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement; they were the O.G. flag bearers. While their peers (at least age-wise), such as Motörhead and Judas Priest, predated the NWOBHM by a bit, Saxon’s timing was such that they found themselves at the vanguard of the nascent movement. Their self-titled debut dropped in 1979, and they were off to the races, racking up numerous high-charting singles, selling out headlining tours and inspiring a whole wave of young thrashers in the U.S. over the course of a few classic early-’80s albums. ¶ Iron Maiden may have sold more albums in the ensuing years, but Saxon were titans of the era who brought British working-class metal to the world, and have continued to do so to this day. Witness album number 23, Carpe Diem, produced by Andy Sneap and just as feisty as anything in the band’s deep, classic-heavy catalog. The current lineup—vocalist Peter “Biff” Byford, guitarists Paul Quinn and Doug Scarratt, bassist Nibbs Carter and drummer Nigel Glockler— 30 : M A PARRICLH2 02 20 12 2: :D D EE C ICBI B EE LL

the late ’90s, and Byford, Quinn and Glockler go even further back. Byford was there in the beginning, in fact, when Saxon was called Son of a Bitch in the ’70s, and he’s still fronting the band with the same enthusiasm and verve of a man half his age (70), his booming, melodic voice as vital as ever.

“I never really poured lots of Jack Daniel’s down my throat or took lots of recreational drugs, so I suppose that helped in a way,” Byford tells Decibel when we catch him on a rehearsal day, as the band prepares for upcoming dates in support of the new album. “I’m actually singing today and it sounds pretty good. I’m quite pleased.”

It goes without saying that Byford is a lifer.

He’s actually been performing in bands since

relaxing musically—is the way to go. It’s a bit like his teen years in the Barnsley area of South Yorkshire, not far from Sheffield where another being an athlete. The adrenaline comes when you start to push yourself. I think that’s important as band of teens in Def Leppard started. Part of being a lifer, though, is staying relevant. You can bands get older. They can get a bit more laid back, and I really don’t want to do that. I don’t want to keep playing music, but unless you’re making lay back, I want to go for it.” something worthwhile, no one will care and Carpe Diem, which translates to “seize the day” you’ll end up playing pubs for 25 people. Saxon in Latin, is a fitting title, then, for Saxon’s latest. not only have their NWOBHM bonafides, they Though Byford tends to write about historical continue to make great albums. subjects, he doesn’t get “What I want to do is too misty about his own to keep everything on the band’s past. “Looking edge, keep the playing at a back at all the songs that very high level and write we’ve written and all the great melodies,” Byford success that we’ve had, says. “I don’t want to settle it’s always strange for me and live on our past gloto [reflect on it], because ries. I want to keep making I live for the day,” he tells albums that are relevant Decibel. “I don’t live in the today. That’s what keeps past. I thought that ‘seize this band sounding fresh. I the day’ is a great motto; think the band thinks I’m it’s quite a positive mesa fucking lunatic because sage, especially for where I push for these aggreswe are as a planet today.” sive, fast songs. We could “Seize the day” also just rewrite ‘Denim and connotes a lack of pasLeather’ all the time, but sivity. Saxon may not I don’t really want to do have the album sales that. I want to write new, of Priest or Maiden or fresh stuff.”

Leppard, but they have Byford’s commitment been making vital music to keeping things fresh for many decades, always is evidenced by Saxon’s peter “biff” byford waving the banner for dedication to touring and British metal. “All my regular recorded output. hard work of touring and making albums [has] Even as a septuagenarian, he has no intention paid off,” Byford notes, “because I think, parof slowing down, literally and figuratively. ticularly in America in the last five or six years, “Definitely, I lead the charge,” he says in regard we’ve gone quite strong again. We’ve done some to writing new material. “I pick the guitar riffs great tours and we’ve really made inroads. A lot that we write, and sometimes they’re really at the top edge of people’s ability to play. But I think of our older fans from the ’80s are coming to see us again, and obviously a lot of younger fans are that’s a great thing. I think pushing the envelope dialing into the band a lot more now.” with what we’re writing now—and not just

The band thinks I’m a fucking lunatic because

I push for these aggressive, fast songs.

We could just rewrite ‘Denim and Leather’ all the time, but I don’t really want to do that.

DD EE C ICBI B EE L L: :MAAPRRCIH L 2021 2 : 31

PROTEST AND

SURVIVE HOW ZEAL & ARDOR’S EXTREME GENRE UNIFICATION RESONATES MORE THAN EVER STORY BY JOSEPH SCHAFER

IT

PHOTO BY GEORG GATSAS

will never be normal to have people interested in my works,”

writes Manuel Gagneux, songwriter and instrumentalist behind Zeal & Ardor. “I’m over the moon, of course, but I feel like the moment I take it for granted is the moment I lose something very important to me. I like anonymity.” ¶ Gagneux began his career in anonymity, leveraging his multi-instrumentalist skills in creating genre mash-ups on forums.

He likely would have remained screened from the world by a username had he not received a request to mash up “[racial epithet] music” and black metal—the song requestor didn’t know Gagneux is half black. Gagneux fulfilled the request by making Zeal & Ardor an avant-garde mash-up of traditional blues in the spirit of the American south and industrialized extreme metal. The project’s first album, the self-released Devil Is Fine, became a small internet sensation in 2016, and landed Gagneux on the live circuit with Mastodon, Opeth and other juggernauts of contemporary metal. ¶ Now Gagneux has completed Zeal & Ardor’s self-titled third album, one that’s about to be released into a new and more politically charged zeitgeist. In the wake of the George Floyd protests of 2020 and the superheated conversation about racism and police brutality in America, his music is uniquely poised at the intersection of metal’s often-prejudiced past and its multicultural future.

32 : M A PARRICLH2 02 20 12 2: :D D EE C ICBI B EE LL

Gagneux addressed these issues last year when Zeal & Ardor released an EP, Wake of a Nation, that overtly referenced police brutality and America’s history of white supremacy in its imagery. The EP was dedicated to Floyd, Eric Garner, Michael Brown and survivors of prejudice on the part of law enforcement.

“It was important to us to release those particular tracks separately and as soon as possible,” he stresses of the EP, which was written at the same time as Zeal & Ardor. “We also decided to release it ourselves without any press, lest it seem like we wanted to do it for attention or capitalize on a dire situation. It was the only time we addressed current affairs bluntly and directly, as I prefer writing more vague songs that are more open to interpretation, but it felt apt.

“The funny thing that came out of it was seeing comments of people in disbelief that we had ‘gone political.’ It’s hilarious because our album prior to that was called friggin’ Stranger Fruit. What did they think it was about?”

Of course, the music press has been mining Gagneux for quotes and commentary about what it means to be black and make heavy music since Devil Is Fine came out, and Decibel is no exception.

Wake of a Nation was the first time Gagneux was so openly political in his project, but it was far from the first time he’s been expected to behave as a pundit, whether he likes it or not.

“I’m happy I get to speak my mind, but I also know there’s far smarter people out there whose voices would be more beneficial to the public,” Gagneux admits. “I’m a musician that uses elements from black strife; that in no way makes me a relevant or knowledgeable correspondence.

I’m lucky enough to be in dialogue with various well-read and smart people, and through that find the confidence to write about social issues.

I’m just a musician. That in no way makes my opinion more important than any other’s. I do, however, have an audience. And I like to treat that like the responsibility it is.”

Zeal & Ardor is less overt than Wake of a Nation, but it’s no less progressive, in terms of genre as well as politics. Gagneux has continued to add dynamics to his music, flirting with electronica and even pop at times. “I guess I’m just easily bored,” he confesses. “I don’t get much out of repeating similar ideas too many times. I know, rich coming from the blues-metal guy.

“Maybe even because we have a certain sonic fingerprint,” he continues, “I like testing what

could still [work] without breaking the atmosphere. For me, it’s important that it feels cohesive. That isn’t necessarily bound to genre, but rather the overall mood that the record makes you feel. It’s just as eclectic as ever, but I feel like the atmosphere and grit have been pushed to a new level.”

their full advantage. The process hasn’t really changed, though. I make the demos in a dark and dank basement.”

But with a talented live band behind him and real touring experience, Gagneux has emerged from his darkened shine with a renewed statement of purpose. “With this record, it feels like

[I] was seeing comments of people in disbelief that we had ‘gone political.’

It’s hilarious because our album prior to that was called friggin’ Stranger Fruit.

WHAT DID THEY THINK IT WAS ABOUT? MANUEL GAGNEUX That grit comes in part from his experience having a talented live band to play with. “The Stranger Fruit songs were written back in 2017, basically out of necessity for us on tour,” he explains. “I hadn’t had any live experience at that point. With this record, I got to use our experience from the last couple of years—and my personal experiences writing music—to

we’ve arrived at where we want to be sonically with the band,” he agrees. “Having had time to reflect and narrow down what really makes us… us. It only seemed appropriate to mark that fact with the self-titled.”

Indeed, Zeal & Ardor’s self-titled arrives in a tense world where its music is uncomfortably relevant. Gagneux can kiss his anonymity goodbye.

DD EE C ICBI B EE L L: :MAAPRRCIH L 2022 1 : 33

story by SARAH KITTERINGHAM

photo by SAM JAMSEN

Three decades in,

T

amorphis

continue their reign as the vanguard of the Finnish metal scene

here’s less orchestral elements than last time. This makes it heavier and more guitar-oriented. And I think it’s a good direction.” ¶ Tightlipped axeman Tomi Koivusaari of Finnish progressive melodic death metal entity Amorphis has been a guiding member of the sextet since its inception in 1990. Initially operating as both vocalist and guitarist after the dissolution of his death metal outfit Abhorrence, Koivusaari’s folkish melodies snake throughout Amorphis’ acclaimed discography, which has grown increasingly majestic as the decades creep by. ¶ Unlike many of their contemporaries, Amorphis are currently riding an impressive string of albums, soon to be joined by February’s triumphant Halo, their first for new label Atomic Fire. The album features an intriguing cast of supporting players and follows the stylistic paths of 2015’s Under the Red Cloud and 2018’s Queen of Time.

Perhaps the most integral addition to all three records has been Swedish producer Jens Bogren, whose production skills have fundamentally shaped numerous influential works by metal’s most popular bands, from Sepultura and Kreator to Amon Amarth and Opeth.

“The first time we worked with Jens, we saw that he’s our guy,” explains Koivusaari. “I mean, 34 : M A PARRICLH2 02 20 12 2: :D D EE C ICBI B EE LL

he’s taking all the stress and we know that he’s thinking [about] every second of the album and is not letting go.”

Indeed, his impact on both Under and Queen is audible, although likely inscrutable to anyone but Amorphis themselves. His participation enabled the band to focus on their craft and leave the aggressive editing duties to a trusted ear.

Contracting out some artistic decisions is a strategy that Amorphis have been using for some time, and it has contributed to their undeniable consistency. Case in point: The majority of their lyrics (starting with 2007’s Silent Waters) are penned by poet and audiovisual artist Pekka Kainulainen, whose interest in indigenous folklore—as well as shamanic and oriental traditions—has resulted in Amorphis dramatically expanding on the rich Finnish tradition found in the psychosexual, incestuous, suicidal national Finnish epic Kalevala. Vocalist Tomi Joutsen then shifts Kainulainen’s writing around to fit the music. Similarly, Bogren is trusted to choose what tracks are best suited for an album.

“It was nearly 35 [tracks], but it’s always like that because almost everyone in the band writes songs,” says Koivusaari. “And when we start to record them, we always are like, ‘Okay, we have 30 songs to choose from.’ We don’t have to argue about the songs that much because we leave that decision to the end. So, we’re giving him all the songs and he decides which songs we’re going to record, and everybody’s happy with [that].”

When we started, death metal was a new thing and it was, like, bubbling under.

Whatever information we got [was] from

the smallest fanzines.

TO MI KOI V USAAR I

Koivusaari’s personal contribution this time around was closer “My Name Is Night,” whose pensive acoustic intro of violin, guitar and crooning female vocals set the tone for an emotive and understated exit. The remainder of the album is just as diverse. Kicking off with “Northwards,” the organ sets a rich backdrop while Joutsen oscillates between soaring vocals and deep growls. Eventually, a backing choir raises the grandiosity. That splendor permeates the majority of Halo, from catchy highlight “On the Dark Waters” to the aggressive and anthemic “When the Gods Came,” where the hook interplays skillfully with driving keyboards and guitars.

While Halo is perhaps slightly less orchestral than its two predecessors, the shift is not particularly noticeable. It’s obvious that Amorphis continue to play to their strengths choose the correct creative partners. Working with Bogren “leaves much, much less stress to us,” agrees Koivusaari. “So, we can concentrate [on] just [playing] our parts and on good ideas… We trust the logic with [the] same kind of openness

about music overall, and stuff is interesting. I don’t see why we wouldn’t continue with Jens in the future.”

Despite evolving substantially since seminal 1992 debut The Karelian Isthmus, it’s undeniable that Amorphis have remained a critical darling through the lion’s share of their career (though some may argue that 2003’s Far From the Sun was a misstep). Closing with a cover of Abhorrence’s “Vulgar Necrolatry,” Karelian set the tone for the band and helped lay the foundation for the entire Finnish death metal scene. “[Amorphis] would not be the same if [Abhorrence] never split up, because [we were] so young,” Koivusaari reasons. Formed in Helsinki in 1989 by teenagers, Abhorrence released only a demo (1989’s hugely influential Vulgar Necrolatry), a split and EP before fracturing. They helped trigger a tidal wave of Finnish death metal alongside Sentenced, Convulse, Demilich, Funebre, Xysma and Demigod.

“When we started, death metal was a new thing and it was, like, bubbling under,” Koivusaari continues. “Whatever information

we got [was] from the smallest fanzines and, of course, we were trading demos over the world… I think nobody even had demos out. Just maybe Morbid Angel, Carcass and Entombed—they didn’t even have albums out. And it was so exciting.”

That excitement still fuels Koivusaari, resulting in not only another strong offering from Amorphis, but a yet-to-be-announced new release by Abhorrence, who have been largely silent since playing reunion shows in 2017 and releasing the Megalohydrothalassophobic EP. “Already we have a few [songs], and we were planning to put out a full album—that would be fun after 32 years [post-] breakup,” teases Koivusaari. “We already have a concept for it and lyrics and a few songs. But of course, this pandemic has had so much impact on everybody’s life.

“It’s a fun thing to us. The only reason we want to do it [is] because we’re very old friends from childhood. And it’s fun to put your brains to that mode when you have so much fun again.”

DD EE C ICBI B EE L L: :MAAPRRCIH L 2021 2 : 35

interview by

QA j. bennett

WIT H

LARISSA

STUPAR VENOM PRISON frontwoman on coping with mental health issues, finding a new voice on the band’s latest album and the power of Squid Game

36 : MARCH 2022 : DECIBEL

IT’S

early December when we ring Larissa Stupar and just analyze it in their own way and find

at her home in Wales, and the sun has been down for a couple of hours. “It’s just dark and cold,” the Venom Prison frontwoman reports. “But I’m looking out the window and we have so many houses in the area with so many Christmas lights that it’s blinding. It’s a bit insane.” ¶ Venom Prison are at the vanguard of a new breed of U.K. death metal bands. Following in the antifascist and animal-rights tradition of Carcass and Napalm Death, they’ve also incorporated hardcore into their ever-expanding sonic palette.

Nowhere is that expansion more obvious than the band’s latest full-length, Erebos, which includes piano, finger-picked guitar and—most notably, perhaps—clean, melodic vocals from Stupar on tracks like “Pain of Oizys.” But as the Russian-born, German-bred frontwoman tells us, it wasn’t easy getting there.

In Greek mythology, Erebos is the personification of darkness and one of the first five beings in existence. What drew you to this figure?

I think what drew us to this figure is mainly the fact that he was the very first Greek god that was created out of chaos—and he created darkness. His role is quite crucial in Greek mythology because he is the bridge between death and the living. The idea that he was born from chaos really resonated with us because, with the COVID pandemic and everything else going on in the world during that time—lockdowns and protests were happening all over the world—everything felt especially chaotic. While we were writing and recording, we just felt like this was the perfect title for what’s happening around the world—and how it feels for us as a band as well.

Was the entire record written during the pandemic, or did you start beforehand?

We started writing before. We had most of the songs ready, but I didn’t have any lyrics. And we hadn’t thought about vocals yet. When COVID hit, no one knew a whole lot. Then we realized, okay, this is going to be a while. So, we started going over the songs, cutting them apart and writing new songs because—for the first time ever—we had all the time in the world to invest into our music and just be as creative as we wanted to be.

Usually we just write between tours, and it’s quite stressful. We always just try to do the best we can, and I think pressure can be a really good motivation for most of us. I work really well under pressure, and so do the others in the band, but we just felt like this was a situation where we could utilize the time where we’re not allowed to play shows. We were able to put everything into this album and see where it leads us.

PHOTO BY ANDY FORD

There are a lot of things on this album that are very different for Venom Prison. Did you specifically want to take your music in some new directions?

Yeah, totally. We always said we don’t want to write the same album all over again. That’s just not something that we think is interesting and it’s not something that we feel comfortable with. We want to introduce new things and try new things and show that we develop as musicians just as much as we do as people. So, it was quite important for us to take Venom Prison to another level this time.

Obviously, we utilized the fact that we were able to record with a bigger budget due to Century Media being part of our family and this record. And, of course, being able to record with Scott Atkins, who we’ve wanted to work with for such a long time. We knew we could finally do things that we always wanted to do, but never really felt comfortable with or just never felt like it would sound the way that we wanted it to sound.

The opening track, “Born From Chaos,” is a reference to Erebos. Does the whole album follow this theme?

The character of Erebos isn’t present in every song, but we have specific tracks where he comes by because the theme may be death or destruction or something like that. The idea was to involve the mythology with real-life events, real-life facts and real-life politics because I personally don’t like being very direct. I like to address things in a certain way, but I also love to encrypt it by adding myths and metaphor.

I would like for people to think about what they’re listening to and what they’re reading

their own meaning in it. That’s always what’s really mattered for me in Venom Prison.

The first song and video you’ve released from Erebos is “Judges of the Underworld,” which deals with incarceration and the cycles of violence. What got you thinking along those lines?

With all the stuff with George Floyd and the BLM protests that were going on all over the world, I felt compelled to dive deeper into this perspective. I educated myself quite a lot on that matter because I felt like it was my responsibility to do so. That led me towards the topic of incarceration and how race and class can impact this path for people—especially in America—who are born into poor Black neighborhoods. They often don’t have a way to escape the path they’re being led to, and they’re being cheated by the system.

At the same time, they’re constantly being forced to relive the same cycle of violence over and over again. They might be born into a home with violence or neglect, where they are the victims. And they continue to experience violence outside of their home and might be led to a path where they become an offender. But they don’t necessarily play just one part. They are everything at once—offender, witness, victim.

And there’s just zero support for these people.

If you’re incarcerated, even after you’ve done your sentence, you’re being released back into the same environment. Now your chances are even worse because you have this convict status constantly attached to you. It’s heartbreaking. I really wanted to talk about this issue because it happens all over the world.

The next song and video, “Pain of Oizys,” is quite a departure for Venom Prison. There’s piano, finger-picked guitar and all these clean, melodic vocals you’re doing. Was there any hesitation within the band about moving this far outside of death metal?

It was clear for us from the start that we wanted a slower, more melodic song that was more melancholy. We tend to do something like that on every album, but with this one we went quite a bit further. But we didn’t have any concerns writing and recording a song like this because we tend to just do things the way we want to do them. I’m not concerned about someone disliking it or not liking the band because we change our sound. Progress is the best indication of a band that is alive, you know? So, we just wanted to try something new. Creatively, I think all of us went beyond our comfort zones, and being able to do that felt really empowering.

DECIBEL : MARCH 2022 : 37

 Lords of chaos Stupar (center) will drag her dark passenger into the cold light of day

I suffer from these mental health conditions, and I will probably not be able to separate from them because they are just a part of who I am. I’ve learned to accept them and live with them instead of not wanting to live anymore.

It was pretty amplified for me personally.

Being stuck at home, not able to see family and friends and do the things I love doing—like going on tour—was hard. We had to cancel dates in Australia and Southeast Asia, and all these things we were really looking forward to, like the tour with Parkway Drive where we were supposed to play arenas together with Hatebreed.

So, that was a little bit depressing.

What I’ve learned in the last couple of years is that I know I suffer from these mental health conditions, and I will probably not be able to separate from them because they are just a part of who I am. I’ve learned to accept them and live with them instead of not wanting to live anymore. I prefer to live with it and deal with it rather than just not living life at all. Being able to put that into words and sing it in a way that I never sang before was a form of catharsis, really.

I connected with the lyrics to such an extent that I could feel every single word I’ve written.

Did the clean singing and more melodic vocals come naturally to you, or did you have to really work to get there?

I had to really work to get there. I’m not going to lie—I don’t really do clean vocals. I used to 38 : MARCH 2022 : DECIBEL

be in choirs when I was a kid, but that’s really about it. So, it was challenging, but I love a challenge and it was completely out of my comfort zone. I’m totally comfortable with my harsh vocals. I know what I’m doing there, and I’ve had over 10 years’ experience just growing into this and developing my skills. I just have not much experience doing cleans, so it was kind of a team effort. I really relied on [guitarist] Ben [Thomas] being able to help me with the melodies. I was capable of hitting the right notes, but it was really challenging to connect the emotional side of things with the technical side of things when it comes to singing. So, it took a while to get there. It was hours of work, it involved crying, and it involved dropping it and coming back a couple of weeks later. But it was worth it.

The album cover art by Eliran Kantor is incredibly powerful. From what I can gather, it’s meant to capture the moment a child loses his or her innocence. Why did you want that particular image?

When we work with Eliran, I don’t give him any ideas for the actual visual art. I provide him with the songs, the lyrics and explanations of the songs. He just takes it and finds something that’s visually striking to him. He lives in Berlin, but he’s Israeli and his grandfather survived the Holocaust. I sent him notes about

the repeated cycle of violence and people experiencing injustice based on the fact that they’re from a different part of the world—like refugees and immigrants that are being incarcerated and having their families separated. All of that reminded him of the stories his grandfather told him, how experiencing the concentration camps and seeing the most horrific things made him lose his innocence. He felt himself die as a young person. When Eliran told us about this and showed us his sketch for the artwork, I was completely speechless. The finished artwork is just incredible and perfect.

Last but not least, I know you’re a Squid Game fan. Which was your favorite game on the show, and why?

Oh God, I would say the very first one. I don’t remember what they call it because we used to play it as kids as well, but I grew up in Russia and Germany, so we had different names for it.

Red Light, Green Light.

Yeah. We played that in both countries. Seeing something so innocent being transferred to something so deadly and horrible, it’s just not what you would expect because it’s the first game they’re playing, and you have no idea what’s going to happen. Seeing that just completely blew my mind and made me addicted to the show. It had a really big impact on me this year.

PHOTO BY ANDY FORD

The song’s lyrics deal with depression, trauma and PTSD. These are themes you’ve touched on in the past, but to what extent were they amplified by the pandemic?

the

definitive stories

behind extreme music’s

definitive albums

Stars and Stripes of Corruption the making of Dead Kennedys’ Frankenchrist MARCH 2022 : 40 : DECIBEL

by

justin m. norton

an acceleration and amplification of the conscience. But no one articulated world depicted in Frankenchrist. the stakes like Dead Kennedys.

The second reason for this induction Formed in the San Francisco punk is Frankenchrist’s place in the culture wars scene in 1978, Dead Kennedys of the 1980s. Since the rise of metal and became the best hardcore punk punk in the 1970s, politicians and religious band to emerge from the Bay Area and figures have threatened bands from Body one of the pivotal bands in the history of Count to Cannibal Corpse with crackdowns, American punk. Dead Kennedys were even prosecution and jail time. Frankenchrist— outliers in their scene; when other bands targeted from the get-go by Tipper Gore’s said basic is best, they showed the results Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC)—is of both musical and cultural literacy and one of the few albums that led to obscenunrelenting work. The band also had a ity prosecution. The legal troubles started taste for the absurd and pranks. Frontman when a 14-year-old Southern California girl DBHOF207 Jello Biafra ran for mayor of San Francisco purchased a copy of Frankenchrist, which in 1979, and the band trolled the Bay Area included a poster of H.R. Giger’s Landscape Music Awards by performing a farcical song XX (the image shows penises entering called “Pull My Strings” that attacked the vaginas). The girl’s outraged mother conmusic industry (they were slated to pertacted prosecutors, and vice agents raided Frankenchrist form “California Über Alles.”).

Biafra’s San Francisco home.

ALT E R NAT IV E T E NTACLE S Dead Kennedys’ studio output not only Biafra and four others were charged NOV E M BE R 1 9 8 5 matched, but exceeded their volatile live with distributing harmful matter to shows and God-tier level pranks. Their minors, a misdemeanor. The charges We felt like saying, “Hello, old friend.”

1980 debut, Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables against him were dismissed after a jury (containing the watershed “Holiday deadlocked during a 1987 trial. The record in Cambodia”), is punk canon—as are nonetheless became both a lightning rod follow-ups In God We Trust, Inc. (featuring for criticism and a rallying cry to protect Winston Smith’s notorious artwork of freedom of speech. The Frankenchrist case Jesus on a cross made of dollar bills) and Plastic Surgery Disasters. Fresh was in many ways reminiscent of the obscenity prosecution of City Lights Fruit is the subject of two books, and Plastic Surgery Disasters is a terrifying bookstore owner and publisher Lawrence Ferlinghetti three decades earlier. classic that exposes the dark side of the American dream: toxic yuppies In that case, Ferlinghetti was tried, but ultimately acquitted, for publishing (“Terminal Preppie”), government-sanctioned torture (“Bleed for Me”) and Allen Ginsberg’s radical poem “Howl,” which depicted “the best minds of the surveillance state (“I Am the Owl.”) my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked.” In both Decibel, however, is enshrining the third Dead Kennedys album into our cases, straight society aligned to crack down on alternative and countercultural expression, perhaps thinking their targets wouldn’t fight back. Free Hall of Fame. Why Frankenchrist when the first two are revered classics?

Frankenchrist is when Dead Kennedys fully arrived—as songwriters, concep- speech won both times.

This wasn’t the last trial involving Dead Kennedys. East Bay Ray, basstualists and provocateurs. It’s a concept album about life in the Reagan era ist Klaus Flouride and drummer D.H. Peligro sued Biafra and Alternative and the rise of the Christian right and corporate monoculture by a band Tentacles over unpaid royalties in 1998; Biafra lost the suit and appeals. at the height of its powers. Biafra’s biting satire, storytelling and fierce Biafra was ordered to pay his former bandmates $220,000 in back earnings quips are at their best on “Stars and Stripes of Corruption” and “Goons and damages, and the band’s catalog was handed over to Decay Music (a of Hazzard,” and guitarist East Bay Ray offers some of the most haunting partnership involving all four band members) in 2003. It’s little surprise, guitar tones and leads of a brilliant career. then, that virtually all aspects of the band’s legacy are a matter of fierce Frankenchrist is also a complete statement befitting a band that had dispute between the parties. been together almost seven years. Dead Kennedys created a unified dysBiafra has continued speaking, running Alternative Tentacles, and pertopian hellscape of conformity, mob violence, and depersonalization via forming with bands including Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of technology that is as memorable and sharply detailed as the world of Ray Medicine while Ray, Flouride and Peligro perform as Dead Kennedys. For Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 or Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale. What this Hall of Fame story, we are happy to hear from all four members of the is especially eerie is how relevant Frankenchrist is in 2022; “Soup Is Good Frankenchrist lineup about making a benchmark in the fight for free speech.

Food” could be about how artificial intelligence displaces human workers, Right Guard will not help you here. and “Goons” will remind listeners of Proud Boy thugs. Our world today is

DEAD KENNEDYS

D E C I B E L : 41 : M A R C H 2 0 2 2

PHOTO BY EDWARD COLVER

P

unk has always had a political

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DEAD KENNEDYS frankenchrist

Where was the band in the run-up to Frankenchrist?

Plastic Surgery Disasters damn near killed my ass. I didn’t know it was going to take a year to finish. All sorts of different things went wrong with my personal life and my relationship with the band. Finally, it got pulled together, and out it came. In the end, it came out pretty good. There were a lot of ups and downs. In 1983-1984, there was a lot of touring in North America. We were stitched back together enough to make a new album, and it was long overdue. I wasn’t sure whether a new album would blow us apart the way Plastic Surgery Disasters almost did.

I wanted to concentrate as much as we could on songs borne out of riffs from spontaneous jams. The idea [on Frankenchrist] was to get a working document of every single thing we had. The idea here was to record everything and see what fit. I was keenly aware that punk and underground music was branching out and going in all sorts of directions. We could make a second Fresh Fruit and wind up like the U.K. Subs or something, or we had to put our best, most unique sounds forward. Hüsker Dü had just put out Zen Arcade. I felt that we were a good enough band that [fans] would pay attention to the music and the lyrics, and my persona. I wanted people to feel something besides, “Oh, here’s another Dead Kennedys album. Maybe there’s one good song on it.”

EAST BAY RAY (RAYMOND JOHN PEPPERELL): Plastic Surgery Disasters started to combine the psychedelic with hardcore punk. We did a lot of touring in the United States and elsewhere in the world, like Australia and New Zealand. We got that out of our systems while writing songs. Frankenchrist was basically an extension of the psychedelic part of our sound. My guitar riffs were more on the psychedelic side than the hardcore side, and that influence is felt more on Frankenchrist than anywhere else.

We didn’t do the exact same thing on records—each record is different. I still have the box of cassettes from the [Frankenchrist] jams.

At home, things would pop into my head, or I’d be noodling on a guitar and think of riffs.

There are a lot of riffs in Dead Kennedys songs that I created in my bedroom. Biafra had a binder of lyrics, and he’d find the lyrics that would go with the riffs. Sometimes during Fresh Fruit and Plastic Surgery, we’d go over to Klaus’ house. He had a sofa and brought an acoustic guitar. We’d arrange songs and try different things. For Frankenchrist we didn’t do as much of that—it was more jams recorded onto cassettes at rehearsals.

KLAUS FLOURIDE (GEOFFREY LYALL): We’d been having fun for five years. The tour before JELLO BIAFRA (ERIC BOUCHER):

[Frankenchrist] was our “facial hair” tour. It was not popular at all in that era. We took a long break from touring and recording before this tour. Each of us grew facial hair. When we went back to practice, we thought [our bandmates] would be freaked out at how we looked. It was a groupthink band in many ways—we all had this sneaky little plan to grow facial hair. We went on tour that way and Ray had his hair dyed red, for Christ’s sake.

So, that tour happened, and we had a bunch of songs. We hadn’t recorded for a bunch of years.

We were just touring a lot and building up songs, and practicing. Finally, we had an album’s worth of material, and it was time to put them on a record. Frankenchrist has some of the tonalities of the psych stuff of the ’60s. But it’s not produced like a psych album with all the crazy mixing and panning and hidden stuff in the back channels.

Sonically, we did different stuff, but I’m not sure we were psychedelic. I’d probably get into a discussion with Ray over that. [Laughs]

“I always had aspirations to write a rock opera.

I didn’t have the talent at the end of the day, so I settled for a concept album instead.”

JE LLO B IA F RA D.H. PELIGRO (DARREN HENLEY): I think we had just come back from a tour. I was doing stuff with other bands, and Klaus was recording Cha Cha Cha With Mr. Flouride. We were noodling around on those [Frankenchrist tunes]. We did a lot of pre-production like we did for Plastic Surgery.

Klaus would record something and we’d fourtrack it, demo it, and then solidify it. Sometimes little bits and pieces of songs needed to be taken out or put in later.

So, you start working from a huge pile of ideas for Frankenchrist. How did you separate the wheat from the chaff?

BIAFRA: We brought in everything we had. The only one assembled in the studio from scratch was “At My Job.” Ray wrote it and brought in a synthesizer. He wrote the little riff alone [earlier] on a tape he gave me, but it was different.

Otherwise, we jammed and worked these songs out. I was hoping that I didn’t have to write and arrange everything for once. I knew Peligro had songs and talents and played songs in his other MARCH 2022 : 4 2 : DECIBEL

band the Hellnations. I talked him into offering “Hellnation” and “I Spy,” which ended up on Bedtime for Democracy. Klaus’ bass riff on “Stars and Stripes of Corruption” was something he played during soundcheck. It never got turned into anything until I heard a Died Pretty song that took up the whole side of a 12-inch. That gave me the idea to try to find a riff, and lo and behold, we already had it.

RAY: It always started with riffs or a lyric or a bassline or even drums. We’d play it to get a groove that felt right and fit the lyrics. One of the reasons Dead Kennedys are still around is because our songwriting is very advanced. We learned how to arrange songs from Cole Porter and the Beatles and Motown with the verse, the tension part and the chorus. Klaus, D.H., Biafra and I all listened to a lot of music. We had different tastes, but we all had good taste. It wasn’t like we talked about it—we felt it and then we did it. A big part of music is silence—when not to play. Klaus was instrumental in arranging the songs and coming up with basslines and ideas. Biafra did not arrange everything, as some poor internet trolls say. He’s a very talented guy and frontman, but Dead Kennedys was a unique collaboration. None of us has equaled it, including Biafra.

FLOURIDE: Biafra would bring in an idea and we’d work on them together. Then we’d take what we did together to practice, and Ray would come up with guitar lines. We wanted to bring in more finished things for D.H. to add his energy. We’d then go into practice and see what stuck to the wall. Some things didn’t turn into songs at all, and some ended up on Bedtime. We’d both have practices and try songs out on the road. Touring could determine how a song held up. I had riffs kicking around that I recorded for myself. I don’t recall what happened with “Stars and Stripes of Corruption,” but I would not be surprised. I’d have to go back and listen to it.

PELIGRO: I would always take things home and kind of “reprocess” them as a drummer. There were little nuances and things I could do to bring songs up dynamically. On “Soup Is Good Food,” I decided to play back more and play cross stick.

I tried to figure out a formula that would make the music more dynamic. I think that worked out for us. I always came in fast, and then the guys would have to catch up. [Laughs] That was a template for a lot of those tours, too. I was just so excited I would play so fast. When I joined the band, they sped up.

Biafra mentioned Zen Arcade. Were you feeling a sense of competition, or was it just that punk/ hardcore could be a much bigger thing than people were doing over the past few years?

BIAFRA: Hüsker Dü and I were close friends. So, it wasn’t a competition as much as inspiration, knowing that this band had so much up their sleeve that they couldn’t go stale. It wasn’t like I set out to try to top Zen Arcade. I’d

DEAD KENNEDYS frankenchrist

had that lesson by comparing Plastic Surgery rough mixes to [the Stooges’] Fun House.

[Laughs] It wasn’t competition from others, but competition from our previous output. It had to be something fresh. It had to be something special, but still had to be Dead Kennedys.

You’d never hear this from the other guys now, but they trusted my instincts on mixes, how to sequence albums and what to do when. Being the Dead Kennedys, we couldn’t stay in one place.

RAY: I wasn’t influenced by that record. Syd Barrett and Jimi Hendrix influenced me. I was already into that kind of stuff before Dead Kennedys. I wanted to be Syd Barrett. [Laughs] My high school band played “Interstellar Overdrive.” I also liked Scotty Moore from Elvis’ Sun sessions.

He used that slap-back echo, which made “Mystery Train” one of my favorite songs ever. Psychedelic stuff has more room to grow for me.

FLOURIDE: I don’t think competitive is the right word. We were competitive with ourselves. We wanted each record to sound different than the last one and cover different ground. We weren’t locked into the hardcore speed thing—just listen to songs like “Moon Over Marin” and “I Am the Owl.” PELIGRO: It was not your normal punk rock thing. We tried to be musicians here, but also keep it genuine.

What do you remember about the recording sessions at Hyde Street Studios in San Francisco?

BIAFRA: It was the same place we did Plastic Surgery Disasters and the same engineer [John Cuniberti]. This time we didn’t have an outside producer like Thom Wilson [on Plastic Surgery Disasters] or Geza X. I wish I had the talent just to go in and nail the vocals live, and everyone else nails their part, too. Zen Arcade was done in four days because they had no other choice. Dead Kennedys did the opposite. The “California Über Alles” single alone took a month. There were only eight tracks, so I did the vocals quickly. We recorded it, then tried to make it better, and then tried to make it even better. It was time well spent at the end of the day because that record sounded good.

Everything [on Frankenchrist] except “At My Job” we’d played live. Everyone knew the songs pretty well—it was just a matter of getting the right fire and the right feel and everyone getting their parts

At my job  East Bay Ray tracking guitars for Frankenchrist at Hyde Street Studios

right. I didn’t realize until after Dead Kennedys that many bands cut their basic tracks, and all they care about at first is drums. Our versions were organic, and that kind of stuff was bionic.

RAY: We were very organized for all of our records. Klaus has a four-track take of our rehearsals for Plastic Surgery Disasters. We did a lot of pre-production. We played things before we got to the studio. We’d try to get the bass and drum parts right while I’d play the guitar. We’d keep that guitar, or I’d replay that part again and then maybe add another part so it sounded good. I would have a list of where I was going to overdub guitars or punch things in. Biafra would do what’s called scratch vocals and we would have a list of places for background singing. I don’t write out my solos. My hooks usually came from home cassettes or jam cassettes.

FLOURIDE: We’d used Hyde Street before. Plastic Surgery Disasters nearly drove the producer crazy.

We were lucky to be recording there—it was a five-star studio. “Typical” was what we were trying to avoid. The studio was huge and had 24 tracks. It looked like something from Star Trek. We’d lay [songs] down as a band first. The scratch track is bass, drums, guitar [and] singing, and the singing and guitar get overdubbed if the take works.

PELIGRO: Klaus offered so much [to Frankenchrist].

He was quite the magician in the studio. I’ve toured around the world with a lot of bass players, but Klaus is the guy. There were times we played in the studio and I would glance over, and I never had to lock in with him because he’d already be MARCH 2022 : 4 4 : DECIBEL

there. With other bands, you’d have to get people to come around. Klaus was always there.

I remember Cuniberti giving me a snare with a Kevlar head. It was dead and played hard. Every time I listen to this record, I hear that snare like, “Wow, I remember that.” I also remember they added a lot of reverb, so it didn’t sound so dead.

[Laughs] We were grinding it out every day. It was a real job even though we were having fun.

Was the energy good?

BIAFRA: It went up and down. Ray switched amps after the first day. The guitar was coming out too clean and wimpy, and we had major quarrels over that during the last two albums. So, he bought in his stage amp, and that fixed it. We were doing it with expensive two-inch, 24-track reels of tape. It’s not as extreme as Willie Nelson, who keeps a two-inch running during all of his recording sessions whether people are recording or not. So, there are other versions of stuff, but Ray and the others trusted me to pick what was right. In studio D at Hyde Street, it was impossible to buffer a makeshift vocal booth well enough to get clean takes of me when the rest of the guys were playing. Then an engineer would say you couldn’t use [the take] because of the static or the hiss, or you could hear a bass amp.

It’s a perennial problem with my work that goes on to this day. With 24 tracks, I’d cut three or four different versions of the vocals one after the other. Then we’d take way longer to go through every single one. All the vocals on Frankenchrist are very well-disguised double tracks.

PHOTO BY JOHN CUNIBERTI

DBHOF207

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DBHOF207

DEAD KENNEDYS frankenchrist

Looking back, it was a good time. We were just doing music and there was less ego involved.

The record was really a collaboration. I brought in “At My Job” and D.H. brought in “Hellnation.”

Frankenchrist probably had the most collaboration because of the jam session quality. We were comfortable in the studio now, and we were all into the work and craftsmanship of getting our creativity down on tape.

FLOURIDE: There was always tension between Ray and Biafra. Tension can be good in artistic things.

I remember doing more takes than usual for songs. That was the result of Biafra being a perfectionist, which is okay. It also seemed to be the antithesis of punk—but we were never a “we can do it in one take” band anyway. After the album was finished was when things started to go south.

PELIGRO: There was drama over the insert, and that caused some division. The cops were after us and listened in on the lines [see below—ed.].

But I thought we were on the same page. That’s how I felt.

RAY:

BIAFRA: Alice Cooper sings about monsters and vampires. What if I brought that kind of horror to real situations? Thus, “Police Truck,” “Bleed for Me” and many more. I have the opposite problem of most lyricists. You’re trying to fill up a song or pad a verse. I learned to try the “cut-up” method that William Burroughs used early on. Pre-Dead Kennedys, I was at UC Santa Cruz. Me and a friend dropped acid and cut up slivers of news and ads from all these magazines. We put them all in a bowl and then we’d read pieces of them.

Pretty quickly, we couldn’t tell what was a magazine and what was an ad. So, later on, I’d use the cut-up method. My challenge has always been fitting all my ideas about a subject into the length of a song. “Stars and Stripes of Corruption” left a lot on the cutting room floor. I’m not sure if I did [the cut-up method] with “Soup Is Good Food.” I think the lyrics made a quantum leap from Plastic Surgery Disasters to Frankenchrist. They had wider depth and were a little wittier.

Whose idea was it to do the football chants on “Jock-O-Rama”?

BIAFRA: That was all me. Sadly, I put so many parts in that song that we could never release it as a single. The original idea was to make “JockO-Rama” the A-side and get the cloth they use for football uniforms, screen graphics on it and make it the sleeve. It never got that far.

“Goons of Hazzard” is a prescient song.

Although written about Reagan America, it encapsulates the violent and insecure mentality of many Americans in a nutshell.

BIAFRA:

[The Dukes of Hazzard] was such a popular

“If we used the [Giger art] as the cover, it would have been banned and we would be left with a stack of cardboard.”

EAST BAY RAY TV show. I didn’t even have a TV at that time, but the last thing I would watch if I had one was Dukes of Hazzard. [The song] was based on a real incident. These people in Oroville, California decided to do something called “coon hunting.”

They shot a black teenager as he walked down the sidewalk for sport. They were charged, and it hit national news. If they are still in prison now, I’m not going to shed a tear. The song was another example of using the Alice Cooper horror thing for real horror.

I also noticed that as the [live show] crowds grew, the violence grew. There were starting to be honest-to-god skinheads at shows. That Agnostic Front T-shirt with the boots on the front got so popular. More people had those shirts than even knew that band! “Goons of Hazzard” was based on that macho insecurity, more so because of violent threats against me in the media by Wattie [Buchan] from the Exploited, among others. If anyone embodies macho insecurity, you are looking at him right there. But the song isn’t about a person. It’s about the phenomenon.

RAY: Tribalism has always been in human nature.

Back in the Middle Ages, it was like gang warfare—tribes fighting. Unfortunately, big tech makes vastly more money selling anger, division MARCH 2022 : 4 6 : DECIBEL

and tribal extremism on both the left and right than it does factual, rational information. Their Surveillance Capitalism business model makes them billionaires, but it’s poisonous to democracy.

How did you decide to put the Shriners on the cover and use the infamous Giger image as a poster insert? (Ed.: Giger’s artwork also shows up in HOF #123. Celtic Frost used the image Satan I for the cover of To Mega Therion. Many American record stores would only carry the album if the artwork was covered.)

In my teenage years, my friend John Greenway [who wrote the original lyrics to “California Über Alles”] and I would look for the funniest news photos we could find. His house got Time and mine got Newsweek. They were way more freeform about images they used for presidents and world leaders and other weird shit then. We covered our walls with all kinds of shit.

When I moved to San Francisco, I took all the pictures down and brought them out for fliers and other things. The Shriners didn’t make it into the Fresh Fruit poster. [The image] was from the bicentennial issue of Newsweek. When we went to Newsweek to license it, they hadn’t saved the negative, so we had to blow up the version I had from the magazine.

BIAFRA:

PHOTO BY MICHAEL BACTERIA

Can you tell me about the lyrics?

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DEAD KENNEDYS frankenchrist

I got something to say  The CD insert for Frankenchrist includes this story of the obscenity trial following the release of the album

When I was working on the vocals [for Frankenchrist], Greenway lived in my house in San Francisco. He brought me an article about H.R. Giger. It was the most amazing art I’d seen since Hieronymus Bosch. Lo and behold, there was the infamous artwork. I thought, “Holy shit, this is Reagan America on parade—everyone exploiting and violating everyone else.” My brain began to spin.

I’m a big fan of magic accidents. It occurred to me [that] we almost had a concept album on our hands about the disease of Reaganism in America. I thought the vocals would connect if I tweaked a few lyrics here and there.

Even “Hellnation” and “At My Job” fit. I always had aspirations to write a rock opera.

I didn’t have the talent at the end of the day, so I settled for a concept album instead.

My original concept was to have the Giger image wrapped around the album and have “Frankenchrist” written in candy cane letters. Then you’d open it up and get the Shriners. At the very last minute, the other guys complained, and it got heated after I went through great lengths with Giger’s agents to get the rights for the painting. We’d already paid for it! D.H. called it smut. Klaus said he was worried about showing it to his parents.

Ray said, “Can we do something more subtle?”

And I said, “When were the Dead Kennedys ever subtle?” The heels dug in, and the consensus compromise was made: Put it inside as a poster and have the Shriners outside.

RAY: If we used the [Giger art] as the cover, it would have been banned and we would be left with a stack of cardboard. When you press vinyl, you press way more covers than actual records. The covers then go to the pressing plant. Biafra had no idea that a 9-year-old could go to the store and see it on the cover. A lot of people that bought our records were 14 and 15. It’s a different situation when there are minors. Free speech is way more complicated than most Americans understand. The right of free speech ends where it causes harm to other people’s rights—that’s what many Americans don’t understand. Look at how the Internet has weaponized ignorance under the guise of free speech. “Here’s the home address of an abortion doctor—go kill him.” How’s that good for democracy again? We worked out the compromise where we used the artwork, but put it inside. But that still led to a court case.

FLOURIDE: The mixing of the recording took forever. It sounded good, and everyone was

happy. Then Biafra came in with the Giger art as the cover. Microwave [Michael Bonanno], the manager of Alternative Tentacles, was one of the first people to say we’d need to take all the records back. We won’t be able to get in the stores. D.H., Ray and I all agreed that the image on the cover guaranteed no one would hear the album. It would not be in stores. I said we could put it on the cover if we called the band Jello Biafra and the Dead Kennedys, because no one in the band ever had veto power. He was bleeding through his eyes about it not being on the cover, but we finally agreed. Microwave didn’t know the bust would happen, but he knew stores would send it back. You don’t make a record just for controversy. Do a single—not your work from the past two years—if you want a controversial cover. Sure enough, the bust happened, and all the albums came back.

It did become part of the legacy. That said, it’s a piece of art, and I don’t think anyone should be able to call it obscene.

PELIGRO: Biafra came in with the artwork. He wanted it to be the album cover. At first, I was like, “That’s punk rock, yeah.” I didn’t think two ways about it. Then Ray said he didn’t think we should do it. So, we compromised with Biafra and put it inside the sleeve. Even that caused a lot of controversy.

MARCH 2022 : 4 8 : DECIBEL

Tell me about how the legal troubles started.

BIAFRA: The record finally came out in November 1985. We’d already started a tour, and it sold way more copies than I ever expected. I was worried that it might sink like a stone, but instead it did exactly the opposite. There were already some cracks in the dike, and the writing was on the wall. Tipper Gore got [then-Senator] Al Gore to hold a Senate hearing for her Washington society wives in the Parents Music Resource Center. Her other cohort was James Baker’s wife, an archfundamentalist Christian. I kind of rolled my eyes, like, haven’t we gotten over Joe McCarthy yet? Jesus, it’s 1985, not 1885. Silly me. Our first taste of Tipper and her Christian supremacist friends was the first day of that tour. We started in Boise, Idaho. First one venue, then a second venue canceled us because of “citizen complaints.”

We finally wound up in a biker bar, and the underage people couldn’t get in. I don’t remember anything that bad happening on the rest of the tour, but there were some close calls.

We were working on Bedtime for Democracy when the police smashed down my front door and tore the place apart, looking for “harmful matter.” They even looked in the cat litter box!

They took away things to prosecute me for distributing harmful matter to minors. The raid was in April, and the charges were filed in

DBHOF207

DEAD KENNEDYS frankenchrist  Obscene extreme Biafra (r) appears in court in 1987, facing obscenity charges

Frankenchrist was still raging like four years [after it came out]. This was another group of vigilante Christian supremacists seeing how much they could play with the law and get away with it.

Maybe if we don’t call it communism, we can get a conviction and scare labels so they don’t put out things that offend us. If Mike Pence gets in, you can bet someone worse than William Barr will prosecute people for saying the wrong things. Unfortunately, now it’s coming from two sides at once. There is a dark side of woke and cancel culture. What bugs me is we are mostly on the same side. But to suddenly demand at a college that anything that might cause anguish with one student should be forbidden? I’m a punk rocker. I fight that shit.

RAY: The media turned it into a free speech thing like Howl. These things don’t happen by themselves. I don’t imagine high school students in the 1950s went to City Lights Books. But teenagers went to record stores. Even if our main audience was college students, we had a huge teenage audience. We didn’t have much of an audience over 25, although we do now. [Laughs] This is when Biafra started his spoken word tours.

FLOURIDE: I see parallels with that bust and our bust. I also see parallels with Berkeley’s free speech movement in the ’60s when people were busted. The Howl thing begat Lenny Bruce, which begat the free speech movement. We were one of the last people to get busted for something like this. I’m sure there have been obscenity busts in the porn industry. We didn’t become a household word like Howl did. The alternative cultures knew about our bust. But Howl got further than the alt-culture people.

have a life of its own. Who cares about the truth?

The breakup was decided in January 1986 before all that happened, before the recording of Bedtime for Democracy. The legal troubles started after.

FLOURIDE: The shit hit the fan after Biafra’s place was busted. It later went to trial. The guy who prosecuted it [Michael Guarino] was recently on This American Life with Biafra. He said he was an idiot and made a bad call. They are on speaking terms now. [Laughs] PELIGRO: I’ve thought about this a lot. It seemed like people did start coming after us. I tried to keep busy by continuing to play music. They didn’t come after me specifically, but I was part of the band. I felt bad. We were just trying to make art and do something different, and this is the kind of pushback you get. The people pushing back were Tipper Gore followers or super religious wingnuts.

You are familiar with the Howl obscenity trial in San Francisco in the 1950s. Do you see any parallels between that case and the Frankenchrist trial?

BIAFRA:

Oh, totally. The controversy over MARCH 2022 : 50 : DECIBEL

BIAFRA: You’ll have to analyze that yourself. I just make stuff. I go on hunches and see what happens. Part of the reason I wanted to do this interview was what Frankenchrist means to you kind of blew me away.

RAY: Things are worse now than they were under Reagan. The Internet has destroyed democracy.

Trump would never have been elected without social media. We’ve never had anyone who thought he was Mussolini. The legacy is for other people to decide. We were trying to bring some justice into the world, but it looks like things are worse now.

FLOURIDE: There are two different legacies. The obscenity thing took on its own life. But the record is also the last one we did as a viable band. When we did Bedtime, it was just a commitment to record the songs we hadn’t put on Frankenchrist. We’d already stopped touring.

PELIGRO: The record is about the fight for free speech. It paved the way for people to do what they want on a record. Those songs and that record sit in an atmosphere of their own. There’s nothing I can compare it to. It’s Frankenchrist, man. It holds its own.

PHOTO BY HEATHER HARRIS

What is Frankenchrist’s legacy?

June. My all-purpose legal guy said, “You are charged in L.A.” I thought I could just pay a fine, and he said, “You don’t understand. CNN is calling me. CBS is calling me.” And I thought, “Oh shit, we are Tipper’s bitches.” They didn’t charge Ray, Klaus or D.H. because they were interested in the business end. They went after the distribution chain. Once the Frankenchrist charges hit, there was a period where it was like they didn’t know me anymore. The Frankenchrist charges were a major factor in the breakup of the Dead Kennedys.

RAY: The PMRC was looking for targets. There was also all the Satanic stuff going on at the time.

We knew we were pushing the envelope, but the record was doing fine. It all started when the cops went to Biafra’s house because his name was on the label. There was a legal defense fund set up, and we did some benefits and Frank Zappa got involved. What we ended up doing was pulling the poster and you could write in and get the poster mailed to you. Manifesto is redoing the album for vinyl and will have the poster inside.

But the Frankenchrist charges didn’t factor into the breakup. That’s a falsehood that seems to

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IMMOLATION

’s sterling reputation as killer dudes is only overshadowed by their three-decade run of killer death metal story by

photos by

KEVIN STEWART-PANKO

52 : NOVEMBER 2021 : DECIBEL

M A R 2022 :

ANDREW DOENCH

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: DECIBEL

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ou can learn a lot about a group of fellas by being a fly on

the wall in their tour van. Take this issue’s cover stars: New York-based death metal long-haulers Immolation. Spend a few days in their company and you’ll quickly discover that the quartet of graybeard metal lifers are as individually lovable as living, breathing humans as they are respected artists who continue to redefine their subgenre.

• You’ll instantly discover that possibly no one on the planet loves sleep more than drummer Steve Shalaty. And when he does rouse from slumber, he’ll wipe the floor with anyone when it comes to naming ’70s and ’80s TV show theme songs in three notes or less.

• If thorough discussions about the virtues of a dichotomous bag of metal—from pre-Schizophrenia Sepultura to Metallica’s Death Magnetic—are more your thing, feel free to engage with guitarist Alex Bouks.

But know that any time a stop is made to empty bladders and/or fill gas tanks, the gentle giant will reappear with a bag full of sugary snacks, packets of chocolatecovered everything and the greasiest of junk food.

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• Co-founder and fellow guitarist Bob Vigna is an absolute wizard behind the wheel, especially when it comes to the utter precision with which he can navigate a 15-passenger van and oversized trailer into narrow-margin parking situations. Heck, one time the dude even turned an ordinary concrete curb into a makeshift jack in order to change a flat trailer tire.

• Co-founding bassist/vocalist Ross Dolan is a whirlwind of energy when it comes to talking politics, music, books, criminology and psychology; where Shalaty is an encyclopedia of TV theme songs, Dolan boasts the same comprehensive knowledge of the episodes behind the jingles. And yes, his gluteus maximus-length hair looks as healthy and luxurious up close as when he’s slinging it around onstage.

As is the case with most bands together in enclosed spaces, discussions are dominated by band talk: planning upcoming shows, tours and festivals; juggling offers; contemplating next moves. However, once that abates, the inside jokes—especially as they apply to Joe Pesci’s “I’m over here now” scene from Casino—begin, delivered with the same energetic hilarity the first time as the 200,000th. Also, be aware that no cherry pie is safe when the members of Immolation are nearby. And yet, as ruthless as they are to unattended cherry (and blueberry and apple and key lime) pie, an inverse relationship exists with fans and friends.

None of the four can walk a few feet through a venue without bumping into someone they’ve known for 30 years, much less taking time to chat with people they’ve known for 30 minutes or someone they met 30 seconds ago. They are welcoming to all comers, willing to reminisce about back-in-the-day antics, then gab about whatever is dominating mainstream and metal news. And good luck ever forgetting that scene from Casino. And hey, stick around long enough and chances are you’ll be asked to crowd in with 10 other people and throw the horns for one of the countless selfies Vigna has become a master of capturing.

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To me, wealth is defined by that state of being where one has good life experiences and a circle of great people around them.

IMMOLATION HAS A HUGE CIRCLE OF FRIENDS AND FAMILY AROUND US THAT ALLOW THIS TO HAPPEN, AND IT’S FUCKING AWESOME! ROSS DOLAN

Since 1988—and two years prior as Rigor Mortis—Immolation have delivered a nonstop cycle of complex and dissonant lurching death metal of the most menacing sonic order.

However, what all of the above adds up to—what virtually everyone who comes into contact with the band comes away saying—is how down-toearth dorky, normal and iceberg-fucking-cool they are. “The nicest dudes in death metal” is a phrase that gets thrown around so much that— if it weren’t for a career built railing on religion, politics, the horrors of war, and moral turpitude backed by elaborate and demonically ornate visual imagery—it would make for a wholly appropriate T-shirt slogan. It would definitely be a statement approved by Cephalic Carnage guitarist (and sometimes Immolation soundman) Steve Goldberg, who, upon finding out about this piece, messaged your intrepid reporter, “They’re not just some of the nicest guys in death metal; they’re some of the nicest people on Earth!”

“Well, that’s nice to know,” says Vigna, a laugh following his deadpan delivery.

“It’s nice to know that when our name comes up, people aren’t like, ‘Those fucking douchebags!’” chuckles Dolan.

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“Ross Dolan is on the top 10 list of nicest people walking on this planet,” enthuses Will Tarrant, longtime friend, fan and former head of Chainsaw Safety Records. Tarrant’s relationship with Immolation goes back to when he first met them while editing his late-’80s fanzine Metal Frontline. “It’s a bold statement, but I can back it up with 30 years of experiences. When I first met Immolation in 1989, they attended shows as a group. You always saw those four guys arrive together. When they weren’t playing themselves, they turned up to support everyone else in the area. They were the genuine article.”

Immolation’s reputation stretches beyond being super-nice guys who happen to play in one of death metal’s longest-serving bands.

Their elevated status within extreme music is bolstered by the fact they’ve never hesitated to help push the cause further. Case in point: Immolation were the folks responsible for booking Napalm Death’s first show on American soil back in the late ’80s. They also traded gigs with Morbid Angel around the same time, bringing the Swamp State demons to the Northeast for the first time. Since then, core members Dolan and Vigna haven’t wavered in supporting their peers,

be it established old-school or up-and-coming new-school. They’re supportive to a fault, lobbying for bands they like to join them on tours.

And they’re as much a pleasure to be around backstage as they are to watch hammering through oblong, spiraling death metal onstage.

“We first met Immolation when we both played the 2019 Decibel Tour, ironically enough,” says Blood Incantation guitarist/vocalist Paul Riedl. “That was our very first major tour, and we were worried about a lot of the behindthe-scenes stuff. When we hooked up at TLA in Philly, my very first impression of them as people was seeing Bob and Ross just sitting at their own merch table shooting the shit. It was like, ‘Wait a minute. You can be doing this for 30 years, be a legendary band and be out here selling merch yourselves?’ They were totally on the level, and I wish more people and bands were like Immolation.”

It’s a well-worn story, but the Immolation method of networking, creating community, fostering friendships and treating people the way they’d like to be treated was established early on; and as Blood Incantation discovered while supporting Immo’s headlining run later that year, that long game isn’t an act.

“Right out of the gate, they were chill, helpful and easier to deal with than anyone,” continues Riedl, “and it was only the second email I got from Ross about the tour! That tour itself was a pain in the ass because the guy who booked it was trying to undercut us every night and manipulate the situation to his own economic advantage; but the whole time, Immolation were apologetic about the situation and telling us how this wasn’t representative of them, and they would still help and look out for us. Everyone talks about never meeting your heroes, but there’s always the exception to the rule, and I believe Immolation are that.”

A much less well-worn tale indicative of the network Immolation have been building—from their ’88 Demo days to brand new 11th album Acts of God—considers how that social circle has also impacted the present state of the band itself.

“Back in my tape-trading days, I was pen pals [with] and got the Immolation demo from Bob after Rigor Mortis broke up,” recalls Bouks. “We would write letters [and] talk on the phone, and the first time I met them in person was at a Death show at Streets in New Rochelle, NY. I remember Bob and Ross were immediately really warm people. You know when you meet someone and you get good vibes? It was like that from day one. It’s funny because I’d consider Immolation to be one of the darkest, most evil-sounding death metal bands ever, but they’re the nicest people you could ever meet. The personalities and the music don’t match. And that goes for all of us; we’re down-to-earth people, there are no egos, no bullshit, and we hear it all the time— especially from younger bands.

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“We’re family, brothers and all very close, even when it comes to stuff outside of metal,” he continues. “Even for my daughter’s baby shower.

Those guys didn’t say anything; they just chipped in and paid for it. And that was a big part of the reason I joined the band. Before Immolation, I’d had some pretty bad experiences being in and joining other bands. I was more into doing my own thing and kind of done with the idea of joining an established band. But I said, ‘If those guys call me, I’ll do it!’ That’s exactly what happened, and I couldn’t be happier. Even my parents are like, ‘They’re such nice guys!’”

“Look, I don’t want to get too mushy or anything,” laughs Shalaty, who has been behind the kit since 2003, “but I feel that those guys are just very, very good people. They’re very virtuous, true, honest and fair. I’ve never seen them do anything underhanded. They’re good dudes, it’s obvious to everyone that comes into contact with them, and it seems almost contagious when they’re with other people. And over the years, it seems like it’s almost been like a charmed situation that I guess you can attribute to that vibe coming back around when you’re that way with other people.”

“For a bunch of guys who are like 50 years old, they’re adaptable, flexible and able to roll with the punches,” adds Riedl. “That’s something bands with an iota of their clout could learn from. Immolation has been in it for over 30 years, and they’re not curmudgeons. Even on that last tour, whenever there was a problem with load-in or the backline or something… I’ve seen people have freak-outs on Yelp about way less. They’re there to play. They have the professionalism and work ethic, but they also have the humility of a band just playing a show because they like metal.”

“Playing death metal is a good way to vent,” blushes Dolan about the praise bestowed upon him by friends, bands and bandmates. “Being positive is easy doing what we do because we really enjoy this. I’m excited about every aspect of what we do. This is like living the dream; we’re fortunate and understand that because at any moment people could be like, ‘You fucking suck, we’re done with you!’ But we keep pushing and trying to do something we really enjoy doing. We love being on tour, hanging out with cool bands, making new friends and seeing old ones. It’s a brotherhood that’s worldwide, and the more we get out there and experience our unique way of life our way, it’s easy to be positive about it. That keeps me positive and keeps us acting like old kids out here still able to be doing what we did as teenagers.”

GIVETH TO METAL and METAL GIVETH BACK Back in 2016, just before the release of their 10th album, Atonement, Immolation were no longer the new kids on Nuclear Blast’s block. After gauging turn-outs to shows and tours, how the NB promo

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machine had been working in their favor two releases into their contract, and calculating the demand for merch, the boys took the educated leap into doing the band full-time. After a solid two and a half years of Atonement being lovingly embraced by the extreme music world, a lengthy touring cycle that took them all over South America, Central America, Asia and Australia (in addition to multiple North American and European runs), it all came screeching to a halt due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We were at a really good point and ended 2019 really strong,” says Bouks. “Luckily, we ended the touring cycle for the last record before everything went to shit.”

“Isn’t that great?,” laughs Dolan. “It’s the story of our lives: finally making a living as a musician after 30 years, and then womp-womp!”

“Ultimately, we really can’t complain,” reasons Vigna. “The pandemic allowed us to expand the online store for the first time. Because we’d never really made stuff specifically for the store and because we didn’t have anything else to do, Ross and I started concentrating on that. We were able to bring out a lot of old designs, and it really helped us tremendously during a rough time.”

“I can’t stress how supportive our fans were during a time when I wouldn’t have expected it,” adds Dolan. “Nobody was working, everyone was at home, but the support was overwhelming and we can’t thank our fans enough. It was nice to know people were out there for us, because we had made this our job for a couple years.”

Beyond surviving on how many additional black T-shirts people were willing to add to their wardrobe, Immolation thrived off the sense of community that often gets bandied about in extreme music circles. It’s a brand of support that’s often foreign to a mainstream world that doesn’t understand the do-it-yourself ethic, shows without barricades, reasonably priced merchandise and bands hanging with fans around the proverbial fireside. That support managed to be maintained, even with fans not being able to come out to a show and witness death metal’s nicest guys in their element.

They parlayed their good standing and years of accrued karma into a bilateral relationship in which the death metal faithful had no problem stepping up to pay it forward when needed.

“Fast forward [through] 30 years of friendship, Ross and Bob are still the same awesome guys I met in the late 20th century,” says old pal Tarrant. “And for the record, Steve and Alex are nice guys, too! When you ask them about the band, they still present the same sense of humble amazement and surprise from when the first record came out; they’ve never taken anyone and their support for granted.”

“All these are friendships we’ve made over the last 30 years,” explains Dolan. “And that’s one of the coolest parts of what we’re able to do: travel around the world and have friends everywhere

we go. People talk about wealth and what wealth means. To me, a wealthy person is someone who can have these healthy and rich experiences, meet friends and have good people in their lives everywhere they go. To me, wealth is defined by that state of being where one has good life experiences and a circle of great people around them. Immolation has a huge circle of friends and family around us that allow this to happen, and it’s fucking awesome!”

The pandemic may have curtailed—but not derailed—the guys’ entry into being full-time professional musicians, not to mention stalled the upward trajectory that followed the success of Atonement (“That was an album no one thought was going to do as well as it did,” remarks Shalaty), but ultimately, 18 months of lockdowns and restrictions gave them time to refocus and explore newold ways of being creative for Acts of God.

ACTS OF GOD following AN ACT OF GOD “There’s all sorts of new stuff going on on this record.”

It’s a recurring statement that emerged from each member of Immolation during our interviews for this piece; a statement that each of them agrees upon and bonds over. The original plan was for the band to take a short breather at the end of 2019 before getting their ducks in a row for what would become Acts of God. Some of the album was written before the pandemic paused the world; the rest was written during lockdown and right up until recording started with longtime producer Paul Orofino. With members spread out throughout New York, Ohio and Delaware, travel restrictions initially upended the process, but once things loosened up, the band found themselves applying liberal amounts of their customary blue-collar elbow grease to the time afforded them.

“I started writing in the later part of 2018, and I wrote three or four songs before we started touring in 2019,” remembers Vigna. “We actually got together to rehearse for a tour and were able to play those songs together as part of those rehearsals. But when touring really started and we were gone for more than half the year, all that writing just stopped. Once the pandemic hit, I wrote more and even wrote into 2021, finishing the last song in early June. Then we started going to Steve’s in Ohio to rehearse. We also had to wait for protocols to change; New York state wasn’t allowing people to leave without dealing with a whole testing rigamarole that you didn’t even want to bother with.

“Basically, the pandemic delayed a bunch of stuff, but it allowed us to get together to rehearse as a band, which was nice,” Vigna continues.

“Usually what happens is a bunch of songs come at Steve during the last couple months before we record, and he gets swamped. For this one, he had a lot of time to digest the music and

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up in the air whether they would be able to work with him. That’s because the house in Millbrook, NY he had been renting as the anchor for his Millbrook Sound Studios was sold—without his knowledge—by the owner at the beginning of the pandemic. So, considering…

• •

• •

As someone who was raised Catholic, when I got a chance to sit back with a lyric sheet and listen to the album,

ROSS’S LYRICS HAD MY INNER LITTLE CATHOLIC BOY TREMBLING! STEVE SHALATY

work on his parts. His job is usually the hardest because he’s always getting stuff thrown at him at the last minute.”

Dolan agrees: “Steve is always trying to take what Bob creates on the demos with programmed mock drums to give an idea of tempo, breaks and feeling, and put his thing to it. There’s a lot more material on this album—13 full songs and two instrumental interludes—and the fact that he had the time to add his vibe is important because he’s unique and [a] signature to our music at this point. It was an unintended bonus to the craziness of the pandemic.”

“The slower pace with which Bob was bringing songs out was fine by me,” Shalaty says with a thankful laugh. “I was literally spending weeks—sometimes months—on a song. Writing and rewriting parts, conditioning myself on how to play the beats, then tweaking it some more.

I was really taking my time, and it was cool because it was the feast rather than the famine that most of my time in Immolation has been. I usually wouldn’t have a lot of time, and in-person rehearsals were unheard of for a stretch; but this time we had a few, which made such a difference.

It was also awesome to just be able to get together because we had been locked down for so long.

“That there’s a lot of new stuff happening on this album is good,” Shalaty continues, “because in my view, it made for a more unique record and saved it from becoming Atonement part two.

Because Atonement [went] beyond anyone’s expec-

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tations and because we were going to the same studio and using the same guy to mix and master [Zach Ohren], I knew that was a possibility and I was maybe over-afraid of it going that route.

That we did some things differently swung it away from that trajectory.”

“What we wanted to try and capture was ‘the band,’” explains Bouks. “And I think we did that because we jammed the songs out as a band and alone at home. It comes across a little more organic also because it’s the first time in a long time that it’s not just Bob playing guitar on the record. And it’s the first time ever in the history of the band that another guitar player is playing solos on an Immolation record.”

Adds Dolan, “Alex joined the band after Atonement was recorded, so this was his first round with us laying down rhythms and playing leads, which was another first for us. And that was cool since he’s been a close friend and member of the family since 1988, when he was in Goreaphobia and came on our first U.S. tour with us back in 1992. It’s almost like a full circle thing.”

The pandemic may have provided some breathing room for the band when they were laying out the building blocks for Acts of God, but it also indirectly threatened the gentleman in the producer’s chair. In the end, Orofino ended up turning knobs, pressing buttons and earning the production credit (as he has for every album since 1999’s Failure for Gods), but for a few weeks leading up to the time the band was preparing to record, it was

the timing the uncertainty during the initial wave of COVID, when tens of thousands of people were being infected and thousands were dying each day how that made everyday life difficult and the growing cost of real estate

… it was an inopportune time for anyone to find a location for a studio, find people to help you move, move everything, then set it all back up. But Orofino pulled it off, and Immolation breathed a colossal sigh of relief.

“When we found that out, it was like, ‘Are you kidding me?!’” remembers Bouks. “First, we felt bad for Paul. Secondly, it was like, ‘What are we going to do?’ But it worked out. He set up the new studio just across the state line in Connecticut. The new place isn’t as big as the old spot, but it was great. I can’t see us ever working with anyone else; besides him being a great engineer and being able to get the best out of the band, he’s like our older uncle.”

“We really didn’t want to think about going to another studio and recording somewhere else,” asserts Dolan. “We love Paul; he’s part of the family and we felt horrible for the nightmare he had to deal with. Our tightness and comfort level with Paul and the fun we have recording with him allows us to forget about the stress we’re actually under.” [Laughs] “The way he set it up was pretty similar to his old place,” adds Shalaty, “so when we got there, it wasn’t a big shock or anything—other than the fact that the new place has a luxurious pool that I didn’t get a chance to partake in because I was busy recording every damn day!”

As with most Immolation albums, nailing down lyrics and themes for Acts of God came towards the end of the process. Despite four years of national, international and personal events since Atonement to pick and choose from to throw into the lyrical ire fire, Dolan and Vigna didn’t start collaborating on themes and knocking lyrics into shape until June of 2021. And where the last couple of albums slightly veered away from anti-religion as a dominant theme, Acts of God (as one might glean from the title) returns religion squarely into the crosshairs.

“Bob and I would share a lot of stuff during our trips out to rehearsals in Ohio,” explains Dolan. “Stuff like lines, titles, something one of us read in the news that hit a nerve… just brainstorming ideas. And a lot of the ideas came from what was happening in the world in the last couple of years. Not specific to the

DECIBEL : MARCH 2022 : 61

pandemic, but more about the general state of the world as it is and our negative, grim take on it. Specific ideas spark each song, and some of them touch very close to home, but we’ll let the listeners see if they can figure out what’s going on. This album is a lot heavier on the religion side of things. That’s something we haven’t tapped too deeply into on the last couple of records, but because there’s been a lot more negativity and horrible stories coming out of that world, this one is heavier on that.”

“The lyrics came out really good on this album,” affirms Vigna, “and you’ll see the darkness and sour moments.”

“As someone who was raised Catholic,” Shalaty adds, “when I got a chance to sit back with a lyric sheet and listen to the album, Ross’s lyrics had my inner little Catholic boy trembling!”

BACK in the SADDLE AGAIN Of all the things the last half-decade has taught the members of Immolation, two stand out.

One, the often-hard-to-accept realization that they aren’t getting any younger. Secondly, how fragile their chosen vocation is, especially for those who rely on touring to pay the bills. Then consider how those vital business elements can be snatched away via an international public health crisis and governments closing borders/ restricting travel. It’s clear to Immo, as it should be to everyone else, that the music industry is a tough slog during the best of times. Drag those best of times down a few notches and the impact becomes both measurable (loss of income) and immeasurable (mental health toll).

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For these very reasons, Immolation aren’t taking anything for granted. All of them are ready to get back to putting in full-time hours in order to keep doing the same thing they’ve been doing since they were kids: playing music. Not to mention the opportunity to see and make friends again, and have all and sundry jockey for position as Vigna whips out his phone to add to his growing group photo collection. As it’s become clear how the mini-empire they’ve built over the past 30 years can be taken away by forces completely out of their control, the guys are champing at the bit to get back to being the full-on version of the Immolation fans know and love.

And those fans will be elated to know the band’s plan is to come back at it harder.

“I think we’re going to try and go for it even more now, but that’s what we do with every record,” states Vigna. “Especially since we’ve been trying to do this full-time for a few years, it’s now or never. We’ve got to strike whether the iron’s hot, or even if it’s lukewarm…”

“We need to strike while we can physically still strike,” interjects a laughing Dolan.

“We’re ready, now more than ever, with a new record we’re really excited about,” Vigna picks up. “And with the extra boost that things are coming back, we want to do more; because the more we do and work toward living that dream, the more that will come out of it. That’s been our way of doing things since the beginning: to keep pushing things more and more.”

“Over the years, things have gotten better in small increments, and we’ve been pretty open about our mistakes,” says Dolan. “There’s no

instruction manual when you become a musician and dive into this business, especially at the beginning when this whole scene was in its infancy. We’re still feeling our way and trying to do the best we can and hoping for the best.

We’ve always enjoyed doing this, and because things can get turned off as quickly as they can be turned on, we definitely plan on doing a lot when this record comes out. If not for the fact that we’ve been dormant for two years and we’re like caged animals wanting to get out there. [At our first show back] at the Psycho Vegas Fest in August, it was so cool to be able to see friends, see live music and see the bands. You really feel how much that is a part of our community when it’s gone. When you don’t have that, it’s sorely missed; and when you get it back, you realize it’s something that’s good for the soul.”

“We’re not spring chickens anymore,” laughs Bouks. “The creative process didn’t slow down— during the pandemic I recorded two albums, and there’s another project with Paul Speckmann from Master that I’m doing—but being a band and interacting with the crowd, that experience is definitely something I don’t take for granted now. The show we did at Psycho Vegas was a really emotional thing for me, and I enjoyed every moment of being able to get back onstage.

The fans and music lovers, including myself and my wife, missed it because it is a magical experience. I lost a lot of friends during the pandemic, not necessarily because of COVID itself, but due to depression, isolation and stuff like that, and it makes you appreciate everything, each other and what life is. And music is life.”

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INSIDE ≥

70 BORIS Koffee break 72 CULT OF LUNA The pleasing moon 74 NOCTUNA I wear my prom dresses at night 76 SHAPE OF DESPAIR Actually, it's amorphous 76 VOIVOD Never forgotten in space

How the Universe Hears Itself

MARCH

1

Death metal band who covers Rush

1

Death metal band who covers Candlemass

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Death metal band who probably covers Cannibal Corpse

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Death metal band who made an all-synth album deserving of our cover

ALL THE NOISE THAT FITS

Interstellar death metal heroes BLOOD INCANTATION reconfigure the Stargate with a daring, almost exclusively synth-driven departure

T

imewave zero, a theory (albeit pseudoscientific) by the late Terence McKenna, posits that the universe is being drawn toward some “complex attractor.” The closer we Timewave Zero get to this existence-altering future event, the faster and more CENTURY MEDIA complexly we race to it. Back in the ’70s, McKenna spent years under the influence of psychedelics, poring over some 4,000-year-old Chinese divination figures, and eventually came up with 2012 as the watershed moment for this radical change. Sadly, McKenna passed away long before he could see 2012. But look around. One major event that occurred in 2012 was a two-piece death metal effort becoming a trio after guitarist/vocalist Paul Riedl and drummer Isaac Faulk enlisted guitarist Morris Kolontyrsky, further catalyzing the coming of Timewave Zero. ¶ A completely singular band, Blood Incantation represent the result—the gestalt even—

8 BLOOD INCANTATION

ILLUSTRATION BY MARK RUDOLPH [MARKRUDOLPH.COM]

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of underground extreme metal’s ever-increasing acceleration towards perfection. Which is an oblivion of sorts. As if they answered the question, “Where do you go after Hidden History of the Human Race?” both figuratively and literally. As if they answered, “Up!” This is Blood Incantation at their “glowing fetus suspended in space” mode. So, immediately, respect must be paid.

Afterall, what could be more counterintuitive to the idea of “making it” than for a death metal band to release an all-synth album at the height of its career?

The highly informative flyer that came with the “Classified Promotional Advance Tape” copy of Timewave Zero, clandestinely distributed by the band themselves on their recent tour with Primitive Man—such is the Denver quartet’s longstanding practice of old-school promotion— points to the likes of Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze and Lustmord, among others, as the guiding stars for this all-analog recording. Having heard those, as well as Riedl’s extensive ambient solo works, it’s still difficult to shake the bewilderment that Blood Incantation actually booked World Famous Studios to record an 81-minute ambient album in which the four players used almost exclusively synthesizers. (The exceptions being a couple Moogs, a Hammond organ, some gongs and cymbals, and one acoustic guitar.)

But what’s seemingly unbelievable, in the vein of Spinal Tap’s “freeform jazz exploration in front of a festival crowd,” is in fact so meticulously composed that it’s impossible not to lose yourself amidst it. Because since Starspawn—the first album to include bassist Jeff Barrett—Blood Incantation have been impressing upon their listeners one thing: You are the Stargate. Just open your mind and concentrate.

They’ve gathered one of the largest, most loyal fanbases in recent death metal history with skill, personality, creativity, gusto and a great aesthetic sensibility. But mostly with skill. And it doesn’t take long for the cosmic winds of “IO,” the first track on Timewave Zero, to convince you that your trust in boarding this extraordinary voyage will be rewarded, as your four co-pilots are as erudite, capable and imaginative as they are unpredictable.

When you think about it, it all makes perfect sense. —DUTCH PEARCE

ABRAHAM

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Débris de mondes perdus PELAGIC

Oscillating around the point

Knowing I must be a huge fan of Toto’s “Africa,” as I have a related tattoo on my person, a friend pointed me in the direction of an online 66 : MARCH 2022 : DECIBEL

weisenheimer who manipulated the vocal track to said song by shifting it a full step out of key and half-beat off-time. The result was fucking hilarious! At various points on this Swiss band’s fourth album, it appears a similar bit of audio fuckery was applied such that massive swaths of material dissonantly contrasts with itself.

The result is grating, obnoxious and far from fucking hilarious.

Existing as the companion piece to the massive conceptual undertaking of previous album Look, Here Comes the Dark!, Débris de mondes perdus addresses grim dystopia and hopelessness for the future. Coloring post-metal’s peaks and crevasses with inky darkness has always been Abraham’s jam; however, after the sinister crush of opener “Verminvisible” and the spidery lashing of “Ravenous Is the Night,” the experimental edge emerges in the form of contrasting tempos, hugely dissonant chord voicings and drummer Dave Schlagmeister’s clean-sung moan deliberately pushing the idea of staying in key out to pasture. Imagine Cult of Luna, Breach and Blood Incantation on one side of the bracket of a Rochambeau tournament, and Painkiller, Boredoms and Kayo Dot on the other. As one might expect with all those flatted fifths, minor thirds, suspended sevenths and chromatic noise—combined with Abraham giving no fucks about offering anything resembling a pleasurable auditory experience—the incongruity becomes negatively overwhelming.

Sometimes bold experiments come crashing down because a) they’re too bold, and b) they don’t have the luxury of having one of the most popular songs in the history of music as a starting point. Débris de mondes perdus may hurt, harm and cause maximal damage—just not in the way most of us would want it.

—KEVIN STEWART-PANKO

ABYSMAL DAWN

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Nightmare Frontier SEASON OF MIST

Deathicus metallicus

It took a half-dozen years between albums, but Abysmal Dawn disrupted their silence and released a new LP in 2020. That means Phylogenesis is still relatively fresh in the minds of listeners drawn to the band’s melodic technicality. Less than two years later, the City of Angels outfit interrupt your mundane existence with an invitation to join them in the Nightmare Frontier.

The four-track EP begins with the only new original song on the album, “A Nightmare Slain.” From the first sprint, the track remains true to Abysmal Dawn’s balance of Gothenburg melodeath leads and the cleanly produced

precision of 21st century American tech-death.

Sometimes “tech” is a dirty word for old-school genre fans. But Abysmal Dawn aren’t distractingly showy. Their technicality makes their riffs more agile and sly, not cluttered and devoid of compositional strength.

Nightmare Frontier also features a re-recording of “Blacken the Sky,” the first track on the band’s 2004 demo. This will likely appeal most to casual fans unfamiliar with the original more than devotees following the band since From Ashes. Abysmal Dawn then offer their cover versions of two classics. The influence of In Flames and their lunar strain of melodeath surfaces in Abysmal Dawn’s serrated leads, but selecting In Flames’ “Behind Space” offers a chance to plunge into sci-fi lyricism as well. Abysmal Dawn conclude the EP by fitting founding vocalist/guitarist Charles Elliott with a monk robe for an off-brand rendition of “Bewitched” by Candlemass. This oddity of epic doom with a chorus of supporting growls might be the EP’s biggest draw. Sign me up for a post-plague world where death metal embraces Candlemassive doom riffs. —SEAN FRASIER

ALLEGAEON

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Damnun

M E TA L B L A D E

Hot damnun!

Allegaeon have developed a bit of a reputation for recording note-perfect covers of prog classics. When they rip through Rush’s “Subdivisions” or Yes’ “Roundabout,” they aren’t just goofing around. The Colorado band has spent the latter half of their career moving away from the mechanized, melodic tech-death of their early albums toward a more holistic embrace of their prog influences. Damnum, Allegaeon’s sixth album, contains some of their most progged-out work to date. They’re still a tech-death band at heart, but the biggest thrills of Damnum come on its many stylistic detours.

To Allegaeon’s credit, Damnum’s excursions into prog maximalism never feel like an exercise in empty calories exhibitionism. Singer and lyricist Riley McShane says writing for the album helped him process feelings of sadness, anger, grief and loneliness, and that emotional core is never lost, no matter how much the songs contort. Taken as a whole, the hour-plus album can feel a bit self-consciously grandiloquent, but every track has at least one passage that wriggles into your brain—the finger-picked acoustic guitar that gives way to chugging riffage on “Of Beasts and Worms,” the blistering piano solo on “Blight,” or the mid-song (ghost) reverie on “Called Home” that sees McShane channeling Mikael Åkerfeldt’s clean baritone.

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RUMBLY RU MBLY THROUGH A SPEAKER THROUGH

Heir of Antiquated Format Romanticism

BY DUTCH PEARCE

The album’s centerpiece is “The Dopamine Void,” a stunning two-part suite that crashes aching, Floydian melodicism into a brick wall of blasting drums and frenetic bass. In the back half of “Pt. II,” McShane tears through staccato verses with the vocal dexterity of a seasoned battle rapper, delivering the song to its suffocating conclusion. Any time Allegaeon get the chance to show off that kind of versatility, Damnum shines. —BRAD SANDERS

APES

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Lullabies for Eternal Sleep T R A N S L AT I O N L O S S

Zü-metal

It’s very early for best-of recommendations for 2022 (as I write this, it’s currently 2021), but I’m definitely excited about the new record from Apes. Out in early January on Translation Loss, the four-song release offers a glimpse into what the band has been up to since 2017’s Lightless.

Each album in Apes’ discography is solid, but this one definitely moves the needle forward for the Quebec-based artists. The punishing tracks are interspersed with noise from Full of Hell’s Dylan Walker, which blends with the rest of the music in a seamless way that a lot of bands fail to achieve. And the mix of metallic hardcore, black metal and other influences is in perfect harmony, especially on the groovy, hook-laden “No Will to Live.”

The release is short and sweet at only four songs, the fourth essentially being an (incredibly dark and brutal) ambient noise track. As far as straightforward bangers, you only really get three. While more material would be great, saying the past couple years have been tough would be an understatement, so I’m not about to judge the quantity of an artist’s output.

Lullabies for Eternal Sleep doesn’t exactly break new ground when it comes to the fusion of these harsh elements into something cohesive and whole, but they do this particular fusion very well, and it’s only gotten better since 2015 EP MMXV. This record is definitely recommended for anyone who wants heavy, catchy, blackened metallic hardcore riffs and cool, noisy atmosphere. —ADDISON HERRON-WHEELER

ARISE FROM WORMS

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Arise From Worms G O R E M A S T E R / B LO O D B L A S T

When the worm in your mezcal eats you

Admission: Like Jacob versus his angel or a 68 : MARCH 2022 : DECIBEL

CRONOS COMPULSION

Cursed and Decaying CALIGARI

Denver’s Cronos Compulsion offer a demo that crushes out the kind of corrosive and baleful death-doom that could land them on bills with Primitive Man and Spectral Voice alike. Whether stalking through the mires of rotten doom or grinding like some kind of bestial world-eater, Cursed and Decaying (read: aggression and brutality) certainly offers more than these two starkly opposed tempos; but these two moments—on the first and second tracks respectively— perfectly encapsulate the trio’s remarkable versatility within their own sadistic approach to the subgenre. Come for the cranial trauma, definitely stay for the dark ambient outro.

SPELL CASTER

Demo III: Manifestations of Death MURDER ON PONCE/ PA R A SY T E C U R S E

Spell Caster’s sole member, Blood, weaves a tapestry of melancholic tremolo riffs both dense and noxious.

Smothering the listener with psychedelic gauze, then beating them with blast beats and soul-scraping screams, Spell Caster’s third demo, subtitled Manifestations of Death, picks up where Den of Shadows left off.

The painstakingly layered cerecloth that is Spell Caster’s sound is significantly more intoxicating this time around, as if dipped in a heady and heavenly laudanum. A tape this entrancing may very well be laced with some highly addictive narcotic, so don’t be surprised to find yourself listening to this ad nauseum.

PHARMACIST

SOLEMN LAMENT

GURGLING GORE

SWORD WORSHIP

Carnal Pollution Pharmacist’s meteoric rise through the brutal death metal/ goregrind underground has been nothing short of dizzying. Ever since the Japan-based duo started releasing demos last year, it’s been difficult to keep up with the Ukraine-born guitarist/vocalist and his inhuman drummer’s way-more-than-justCarcass-worshipping, totally mandatory prolific output. Now, after a long run of splits, Pharmacist are back with a new EP, sounding better than ever: four jaw-ripping mindblowers, plus a few Andrew Lee guitar solos.

Fans of Necroticism may want to stop what they’re doing and go get their hearts torn out by “Obsequial Orchestration” right now.

More than just regurgitated fodder, these Pharmacist tracks sound like cold cases cracked wide open, filling the air with their putrid stench!

WEEPING FOREST Demo I

SELF-RELEASED

A refreshing, low-key and unpretentious little green tape, Weeping Forest’s Demo I consists of two tracks, “Solemnity of the Trees” parts one and two, which repeat on both sides and are both played at the pace at which one digs their own grave in the frozen winter ground. Yes, this is some slow-time, out-ofbody raw black metal, and what it lacks in energy it makes up for tenfold in atmosphere and gravity. Neither of these songs breach seven minutes (atypically short for black metal songs about trees), yet this tape feels expansive, even cavernous. A pleasant surprise, this is one of those obscure little gems that you’ll never have any chance of owning unless someone dies.

Solemn Lament Phil Swanson may not be singing for Sumerlands anymore, but the golden-voiced doomsayer and Justin DeTore (Innumerable Forms, Sumerlands, Dream Unending) have since formed Solemn Lament, their “nod” to English doom of yore, à la Pagan Altar, Solstice and Warning. Finally released on tape a few months ago and coming soon on CD/LP from Svart, Solemn Lament’s fivesong self-titled debut bears witness to a truly mighty rise of doomed power. Swanson’s lyrics, vocals and delivery poignantly elevates these long-in-the-face paeans to human suffering and the immortal forces that move beyond and besides. Deeply morose like memorial statues cloaked in snow, Solemn Lament is the wintertime to 2016’s Sumerlands, and it is heartbreakingly perfect.

USHANGVAGUSH Mntu

VIGOR DECONSTRUCT

The ongoing emergence of First Nations black metal bands is easily one of the most important trends to occur in the genre’s notorious underground since its beginnings in the early ’90s. Among this burgeoning movement, a band like Massachusetts-based solo act Ushangvagush brings something entirely novel—not to mention visceral—kicking and screaming to the game. Across the eight berzerk scorchers that compose Mntu Mntu,, Ushangvagush’s debut full-length, one gets the idea that D., the band’s lone player, is ripping through these tracks with eyes peeled and a knife clenched in his teeth, ready for anything.

Swinging madly between raging black metal/ punk violence and shamanistic ritual noise, Mntu is truly a mind-expanding journey.

P L AY I T. W E A R I T. L I V E I T.

F O L L O W O U R K V LT

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one-armed man trying to sip coffee on a porch swing, I have wrestled with ex-Incantation guitarist Sonny Lombardozzi’s new, strangebrew supergroup.

Imagine Cryptopsy performing an impromptu set while, let’s say, Racer X simultaneously hit the stage at a nearby venue.

Envision the latter’s ripping, neo-classical leads peeling through the din of the former’s cut-brake-line squall while a Street Fighter II arcade cabinet farts away in the background.

While on paper, all of this might qualify as merely “unusual,” in practice Arise From Worms possess an Oreos-dipped-in-orange-juice chutzpah that’s both kinda yucky and fundamentally visionary.

The production of this demo/EP only manages to italicize its preposterousness. It sounds matte in a manner specifically reminiscent of Mayhem’s divisive Grand Declaration of War, leaving the instrumentation largely monodimensional, with only Flo Mournier’s fascinating drum work and those Amber Alert-esque solos to furnish actual sonic contour to the experience. Sadly, the great Steve Tucker’s vocal treatments are wasted here. None of his charisma is captured. Also, I deeply believe that Lombardozzi needs to relinquish the bass duties to a player other than himself—not because of any flaw in his technique, but due to the hollow, onanistic quality evident in these takes.

Lombardozzi will need to bounce his phrasing off another string player to truly rouse this monster so that it can lumber from its laboratory table and menace us cowering townies.

Despite all this, I deeply want to hear more.

This is clearly something that Lombardozzi needs to express; something that couldn’t—and likely shouldn’t—come from anyone else. The consideration of how this story’s next chapter unfolds has me absolutely riveted. But for now, this here freakbox gets a 6. —FORREST PITTS

BORIS

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W

SACRED BONES

Bore us? On side B maybe

Japanese power trio Boris’ official Instagram handle is @dronevil—it’s the title of one of their albums, but it’s also a decent description of the sound that made them internationally beloved. They made their reputation on long, malevolent slices of feedback-exploitation carefully packaged into collector’s items around the turn of the century.

That said, they’re often at their best when neither droning nor sounding evil. Case in point: 2020’s NO showed the band knows its way 70 : MARCH 2022 : DECIBEL

around a D-beat, and still had heavy rock hooks to rival fan favorites Pink and Smile. This year’s follow-up, W, purposefully veers back into the atmospheric, but still finds its footing when it’s neither droning nor evil.

The excellent first half of W finds Boris in a lo-fi hip-hop mode, with ample synthesizers and chilly moods. Guitarist and synth player Wata takes center stage on this record (hence the title), and her warm, whispered vocals are tucked nicely into the center of songs like “Icelina” and “Drowning by Numbers.”

As W progresses, though, the songs get either much longer or much shorter (or in the case of “You Will Know [Ohayo version],” nonexistent), and in both cases lose focus. On “Old Projector,” Boris evoke the crepuscular mood of Zeppelin’s “Trampled Under Foot” or “In the Evening,” but don’t offer much else to pay attention to.

Album closer “Jozan” sports spiteful riffing on its own, but feels perfunctory as-is.

W shows that Boris have potent ideas outside the rock idiom—I’d love to hear a whole album in the vein of Side A. But if I purchase W on vinyl, I doubt I’ll flip to Side B often, except to hear “Jozan.” —JOSEPH SCHAFER

BRICK BY BRICK

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Dismal Existence U P S TAT E

L7 got it right

Brick by Brick definitely did not build this metal-tinged hardcore city, but the Troy, NY quartet are absolutely among its most enthusiastic residents.

I have to imagine the national anthem in this zip code is something off Satisfaction Is the Death of Desire, backward elbow-throwing circle pits break out at brunch, and comity has reigned since neighbors agreed to disagree about which era of Cro-Mags slays hardest. (I heard you mutter “hardcore Van Hagar” under your breath, motherfucker.) Sure, Brick by Brick live on one of the more modern hardcore streets, but they go to BBQs on the metal streets and have an appropriate level of love for Ride the Lightning.

Though we may not be quite Social Security check-deep into the metallic hardcore era, AARP has definitely started sending paid targeted ads to some of us on Facebook. Which is to say, you probably have known whether you’ll vibe with Dismal Existence or not since the moment I namechecked Satisfaction. And devotees of the style also will be aware that, while the houses here appear similar superficially, some are built on a much sturdier foundation than others.

That’s what Brick by Brick bring to the aforementioned BBQ—craftsmanship and grounded

power. (They also have Chuck Billy from Testament on the lead track—a Kerry King-on-Perseverance-level get.) Dismal Existence is an extremely solid collection of songs that will probably have “pummeling” trending on MetalThesaurus.com throughout the album cycle. (FYI, that’s just Thesaurus.com, but you listen to Carcass when you log on.) “Walloping punishment,” FTW. —SHAWN MACOMBER

BUÑUEL

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Killers Like Us P R O FO U N D LO R E

Break on through…

In 2007, Oxbow frontman and underground jack-ofall-trades Eugene Robinson wrote a book called Fight: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About AssKicking but Were Afraid You’d Get Your Ass Kicked for Asking. Robinson uses the book to explore physical combat as a higher expression of our humanity. He has done the same thing with music for decades with his file-it-wherever-the-fuck-youwant group Oxbow; the band’s albums and live shows blend music, physicality and confrontation to shake off the 21st century doldrums. For Robinson, music and words are exegeses, a process to find what’s left of our shared humanity in confusing times.

Robinson has done it again with Buñuel’s third album, Killers Like Us. The collective also features the Italian trio Xabier Iriondo (guitars), Andrea Lombardini (bass) and Francesco Valente (drums). Killers Like Us isn’t filled with songs as much as sonic blueprints. Remember how your dad’s favorite band the Doors would stretch pieces well past the 10-minute mark and let Jim Morrison run ripshit with crazed hippy poetry? (Think of something like “Ghost Song,” put together after Morrison died, which fused the Lizard King’s poems with Doors backing.)

Conceptually, Buñuel inhabit the same place, except the music is more Big Black/Swans/ Oxbow-style noise, and Robinson is more drill sergeant from hell than shaman—a combination of Chuck D, Michael Gira and street preacher. When the Italian musicians backing Robinson lock in, it’s something else; they are one of those bands that could be playing experimental jazz, but have stuck around the underground to elevate all of us.

There are a lot of listeners who will not get Killers Like Us. That said, Decibel readers tend to like walking on the edge. Killers Like Us is that feeling you get when Robinson sinks in a deepcollar choke during jiu-jitsu—part of you wants to escape, and the rest accepts the inevitable.

—JUSTIN M. NORTON

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CLOAKROOM

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Dissolution Wave RELAPSE

Going blank again

The space opera is nothing new—Bowie and Voivod already harvested that astro field, but somewhere between that Anglophile weirdo pop sensibility and oddball thrashing sturm und drang sits Indiana’s Cloakroom. This ballad of a lonely asteroid miner transposes the classic Western and sets it in a not-so-distant future where art and human thought is all but wiped out; but in those small glimmers of hope—a daffodil, or a firefly caught in a bottle, or the wings of a damselfly—music, and ultimately human kindness, can survive.

Overwrought fantasy? Perhaps. A tonic in the face of global despair? Most definitely!

Dissolution Wave is the third interstellar odyssey of Doyle Martin and Bobby Markos, but first with new drummer Tim Remis, who has added a mesmeric backbeat to the cosmic lightness that peppers the record. The soundtrack to their hope-filled universe is far from stoner-lite; in fact, it has more in common with ’90s Britpop, stealing respectfully from Mogwai, Ride, early Manics and Slowdive, mixing it with their very American AmRep/Sub Pop upbringing and a dash of Explosions in the Sky slow-building intensity.

When Martin sings, “I was carrying a fire, but now that’s going out,” we all know what he means. But within the despair, Cloakroom have weaved some magic, and by the time you reach the Monster Magnet-esque fuzz-laden finale, we’re taken on a journey that’s left us resilient and searching for new worlds. —LOUISE BROWN

CULT OF LUNA

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The Long Road North M E TA L B L A D E

Unhappy trails

While Neurosis were staring deep into the eye of every storm—and later, as Isis were wavering radiant only to then dissipate into the ether—Sweden’s Cult of Luna were continuing to perfect their craft amidst a whole host of post-metal followers and very few leaders. The Umeå collective was certainly in the torchbearers’ camp, boasting the expanse and cataclysmic power of 2004’s Salvation, 2006’s Somewhere Along the Highway and 2013’s Metropolis-inspired Vertikal in their canon. Ironically, post-metal peaked and shattered because of its unyielding reliance on build/collapse structures—shit got predictable super-fast. However, Cult of Luna’s creative momentum, which has carried on to their latest record, The Long Road North, comes down to supreme knowledge of songwriting dynamics and dramatic inter-song pacing.

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And while these seasoned sound-sculptors still hurl out seismic crescendos—best heard here on “Cold Burn” and the biblical force of “Blood Upon Stone”—they avoid the subgenre’s repetition by also adopting traditionally arranged and delicately textured movements, which are more increasingly aided by outsider vocals to offset the band’s animalistic roars. The Julie Christmas collaboration for Mariner worked in thrilling fashion, while Mark Lanegan’s world-beaten baritone acted as a fulcrum on last year’s The Raging River EP. On this album, welcome variation comes in the form of guest musicians from indie darlings Phoenix, esteemed multi-instrumentalist/composer Colin Stetson and vocalist Mariam Wallentin. The latter’s smoky drawl on “Beyond I” once again confirms that Cult of Luna are just as devastating at a near whisper as they are tumultuously raging towards sonic self-immolation. —DEAN BROWN

EREB ALTOR

7

Vargtimman

HAMMERHEART

Bathory’s not included

Listening to Vargtimman, the ninth album from the prolific Viking metal stalwarts out of Gävle, Sweden, is to be driven to the drink. It is an impulse arising from a couple of factors, the first being the music itself. The celebratory zeal and widescreen theatricality of opening track “I Have the Sky” sounds like the work of a band who counts drinking horns among their most popular merch items. Musically, Ereb Altor’s magnetic north is most definitely Quorthon, particularly his pioneering of the Nordic audio epic with latter-era Bathory. When Ereb Altor dial back the venom, it makes room for soaring vocals, often pitched over a folk groove with a triplet feel. Those inured to extremity in music might describe it as uplifting—jaunty even.

But Ereb Altor can shift through the gears, baring their teeth on the double-time thrash of “Rise of the Destroyer” and the pleasingly nasty and aesthetically bold “Den Dighra Döden.” The latter finds Ereb Altor reaching into black metal darkness—and indeed industrial music’s dehumanized nihilism—to great effect. Some might find Vargtimman tonally uneven. But the shifts from triumphant to elegiac, light to dark, are too gamed out to be a misstep. It’s all a matter of taste. Which brings us to the second trigger for having an impromptu Metal & Beer Fest by oneself; Ereb Altor’s cinematic Pagan sound reminds us of the gaping hole that’s left in the summer calendar when the European festival circuit is hollowed out by a pathogen. Vargtimman will spirit you away to memories of warm, beery afternoons in fields across France, Belgium or

Germany, occasions when albums like this make perfect sense. —JONATHAN HORSLEY

FIT FOR AN AUTOPSY

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Oh, What the Future Holds NUCLEAR BLAST

Magic 8-Ball, will there be breakdowns?

There are plenty of references to the dark on Fit for an Autopsy’s sixth LP. Sure, that’s not hugely notable in an overall scene that welcomes the abyss to stare back, but framed with the effort’s poetic title, it paints a bleak picture. Apparently, the “Oh” is to be said with a sigh.

The band matches the energy with a bleaker effort than 2019’s masterful The Sea of Tragic Beasts, which often found vocalist Joe Bad(olato) delivering near-triumphant yell-singing that elevated otherwise, well, tragic compositions.

Though that style is present in singles “Far From Heaven” and “In Shadows,” much of the deliveries are more somber, as in “Two Towers,” itself bookended by two haunting melodic monoliths in the form of Deftones-ian crooning and a stunning solo. Follow-up “A Higher Level of Hate” starts with a tribal beat, while the title track opens with a piano refrain before building via a brief, Deafheaven-esque, melancholic-yet-beautiful trem section.

If you haven’t gotten the picture yet, this is far from your average deathcore band. The brainchild of producer extraordinaire Will Putney has steadily been growing beyond the confines of the once-rigid genre. Sure, melodeath riffs break up the absolutely devastating chugging (“Pandora”), but the downtuned riffs feel more indebted to legends of extreme metal than peers. An oftreferenced kindred band is Gojira, but whereas previous efforts more directly pick-scraped like Joe Duplantier, this one simply feels like France’s most gargantuan beasts. The gulf between a deathcore banger like “Collateral Damage” and expansive, introspective closer “The Man That I Was Not” illustrates why it’s never safe to claim that Fit for an Autopsy have made their magnum opus; they outdo themselves from song to song, never mind the growth engendered between salvos. —BRADLEY ZORGDRAGER

MASS WORSHIP

7

Portal Tombs

CENTURY MEDIA

In before the end times

At the close of 2021, the Kingdom of Sweden (Konungariket Sverige) declared 80 percent of its populace

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vaccinated. Given the current state of humanity, legions of those doubtlessly believed the whole process was manipulated by a global corpocracy enslaving us to mind control or, worse, termination. They shot up nonetheless. Must be nice.

Domestically, beyond inoculation idiocracy, the fall of our Holy Roman Empire accelerates daily into a sociopolitical scene straight out of Penthouse rom-com Caligula. Swede death preserve us all.

Citing At the Gates, Mastodon and Meshuggah as forebears, Stockholm’s Mass Worship incorporated around 2016, and three years later issued a self-titled scree of nü-power-emo expulsion with at least one gleaming moment of true grit and menace (“Dreamless Graves”). Portal Tombs, about which the four-piece declared death the only evolution, immolates its predecessor with undeniable rage against the machine.

Worlds better produced, the sophomore LP erects a thick and pleasing wall of sound that delivers a spatial wallop, as if they’re playing inside an armory—a big, bad, bash ‘n’ crash.

Gustav Eriksson’s turbine guitar turns over and over, driving a massive engine, while Claes Nordin roars over the din like one of hell’s own keepers (opener “Specular Void”). Title track in the second slot, its slasher film interludes stoke a warfare of pummel, one featuring Napalm Death’s big purple Barney (Greenway). A lacerating endorsement, that.

On “Revel in Fear,” when the bedlam strips back further—and only momentarily—a rhythmic twang spotlights Nordin singing between the onslaught. As Fred Forsberg calls down a colossal beat in sympathy with every bawl of the singer, the overall effect breeds a take-no-prisoners live dynamic. Mass Worship: Catch them before your extinction. —RAOUL HERNANDEZ

MOUNTAINEER

7

Giving Up the Ghost LIFEFORCE

Float on

I’m not sure how much crossover there is between the Neurosis, Failure and Snow Patrol audiences—insert Forrest Gump waving “it me” meme—but perhaps the best way to describe Giving Up the Ghost is a near-perfect triangulation of Times of Grace, The Heart Is a Monster and the expansive non-single tracks off Eyes Open. “So,” you ask, “what does all that mean for Decibel readers who, say, maybe don’t buy albums based on the backing music of Grey’s Anatomy commercials?”

Well, I’m glad you asked. Essentially, there are swaths of Giving Up the Ghost that will be wholly inaccessible to non-metal fans. Like, the psychological vocabulary won’t exist to process it. And then there are space-y, reverb-y grooves 74 : M A R C H 2 0 2 2 : D E C I B E L

and spirals that will hit the ignition button on your consciousness before bleeding into beautiful earworm stretches and choruses that are universal, collective unconscious-tapping stuff.

You know, like the songs that get licensed for network television shows.

It’s a mix that is executed with near-flawless precision, and finds Mountaineer operating on a very high instrumental and compositional level. That said, it is, as a suite of interconnected songs, a lot. The record sometimes feels more like an experience than a standard album. Even those who love it will probably be discerning about how often they dip into it—no one journeys to take in the aurora borealis or Grand Canyon every day. It requires a commitment. Which, in our current short-attention span culture, is a real ask. Then again, maybe what we need right now is a record that encourages us to pull the blackout curtains, put the headphones on, focus and fall inward. If so, with Giving Up the Ghost, Mountaineer delivered in spades. —SHAWN MACOMBER

NOCTURNA

6

Daughters of the Night SCARLET

Do they grant night wishes?

There used to be so much of this stuff that I had a regular column covering it, but as of late these vampiric metal bands seem to mostly stay in their coffins. Maybe there’s a shortage in keyboards with orchestra plug-ins? At any rate, Nocturna attempt to put a slightly new spin on the genre—instead of going for the “operatic female singer with an actual nice voice versus some dude growling” beauty/beast dynamics, this Europebased act features two beauties trading arias.

I’m not sure which voice belongs to Grace Darkling and which to Rehn Stillnight (probably not their real names), but one sounds a little more effervescent and the other earthier. Either way, it doesn’t accomplish a lot that couldn’t be done by multi-tracking one singer. Thankfully, neither of them detracts from the songs on Daughters of the Night. Nothing here will be unfamiliar to those who have already heard Within Temptation, Epica, Nightwish, etc. In fact, some of it will feel very familiar to devotees of the form. “Blood of Heaven” starts with a chant reminiscent of “Wishmaster.” Even though those little homages can get distracting, they don’t prevent tunes like “New Evil” or “Sea of Fire” from flawlessly executing big power metal hooks.

Sure, it’s cheesy, but the sound fits them like a well-worn pair of leather pants. Nothing mind-blowing here, just a respectable take on the genre—and credit where credit is due for trying

something a little different. It’s just tricky to stand out when the night already has so many daughters. —JEFF TREPPEL

ONCE HUMAN

6

Scarweaver EARMUSIC

Hartwork

The name Logan Mader should be familiar to anyone with a passing fondness for ’90s groove metal.

The guitarist unearthed some truly massive slabs of riff for Machine Head and Soulfly before settling behind the producer’s chair to bring his soilworking skills to bear for notable acts like Gojira and Devildriver. After a bit of a break from in front of the microphone, though, he found a kindred spirit in vocalist Lauren Hart, and so the bulldozing begins anew with Once Human.

Scarweaver follows the pattern they’ve been knitting with some welcome twists to the design.

Although their first effort felt like Mader returning to his groove metal roots (bloody roots), there’s a much stronger emphasis on progressive, percussive demolition this time around, possibly due to the songwriting by new guitarist Max Karon. Hart spits fire in the spitting image of Gojira’s Joe Duplantier for most of the album, with occasional forays into Angela Gossow hiss.

She even holds her own with guest growler Robb Flynn, and does one hell of a Devin Townsend impression on “We Ride.”

As for the songs themselves, well, they certainly do the trick vis-à-vis the proper amount of head-battering. Even with more complex song structures, the likes of “Deadlock” and “Where the Bones Lie” have an undeniable air of blunt force trauma about them. Which, to be honest, gets wearying. It’s not that all the songs sound the same; they just tend to feel the same. That may be more a fault of the genre itself. They weave their scars well, just into a familiar groove. —JEFF TREPPEL

MATT PIKE

7

Pike vs.

The Automaton M N R K H E AV Y

CORPSEGRINDER

5

Corpsegrinder PERSEVERANCE

A solo record and a “solo” record

Matt Pike and George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher have fortuitously chosen to both release solo albums, showing how the frontmen picked opposing paths for

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Fisher is more donating his name and Cannibal Corpse cred than fulfilling some personal artistic goal. This would also make sense because the music is terribly boring.

It’s unlikely that either Pike vs. The Automaton or Corpsegrinder will convince listeners that these frontmen should abandon their more established bands. But at least one of them sounds like they’re actually having fun.

—SHANE MEHLING

SHAPE OF DESPAIR 7 Return to the Void SEASON OF MIST

Ravens and angels

The active founding members of Finnish funeral doom dirgists Shape of Despair are now a quarter-century into the band’s legacy. What began as a project named Raven has crawled across time as a creative outlet more reliable in quality than constancy. With numerous other pursuits demanding time from the members—including Finntroll, Impaled Nazarene and Counting Hours, among others—Shape of Despair’s output exists outside the familiar structures of a promotional album cycle.

VOIVOD, Synchro Anarchy

9

Future present | C E N T U R Y M E D I A

Practically the only societal ill Voivod warned us about in the ’80s that hasn’t come to pass is nuclear war. Catastrophe struck the band with the 2005 death of primary songwriter Denis “Piggy” D’Amour. Miraculously his guitar disciple Daniel “Chewy” Mongrain stepped in to compose for Voivod’s new era. Synchro Anarchy continues building where the band’s remarkable last album The Wake left off, conjured in the same studio, with the same engineer and the same grim joie de vivre.

The current Voivod lineup crafts music that distills its entire history without devolving

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into pastiche. Heavy riffs, jazz chords, vocoders, tremolo, throbbing basslines, controlled spastic rhythms, overlapping circular patterns and tempo shifts all remain in the band’s toolbox.

While there are brief nods to Dimension Hatröss, Nothingface, Phobos and the rest, none are simple retreads. Likewise, Mongrain’s solos owe more to Allan Holdsworth than to Piggy.

Denis “Snake” Bélanger still employs his French pronunciation to fold syllables into shapes that fit the intricate clockwork thrash of the music; only he could make a refrain like “I want anti-gravity!” into a hook. His lyrics shine a laser

Back in 2016, Shape of Despair released their unpublished first demo, Alone in the Mist. The recordings predated their official debut, revealing the band’s transition between monikers in even more detail. Aptly named new LP Return to the Void also looks back to the genesis of the band for inspiration. From the opening title track to the final ethereal note, the specter of 2001’s Angels of Distress haunts the proceedings.

In Shape of Despair’s crestfallen universe, funeral doom has much more tension with silence than most bands exploring the genre.

Usually a bellowing hum of droning guitar establishes the foundation. But Return to the Void is as much defined by its shimmering textures (“Dissolution”) and Natalie Koskinen’s layered, otherworldly vocalizations (“Forfeit”) as it is any metallic heaviness. This isn’t an album of extreme contrasts and high drama. There’s numbness and sameness, especially for funeral doom newcomers.

But there is also beauty in restraint. Shape of Despair embraces the power of quiet, especially in the closing epic “The Inner Desolation.” The result is an album of patient pleasures. Return to the Void asks for complete surrender so the hour of music washes over you like a midnight baptism. —SEAN FRASIER

pointer on the disinformation age, immortality, existential AI problems, statistical near-death experiences and society’s selective memory.

Standout “Mind Clock”—a new and welcome type of Voivod composition with no antecedents—begins with a creepy arpeggio and Michel “Away” Langevin’s ominous toms.

Soft, melodic vocals set a mood until the rhythm section breaks into a clinical D-beat, followed by a riff that accordions through dimensions.

Though Synchro Anarchy lacks the cohesion of a concept album—no intro, overture or segues—there’s never a dull moment. Nine progressive, psychedelic space metal songs like these are another gift that Voivod fans never imagined, and it seems there are only more on the horizon. —NATHAN CARSON

PHOTO BY CATHERINE DESLAURIERS

their debuts—one doing whatever he wanted and the other doing what someone else wanted.

The self-indulgence of Pike vs. The Automaton is both a strength and weakness. When Pike digs into his Sleep/High on Fire bag of tricks and combines his loves of classic rock, punk and hardcore, it’s incredibly strong. “Abuse,” “Alien Slut Mum” and “Apollyon” show that he remains a master of the riff.

But this record is long. The twangy, nearlyseven-minute “Land” may be cool to jam in a living room, but it’s tedious here. And even some of the best songs wind up bloated because Pike and friends just seem to be having too good a time to watch the clock.

In contrast, Corpsegrinder is airtight. Ten songs, averaging around three minutes, and no needless solos or experiments. They also removed anything remotely interesting.

This is death metal with a strong dependence on groove, which makes sense since it’s produced by Jamey Jasta and longtime drummer Nick Bellmore. While Fisher does his large-throated best, the music can’t keep up in brutality or creativity. In fact, aside from a one-song guest appearance by Erik Rutan, it’s impossible to tell who actually wrote these songs or played them. That’s a red flag, as if

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N E W A L B U M O U T 1 1 TH F E B R U A R Y 2 0 2 2

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by

EUGENE S. ROBINSON

JELLO IS

GOOD FOOD IT

all started at the Mudd Club. And not even at something cool like the Klaus Nomi show. Just… the Mudd Club. Where I was doing some version of dancing. With a woman, no less, despite Billy Idol’s dictum of the day regarding a lack of dance partners.

“My ex-husband is in this band called the Dead Kennedys. You ever hear of them?”

As luck would have it, I had. I was 17, she was in her 30s, and I had just bought their “Too Drunk to Fuck” single from a cat named Bleeker Bob, who made fun of me for buying it.

“If you’re going to San Francisco, you’re going to do two things. You’ll get a tattoo and you’ll get your ear pierced. But look up my ex.”

Weeks later, I did go to San Francisco. And even if I both pierced my ear and got my first tattoo in New York, her point was well taken.

So much so that I kept an eye out for the only name I remembered: Biafra. Jello Biafra.

But we played our first show at the Farm. Right after the Effigies 80 : MARCH 2022 : DECIBEL

and right before the Circle Jerks.

We were not on the bill. We just thought, if we were all there, why shouldn’t we be playing? So, we asked, everyone shrugged, and they announced us. But not as Whipping Boy, who we were. As, “From L.A… the CIRCLE JERKS!” And we hit the stage to fusillades of beer bottles and spit. We played three songs. The audience hated every one of them and we laughed our asses off as we kicked people in the face and flipped off the world.

It was a success. But then immediately post-show we were approached by Klaus Flouride and D.H. Peligro: “Who ARE you guys?”

While Klaus and Tom Mallon later produced a single and an album for Whipping Boy (and we discovered that it was Klaus’ exwife who I had met), Biafra was the agitpropster frontman. I don’t know how I ended up over at his house, but I was there. On any number of occasions. Met Howie Klein there. Geza X. Winston Smith. But Biafra himself? At the height of his powers then, there was no small

amount of Elvis there. You were his audience. IF you were lucky.

But there was an actual and very weird quirk: Biafra actually really really loved music. Like Asperger’s kind of loved. And while personally I had struggled to see him have any actual friends, he was keenly attuned to who was creating what.

So, when he called to ask me to sing on what would become Frankenchrist, I was pleased and flattered.

Even more so when I found out I’d be singing with Gary Floyd from the Dicks, and then later Sister Double Happiness. By my lights, Gary could really sing. A warm blues warble befitting a fellow from Texas.

The songs were “Chicken Farm” and “Stars and Stripes of Corruption,” and what they lacked in lyrical depth, they more than made up for in thrill factor. Gary killed it. I was just there, really.

So, the record hits. And it’s a sensation. For all the wrong reasons. The right reasons? The music. The wrong reasons? America the Offended took issue with H.R. Giger’s Penis Landscape insert. See,

some mom somewhere believed her son, who was both in possession of a penis and a DKs record with penis imagery, was on the road to ruin with this record.

There was a swelter of lawsuits.

Their label was almost bankrupted.

The band broke up and, to add insult to injury, Biafra’s wife left him for Frank Discussion from the Feederz. I interviewed Biafra the next year for The Birth of Tragedy Magazine, which I published, and though he was unusually quiet, he was also candid and contemplative.

“My father said, ‘Sure, you’ve got this band and all, but what about after that?’” We were crouched down in some storefront in the Mission because the photographer thought it looked best there. “That’s really the least of my worries.”

I’ve seen them all over the years.

Klaus; East Bay Ray, whose immense help guided Whipping Boy’s first release, The Sound of No Hands Clapping; Darren Peligro; and yeah, the now-ex-DKs singer Biafra. And really, I’d be lying if I said that I don’t miss them all.

ILLUSTRATION BY ED LUCE