GWAR
SOUTH POLE DISPATCH
DAZZLING
FACE OF COLLAPSE
KILLMEN HALL OF FAME
REFUSE/RESIST
GABE
SERBIAN 1977 - 2 0 22
FLEXI DISC
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Mouth Against War SEPTICFLESH MISERY INDEX HAUNT NIGHT DEMON MIZMOR & THOU COME TO GRIEF ARTIFICIAL BRAIN
JULY 2022 // No. 213
—A LSO—
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July 2022 [R 213] decibelmagazine.com
upfront 8
obituary: gabe serbian A cold day in Southern California
10 metal muthas Wise blood of my wise blood 12 low culture Once more unto the breach
16 cavernlight Better apart 18 mutilatred Toledo Rot City 20 mizmor and thou Anything but short-sighted 22 ufomammut Ready for liftoff
13 no corporate beer Sonic excess
24 knoll School’s out
14 in the studio:
26 spiral skies They see dead people
night demon
An outside look
28 come to grief Stay for the riffs 30 evergrey They don’t want to live on this planet anymore 32 artificial brain Soul of a new-ish machine
features
reviews
34 haunt Heavy metal lifers
69 lead review Candy forego any saccharine inclinations to administer purely caustic industrialized hardcore on their Relapse debut Heaven is Here
36 septicflesh Requiem for a dream 38 misery index For inquiries, please send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to 1991 40 q&a: gwar Human Mike Bishop might feel good in a nice pair of jeans, but Blothar the Berserker isn't ready to give up his codpiece
70 album reviews Records from bands that can’t wait to see what hot, edgy shitposts are worth $44 billion, including Anvil, Origin and Suppression 88 damage ink Virginia is for... someone
44 the decibel
Hatred Purge COVER STORY COVER AND CONTENTS PHOTOS BY ESTER SEGARRA
hall of fame Beautiful, heavy and all-around weird, Dazzling Killmen craft a sadly prophetic final album with 1994’s Face of Collapse
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. ISSN 1557-2137 | USPS 023142 Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission of the publisher is strictly prohibited. 2 : J U LY 2 0 2 2 : D E C I B E L
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REFUSE/RESIST
July 2022 [T213]
Beyond the obvious monthly reward
of producing this magazine that you’re holding in your leathery hands, one of the most fulfilling aspects of running Decibel for the past 18 years has been learning how to do all the nonmagazine things I never imagined we’d attempt. Like publishing books; reviving the dormant flexi disc format; launching an annual national tour; starting a festival; starting a second one on the other side of the country. Record label was not on any previous “to-do” list, however. But as our Metal & Beer Fests began to regularly land special, exclusive sets— many of which are likely to never be replicated—the idea of properly commemorating these moments became more important. Sure, your shitty iPhone videos shot directly in front of the bass monitor have their unlistenable charm, but wouldn’t you like an official document? And so, into a world of vinyl plants already burdened by gratuitous color variants and pointless reissues of inessential back catalogs, Decibel Records is born! Our mission isn’t to add to that mess, but to create something unique that benefits the artists and is something you might actually want—like the first new Deadguy full-length recording of any kind in over two decades. Decibel Records’ inaugural slab of wax is Deadguy’s Buyer’s Remorse: Live From the Decibel Magazine Metal & Beer Fest, the legendary Fixation on a Coworker lineup’s first live performance in 25 years, recorded in front of a sold-out crowd at Metal & Beer Fest: Philly on September 25, 2021. It sounds monstrous and looks gorgeous, courtesy of Deadguy frontman Tim Singer’s trademark design. And that’s as close to a review of a Decibel Records release that you will ever read in this magazine. That’s one of the few things we can say for certain about the label. That and there will be more releases; some are already recorded, while others will be shortly. Readers can expect more exclusive partnerships like this with the artists who have graced our pages and dominated our stages for decades. Or whatever I said in the press release. Look, we know the world needs a lot of things right now and another record label isn’t very high on that list, but hey, at least we didn’t start another fucking podcast. albert mudrian, Editor-in-Chief
PUBLISHER
Alex Mulcahy
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
alex@redflagmedia.com EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Albert Mudrian albert@decibelmagazine.com
AD SALES
James Lewis james@decibelmagazine.com
DIRECTOR OF MARKETING AND SALES ART DIRECTOR
Aaron Salsbury aaron@decibelmagazine.com
Michael Wohlberg michael@decibelmagazine.com
CUSTOMER SERVICE
Patty Moran
COPY EDITOR
Andrew Bonazelli
BOOKCREEPER
Tim Mulcahy
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tim@redflagmedia.com CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS
Chuck BB, Ed Luce Mark Rudolph
Online DECIBEL WEB EDITOR
Albert Mudrian
DECIBEL WEB AD SALES
James Lewis
albert@decibelmagazine.com james@decibelmagazine.com
Vince Bellino Adrien Begrand J. Bennett Dean Brown Louise Brown Chris Chantler Richard Christy Liz Ciavarella-Brenner Cody F. Davis Chris Dick Sean Frasier Nick Green Raoul Hernandez Addison Herron-Wheeler Jonathan Horsley Courtney Iseman Neill Jameson Sarah Kitteringham Daniel Lake Shawn Macomber Shane Mehling Justin M. Norton Dutch Pearce Forrest Pitts Greg Pratt Jon Rosenthal Brad Sanders Joseph Schafer Matt Solis Kevin Stewart-Panko Eugene S. Robinson Adem Tepedelen Jeff Treppel J Andrew Zalucky CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS
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Decibel subscriber service/change of address: 215.625.9850 x105 or contact@decibelmagazine.com To order by mail: Consult the subscription card To order by phone: 215.625.9850 x105 To order by fax: 1.215.625.9967 To order online: www.decibelmagazine.com VISA/MASTERCARD/DISCOVER accepted Subscribers: please alert us of any change of address 6-8 weeks before the date of your move. Decibel is not responsible or obligated to re-ship issues missed because of a move we were not informed of 6-8 weeks before the move took place. DECIBEL BACK ISSUES/MERCHANDISE
To order by phone: 1.215.625.9850 (10 a.m. – 5 p.m. EST) To order by fax: 1.215.625.9967 To order online: www.decibelmagazine.com Decibel (ISSN 1557-2137) is published monthly by Red Flag Media, Inc., 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. Copyright ©2022 by Red Flag Media, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission of the publisher is strictly prohibited. PRINTED IN USA
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READER OF THE
MONTH For my money, no American music publication—at least since the heyday of Creem in the 1970s—has been as consistently irreverent and erudite as Decibel. You teach English at the University of Windsor in Canada and regularly work with international students. Do you encounter any metalhead students, and can music be a tool in learning a new language?
David Owen
Windsor, Ontario
You've been a reader since issue No. 1, but only became a subscriber a couple years ago. What made you finally decide to make the monthly commitment?
As a matter of convenience, I used to purchase my copy at the Indigo bookstore in the local mall, but then of course COVID lockdowns meant that most magazines were unavailable due to distribution problems. I didn’t want to run the risk of back issues being sold out, so a subscription was the obvious solution.
6 : J U LY 2 0 2 2 : D E C I B E L
After 20 years of teaching international students, I continue to be astounded by how little they know about rock music in general, and metal in particular. Out of a class of, say, 20, probably half have pop Muppets like Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift downloaded to their iPhones; perhaps half a dozen will know who Elvis and the Beatles are; and at best, maybe two or three will have heard of Led Zeppelin or Black Sabbath. The likelihood of anyone being familiar with the works of Cephalic Carnage would be about one in 50,000. As far as music in the classroom, I will sometimes use songs for listening proficiency/vocabulary-building,
i.e., Listen to the song and then fill in the blanks with the missing word. After playing “Hells Bells” by AC/DC, one of my students went out and bought an electric guitar. Result! Kreator are on the cover of this issue of Decibel. The band has numerous essential LPs from its early days through the modern era. What's your favorite?
Probably Enemy of God. It combines the feral intensity of their formative works with a gleaming, machine-tooled Andy Sneap production. Truth be told, if we’re talking Teutonic thrash, I’m a bit partial to their Swiss compatriots Coroner and Celtic Frost. The baroque complexity of the former and the genre-shattering originality of the latter still take some beating. We recently launched Decibel Records, which will release limited vinyl runs of new recordings. Are you a vinyl fan or are you just listening to Kreator right now on YouTube?
Neither, actually. When I started listening to rock music in the late ’70s, records were already on the way out and cassettes were considered the way to go; around 1990, I switched to CDs, and I’ll be damned if I’m changing formats again. Would you believe I recently picked up a Gorgoroth CD for two bucks in a thrift shop? Believe me, five years from now, CDs will be the new vinyl.
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
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PHOTOS: Chad Lee (King), Dirk Behlau (Amott), Stephanie Cabral (Peterson), Dylan Duncan (Barrett), Martin Wicker (Vincent)
OBITUARIES
GABE
SERBIAN 1977 - 2 0 22
ON
the day before what would have been his 45th birthday, Gabe Serbian passed away. While best known for backstopping San Diego quick-change plaguewielders the Locust since 2001, those who followed Serbian beyond his densely academic and frazzling free-form approach to battery were aware of talents beyond his mathematically beating the tar out of drums and cymbals while wearing a space-age insect uniform. ¶ In addition to drumming in oddball jazzbos Zu, for IDM/breakcore artist Otto von Schirach’s live band, and hardcore supergroups Retox and Head Wound City, Serbian was a proficient guitarist, the instrument on which he initially joined the Locust. He also slung strings for Holy Molar (where deranged dentist costumes replaced space-age insect uniforms) and as an original member of Cattle Decapitation. Additionally, he was known to grab the mic— fronting hardcore/punk filthmongers Rat’s Eyes and preceding Mike Patton as vocalist in Dave Lombardo’s Dead Cross project. And if that weren’t indicative of how music was Serbian’s obsessive calling, in 2014, alongside longtime friend and bandmate Justin Pearson, he composed and recorded material for Incompresa (Misunderstood), an Asia Argento-directed drama. 8 : J U LY 2 0 2 2 : D E C I B E L
Tributes have been pouring in as one might imagine when the underground extreme music community unexpectedly loses one of its creative pillars way, way, way before their time. “This world will miss Gabe as a friend, family member, musician and artist,” read a statement from the Locust. “He will continue to live on in so many ways and through everyone he has connected with during his time
with us. We hope that you can find a way to celebrate his life.” As I write this, clad in a slowly disintegrating Locust hoodie purchased after they simultaneously decimated and offended the entirety of 2003’s Milwaukee Metalfest, I’m reminded of an interview I conducted with Serbian promoting the release of the Locust’s 2007 album, New Erections. Partway through our chat, he piped in with, “Hey, can I call you right back? I have to go track down a gun.” Say what?! Turns out he was on the clock at his then-gig as movie set prop master, and a firearm was required for an upcoming scene. When he rang back, he succinctly encapsulated his dedication: “Yeah, I found it; some sort of rifle. This job is a bunch of go here, go there, get this, get that… man, I put up with a lot of shit so I can play music and tour.” Serbian is survived by his wife and two children. The Locust have set up a memorial fund through GoFundMe. All donations will go to Serbian’s family. R.I.P. —KEVIN STEWART-PANKO