Decibel #229 - November 2023

RECORDING DEATH’S HUMAN

THING KK’S PRIEST ANOTHER COMING

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NOVEMBER 2023 // No. 229

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Surprising Endurance COVER STORY COVER AND CONTENTS PHOTOS BY SHIMON KARMEL

upfront

features

10 metal muthas Gone with the wind

16 final gasp More than mere misfits

32 wayfarer American horror story

12 low culture Blast from the past

18 ragana A blackened present for a brighter future

34 myrkur It’s electrifying

13 no corporate beer Barreled over 14 in the studio Vastum take a long, horrifying look inward

20 graveripper Sharp senses 22 the keening Flying the coop 24 kommodus Cold to the past 26 capra You must be mistaken 28 body void Empty vessels make the most noise

36 kk’s priest Sins of our brothers 38 nervosa For the ladies 40 q&a: cannibal corpse Vocalist George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher is no Mr. Asshole

reviews 44 exclusive:

the scott burns sessions: a life in death metal 1987-1997 book excerpt A very cynical history of a death metal classic

50 the decibel

hall of fame Insect Warfare stick to the grind long enough to help make the metal world a better place with their sole full-length World Extermination

75 lead review Wayfarer wrangle in their songwriting chops to craft an atmospheric masterpiece on American Gothic 76 album reviews Records from bands that again made Mitch McConnell lose his train of... including Cirith Ungol, Prong and Wolves in the Throne Room 88 damage ink Don’t feed the bear

30 false fed Crusts cut off

Decibel (ISSN 1557-2137) is published monthly by Red Flag Media, Inc., P.O. Box 36818, Philadelphia, PA 19107. Annual subscription price is $34.95. 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. © 2023 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.

4 : NOVEMBER 2023 : DECIBEL

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Gregory Whalen was my favorite metal

journalist of all time. No offense to the many long-in-the-tooth legends that preceded him, but as a wee lad of 20 when Greg first started contributing to Terrorizer in 1996, I was at my most impressionable. In fact, I have previously mentioned the profound influence that mid-’90s Terrorizer—then stewarded by editor Nick Terry—had on the genesis of Decibel. So often that I’ve credited Nick’s vision for what an extreme music mag could be—but it was Greg who truly made that vision a reality.

Armed with mildly elitist taste and a wicked sense of humor from his days publishing his own underground zine, The Crypt, Greg wielded a unique power. He could turn you on to essential new bands like Nifelheim and Gehennah while still making you appreciate the significance of then-omnipresent acts like Cradle of Filth and Moonspell—often within the pages of a single issue. Simultaneously, he led you deeper into the scene without shying away from contemporary bands that were entry points for younger metalheads. Well, maybe not all entry points.

In the heady days of the mid-’90s, when nü-metal was still an unidentified fad and less of a now multi-generational scourge, Greg christened the juvenile movement “woolly hat metal.” It’s equal parts astutely dismissive and quintessentially British (or Scottish, as I’m sure he’d note), and it still makes me smile.

I stopped seeing Greg’s Terrorizer byline sometime in the early aughts before learning that, for an all-too-common reason, he’d become increasingly less reliable. He received one last chance from a new editor, but flaked on a Mayhem cover story, which signaled his unceremonious end as a metal journalist. At least until I contacted him a few years later and convinced him to write a few reviews for Decibel. Even after a lengthy hiatus, he was still razor-sharp. It was short-lived, of course, but it was completely worth it.

Greg’s giant personality was housed in an equally large body that was well over six feet tall. Sadly, as the years wore on, that vessel began to fail him. I learned this in the middle of July when—after nearly a decade of silence—Greg contacted me about contributing to Decibel again. Of course, I was game. I assigned him a review of the new Primordial album and gave him a deadline, which he promptly blew past. It was then that he told me he was on dialysis and I should give the review to someone else, and instead have him write a Primordial feature for the following issue. He closed with, “I am really sorry.

Please don’t fire me.”

I told him to not worry about the feature and to just please take care of himself. He didn’t reply. A few weeks later, he was gone. This time, for real.

That Primordial review should have been my favorite piece in last month’s issue, but I didn’t reassign it to someone else.

Because Greg Whalen is irreplaceable. Rest in power, big guy. albert mudrian, Editor-in-Chief

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Seth Foresman State College, PA

You reside in State College, PA, which, besides Penn State, we know nothing about.

Is there anything going on there in terms of a metal scene?

These days, no. It was a lot better when I was going to school here in the early ’00s.

There was a club downtown for years called the Crowbar where you used to be able to see everyone. GWAR, Baroness, Mastodon, Misfits and pretty much any other band who couldn’t sell out the BJC [Bryce Jordan Center] would play. It was tiny and sweaty and loud and awesome, and I fucking miss it. I am not sure if college students even listen to bands or music anymore that they didn’t discover on TikTok, but there are a few of us old Luddites out here still trying. I play guitar in one of the only metal bands in town (that I know of) called Goatsmoker. There ARE some metal

8 : NOVEMBER 2023 : DECIBEL

You’ve long been a vocal supporter of Decibel’s dear friends at The Requiem Metal Podcast.

Feel free to give them a plug and tell us why every metalhead should be tuning in.

I love those guys. Never has a better lawnmowing and long-drive companion existed. Before I discovered that podcast, I only had this magazine to turn to for any informed discussion on the wealth of amazing underground and extreme metal music out there, and even from decades past. Finding Requiem was like discovering two friends I never knew I had. It’s a great supplemental way to learn more about bands that you know are important, but haven’t had the time to really dig into. Jason [Hundey] and Mark [Rudolph] dig in deep. They were even nice enough to entertain an idea I had for an episode on ’90s soundtracks. I was totally shocked when they ended up posting a three-part episode on the subject.

The number one reason I suggest checking it out—especially if you are in your 40s—is simply nostalgia. I love hearing Jason and Mark talk about all these old bands and albums I had

to listen to behind a shroud of mystery back in the ’90s, and learning all the behind-thescenes history that I never knew. Plus, they go off on these great tangents about pop culture stuff that was happening at the time. I end up throwing my arms up in the air at least 10 times every episode, like, “YES! EXACTLY!” You’ve attended the Philly edition of Metal & Beer Fest on several occasions. What is your favorite set you’ve seen there, and what’s your dream booking?

Oh man… I would probably need three pages to talk about all the absolutely life-changing sets I have seen at Metal & Beer over the years.

I was disappointed that I had to miss the last one in Philly, but I have been to every other one, and I plan on making my return this coming spring. There have been obvious triumphs that everyone can probably agree on—Sleep, Candlemass, Agoraphobic Nosebleed, Enslaved, Horrendous, etc.—but my favorite sets were always the ones by bands I knew next to nothing about who surprised me. On that note, three sets come to mind: Immolation in 2017, and both Voivod and Soul Glo in 2022. All three of those sets really got to me for different reasons I was not expecting.

A few bands I would love to see on the bill in the future: ASG, Godflesh, Unto Others, Big Business, Haunt, and then if you all could just find a way to get In Solitude or Torche back together. No big deal.

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

PHOTO BY CARLY DREIBELBIS

bands in neighboring Altoona that we play with who are still keeping it alive. We share bills and all try to support each other. The lead guitarist in Deicide, Taylor Nordberg, is from here as well.

Not much else to speak of. I am DMing bands all the time trying to get them to come play here. I am sure my wife would not mind them sleeping in our basement.

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NOW SLAYING Wonder what Decibel world HQ has been rocking for the past month?

Well, here are the records that we spun most when we weren’t cancelling this issue because the world is overheating.

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

This Month’s Mutha: Carla Morrison Mutha of Aaron Heard of Jesus Piece

Tell us a little about yourself.

I am 57 years young. I have four sons. With the help of my mother, I raised all four of them. I love to travel. I just got back from New Orleans.

It was hot as the devil’s balls down there. I felt like I was in Mexico picking Roma tomatoes.

Oh, I have 11 grandchildren. Leo, Aaron’s son, was my youngest. I’m retired and I live in North Carolina. I do miss Philadelphia, though. I miss the food, atmosphere, my family and my grandchildren. But I can always go home to see them.

I’m just hanging out and enjoying my life.

Did you have any hand in Aaron’s affection for punk music when he was growing up?

I believe I had a hand in Aaron’s love of music, but I didn’t think it would be punk or metal.

I’ve always played music in the home, especially on cleaning days. I didn’t know what type of music [Aaron played] until I seen a video. I’m just there like, “Where did he get that from?”

He always said to me, “Mom, when I perform, I have to have you backstage. I don’t want you out there in all that mess.” I’m happy because I realized this is what really makes Aaron happy.

It really helps inside, deep inside, with who he is and how he’s feeling.

Your son is an Uber driver on the side. Are you ever concerned about his safety?

I’m concerned about Aaron’s safety no matter where he’s at. I’ve always been that type of mother. Shit can always happen. As far as him

being an Uber driver, I worry, but I try not to.

I do know that he’s an honest man and a good man, you know? And anyone that he picks up, I think that they would feel it and know that he’s such a cool dude.

How has it felt seeing Aaron’s ascent from Philadelphia’s underground metal scene to the cover of a major print magazine?

God, I was floored. He really is doing something big. I thought maybe he was playing some little clubs or something, but then when I saw the Decibel and Kerrang! covers and the Rolling Stone stuff, my jaw dropped. I was stuck. Just like, oh my goodness, like, he really is doing something. I always said Aaron was special, but I just couldn't put my finger on it. It was just something about him.

What are your impressions of Aaron as a father?

Oh, he is awesome. I don’t think there’s anyone better than him, really. There isn’t a word for how much he loves his son. The thing I love the most is that Leo knows it. That little boy knows good and well that his daddy loves him. Leo is Aaron reincarnated all over again. He’s such a joy, but sensitive. He really warms my heart.

Tell us something about your son that most people would never suspect.

When he was little, someone told him that the wind was gonna blow him away. I couldn’t understand why my son wouldn’t go outside. [Laughs] He was scared as hell. —ANDREW BONAZELLI

Albert Mudrian : e d i t o r i n c h i e f  Tomb Mold, The Enduring Spirit  The Keening, Little Bird  Rid of Me, Access to the Lonely  The Breeders, Pod  Witchery, Restless & Dead ---------------------------------Patty Moran : c u s t o m e r s e r v i c e  Icons of Filth, Not on Her Majesty’s Service  The Partisans, The Partisans  Subhumans, EP-LP  Negative Approach, Tied Down  Government Issue, Legless Bull ---------------------------------James Lewis : a d s a l e s  Tomb Mold, The Enduring Spirit  Wayfarer, American Gothic  Insect Warfare, World Extermination  Panopticon, …and Again into the Light  Till the Dirt, Outside the Spiral ---------------------------------Mike Wohlberg : a r t d i r e c t o r  Tomb Mold, The Enduring Spirit  Svalbard, The Weight of the Mask  Suffocation, Pierced from Within  Wayfarer, American Gothic  Mayhem, Live in Leipzig ---------------------------------Aaron Salsbury : m a r k e t i n g a n d s a l e s  Ministry, The Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Taste  Petbrick, Pet Sounds Volume II  Drowningman, Busy Signal at the Suicide Hotline  Cronos Compulsion, Cursed and Decaying  Mutoid Man, Mutants

GUEST SLAYER

---------------------------------Zak Carter : o u t e r h e a v e n  Gary Moore, Run for Cover  Horrendous, Ontological Mysterium  Jean-Luc Ponty, Enigmatic Ocean  Mahavishnu Orchestra, The Inner Mounting Flame  Grateful Dead, Dick’s Picks vol. 36: The Spectrum, Philadelphia, PA 9/21/1972

PHOTO BY

10 : N O V E M B E R 2 0 2 3 : D E C I B E L

SCOTT KINKADE

AN

NEY ISEM

T

BY COUR

Jesus Christ! And Other Stupid Shit been fortunate the

last few months in that I’ve been able to rebuild some of my record collection that I’d lost over the years, either by selling it to make sure I could make rent or getting lost in moves or destroyed by a flooded basement or my prick cats. I’ve also been able to grab a few things that have been on my wish list decades before Discogs was even a thing.

The main prize that comes to mind is a copy of Ancient’s “Det Glemte Riket” 7-inch, a record I’ve been after for so long I didn’t even have to check if I spelled it right. Rewinding a bit, I had initially thought I procured a copy sometime in 1997, when a friend was unloading a lot of his collection before moving overseas. We’d made several successful trades before, so I didn’t have any reason to believe this would be different.

This was the first time anyone used the “it got lost in the mail” excuse, well before some labels and individuals would make that their fucking tagline, and there wasn’t really anything I could do about it. Years would go by and every time I’d try to get a copy, either through eBay or trades, it was always out of reach. It’s not like it’s an expensive record—just a motherfucker to get a hold of. Eventually I gave up chasing records because life got in the way, as it inevitably does.

A few weeks ago, I checked Discogs and found a copy—from Norway, fittingly—and finally dropped the hammer. When it arrived and I put it on, I experienced something I was almost afraid I’d lost. I experienced a moment (well, about 13 minutes) where I was so tuned into the music that I forgot anything surrounding it: black metal 2023, my place in it, the fact that 12 : NOVEMBER 2023 : DECIBEL

Ancient had a member named Jesus Christ! for a few records, the time I saw them in NYC and the girl I was dating blew a guy in the bathroom who wasn’t me. You get the picture. I got to experience listening to something as a fan for once.

I’ve been approaching music with this kind of mindset for about a year now, rediscovering my love of Gorgoroth or Forgotten Woods or any number of other bands I spun obsessively in my teens. It’s been strangely liberating, and dropping the needle on this 7-inch was the zenith.

Stepping back from the constant noise that is whatever subculture and/or music scene you’re a part of and being able to just absorb something without the burden of public consensus or whatever passes for conversation might be the purest thing I’ve experienced in years. This isn’t to say I don’t relish my involvement in these things— nor does it take away from discovering and championing new artists—but just this simple act of listening to a 7-inch and not a YouTube rip of something I’ve chased for 25 years? It’s fucking priceless.

I was recently asked how I felt about today’s black metal considering I was around when it was more “real.” My answer is that I try to ignore it. And the bands that, maybe a decade or more ago, I would have rallied against? Fuck ’em, I won’t waste my time giving them free publicity by stating my opinion. But how I feel today is intrinsically the same as I felt back then, and that’s carried mostly by moments like the one I just described. All I can really say is that I hope you can have the same moment where absolutely nothing else matters but the music you’re listening to and the experience you’re having.

Whatever form of music you’re into.

Open Cask-et

TO

say cask beer is making a comeback within American craft beer may be controversial. Die-hard enthusiasts may claim it never went anywhere. While adding there’s a long way to go before cask beer’s footprint is similar to the one it has in the U.K., Bradley Gillett, owner of one of America’s most renowned cask-focused breweries, Seneca Lake Brewing, says, “There is a large culture around cask here in the U.S., more so than people think. [It’s] grown in the past 10 years, albeit slowly, with more and more breweries … doing things like ‘firkin Fridays’ or one of the casks on the end of the bar.”

Emphasis on “breweries” there, as they are now the fuel behind cask beer’s fire, rather than the bars where it would be more common 10 or 20 years ago. Taprooms are now more ubiquitous than beer bars, and breweries are returning to traditional styles often tied to traditional serving methods.

Gary Chopurian, a member of New England’s Cask-conditioned Ale Support Campaign (CASC) and organizer of its festival, the New England Real Ale eXhibition (NERAX), calls cask beer’s growth “glacial,” but definitely sees its availability growing, as well as its popularity and reach, especially compared to years past—CASC started in 1997. “The clientele… is all over the board now,” he says. “There’s a lot more younger people coming to the festival. And in the Boston area, there’s a lot more cask beer.”

Caskmasters  Seneca Lake Brewing thinks other breweries should be a little more wooden about their beers

Fellow CASC member Ryan Leonard has noticed “a huge wave in popularity from, say, eight years ago,” summing up the trajectory as, “an initial wave in the early 2000s with the rise of craft beer, then a dip as extreme beers and IPAs became popular… then, recently, drinkers I know, and especially brewers, [have been] coming full circle to lagers and classic ale styles, which do really well on cask with their delicate flavors and lower ABVs.” Cask programs require staff education and vigilance to ensure beer isn’t served stale or oxidized, and the number of bars that couldn’t sell through their cask beer fast enough and served bad beer helped contribute to a fade-out of cask’s presence a decade ago, also catalyzed by hazy IPAs and fruited sours. But with people seeking out classic styles now, breweries have stepped up to enhance those with a bit more razzle-dazzle in the taproom—side-pull taps for lagers, for example, and now cask engines.

“I believe breweries that don’t currently offer some sort of cask program are missing out on a large opportunity to increase sales and garner a new audience of beer lovers into their taprooms,” Gillett says. “Cask can also allow breweries to have fun with some of their current mainstay beers by putting them into a cask, adding any adjuncts or perhaps just using it as a test bed for new recipes.”

A cask program in the taproom allows for experimentation and attracts drinkers, whether they’re intentionally searching for cask beer or curious about that differentlooking tap handle. This creates an engaging novelty for breweries at a time when it’s been tough to get people back to on-premise imbibing. “[Our goal] has always been to provide a memorable, singular experience for drinking in our bars and restaurants,” says Greg Engert,

beer director at Neighborhood Restaurant Group, making him the man behind the cask programs at New York City and Washington D.C. beer bars the Grand Delancey and Churchkey, as well as a new brewery in New Orleans, Brewery Saint X. “The way you do that is to tell the guest, ‘If you come to our place, we can provide you with an experience you simply cannot replicate at home.’”

If you’re thirsty for cask beer now, make sure you’re getting that beer at its best.

Especially if you’re in a bar, Leonard and Chopurian recommend asking some basic questions of the bartender, like how long the cask has been on. A brush-up on cask beer to put this into context: It’s unfiltered and receives its final fermentation in the cask with live yeast. It’s dispensed by being pumped out of the cask with a beer engine, or hand pump.

There’s no carbon dioxide pushing the beer out, so air enters the cask as beer is dispensed, which oxidizes the beer. That’s why, after about three days, the beer will begin tasting off. CAMRA, the U.K.’s Campaign for Real Ale, condemns it as nontraditional, but a cask breather, which allows sterile gas to replace beer instead of oxygen, helps venues keep beers in better condition a bit longer.

In New York, Wild East Brewing Company, Fifth Hammer Brewing Company and Strong Rope Brewery all serve traditional styles on cask, the latter two hosting popular cask festivals. Upstate, in addition to Seneca Lake Brewing, Dutchess Ales dedicates a portion of its brewing lineup to beers for cask. Atlanta’s Bold Monk Brewing Co. holds an annual cask fest, and in Van Nuys, CA, MacLeod Brewing Co. is a favorite spot for British ales and lagers on cask. Thanks to breweries, it’s never been easier to indulge in beer-tradition curiosity and fandom.

DECIBEL : NOVEMBER 2023 : 13

VASTUM

STUDIO REPORT

VASTUM

BAY

Area death metal staples Vastum recently

wrapped recording on their fifth fullALBUM TITLE length, Inward to Gethsemane, to be released Inward to Gethsemane via 20 Buck Spin. The quintet once again recorded at Earhammer Studios with longtime collaborator STUDIO Greg Wilkinson, and their loyal supplicants can expect another Earhammer, Oakland, CA blistering burst of heady tank-beat death metal augmented by RECORDING DATES psychological lyrics.

“This album is about being violated by a body you can’t conJuly 14-25, 2023 trol,” explains vocalist Dan Butler (Acephalix, Draghkar). “It ENGINEER takes after the biblical story of Gethsemane—the agony garden Greg Wilkinson that presages Christ’s march to Golgotha. In Gethsemane, bodily LABEL anguish overrides the authority of God. The Gethsemane night is 20 Buck Spin a world without God, a world in which mortality is all.”

RELEASE DATE But this is metal, and sound supersedes script even for a band November 2023 as mythopoetic as Vastum. This time, the band’s watering their agony garden with a stiffer-than-ever pour of the psychedelic atmosphere of previous releases Orificial Purge and Hole Below.

“Our goal with this album is to push the boundaries of our previous work by infusing deeper, spacious and more mysterious atmospheric moments,” says co-vocalist and guitarist Leila Abdul-Rauf.

14 : N O V E M B E R 2 0 2 3 : D E C I B E L

She describes Inward to Gethsemane as “a journey unfolding while retaining Vastum’s uncompromisingly monolithic core sound.” Said atmosphere comes partly from guest keyboardist Gregory C. Hagan, who collaborated with AbdulRauf’s solo ambient project live this summer.

Inward to Gethsemane will be the band’s first album with bassist Colin Tarvin (Evulse), who has played on live dates with them before.

Tarvin also holds down the rhythm section in Mortuous with Vastum drummer Chad Gailey (Necrot, Stormkeep).

“I’ve always had a lot of respect for Vastum since first hearing them and playing shows together 10 or so years ago,” Tarvin says.

“Leila and Shelby [Lermo, guitarist] write some really sickening riffs together, and when they all asked if I’d be on the album, I agreed without hesitation. It’s all come full circle.”

—JOSEPH SCHAFER

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FINAL GASP

Gloomy Boston crew swaps Samhain fetish for metallic post-punk goth

Y

ou could probably play Final Gasp’s debut full-length, Mourning Moon, for five different people and get five different responses as to what influences the Boston sextet are drawing from. Early on, back in 2018, we all might have agreed on Samhain, but something dark and wonderful happened between early EPs Baptism of Desire and Haunting Whisper and the band’s latest. A fairly one-dimensional death rock band has blossomed into something more well-rounded. The title track, for instance, tips its hat to post-punk, nods to goth and links arms with melodic OC punk, without sacrificing any metallic heaviness. ¶ “Yeah, I’d say we definitely have a wide variety of influences,” vocalist Jake Murphy acknowledges via email. “Samhain was obviously a huge one when we started, but it’s changed quite a bit for the better.” ¶ The core of the band, dating back to its 2018 origins, was Murphy, bassist Sean Rose, drummer Eric Lester and guitarist Alex Consentino, who have played (and continue to play) in various other Boston acts together. “We’re all cut from the same cloth for the most part,” 16 : NOV EMBER 202 3 : DECIBEL

Murphy notes, “all coming from the Boston punk and hardcore scene.”

As Final Gasp progressed and matured, Murphy and Co. found the need to expand their ranks with two additional guitarists—James Forsythe and Peter Micanovic—to create a more fully realized sound.

“The newer songs we were writing had a lot of layers to them, and we have a lot of synth and keys in there,” Murphy explains. “We’re going to start incorporating that live now, too, but I wanted to see what it would be like having three guitars with one having a primarily cleaner tone, kind of playing as the keys.”

Though largely known for his crushing recordings of thrash and crossover bands, Arthur Rizk was entrusted to produce Mourning Moon, and he kept the band’s echoey/cavernous sound intact, while providing needed crispness for definition and weight. “I love Arthur Rizk’s recordings, and I felt like he would

nail it on the head with this,” Murphy says. “Recording with Arthur was one of the most pleasant experiences I’ve ever had, and he really helped a lot and knew what we were going for.”

What they were going for was something more ambitious than previous releases, and both Rizk and the band captured the almost indefinable vibe perfectly. “I’d say [we’ve] definitely progressed as musicians in the sense that we’re just trying different things out,” Murphy suggests. “Everything is on the table and it’s not so derivative of one thing. I think that’s how music’s supposed to be: Just try it, and if it makes you feel something when you’re writing it, then don’t question it. Some of these songs are unpredictable and it wasn’t intentional; we just did what felt right with them, and I think [Mourning Moon] has something for everyone.”

—ADEM TEPEDELEN

PHOTO BY TYLER HALLETT

FINAL GASP

RAGANA

FOR

well over a decade, Ragana have been one of the Pacific Northwest’s best-kept secrets, but that’s about to change. Their anarcha-feminist, atmospheric blackened doom outfit leans heavily on its own non-metal influences, from Grouper and ’90s riot grrrl to post-hardcore, dark folk and classic screamo. In true collective fashion, the founding duo of Maria and Coley trade off on both clean and harsh vocals, as well as drums and guitar.

Their deep roots in DIY meant that, for a long time, it was much easier to find them playing a queer punk house in Oakland than anywhere else. Now, though, they’ve linked up with Bay Area tastemakers the Flenser to release Desolation’s Flower, a cathartic document of hope and grief that seems perfect for the dark, tumultuous times in which we live. ¶ “This album feels like a call to action,” Maria says. “The world looks like a different place today in 2023 than it did in 2017, and we can feel the old ways dying. I see revolutions sparking and changes being forced.” ¶ Six years ago, the pair had just released You Take Nothing, a monolith of

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feminist fury and Trump-era vitriol; the band donated the proceeds from its first single to the water protectors at Standing Rock. A lot has happened since then, and while the political has always been personal for Ragana, this new album sees them dig even deeper into their own lives.

“Desolation’s Flower is really about finding strength in honoring queer and trans ancestors, those who came before and fought and struggled and died and made my life and my loved ones’ lives possible, and who still haunt us,” Coley explains. “In this time where hatred and repression of queer and trans people feels so visible and overwhelming, I find strength in that spiritual connection.”

While the protest-inspired “DTA” (Death to America)” goes straight for the jugular, fragile funereal songs like “Woe” and “Pain” illustrate the album’s other major

theme—mortality. Maria lost a close friend in the span between the two albums, and wrote about that loss on the album as a means to heal and push forward.

“Death forces a change, and I want to recognize its power and its ability to motivate us towards a better future,” she explains. “In a revolution, martyrs become symbols of strength to continue the fight.”

Armed with the Flenser’s backing, and with a busy touring season ahead of them, Ragana are ready to start their next chapter in their journey—and make some new allies along the way.

“Our music has always been for people who feel the pain and injustice of the world acutely, and who dream and struggle to make this world more just and livable and free,” says Coley. “I hope the album provides catharsis for listeners and a reminder that you’re not alone.”

—KIM KELLY

PHOTO BY BAILEY KOBELIN

RAGANA

Underground black/doom duo rages for a better future

TEMPORARY RESIDENCE LTD. EST. 1995 OR 1996

ELUVIUM (Whirring Marvels In) Consensus Reality

EXPLOSIONS IN THE SKY End

GRAILS Anches En Maat

A bold, career-defining turn for the renowned composer that explores our compicated relationships with technology, automations, and algorithms.

The first new album in seven years from the instumental icons is a loud, dramatic, wild rumination on life and death. It is simultaneously their quietest and most crushingly loud album to date.

An improbable blend of melted 1980s softcore and daytime soap opera soundtracks, cosmic minimalism, aching Westerns, melancholy electronic pulses, and massive soul-disco strings.

FRIDGE Happiness – Anniversary Edition

LINCOLN Repair and Reward

JUNE McDOOM June McDoom

The entire recorded history of one of the foundational pieces of early 1990s post-hardcore is restored and remastered after being unavailable for over 25 years.

The debut EP by the emerging Jamaican-American singersongwriter carves a unique new space in folk music.

MOSS ICON Lyburnum – Anniversary Edition

NINA NASTASIA Riderless Horse

MOGWAI As The Love Continues

The long out-of-print lone album from one of the most influential and innovative hardcore punk bands of all time gets a brilliant reissue with restored artwork.

The renowned singer-songwriter emerges from a 12-year hiatus with her first-ever proper solo album.

Produced by Steve Albini.

The Scottish icons return with their breakthrough new album, continuing to offer solace from the mundane.

Released on Rock Action in UK/EU.

The 20th anniversary reissue of Fridge’s career-defining gem. Meticulously restored, reconstructed, and remastered from the original master tapes by founding member, Kieran Hebden (Four Tet).

GRAVERIPPER

GRAVERIPPER

IT

pays to do your research. Case in point: When Corey Parks moved to Indianapolis from Lafayette and decided to start a new blackened thrash band, he did some recon.

And he found something interesting. “I started noticing that all the Indy bands were getting in Decibel and all these other bigger publications, and I was just blown away, because in Lafayette the metal scene isn’t nearly anything like it is here.

I noticed the common theme here was that all the Decibel pieces were written by Sean Frasier. So, I looked Sean up and I sent him a big message one day, just basically cold-called him, and said, ‘Hey man, what can I do as someone who’s really wanting to take it to the next level?’” ¶ Fast forward a few years and here he is, with his band Graveripper on Frasier’s label Wise Blood Records and, wouldn’t you know it, a feature in Decibel (but not by Frasier).

It helps that Graveripper live up to their name—even if, as Parks admits, the name was just two cool words chosen at random.

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Their first full-length, Seasons Dreaming Death, sports a sick Adam Burke Grim Reaper on the cover that pretty much tells you what to expect on the inside: scythe-slicing riffs and snarled horror stories delivered through what Parks considers the backbone genre of metal.

It’s a love affair he’s had for a while now. After his experience in a few thrash revival bands in the late 2000s taught him the versatility of the subgenre, he realized that thrash provided him with the perfect template to express his love of metal as a whole and bring his own thing to the table. He and his bandmates aren’t just interested in playing throwback or retro metal.

“I always make a point to say that our goal with this band is to combine black metal and thrash

metal in a different way,” Parks explains. “We’re trying to stitch black metal and thrash metal together in our own unique blend, our own unique ratio.

“And it’s funny—when you say black-thrash, you think of your Celtic Frost sound, you think of that kind of Motörhead-y sound, you think of that Venom sound, you think of the Toxic Holocaust sound, and I think we’re different than that, because all those bands kind of have punk roots. And while we do have those punk influences also, I think there’s way more of a metallic and traditional metal sound to us than when you say black-thrash, so I like to just kind of make that the differentiation in what you might get from a black-thrash band.”

—JEFF TREPPEL

PHOTO BY LINDLEY KING

Indianapolis black thrashers tear out of the cemetery with Wise Blood debut

THE KEENING

R

ebecca vernon’s life felt untethered in recent years.

She disbanded the long-running and critically acclaimed band SubRosa. She relocated to Washington State and later to Oregon. She contemplated another move for a job and instead decided to focus on music. During this upheaval, she wrote and refined songs on the Keening’s debut, Little Bird, the strongest album in a formidable discography. ¶ “I wanted to work on my material for like a year before SubRosa ended,” Vernon says. “We kept getting so many offers that it was impossible to work on it. Then it took me a few years before I felt like making music again. I could have probably done one more album with SubRosa, but I wanted to do different things.” ¶ The Keening has roots in SubRosa’s “subdued” performance at Roadburn in 2017, which featured the band playing their most loved songs in a parlor fashion. Little Bird has nods to American folk music, gospel and African American spirituals. It’s not a doom or a metal record; it is a piece of Americana and dark folk processed through Vernon’s spiritual worldview. “I wanted this music to be like folk: stripped-down and intimate,” Vernon explains.

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“Walking away from something we all put so much work into was hard. I knew SubRosa would continue to get opportunities and do well. But I thought that would be the easy route and I knew the right thing was to walk away from the safe thing.”

Vernon slowly started putting the album together and eventually relocated to Portland. She contacted drummer (and former SubRosa booking agent) Nathan Carson, who introduced her to producer Billy Anderson, violinist Andrea Morgan and other Portland musicians who appear on Little Bird. The album contains the same orchestral flourishes and majestic sweeps that were part of SubRosa. But it’s also a more intimate and confident album that reveals more of Vernon’s struggles than her previous music. Songs touch on Nick Cave, Townes Van Zandt and even Siouxsie. Vernon seems more confident on Little Bird than ever before. “I was fighting

a lot of insecurities and even outright self-hatred,” she says. “I was worried this wouldn’t come off as confident, so hearing that means a lot.”

Little Bird also shows Vernon evolving as a storyteller and lyricist. If SubRosa was a dense Russian novel, Little Bird is a memoir and Paulo Coelho allegory. “I’ve always loved the stories in blues music and murder ballads and folk music, and the idea of telling a story in a song like a parable or a fable,” Vernon says. “I focused on storytelling more here than I ever had with SubRosa.

Little Bird is about the past few years’ transition and journey. It’s about leaving what is comfortable.”

Little Bird is also just the start.

Vernon was so productive in recent months that a second Keening album is largely complete. “Music can be simple, but needs a spark or electricity to bring it alive,” Vernon says. “I knew this was a huge risk, but I had to take it.” —JUSTIN M. NORTON

PHOTO BY JARED GOLD & ANGELA BROWN

THE KEENING

Former SubRosa frontwoman boldly walks into the darkness

STONE

NEW ALBUM OUT NOW

KOMMODUS

KOMMODUS

Down Under’s black metal barbarian-emperor returns to wage his grim campaign against all

THE

image of a dead wolf stuck with arrows and bleeding on the snow hits hard, visually and figuratively. On 2020’s self-titled debut full-length, Kommodus’ armor-clad wolf was biting some fellow’s head off. Now it’s lily-white and bleeding out on a lonely winter night. It would seem the Infernal Emperor Lepidus Plague, the force behind Kommodus, is rounding second base on Joseph Campbell’s patented Hero’s Journey diagram. The Rebirth and Transformation stage, according to the Australian black metaller himself. ¶ Wreath of Bleeding Snowfall is “a metaphor for the maturity of Kommodus and also generally my psyche,” says Lepidus Plague. “Maturing past youthful fervency, zealousness, aggression and that adolescent mix of naivety, ignorance and hubris. To be less brash and more considered. The next step in an evolution.” ¶ Six years ago, Kommodus released the Will to Dominate All Life demo. Lepidus Plague has since risen to become one of the strongest forces in the global black metal underground, thanks to his uncompromising, 24 : NOVEMBER 2023 : DECIBEL

unique sound and unyielding prolificacy. “I just truly love making music,” he admits. Still, Plague considers Wreath of Bleeding Snowfall as “the beginning of a new chapter, a new phase.” Though he admits, “It’s difficult to know from my ears if it’s sonically an improvement on the first album, but more time was spent tracking, and mixing was especially more fastidious.”

For all that, there are many familiar faces and sounds on Wreath of Bleeding Snowfall. Besides his label, GoatowaRex, Kommodus remains loyal to his session drummer, Magnus T.R.J., his “war horn” players, Count Hoggeth Palmeri and Korelstak, and his mastering guy, Liam Kriz, just to name a few.

Lepidus Plague admits he’s “very familial-based,” adding, “once I let you in, you’re in.” He continues: “I think by leaning into your surroundings, you arrive at an art that’s both more unique in the

grand scheme of things and more personal to you as an individual.”

Meanwhile, his new logo was handled by friend and longtime collaborator Burier.

With a clearer, heavier sound, the tyrannical lycanthropic black metal of Kommodus fights more ferociously than ever on Wreath of Bleeding Snowfall. “I think the records are incrementally ‘cleaner’-sounding,” our man posits. “I intend each future record to have improved mixes and be cleaner. And then perhaps I’ll work my way back again.

“I like the self-titled album. I feel like it could’ve been a little shorter and some of the songs a little leaner, so that’s what I tried to implement within [Wreath of Bleeding Snowfall]. I think this second record is generally tighter [and] has more complex playing, and better lyric-writing. All of which I hope to supersede with subsequent material.” —DUTCH PEARCE

CAPRA

THE

title is about correcting the errors of your ways,” says Capra’s Tyler Harper. “We all make mistakes and go through different things, but you’ll always succeed as long as you keep at it. But the true answer is that we thought it sounded cool.” [Laughs] ¶ The guitarist is a few minutes away from hopping on a shuttle that will take him and his bandmates—drummer Jeremy Randazzo, bassist Trevor Alleman and vocalist Crow Lotus— from their hotel to the backstage area at Slovenia’s MetalDays festival. When the quartet emerges onstage, the hope is that attendees will discern the differences between material from 2021 debut album In Transmission and what they’re playing from forthcoming second album Errors. ¶ Harper makes no bones about the fact that the Lafayette, LA band are “genre-hoppers, fusing black metal, thrash metal, hardcore, punk and melodic stuff.”

Though, even with that self-characterization in mind, there are deliberate differences to note: “Each album is a different ride.

The first album was a relentless rollercoaster that never let up.

This one takes you into an entirely new direction as it evolves.”

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In Transmission was written by Harper following a rehab stint after he got caught up more in the partying side of the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle than the rock ‘n’ roll side of the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle. With Capra being his and Randazzo’s “ninth or 10th band together,” there wasn’t much early intent outside of writing and playing DIY metallic hardcore punk; music was their release and hobby in the same way other Lafayette-ians would hunt, fish, roll coal, and snap their necks falling off ATVs and Tarzan-ing into swimming holes.

“The first album was kinda for our local scene,” Harper confirms.

“Our city is full of talent, but gets passed over because we’re right between New Orleans and Houston.

We just thought it’d be another thing we did, but it got heard and into the hands of Metal Blade’s Brian Slagel, who made us an offer. We thought it was a joke at the time!”

Harper sheepishly and proudly admits that In Transmission was Capra’s attempt at being part of the metallic hardcore punk scene instead of standing out from said scene. The album’s artwork was an obvious homage to Jake Bannon and the music “blended in with every other band.” Allowing Lotus’ distinct vocal tone, timbre and approach to shine through while expanding their focus to include hooks and choruses, the hope is to get Errors into the ears of the usual (and unusual) suspects.

“We wrote In Transmission where we were at [at the time],” Harper concludes. “Now we’re trying to structure the songs a little bit more. It’s not that it’s dumbed down—it still has that chaos and anger—but we wrote it in a way that makes it more understandable to everyday listeners rather than people who specifically listen to chaotic metal and hardcore punk.”

—KEVIN STEWART-PANKO

PHOTO BY TYSON PATE

CAPRA

Genre-obliterating Louisiana quartet continues sonic roller coaster on sophomore album

LUMINESCENT BRIDGE A MAXI SINGLE TO TRANSPORT YOU TO THE ABYSSAL DEPTHS, WITH A NEW CRUSHING DEATH METAL TRACK AND AN EVEN MORE IN-DEPTH AMBIENT COMPOSITION OUT 9/15 ON CENTURY MEDIA RECORDS AVAILABLE AS CD, LTD. ULTRA CLEAR MAXI SINGLE (12"), DIGI ALBUM. AND AS DIGITAL

BODY VOID

BODY VOID

Atrocity Machine orchestrates a terror campaign upon the ears of the guilty

S

ome metal rips. Some mourns. Some parties. And some metal blisters, corrodes and cracks into bleeding shards of despair in real time. Sludge trio Body Void provide a prime example of the latter approach, with disgusting chord bombs, Eddie Holgerson’s rude and sluggish rhythms, Willow Ryan’s hopeless and harrowing wails, and now the infusion of more gripping, grinding noise than ever before thanks to the grubby bass sound and Janys-Iren Faughn’s electronic contributions. ¶ “I got my start in noise, so it’s definitely a big part of the sound for us,” Ryan reveals. “I think it’s just taken this amount of time to really figure out how we want that influence to be executed in a way that feels unique to us. Guitar feedback and noisy bass tones alone just weren’t enough for us anymore. It was honestly more than just deciding to add certain textures; it was figuring out how to incorporate this new approach melodically and rhythmically. Janys came aboard to handle power electronics for our last album 28 : NOVEMBER 2023 : DECIBEL

[Burn the Homes of Those Who Seek to Control Our Bodies] as a kind of experiment, and we really liked how it turned out, so this one we kind of went all in on that direction.”

Thematically, Atrocity Machine stabs at the morally degenerate power players who demand conservative conformity above all else. “I think [the noise] adds this alien, almost horror movie quality to the sound,” Ryan continues, “which really fits the lyrical themes of this album: how police shootings and mass shootings are commonplace in the U.S. to the point of spectacle; working for wages that don’t account for out-of-control costs of living; relying on corporations which operate more and more like automated Ponzi schemes; navigating the aftermath of a global pandemic. Here in Vermont, if it’s not flooding from unprecedented rains or we’re not boiling in unprecedented heat, there’s smoke in the air that’s harmful to breathe. I’m lucky

enough to live in a state where, as a trans person, my basic rights aren’t being legally overturned, but there are still coordinated anti-trans efforts that we have to actively stand against so they don’t take hold in our communities.

“I think it’s worth making art about finding joy or hope in a world like this, standing against it and trying to make things better in whatever way we can. It’s about acknowledging the absurdity and the mundane horror of it all, capturing the visceral feelings of living with it, because not acknowledging the psychological burden of all this, ignoring it outright, creates its own kind of trauma. We wanted to capture this feeling of living in a world with so much calamity and atrocity that it starts to feel like you’re losing your mind a little bit. I have to put these feelings to tape so they don’t stay inside and destroy me.

To me, that’s what metal and noise music are for.” —DANIEL LAKE

FALSE FED

FALSE FED

Punk legends unite and progress, but some battles never end

F

alse fed frontman jeff janiak first discussed the idea of a project with Behemoth firebrand Nergal. The pair never worked together, but Janiak never let go of the notion of doing something outside his comfort zone. He later approached friend and bassist JP Parsons with his ideas. “We got together and came up with some basic song structures,” Janiak says. “But we needed more people.” ¶ Janiak (best known for his work with Discharge) ended up with more than a group of musicians. False Fed’s lineup includes industrial/crust punk innovator Stig Miller (Amebix, Zygote) and drummer Roy Mayorga (Nausea, Ministry, Soulfly, Amebix). The new project’s Neurot debut, Let Them Eat Fake, combines industrial, dark pop and death rock into a listenable and anthemic mix that touches on Killing Joke, the Cult and even outliers like Kommunity FK. ¶ “All we ever discussed was doing something different than what we’ve done in the past, as we all come from the same scene,” Janiak says. “There is zero point in forming another D-beat or crusty punk band.

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I wanted something without any specific genre from the outset.”

“We did not talk about musical directions or goals or any of those things,” Miller adds. “JP would send me a bass riff, and I would chop it up and arrange it into something I could put a guitar idea down to, and things kind of organically developed from there—just sharing ideas and yakking away on Skype.”

The band’s name, album title, and songs like “Mass Debate” and “Superficial” critique an age of propaganda, social media hysteria and fake news—no surprise since the material came together during lockdowns. Careful listeners will hear soundbites from Peter Finch’s speech from the 1976 film Network— a blistering satire on television news and propaganda.

“We live in a world where from morning ’til night we are bombarded with bullshit and propaganda,”

Janiak says. “It comes from the internet, TV, and friends and family. Nobody knows what is true anymore, and people get stressed out or upset about things or situations that may or may not be happening, then upload bile to the internet.

This all ‘feeds the beast’ with fear and anger, and strengthens it.”

False Fed is a full-circle experience for Miller and Mayorga, who planned a project after their work on Amebix’s Sonic Mass in 2011. The band never materialized, but the pair kept in touch. “I love working with Roy because he instinctively understands what I’m trying to do and can feel a piece of music and how to make it come alive,” Miller says. “I was happy to be able to get him on board with False Fed. I had his style in mind when writing many of the riffs. I don’t think anyone else could have done them justice.” —JUSTIN M. NORTON

T

DENVER ATMOSPHERIC BLACK METALLERS

Wayfarer

EXAMINE AMERICA’S COMPLICATED STRUGGLE WITH… AMERICA STORY BY JONATHAN HORSLEY PHOTO BY FRANK GUERRA 32 : A NP OR V IELM2B0E2R1 2 : 0D2E3C :I BDEELC I B E L

here’s nothing quite like big skies and a sense of the infinite to give black metal a sense of weight and scope, the space to open up, stretch out and build worlds for us to lose ourselves in. The Norwegians did it, applying the fizz and fire to atonal guitar and blasts to conjure a landscape and construct a headspace. The black metal bands perched out on the northwestern shoulder of the continental United States did something similar, letting the flora, fauna and climate smudge the genre conventions for a heavy downer sound. And elsewhere too, as in Denver, CO, where Wayfarer seek inspiration in the geography, history and very idea of the American West to ask philosophical questions of the country’s past, and how it has shaped us today. ¶ The strains of “The Thousand Tombs of Western Promise” open their latest album, American Gothic, with paperdry guitar casting the illusion that we are, boots ‘n’ all, covered in prairie dust. It’s a neat trick, textures unmooring black metal instrumentation from contemporary cultural associations.

WE WANTED IT TO SOUND OF A TIME, BUT STILL FRESH TO SOMEONE LISTENING TODAY— AND TO SOUND DISTINCTLY AMERICAN.

We wanted it to sound haunted like the nation itself.

SHANE McCARTHY

“Texture is hugely important,” says Shane McCarthy, the band’s guitarist and vocalist.

“Always has been for us as a band—and with this album having such a defined ‘world,’ it was infinitely important that we fleshed out the texture of that with the sounds contained in it. We wanted it to sound of a time, but still fresh to someone listening today—and to sound distinctly American. We wanted it to sound haunted like the nation itself.”

Above all, Wayfarer’s sound is haunting. Five albums in and we can still legitimately call it atmospheric black metal—or folk black metal— but if they draw upon folk, they duly subvert it, just as they do black metal. Tracked under the supervision of Arthur Rizk in Philadelphia, American Gothic references old blues guitar, adapting some of the vocabulary established during the foundation of American musical culture to explore the darkness in the nation’s soul.

“There is an intentional pivot away from any Ennio Morricone-type influences like [what] could be found on [2020’s] A Romance With Violence, as we wanted to keep it to the true sounds from the United States,” says McCarthy. “There is an inclusion, and sort of a subversion of early blues elements here, which did implement guitar and bass, and eventually electric guitar, which I think is why it can be pulled off. There is some upright piano here and there, and some other percussive elements.”

What there isn’t is the suspicion that you’re listening to a costumed Shelby Foote playing the super sounds of the antebellum South on a B.C. Rich Warlock. McCarthy says that’s the pitfall, the risk of becoming another “gimmicky folk metal outfit” in furs and face paint, and that’s why the instrumentation is as elemental as can be. That said, there are bold choices, like “Reaper on the Oilfields,” which has this languid Birthday Party/Swans quality, a choice that pays off with a heady, long night on the peyote vibe, pulling you in deeper.

“Glad you dig that one!” enthuses McCarthy.

“It is one of our favorites as well because, again, it was constructed very simply. It is all based around one very swamp-blues-ish guitar line, and a dark chord progression with slide guitar.

We wanted it to build a very specific vibe for the song’s concept. The influence of the weirder end of post-punk elements that you hear is very present, as this is a type of somber vocal delivery that we are all into and fits well into the feeling of this record. It was a very meditative song written very organically by the four of us jamming it and really writing most of it in the one session, as it seemed like one of those to not overthink and just let be.”

McCarthy is joined in Wayfarer by Isaac Faulk on drums and keys, Jamie Hansen on bass and vocals, and Joe Strong-Truscelli on bass.

When they got to Philly for the sessions, there

was still some writing to be done. Rizk wasn’t just the good shepherd steering the takes onto the can; he helped shape some of the songs, like “False Constellation,” the album closer and exemplar for where Wayfarer are at. “When you have someone you trust,” says McCarthy, “as we do with him, it’s a nice way of working—feeling like you are all working together on something instead of four people doing something and the fifth just there to get it on a hard drive.”

American Gothic takes its title from the Grant Wood painting, but the theme is more a “funeral for the American Dream.” Not that McCarthy is altogether willing to give up on all of it. America itself is too complex. “It’s a lens into the nation and the darkness within it—the trappings and tragedies of its history,” he says.

The old westerns used to be more sure of themselves. There was good. There was evil.

But there’s a little of that in all of us.

McCarthy’s reference for American Gothic is more revisionist; McCabe & Mrs. Miller, where everyone’s tainted; Heaven’s Gate, the grand folly of excess, crumbling under its own ambition.

That could be America.

“You can view this record as the moral struggle that envelopes Kris Kristofferson’s Jim Averill in the latter, through shards of light and gray morality as his honor comes and goes,” says McCarthy. Hey, that could be America, too.

D E C I BDEELC I: BNEOLV:EAMPBREIR L 2023 1 : 33

AMALIE BRUUN TAKES

MYRKURBACK INTO THE WOODS

s t o r y b y C H R I S D I C K | p h o t o b y G O B I N D E R J H I T TA

T

here’s no more vital constant than change for shapeshifters Myrkur. of it was talking to people. Being physical and

Helmed by multi-instrumentalist/songwriter Amalie Bruun, the Danish-based outfit has—since debut M in 2015—thrust the comforts of Norwegian black metal, the ambitions of dream pop and the evergreens of Nordic folk music into an unlikely nebulous relationship over the course of four full-lengths, the latest of which is their Randall Dunn-produced Spine. ¶ “I didn’t have any ideas going into what it [Spine] should—or rather would—sound like,” says Bruun from her abode somewhere in the wilds of Denmark. “If you’re someone who knows my music, you probably know that I don’t stick with any genre.

I don’t even know genres. I work with feeling and sound. Personally, I needed a break from the Nordic folk music—from folk music in general—and from the whole scene, I think.” ¶ While the chart-smashing Folkesange (as oared by “Ella,” “House Carpenter” and “Leaves of Yggdrasil” to the top of charts in Billboard and Germany’s GfK Top 100) had its place in Bruun’s multifarious oeuvre, the might and growl of her electric guitar, which had sat unused in her basement since the Mareridt tours, beckoned once more. Astute heshers probably saw this coming, however. Familiar Bathory-like emotes and Ulver-inspired tremolo riffs were ushered out of hiding on “Krigersang,” “Jætternes Sang” and “Kampsang” for the soundtrack to Ragnarok, a play marshaled by the prestigious Royal Theater of Denmark earlier this year.

“I missed my electric guitars so fucking much,” Bruun beams. “I’ve been playing these acoustic instruments and they drove me crazy.

When I set up my amps, suddenly, I was excited again. I was like, ‘Ah! This is what I needed!’ I couldn’t wait to get back to writing darker music with this ethereal and shimmering thing on top.

I love all that so much.”

Spine is a direct descendent of the albums before it—right down to the arboreal thrum, wintertide blasts and trollish rasps of “Valkyriernes Sang”—but true to form, it’s Myrkur in revolution. Opener “Bålfærd” ushers in filmic death while earworm “Like Humans” is the rebirth.

From that point forward, Spine traverses the 3rd and the Mortal-like world-isms (“My Blood Is Gold”) through angst-pop gold (“Mothlike,” “Spine”) to its logical conclusion, a honey-voiced lullaby to her son in “Menneskebarn.”

“I was inspired to write something more traditionally Scandinavian black metal,” Bruun says of “Valkyriernes Sang.” “It’s a sound from NP OR V IELM2B0E2R1 2 34 : A : 0D2E3C :I BDEELC I B E L

the ’90s—most people know I love that. It also has an extra step towards something more epic, in a way, with that big chorus and everything.

Black metal from the ’90s had a more cool vibe. I wanted to do a King Diamond-inspired ending to it and sing my ass off. It’s pretty epic.”

Pandemic hangovers in the arts have been very real. Spine is far from being inspired by the phenomenon, but it has some of the same feelings—isolation, agitation and disaffection— imbued within. In fact, Myrkur’s newest album was written in parallel to the pandemic, while Bruun was experiencing what she called “one of the hardest times of her life,” which culminated in the realities of motherhood and festered deeply in AI takeovers, being a prisoner of her mind and general questions of humanity’s ability to sustain itself.

“A lot of people struggle,” says Bruun. “Even if you are becoming a parent, or if you’re not, the struggle is there. It will happen. I got a lot of help—some of it was going outside and some

in the moment was important for me to get out of whatever I was in. But I’m also thinking constantly, ‘Wait a minute… Could all of this happen again?’ I think the pandemic changed us permanently. It made our very human struggles like 9/11 times a fucking million. We’ve been changed in ways we don’t even realize yet.”

The album title, Spine, reflects what’s potentially to come. Not so much raw chronophobia, but more our collective inability to recognize the slippery slope we’re on and our willingness to run unchecked down it. To wit, the cover of Spine, a photograph by Latvian artist Dace Suna of a bifurcated metallic vertebrae resting on the forest floor, informs Myrkur’s thoughts on our approach to what is infamously called “singularity.” That the title track sits right in the middle of the album is deliberate.

“It’s this fucked-up different type of spine,” Bruun says. “It’s not human, and it’s on the forest floor. That is the epitome of what I’m saying on this album. People are already replacing parts of the human body with bionics. I see where it’s good and why it might be terrible in the future. I sound like such a doomsday person, but it’s very inspiring to me. I’m observing it all on this album. If you’re not seeing what I’m seeing, then I don’t know what you are seeing, to be honest. I’d rather not see it, but can’t help it.”

If Folkesange put us knee-deep into an idyllic past, Myrkur warns us of a Blade Runner-like future on Spine.

I MISSED MY ELECTRIC GUITARS

SO FUCKING MUCH. AMALIE BRUUN D E C I BDEELC I: BNEOLV:EAMPBREIR L 2023 1 : 35

Heavy metal legend K.K. DOWNING reloads with the firepower of

KK’s Priest story by KEVIN STEWART-PANKO

M

usic is something so essentially important and a massive salvation to so many people’s lives, myself included.” ¶ Kenneth Keith Downing Jr. offers this tightly packed statement during a discussion about music’s importance to the lives of millions. He’s talking about how organized sound can transcend “religion, politics and sexuality” to bring people together. He’s talking about how, as a Brummie teenager, music gave him purpose and determination. Music allowed him to express the sounds in his head and make the move from “what we used to call progressive blues” to being the creative anchor in Judas Priest, one of heavy metal’s signature acts, in turn transforming him into one of heavy metal’s most signature dudes. He’s talking about his life’s work. He’s talking about what keeps him, at the ripe young age of 71, excited about achieving verticality each morning when the alarm goes off.

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What he’s not talking about is taking a break from heavy metal. Where most of us occasionally need respite from the crashing and distortion and screaming and pounding to throw on some Duran Duran, K.K. never wavers in defending the faith. Even during the last tumultuous decade-and-a-bit, which saw him extracting himself from Judas Priest in 2011 (though he rejoined for a one-off performance at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s induction ceremony in November 2022). You’d think a lifetime of trials and tribulations, ear-bleeding volume and latter-years frustration might have eclipsed his good nature and he’d be contemplating packing away his signature flying V and kicking back in his listening room with some Duran Duran. But as Downing

says, “I want to keep moving forward and onward, and this new album is a rejoicing of that. Some fans have heard a story about how I jumped ship and abandoned Judas Priest. In some eyes, I’m more the Judas as opposed to the Priest, but that’s totally not true.”

He goes on to explain that 2010 was supposed to be the mutually agreed upon retirement and dissolution of Judas Priest following an international send-off christened “The Epitaph Tour.”

At the same time, members had side projects as greater concerns, there was discontent with behind-the-scenes business, and few were aware of fellow axe-slinger Glenn Tipton’s Parkinson’s diagnosis four years earlier. The band wasn’t tight and focused, and Downing decided a lackluster victory lap wasn’t in his best interest. That final tour didn’t end up being Priest’s final tour, but Downing wasn’t asked back, even though he claims he was always open to returning.

“The fans were given different information.

I didn’t get into many of the details of this in my book [2018 autobiography Heavy Duty: Days and Nights in Judas Priest]. Maybe I should have?”

Since 2019, Downing’s focus has been on his newest band, KK’s Priest, featuring former Judas Priest members Les Binks (though a nagging wrist injury has him sharing drum duties with Sean Elg) and vocalist Tim “Ripper” Owens. The plan was for the band (rounded out by guitarist A.J. Mills and bassist Tony Newton) to write, record and tour their first album, Sermons of the Sinner, as per usual. COVID shithammered that strategy, and the album wasn’t issued until October 2021, its release followed by a total of zero shows.

That worldwide pause—combined with the deaths of his older sister, pals Dio and Lemmy, and the near-death experience of his mate, Jeff “Mantas” Dunn of Venom Inc., on the brain— poured additional fuel on Downing’s already prolific fire, and around Christmastime 2022, he decided to settle in and write the second and newest record, The Sinner Rides Again. A month later, “I had the whole album outlined completely with a clear direction, all the song titles and music in quick demo form. I had exactly what I wanted to go forward.

“In the end,” he continues, “I’m excited about the idea of having two un-toured albums out.

Achieving this puts us in good stead: We can go out and just play a bunch of KK’s Priest material and have a lot of options for video footage and whatnot. And with two albums, the fans wouldn’t be thinking this was just a one-trick pony thing; it’s a pretty good consolidation and reassuring, showing people we’re here for the long haul.”

Downing himself admits there’s scant difference between the two releases. He notes both were him writing solo for the first time in a long time, created with bursts of spontaneous energy (he estimates the total writing time for both albums to be eight weeks!), and are best likened to Judas Priest’s Painkiller-era. Where the difference lies is that KK’s Priest isn’t what he would have done, or been able to do, in Judas Priest.

I’ve kept the name KK’s Priest because I’ve always been a Priest, and if the two new guys in Judas Priest can play my songs every night, make money off them and be a Priest, well,

THEN I THINK I CAN, TOO. CAN’T I? K.K. Downing

“I hadn’t been a sole writer since the late ’60s/early ’70s,” he elaborates. “I was always collaborating with Glenn [Tipton] and Rob [Halford] and writing as a team. I wouldn’t change any of that, but not having that control could get frustrating. I wanted to know what I had in me.

The main thing was to dig into my own self, get all of my emotions, intent and everything that I wanted to get out of my system; but I didn’t want to leave my legacy, my heritage, my guitar sound, the way I look and everything in the past.

I wanted it in the present and for the future.

Because of that, I’ve kept the name KK’s Priest because I’ve always been a Priest, and if the two new guys in Judas Priest can play my songs every night, make money off them and be a Priest, well, then I think I can, too. Can’t I?” D E C I BDEELC I: BNEOLV:EAMPBREIR L 2023 1 : 37

A (ONCE AGAIN) RECONFIGURED

NERVOSA

CUT LOOSE ON THEIR FEROCIOUS FIFTH STUDIO ALBUM

THE

story by DILLON COLLINS

art of reinvention can be the difference between

boom and bust in the ever-turbulent music business.

Adapt or die, the scribes say. Prika Amaral understands this harsh reality more than most, guiding her furious death metal ensemble Nervosa from promising prospect status to full-on global leviathan in the span of 13 years. ¶ The quartet’s fifth full-length, Jailbreak, serves as a shuffling of the all-female faction’s deck, with Greek shredder Helena Kotina rounding out the group as second guitarist; Hel Pyre (bass) and Michaela Naydenova (drums) joining the lineup; and Amaral herself transitioning to lead vocals. ¶ It is, in effect, a new Nervosa, though the commitment to spotlighting the talents of women across the globe remains constant for its architect.

NP OR V IELM2B0E2R1 2 38 : A : 0D2E3C :I BDEELC I B E L

“We had two completely different lineup changes in two different ways and reasons,” Amaral explains, “and I feel happy for one side because I think I’m opening doors for many girls around the world. I’m revealing great talents and I’m always proving, yes, there are a lot of great female musicians. When everybody thinks it’s dead, I say, ‘No, look at these great musicians.’ People ask me, ‘Do you think about putting a man in the band?’ No, because Nervosa is one of the only chances that women have, and I would close the door. No, men have a lot of chances around the world. If you are a woman, you have very few chances. So, I can’t close the door. I will keep on being a female band.”

The natural built-in stressors of an international touring band have necessitated change in the recent present for Nervosa. Amaral herself has embraced the reconfiguration that has seen the longtime guitarist and backing vocalist move center stage, broadening her palate—and guttural intensity—as Nervosa’s fiery frontwoman.

An exhaustive tour of Latin America served as a fitting test run for Amaral’s vocal abilities.

“When Diva [Satanica] said that she was leaving the band in September, for example,” Amaral continues, “we were touring in Latin America, and I had the chance to give [lead vocals] a try.

So, I was going, okay, if I can sing one entire song during this heavy tour—because there were 33 shows in Latin America, traveling with no sleep and all the hard conditions—if I can do that, then I think I can be a singer.”

Slowly but surely, Amaral developed her range and comfort behind the mic, quickly moving from the stage to the studio.

“Everything went super-fast. Like, we need to finish the composition and finish everything, go to the studio, record. And in the recordings, I was jammin’, man,” she recounts with a smile. “I’m still learning things, so every show, every opportunity that I have to sing in rehearsals or something like that, I’m still discovering things. I’m really excited and happy with this new challenge for me.”

At its core, Jailbreak is patented Nervosa, with chugging, frantic riffs, a breakneck pace and driving hooks. Thematically, Amaral and cowriter Kotina homed in on the idea of breaking free of the chains that hold us down, of bucking norms and expectations. A jailbreak as mental and emotional as one physical.

“[Helena and I] have a passion in common: motorcycles,” Amaral reveals. “Motorcycles for us means freedom. We said let’s write a song that remembers a bit of Judas Priest and Motörhead. We were collecting all the bands that we love and put inside of a box and create a song from there.”

She goes on to suggest that the core of the record embodies the idea of spiritual and emotional freedom: “Always be free from something that’s closing you in a box or not letting you enjoy or be whatever you are. In the end, we felt this connection. We say, ‘Yes! This is us; this is what we are constructing together. Let’s make this album and call it Jailbreak.’”

From Metallica and Slayer to Gojira, Jinjer and Misery Index, the imprints of metal past and present can be found throughout Jailbreak and are evident in Amaral’s playing. It should come as no shock that enlisting the services of legendary Exodus guitarist Gary Holt on the intense “When the Truth

Is a Lie” was a massive coup for lifelong metalhead Amaral.

“This is totally a dream come true for all of us in the band,” she shares with a laugh. “I have to say that during my life in Nervosa I heard that my best skill on guitar is my right hand with the picking, and everything from this hand is because of Gary Holt. He’s one of my favorite guitarists ever.”

With reinvention and escapism propelling Nervosa into their next bold chapter, Amaral remains steadfast in her desire to push the band forward as a beacon of bold, balls-to-the-wall and unapologetic female-featured heavy metal.

“While I’m alive I will keep this band alive.

And I already say to the girls, if I die, please continue, because Nervosa will never die.”

She pauses to consider the future of not only Nervosa, but grander visions for the world of heavy metal.

“I think the future of metal is in women’s hands.”

People ask me, ‘Do you think about putting a man in the band?’

No, because Nervosa is one of the only chances that women have, and I would close the door.

NO, MEN HAVE A LOT OF CHANCES AROUND THE WORLD. P RI K A A M A RA L

D E C I BDEELC I: BNEOLV:EAMPBREIR L 2023 1 : 39

interview by

QA j. bennett

WI T H

GEORGE

CORPSEGRINDER

FISHER

CANNIBAL CORPSE frontman on zombies, the other Corpsegrinder and the band’s new album

40 : NOVEMBER 2023 : DECIBEL

C

law machine champion. Target enthusiast. Warcraft wizard. George don’t remember. I’m pretty sure it was some-

“Corpsegrinder” Fisher wears many hats, but the one he’s best known for is the windmill of flying hair that he delivers onstage with Cannibal Corpse. As the band’s vocalist and frontman, he’s often the member most associated with the Floridian death metal masters.

But the music and lyrics are handled by his bandmates—bassist Alex Webster, drummer Paul Mazurkiewicz, guitarist Rob Barrett and guitarist Erik Rutan. As such, Fisher doesn’t do nearly as many Cannibal-related interviews as his bandmates. “No offense, but I’m not upset about not doing that many,” he says. “I’d rather be playing Warcraft now, bud. Sorry!” ¶ Luckily, Fisher is a good sport about it. Which is helpful, because there are things to discuss. Like zombie flicks. Like the fact that there’s another dude out there—possibly in Buffalo—nicknamed “Corpsegrinder.” Like thinking you’re about to catch a beatdown when really you’re just a famous death metal guy.

“I go on daily walks, and there’s one stretch of road near my house where every so often someone will drive by and yell, ‘George!’ or ‘Corpsegrinder!’” our man says.

“One time I was on FaceTime with a friend of mine, and someone pulled over next to me. Dude, I’m from Baltimore, so when someone pulls up like that, I’m like, ‘Yo…’ But the guy just wanted a picture.” ¶ Did we mention that Cannibal Corpse have a new album called Chaos Horrific? Well, they totally do. We talked about that shit, too.

Are you known as the heavy metal guy in your neighborhood?

They know I’m in a band. I live in a really quiet neighborhood, but they know. One of my neighbors even went to one of our shows. He’s not the biggest death metal fan, but he wanted to check it out. A few of the people at Target know I’m in a band. Some people at Walmart know because I go there to play the claw machines, but I’m not sure if they know I’m in a band. They just know me as a regular at the claw machine.

On Saturday, I went to the Misfits show with Fear and Megadeth, and I met a fairly decent amount of people who were like, “I saw you at Walmart!” A lot of people know I live in the area, but they don’t know exactly where I live.

I remember years ago—more than 10 years ago at least—I was sitting at home playing Warcraft, my wife was at work and a kid knocked on the door. He was a really big fan, and he said he’s seen me walking around the neighborhood and saw me walk into this house. He was really nice, and he never came back—I guess he just wanted to verify.

Do the folks in your neighborhood know your nickname is Corpsegrinder?

Whenever I’m talking to someone around here who isn’t familiar with us, and they ask what band I’m in, they’ll usually be like, “Oh, cool. I’ll look it up!” And I always say, “Before you look it up, just hear me out: We’re normal guys. We’re PHOTO BY ALE X MORGAN

not crazy. Some of the album covers and song titles might make people think we’re lunatics, that I’m in your neighborhood doing bad things.

But we’re not. We’re just really extreme heavy metal.” I explain that it’s called death metal, and I try to explain why, and I tell them we’re not madmen. We’re not murderers. We’re not doing anything wrong. We’re just playing music inspired by horror movies. They’re like short stories with really intense lyrics.

Usually, it’s the album covers that shock people the most because most people aren’t really going to go in-depth and look at the lyrics.

The album covers are the first thing that you notice. But to answer your question, I’m not sure how many know about the nickname. I do meet people at shows who are like, “Hey, George! Or should I call you Corpsegrinder?” But, to me, you can call me “asshole,” you know? It’s all good.

[Laughs] I appreciate that people ask. I mean, Rob Barrett calls me “Grinder.” Webster calls me “George.” I have no problems with any of that.

The only one that hurts is “Mr. Fisher” because it shows my age.

The last time we spoke, you mentioned that Cannibal Corpse thanked someone named Corpsegrinder on their first album—years before you were in the band—but it wasn’t you. It’s crazy to think that there are two guys nicknamed Corpsegrinder out there. What’s the story?

I think Alex or Paul told me the story, but I

one they knew from Buffalo. Me being called Corpsegrinder came from my first band, which was called Corpsegrinder. Not the solo band, but my first band from back in Baltimore. We named it after the Death song, “Corpse Grinder.” That was in 1988, before I moved down to Florida. At that time, Mark van Erp and Lee Harrison were let go from Malevolent Creation and started what became Monstrosity, and Lee started telling everybody that a guy named Corpsegrinder was coming down to be the vocalist. When it came time to put out the Horror Infinity demo, he asked if he should put “Corpsegrinder” on there, but I told him to put “George Corpsegrinder.” But I think he may have just put Corpsegrinder. So, then I got used to it, and when they put “George Corpsegrinder” on Imperial Doom, I was not happy. In today’s terms, it’s silly, but back then I wanted some mystery.

Let’s talk about the new Cannibal album. Alex Webster says he feels like it’s a continuation of Violence Unimagined because the songs were written in the same time period. Does it feel that way to you?

Yeah. I mean, every record is different, but they were written pretty much during the same period, which was a weird chapter in the history of the Earth—not just for us—because of the whole COVID thing. We weren’t sure if we’d be able to tour, so we figured we’d just write a new record. So, we did that—but nobody knew.

I think there were some leakages here and there over the internet, but until we announced it, it wasn’t real. I mean, anyone can take a piece of art, put our logo on it and say there’s a new single coming out. Once we said it, everyone knew. But I think it’s kinda cool to do it that way. I mean, we’ve been sitting on this record for a while.

I understand the title track is about fighting off zombie hordes. I know you didn’t write the lyrics, but are you a zombie enthusiast yourself?

Oh, I love zombies. We have tons of songs about zombies. I would say if you looked at Cannibal Corpse’s history, zombies are the most prevalent of any of the monsters that are in our songs. I really like Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead and, of course, Night of the Living Dead. But I can’t say I’ve seen any of the zombie stuff that’s come out in the last 10 years or so. I’ve never seen one episode of The Walking Dead. When we’re on tour, there’s plenty of time to do nothing, and I still haven’t gotten to it. But I don’t watch a lot of horror movies these days because the wife isn’t into it. We’ll watch Goodfellas or Casino, D E C I B E L : N O V E M B E R 2 0 2 3 : 41

Wouldn’t you like to be his neighbor?  Grinder... er, Fisher (c) and Cannibal Corpse are happy to let their new album do all the talking

the Marvel movies, Star Wars, but I don’t watch as much horror anymore. I appreciate classics like The Shining and Suspiria, where it’s less about the gore and more about the story. Don’t get me wrong—I love the gore—but to me, the psychological terror of The Shining is way scarier than any gore movie. Not that anything scares Corpsegrinder. [Laughs] But zombie movies are harsh because they’re eating your brains. It’s a pretty rough way to go.

You guys have been working with Erik Rutan for a while now, but how have things changed since he officially joined the band in 2021?

It’s night and day, and I’ve worked with Erik more than anybody. I did two Paths of Possession albums with him; my solo record; I did the Metalocalypse voices with him; almost all my guest appearances—plus the Cannibal stuff. Having him in the band is great because he’s super positive. He’s really quick when it comes to the business side—when we get emails from management, he’s usually the first to respond, whereas I’m the lazy sumbitch. [Laughs] His work ethic is second to none, his positivity is through the roof and he’s always willing to see things everybody else’s way. He’s super patient. When you show up to the studio, he’s there, ready to go, like, “Fuck yeah!” That’s his catchphrase. And the energy level he brings to the stage, you can’t match it. I love working with him.

One hundred percent. There will be some news hopefully coming up soon. Cannibal is obviously the focus right now, but it’s coming. We were planning to tour that first Corpsegrinder record, but there were a lot of logistics in the way. We’re definitely going to do more and then hopefully tour. It’s gonna be a lot of schedule juggling because Cannibal will be busy. But it’s not a oneoff thing that I did just for fun. No way in hell. I intend to make it a working band and tour.

Last but not least, what have you been listening to lately—or watching?

My jam lately has been this guy Charley Crockett.

He’s a country singer. He’s been around since maybe 2012 or so, and I love hearing that guy sing. I almost took a trip up to Vancouver to see him recently, but it didn’t work out. For movies, I watch all the Marvel stuff. I mean, I could go on and on complaining about Infinity War, but I get it: They’ll never be like the comics.

42 : NOVEMBER 2023 : DECIBEL

I went to the Misfits show with Fear and Megadeth, and I met a fairly decent amount of people who were like, ‘I saw you at Walmart!’

PHOTO BY ALEX MORGAN

You did a solo record with Jamey Jasta that came out last year. Do you have plans to record another one?

Scott Burns leads the surviving members of

DEATH’S HUMAN LINEUP

into death metal history in a book excerpt from

D

ecibel Books recently announced the publication of The Scott Burns

Sessions: A Life in Death Metal 1987 – 1997, and now Decibel is proud to reveal the first excerpt from this massive 450-page oral history of Scott Burns’ legendary Morrisound recording career, authored by David E. Gehlke (Turned Inside Out: The Official Story of Obituary, No Celebration: The Official Story of Paradise Lost, Damn the Machine: The Story of Noise Records). The following passage transports readers inside the control room at Morrisound during the 1991 recording of Death’s landmark Human LP, where Chuck Schuldiner’s completely reconstructed Death lineup is about to reimagine the genre.

44 : NOVEMBER 2023 : DECIBEL

SCOTT BURNS: To think Bill and Terry could do a

tour without Chuck and get someone else to sing was silly. It was concrete that Chuck was Death.

However, Chuck hated touring. It took him out of his comfort zone here in Florida. I don’t think he enjoyed being somewhere unfamiliar and having to deal with everything that came with it, like all the people nagging him, especially from the business side. I’m not going to name names, but Chuck had certain people—or I guess “a person”—in his orbit, advising him on business matters who was really unhelpful. It caused more work for Chuck. He hated dealing with that stuff. Chuck’s perfect world would have been writing and recording music in the studio.

Nothing else.

PAUL MASVIDAL: I remember Chuck being fueled

 Oh, the humanity

Burns, Schuldiner and Masvidal discussing guitar tones

D

eath’s Chuck Schuldiner and Burns became phone buddies months

after the release of Spiritual Healing. Schuldiner’s controversial decision to stay home instead of travel to Europe to take part in a tour with Kreator left bandmates Bill Andrews (drums) and Terry Butler (bass) no choice but to do the shows with replacements. It validated the belief by many within the death metal scene that Schuldiner was a difficult band leader, willing to sabotage a tour no matter the implications. Yet Burns felt otherwise. He had a front-row seat to the many business and management issues that nagged Schuldiner to no end.

Burns felt the Death leader was getting poor advice and had people overseeing his career that didn’t cater to his best interests. So, when Death went to Europe without Schuldiner, Burns wasn’t surprised. He knew that Schuldiner wasn’t in the right frame of mind. ¶ Burns often sat and listened patiently on the phone as Schuldiner reeled off a litany of issues: the Spiritual Healing lineup, his manager, the death metal scene and life at home. Burns was the ideal sounding board because he listened to Schuldiner and never judged. And while Burns occasionally tired of Schuldiner’s not-so-rosy view of former members of Death and fellow death metal musicians, he used it as an opportunity to implore him to keep going.

Burns noticed Schuldiner’s mood brightened when he was asked about new music, with Evil Chuck offering an optimistic, “Just wait until you hear what I have.”

Human, Death’s pivotal fourth LP, is often referred to as a “revenge” album. With Andrews, Butler and lead guitarist James Murphy now fired from Death, Schuldiner assembled a murderers’ row of musicians, including Cynic’s Paul Masvidal (guitar) and Sean Reinert (drums) and Sadus’ Steve DiGiorgio (bass). All three fulfilled Schuldiner’s vision of having a lineup that could now compete with the technical arms race that swept over death metal in 1991. Even more importantly, all three were kind, compassionate people who posed no threat to Schuldiner’s ranking as Death’s leader and visionary.

PHOTOS BY TIM HUBBARD

Burns was overjoyed to record Reinert’s drums, a fact made clear considering their prominent standing in the mix. Schuldiner took Burns up on his recommendation to switch to Marshall Valvestate amps, bringing forth a bright, warm mid-range that previously eluded Death. But for Burns burying DiGiorgio’s bass at the request of Schuldiner (something he’s apologized for profusely), Human would go down as perhaps Burns’ finest hour. Instead, as a consolation, the album was every bit the statement Schuldiner had hoped, and soon quieted the peanut gallery waiting for him to fail.

by the album in a sense. We had spent a lot of time together. We had this time of getting the record together and rehearsing, and he stayed with me and Sean in Miami. We rehearsed at Cynic’s warehouse and had this whole thing going.

Then, by the time we were in the studio, we were really well-oiled and felt great. But for Chuck, the whole fuel of that record for him was somewhat of a reaction to what had happened with the band members before, where he felt a massive betrayal. He raged about that. I think a lot of the music was a big “fuck you” to his past and to all the people that liked to gossip.

And let’s be honest—certain people liked to talk about Chuck. It was like his statement comeback record.

STEVE DiGIORGIO: Human was Chuck’s return. It wasn’t like the original lineup anymore. What the world knew of that lineup—all the albums leading up to Human—they were flushed out, and this was a new beginning. Chuck was on a mission. He was literally on a fucking mission to prove everyone wrong. He felt completely betrayed by his ex-band members. I think even the original release liner notes say, “This album is revenge.” That’s something that Chuck put in there. It was literally a statement saying, “All right, listen to this, fuckers. Eat shit now.

Everything you’ve ever said about me, boom, here’s this fucking album.” That was the kind of drive he had.

SCOTT BURNS: Even though Chuck was pissed at

Bill and Terry when they did the tour, underneath it all, Chuck saw the wave of technical players coming up. 1991 was the year when it was super important to determine who could play the best, especially on the drums. Chuck had googly eyes for Sean Reinert. The 1990 Cynic demo put Reinert on the map, and Chuck, always thinking ahead, knew this was the guy to help get Death to the next level with Paul and Steve.

DECIBEL : NOVEMBER 2023 : 45

PAUL MASVIDAL: I was there to support Chuck.

Chuck and I had our history before Reinert when I did some dates after Leprosy. I had toured with Chuck and became his go-to guy when he was in trouble with his band. We had forged a lot of trust. I was there for whatever Chuck needed to help make Death awesome. I convinced Chuck to bring Reinert in. I was like, “You have to give Sean a try.” I don’t think he really knew about Reinert until the Cynic demo, then he realized, “Holy shit. This is the guy.”

STEVE DiGIORGIO: I stayed in a spare room at Reinert’s house. Besides being in rehearsal all the time together, in the off hours, we were together, getting high and checking out each other’s favorite albums. We had a really great level of communication between the drums and bass. Our stuff fit together. We always said it was like the Geddy [Lee] and Neil [Peart] combination from Rush, where the drum rolls go with the bass like a hand in a glove.

would make a record together after those years of cultivating and forging a friendship and working together. We were in service of Death but were also fans of Death, but we did push as far as we could. I remember when we were trying to dismantle a riff and push it into some new space, and Chuck would reel us back.

SCOTT BURNS: Paul and Reinert were thrilled to

do a Death record. I thought of it this way: Cynic wasn’t signed, so they knew playing with Death would help them. But they were fans of Chuck.

All the kids were. Steve was like the Cliff Burton of the death metal scene. Everybody knew him and called him the “hippie of doom,” which I think came from Chuck. He was already a legend.

There weren’t many bass players who played as he did. Most were chopping along to the rhythm guitars, but Steve worked around the riffs and found these open spaces.

PAUL MASVIDAL: You can hear some Atheist-type

Healing eventually bothered Chuck. He and I talked about it all the time. Death metal was getting more technical, and he thought Death was getting left behind. Even though Chuck was against blast beats, getting Reinert was part of the plan to show people he was still the man in death metal, and Death was no longer writing simple death metal. He now had killer players with him on Human.

riffs on Human. It’s funny because Chuck had a weird, contentious relationship with Kelly [Shaefer]. I remember Kelly visiting us in the studio, and he and Chuck just didn’t get along.

They had this weird dynamic. Chuck wasn’t nice to Kelly, and I was never sure why. Atheist were so much in their own world. They were visionaries, so maybe there was some degree of jealousy because Atheist was pushing the envelope. It was like, “What the fuck is this music they are making?”

PAUL MASVIDAL: Reinert was a totally different

KELLY SHAEFER: I’m going to be as respectful as

world from Bill. That’s just the difference a drummer will make. They define how the music sits. It’s like the drums are the whole thing, essentially. They become the entire sound. It was one of those things where Chuck felt a lot of security once he realized what we had with Reinert.

possible here. I think Chuck was threatened by Atheist. When Borivoj Krgin was about to sign us to Mean Machine Records in mid-1987, we played a show in Tampa that Chuck attended.

Chuck called Borivoj the next day and told him that everyone left the room when we played, and it sounded like a “train station.” It made Bori question the deal. We still signed with Mean Machine, but what Chuck said never sat right with me.

Chuck slandered Atheist to anyone who would listen, saying that we only listened to jazz and were “false metal.” He initially shunned technicality and the jazz philosophy applied to extreme metal. It wasn’t until our friends, Sean Reinert and Paul Masvidal, joined Death that Chuck recognized the value of furthering the intricacy of metal by fusing top-notch musicianship, something we were already eyeballs-deep in. He was at least a fan of Psychotic Waltz and Watchtower.

Chuck is owed a world of respect for his early visionary, brutal, horror-type music, but he didn’t plan the tech-metal revolution. He showed up late and didn’t bring beer or weed!

SCOTT BURNS: Billy’s simplistic drums on Spiritual

SCOTT BURNS: I went over to Chuck’s house before

the album. Chuck demoed everything on a ghetto blaster and drum machine—very basic stuff, but the songs were there. His songs were his songs.

There were never any sit-downs where Chuck and I discussed rewriting parts. I may have had the occasional suggestion on how a riff or drum part was played, but we never spoke about rewriting the songs. Chuck knew what he was doing.

STEVE DiGIORGIO: Nearly all of the songs were written by the time I hooked up with the guys for rehearsal. I also hung out with Reinert and Paul in Miami. I really wanted to get to know them.

PAUL MASVIDAL: It’s like we became homies.

Chuck lived three hours north of us, but I’d get up there or he’d come down to see Reinert and I. We smoked a lot of weed and played guitar. There was a lot of friendship there. It felt like it was an organic thing. It seemed inevitable that we 46 : NOVEMBER 2023 : DECIBEL

we could. I don’t think we had to change or work on anything. We trusted him regarding his reputation, expertise and everything, and he trusted us with the same.

SCOTT BURNS: Getting drum sounds with Reinert

was a dream. I don’t think Chuck knew what to expect when he heard how Reinert placed his toms. Chuck was definitely used to hearing some pretty basic rolls before, but Reinert would start to warm up and blaze through his kit, and we were all smiling. The only person in the room not surprised was Paul! I could be wrong, but Sean was the first guy in metal to place his toms randomly. If you’re right-handed, your smallest tom is usually on the left. Then you’d do a roll to the left to your floor tom. If left-handed, you start on the right and go the other way. But Sean placed them wherever he saw fit, so it didn’t follow the usual pattern when he did a roll.

STEVE DiGIORGIO: All four of us played live. The guitar tracks were only kept as a reference so we could always have a full band playback. Once the drum kit was broken down, the intent was to set up the room, move the amps over and set up a more elaborate mic situation. Now, after the bass was done, I left the session. It’s completely organic and full of integrity. That’s the real playing: no click track, no guidelines, no grid, no nothing. We’re just following Sean, and that’s it.

SCOTT BURNS: I will take credit for not many

things, but when we did Human, Chuck started using the Marshall Valvestate. Jim and Tom Morris were good friends with Elliott Rubinson, who owned Thoroughbred Music, which was close to the studio. Elliott always made things easy for us. We could walk in with any band and get a guitar for $10 a day or buy drumheads at cost. It made a big difference when we were doing albums on the cheap.

PAUL MASVIDAL: This is what sometimes makes

incredible records. It was retaliation. It’s aggression and anger. Chuck really harnessed it, but he was surrounded by musicians like us, so it had this finesse. It was a little bit more musical, in a sense, than it had been before. It was precise aggression, which was the next level of aggression for death metal. Just really severely, precisely executed, intense death metal. Chuck loved where we came from because we were just nerds, fusion heads and jazzy geeks about playing. We were also death metalheads, too. I think he had a clear vision of the boundaries and framework for Death, and he stuck to those parameters.

SCOTT BURNS: That was the beauty of Chuck. He

STEVE DiGIORGIO: I think it just rolled when Scott

saw us play and heard what was coming out. I think it was about getting the best performance

was willing to try anything. No ideas were off the table during Human, which is how a song like “Cosmic Sea” came about. It was a free-form

Together as one  Schuldiner, Burns, Masvidal and Reinert finishing the mix of Human

jam. DiGiorgio had to leave to do something with Sadus, so we asked Scott Carino of Fester to play Steve’s part. Chuck was impressed, but DiGiorgio was always Chuck’s guy.

SCOTT BURNS: People gave me shit for Steve

being buried. Steve gave me a lot of shit. I told Steve that I take the fall. Chuck said throughout Human, “Metal, brother. Let it flow. Play what you want.” If he hated something, he would say something. He never told Steve what to play, but he wasn’t good at saying, “I don’t like that.”

When it came time to mix, he said something about the bass being too loud, so I turned it down. I won’t blame Chuck, but I should have pushed back. I still apologize to Steve about the bass sound.

STEVE DiGIORGIO: All the stuff Sean and I worked on was completely lost to the wind because the bass level was very low. After things cooled off and Chuck and I had nice conversations about it, he didn’t necessarily say it was as simple as a low bass fader. Chuck was saying that the guitar tone was a little too saturated. He wasn’t really that happy with it.

SCOTT BURNS: Chuck always got pissed off at

people over the phone and never in person. He wasn’t a confrontational guy, so I never heard directly from Chuck about any guitar or bass tone discrepancies.

many promises of the result sounding better, as far as justifying my presence on the album and ensuring that the bass was not lost in the mix.

It doesn’t make me feel great about the Human mix, but the storyline, when you look at how it happened, sometimes, good comes out of bad.

Fortunately, Scott likes it when people rip on him. I’ve always rubbed it in his face about the bass being buried, and we’ve made it a nice joke between us.

SCOTT BURNS: Human was a big jump in the topi-

cal matter for Chuck. He started writing songs about former band members and not zombies.

Musically, it bothered him that he was considered just “death metal.” He always wanted to be accepted. It was like, “Why can’t I be a great metal artist or guitarist?”

was Chuck felt bad that it turned out like that.

I don’t know how Scott felt about it, but when I was called back to do the next album, there were 48 : NOVEMBER 2023 : DECIBEL

PAUL MASVIDAL: Suddenly, there was the voice of

the album. It wasn’t the technique with Chuck.

It was Scott being himself. Scott was so helpful with Chuck in that way. Scott was so caring and loving. He wanted the best for everybody involved in that record, especially Chuck.

Chuck was psyched, and he was in great spirits. I think he felt like he had something that obviously became a new era for Death. It was the next sound.

SCOTT BURNS: Spiritual Healing was a pretty stress-

PAUL MASVIDAL: When Chuck started cutting

vocals after we had made all the basic tracks, there was this moment where it was now on him. At first, it wasn’t happening. His voice wasn’t quite right. Something wasn’t translating, and the aggression wasn’t there. Chuck was still finding it. Scott may have said, “Hey, Chuck.

Come on in, man. Have a beer or something.”

Chuck never drank, but he drank a beer and did like a ninja move where he was suddenly at ease.

Scott asked him to try it again; his vocals were then on fire.

SCOTT BURNS: His vocals started to change on

STEVE DiGIORGIO: The good that did come out of it

enough to get musicians and, in some way, stay ahead of the curve, whether it was Cannibal Corpse or Morbid Angel. He saw the trend in faster stuff and more brutal vocals. But Chuck knew he could compete on their level because he didn’t have to write simple stuff anymore.

Human. Chuck always hoped that some writer would say, “This is just great metal.” And not say “death metal” next to Death. That’s what he wanted to strive for. He was always smart

free session. I don’t think Human was like that, but Chuck was really comfortable here. It was his world where he could be creative, and guys like DiGiorgio, Reinert and Paul brought his vision to life. Human was a really good time for all of us.

Everyone was happy—especially me. I felt I had gained Chuck’s trust, which meant a lot to me.

Chuck and I spent a lot of time together mixing the album. I had the impression Chuck always felt like he had a target on his back because he was one of the inventors of death metal. Human was his big “fuck you” to everyone who said he was no longer the man or Death was dead after what happened with the European tour for Spiritual Healing.

The Scott Burns Sessions: A Life in Death Metal 1987 – 1997 is available for pre-order via Decibel Books.

PHOTO BY TIM HUBBARD

Limited Edition 2x10” Available Now Exclusively at RareBirdLit.com

the

definitive stories

behind extreme music’s

definitive albums

by

greg pratt photos by

john campbell-stagehog

Locust Abortion Technicians the making of Insect Warfare’s World Extermination

W

hen discussing game-changing late-’00s grindcore platters, conversation usually gets a bit awkward, people quickly trying to piece together Pig Destroyer’s discography in their head, wondering what year that band’s thrash started being more noteworthy than their grind. Sure, on a smaller, regional scale, bands were still blasting with as much passion as ever, but the global grindcore scene was in a bit of a postNasum depression in terms of seismic shifts.

But there was one massive record, and it alone signalled a huge wake-up call to the grind scene, even though it had everything going against it: It was nearly all lost due to a recording-session computer crash, the band broke up shortly after its release and Earache Records got involved, which unfortunately when it comes to extreme music, rarely seems to end well.

That record was World Extermination, the only full-length by Houston, TX’s Insect Warfare.

The band—Beau Beasley on guitars and, on record, bass; vocalist Rahi Geramifar; octopus-man drummer Dobber Beverly—managed to rectify the computer crash situation and release the beast, 20 songs of massive, streamlined grindcore destruction that came out on the always-reliable 625 Thrashcore label in October 2007. The breakup in mid-2008 may have quieted the album’s impact at the time, but Earache brought it back to a wider audience the next year, and to a wider array of stress about legalities that no grindcore band should ever need to worry about. The band reunited to spread the good word in 2009, again in 2016 and one final time in 2017.

Today, we’re honored to let this record—20 songs, 22 and a half DBHOF227 minutes, as it should be—steamroll its way into our Hall of Fame, standing tall next to kindred spirits like Discordance Axis, who, along with a huge dose of powerviolence bands, were a massive influence on Insect Warfare.

Today, the sounds of World Extermination force the Hall’s gates World Extermination open, reminding us all of what matters: extremity matters; pure 625 T HRAS HCORE intent and focus matter; grindcore matters. It’s the never-ending OCTOBER 2007 campaign for musical destruction, and, in 2007, Insect Warfare were carrying the torch for it, then destroying the torch, and Scene rejuvenation, world extermination then making sure things were still not loud enough, still not fast enough. And it mattered.

Today, and always, World Extermination matters.

INSECT WARFARE

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INSECT WARFARE world extermination

There were three years between the band forming and World Extermination being released.

The record is 22 minutes long. What took so long?

BEAU BEASLEY: In my opinion, it didn’t take that

long. We did a bunch of splits, we had lineup changes, and we were touring a lot. In that time period, man, not a lot of [grind] bands were touring as much as we were. They were on major labels, like Relapse or whatever; we were still an underground band. We were touring two or three times a year. We toured the U.S. three times in that period. So doing that, work, lineup changes, it took some time, man; but in my opinion, it went by pretty quick because we were doing it so hardcore in that period, it didn’t seem that long to me.

RAHI GERAMIFAR: This was my first band. When you think about full-lengths, bands put out fulllengths, that’s their main release; I didn’t really look at it that way. When I was a kid, teenager, whatever, I was buying split EPs, 7-inches, things like that, I wanted to recreate that and just do what I was observing and the things I was purchasing. I didn’t see it as, “Man, you’ve gotta put out your LP; put your money where your mouth is, put out an LP.” I didn’t have that idea going into it. That didn’t come until labels were like, “Hey, man, I want to do your LP,” and people were kinda asking for it. At that point, you’re like, “All right, we’re ready.”

DOBBER BEVERLY: I wouldn’t say it took so long; there was a handful of releases before I joined the band, and the Carcass Grinder split when I joined. But I guess we were just busy, touring here and there; then when we finally got to sit down and hash out whatever was going to be World Extermination, it was actually quick. The greatest thing about the band was everything was about pushing it to the extreme. When we went to track the record, it was really live. It was in Cubase, and I would start the recording on my computer and then run in there, and then Beau and I would play the song, so between every take I’d have to run back in and stop. It was 2007. It was an intense process; like one take, we did it live. Because of that, there was no rules whatsoever. There was no click tracks obviously, so we just kinda fucking went for it.

I love the image of a song ending and you running back to the other room to stop it, then hitting record and running back.

BEVERLY: With the two of us in there, it was kinda funny. I think maybe occasionally I’d have a buddy of mine hit the space bar and restart it.

What else do you recall about the recording sessions for the album?

BEVERLY: I had a fairly nice studio in my house; it was all recorded on good gear. Fairly

“When I was writing the record, I only had one tape in my truck, a home dub that had [Napalm Death’s] From Enslavement to Obliteration on one side, and the first two Discordance Axis records on the other side.”

B EAU B EASL EY old-school, pretty minimalistic. The crazy thing about the record is when I finished mixing it the first time, it sounded like a mixture between the first or second Suffocation record and Assück. Like a full [legendary Morrisound Recording engineer] Scott Burns kinda thing.

And my computer crashed, so there’s an entire mix of the record out there somewhere that’s super death metal. If I could find it, I would do something with it. I went in and manually reconstructed the entire record from the files.

[Laughs] That was scary because it was like, the whole record’s done, but I was like, I can’t open the session and there’s no backup files. Beau was like, “Holy shit, dude, we’re going to have NOVEMBER 2023 : 5 2 : DECIBEL

to record the whole record over again.” [Laughs] I was like, “No, man, I’m gonna go through the files and put the whole fucking record together,” and I did it. It was like a week’s worth of being a detective, putting files together. The whole drum kit was in eight or 10 different files. It’d be like “snare-11-something something”; I’d have to go in and piece them all together. It looked like some kinda ransom order. [Laughs] BEASLEY: With Dobber’s ear for music, he was able to sound the record out just by recording stuff in a bedroom, essentially. I really focused hard and wrote those 20 songs. We recorded it and it came out good, but then Dobber’s computer crashed and we lost a significant

DBHOF227

INSECT WARFARE world extermination

amount of the record. He was able to piece together parts of the drums, but all the guitars and everything were gone. So, I had to go back a second time and redo the tracks before Rahi did the vocals. But I would actually say the second time is better because I kinda got my feet wet on the songs. Maybe the earlier version was more raw, I don’t know. When he called me that day saying the shit had been deleted, there was definitely a panic on this side. But when it was said and done, it was fucking great. I remember Max [Ward, who released the album on 625 Thrashcore] sent it to get it mastered, and I think it was one of the guys from What Happens Next? mastered it. I remember him calling Max and saying, “Dude, this shit sounds crazy.”

Which I thought was really cool. I was stoked because we did that in a fucking house. I was proud that it was studio-level.

GERAMIFAR: [Dobber’s] very knowledgeable when it comes to... I mean he’s fucking knowledgeable about everything, and not just playing instruments. He knows how to mic them up and record them, he knows how to do the tracking and all that stuff. That’s what we did. It was kind of relaxed and no pressure to do it like that, because, for one, you’re not bringing in a guy who doesn’t know and paying him money and hoping he’s going to figure it out. There’s not like the grindcore studio, you know what I mean?

When you look at the heyday of death metal, when everyone is going to Tampa, “We found this guy, he knows how to make us sound

amazing,” you know? There’s not that, there’s not the equivalent of that, the Morrisound of grindcore. So, we just did what we did. You don’t need a fancy studio with thousands of dollars of pre-amps and all that shit to make grindcore. But at the same time, I think the attitude and the way we went about everything our own way— did our own art, we liked to do things our way—I think recording it there ourselves was more an extension of that. Dobber had the gear, he had the time, he had the know-how, and he fucking did an awesome fucking job. I don’t know any professional I could hire that would have done a better job than what he did for that LP. Beau recorded bass on the album; he always recorded bass. Why was that? Why not get a bassist?

BEASLEY: I think we decided that the three of

us worked really well together. It’d be more complicated. Plus, I wrote everything, so I could easily in like 10 minutes knock those bass tracks off. Our friend [Alex Hughes] played bass for us live pretty much from World Extermination on, and he was great, and he was always cool to help us out. I think he was a member of the band to me, but with recordings, just speed and time-wise, it was me, for the stringed instruments. In and out, dude [laughs], no fucking around with it.

And in that period, I was really stubborn and just wanted to write everything, I didn’t want to collaborate and share riffs.

BEVERLY: A lot of the times when you record, the more musicians you have, the more they’re trying to add. The goal is to have the recorded output be the best as possible. And I think out of

 Bugging out Insect Warfare grinds it out at Fallcore Fest, October 14, 2006

convenience for timing and out of convenience with recording, Beau would always just play the bass. He wrote the riffs, so he’ll play the bass.

And it worked out; it was simpler. The crazy thing is, it was just like with most records that people listen to, older records. I guarantee you, man. We tracked that entire record in two days flat. There was nothing to it. He would do the entire bass recording on a record like that in four hours and be done with it.

But that’s how the classics are made.

BEVERLY: It’s a culmination of disregard… you go in and you’re like, “I don’t give a fuck about what’s going to happen.” You can’t minimize intensity down to some finite point. Everything we did in the band was like that—everything needs to be fucking noise, everything needs to be absolute destruction. If you can do that on a record, it translates. You can’t edit that shit.

How did you guys hook up with 625?

GERAMIFAR: Max was just a guy we knew, you know? He had his label and was putting out a lot of that hardcore/powerviolence; some grindcore stuff, too. He wanted to do it. I like 625 records, I liked the dude’s bands, it seemed great. It seemed like a good match. We were just like, “Hey, do you want to put out our record?” And he was like, “Yeah.” [Laughs] I don’t remember exactly if it was that simple, but it was very different than Earache and contracts and shit like that.

MAX WARD: I had released Insect Warfare’s debut EP and second EP, originally based on a rehearsal tape that Beau sent to me after they started. I met Beau when Machine Gun Romantics came out to the West Coast to play some shows. Beau and I talked about classic grindcore the whole trip, so he sent me a rehearsal tape of Insect Warfare once they recorded. I was stoked to hear a young and enthusiastic grindcore band that knew their history and wanted to pay homage to it. By the time they came to record World Extermination, they had distilled their style into just pure straightforward grindcore—short blasts with no extra fluff. It was an amazing record, and it was great to see Beau and company develop their style to produce one of the best grindcore records of that decade.

When I listen to the album, I hear a punk and powerviolence edge to the grindcore in songs like “Zone Killer,” but then there’s more technical, Discordance Axis-ish playing in songs like “Hydraphobia.” What were the band’s influences and where did you fit in in 2007?

BEASLEY: I think we kinda hit both scenes:

powerviolence and grind, and even death metal.

We were on 625 Records—that was primarily a powerviolence record label that did grindcore records. So, I think a lot of people who liked powerviolence liked our records, but that makes sense because I grew up listening to NOVEMBER 2023 : 5 4 : DECIBEL

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INSECT WARFARE world extermination I listen to anyway, so for me, the interpretive lens was through relatability. So, if Beau was writing something that was particularly punky or anything like that, it was easy for me because I grew up listening to Bad Brains and Cro-Mags and all that shit. Maybe what makes it unique is we have somebody who understands what their assignment is, but can filter it through other styles of music. My drum education background was fusion and prog. From my side of things, the influences were Pete Sandoval was in Morbid Angel, but he also played in Terrorizer, then from Terrorizer I started listening to Nausea.

They’re all the same kinship, just from different sides of the tracks.

Daniel Shaw’s artwork for the record is just perfect. What was the process of getting him to do the art like?

“From my side of things, the influences were Pete Sandoval was in Morbid Angel, but he also played in Terrorizer, then from Terrorizer I started listening to Nausea. They’re all the same kinship, just from different sides of the tracks.”

DO BBE R BEV E R LY powerviolence as much as grindcore, so something like Crossed Out, Infest, stuff like that, was definitely influencing what I was trying to write.

When I was writing the record, I only had one tape in my truck: a home dub that had [Napalm Death’s] From Enslavement to Obliteration on one side, and the first two Discordance Axis records on the other side. So, it was me trying to emulate those particular records. You can hear the Discordance Axis; it’s definitely there. [Laughs] GERAMIFAR: Well, I mean, you just kinda said it.

Our influences—powerviolence, all that Slap-aHam Records stuff—those were the records we were buying in the ’90s. Discordance Axis, when that Jouhou LP came out, that was a

representation of the time. I remember one influence—I got this grindcore mag, it was called Grind Osaka. It was not in English, and it came with a CD, and it was all grindcore from Osaka, and I was like, “Holy fuck, man.” There’s this many grindcore bands in this city, and they all are fucking killing it. I won’t say that’s an influence musically, but that was something I listened to and it motivated me. It gave me energy.

You hear something and go, well, if they’re doing it, we’re doing it, you know? We were trying to make the heaviest music we could.

BEVERLY: Powerviolence and all that stuff back then, sludge bands, I loved all that stuff, and it reminded me of Crowbar or Carnivore or stuff NOVEMBER 2023 : 5 6 : DECIBEL

BEVERLY: Beau wanted to keep it local, so he had started working with Daniel from the get-go.

[The art is a] portrayal of Houston as this filthy cesspool that it was. Now it’s become super fucking gentrified, but at one point it was such a grimy place.

BEASLEY: The art is a huge part of that record.

He did all the artwork for all our records; he and I were friends way before Insect Warfare. So, he and I would hang out and eat pizza and listen to tapes and shit. When it came time for the record, we were already at odds with our city, people thinking we were sellouts because we had kicked members out, so there was a lot of anger towards the city itself, so that’s why Houston’s on the record cover. Kind of, “Fuck Houston, hope it drowns,” or whatever. I was like, man, I want a reaper just fucking hanging over the city. He was like, what if we put roaches and shit, because Houston’s swarmed by roaches every summer; they fly, they get all over you, it’s fucking disgusting. So, he drew a line sketch, and I was like, dude, it was different than what was in my head, but it was better. The logo placement was definitely a Nuclear Assault kind of thing, going for that vibe.

GERAMIFAR: I remember the very first live gig we played with a very old lineup. It was weird, and Daniel was there, and he was like, “Man, you guys are pretty awesome, I want to do artwork for you.” And he’s always been a friend, a guy we hung out with, drunk with, gone to shows with, listened to records with—just hang out. It happened to be his style is that penand-ink, black-and-white style, and it kind of fit well with what we wanted to do—a throwback, a backlash to that Photoshop [style]— and it worked out perfect. A lot of the World Extermination cover art, it’s our hometown, but it’s our hometown from the perspective of us driving to the practice room. It’s just a mile east of downtown, so it’s real to us. There’s not giant cockroaches destroying the city, but it’s a dirty city that we live in and that we look at.

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When the record came out in 2007, grindcore was in a bit of a lull. The scene was still recovering from the loss of Nasum. There were some new bands starting up—Noisear, Maruta, Wormrot—but no one was really quite there yet.

So, when World Extermination was released, it was generally pretty quiet out there. Do you feel that helped or hindered the album?

BEVERLY: I’m gonna say the timing was just right. I think for me, we were playing a lot of shows, the community seemed pretty intense, it kinda seemed par for the course. We were busy putting out the EPs and splits, and constantly staying busy, everything at breakneck speed; then the record came out and like, yeah, great, it’s almost as if nothing else existed at that time to me. I think everything was pretty on.

The shows were always amazing, so I thought the scene was thriving. It did seem like the timing was right.

BEASLEY: I think it helped. To be honest, I feel, during that time period, grindcore was super Photoshopped covers and kinda super-produced, and it was not what I grew up listening to, like Napalm Death: straightforward grind and blasting, you know? It’s fine, you gotta evolve the genre, but I was like, let’s just take shit back.

People were doing it, don’t get me wrong, but for the most part, if you were just barely touching the surface of the scene, all you’d see is very glossy-type grindcore stuff. So, we were more rough, crude, simple, don’t overthink it. I think the fact that we toured so much was what helped us get a little bit of attention. That’s why our record stood up. I don’t think our record is better than anybody else’s—there’s tons of records that are better than ours—but it’s because we toured.

GERAMIFAR: Absolutely I agree with the lull, and there was a lot of weird stuff coming out: that sassy grindcore or whatever. Like, cybergrind was a thing—people trying to make grindcore on their laptops, pornogrind... boring, you know?

I think it does help, because if there wasn’t all that trash out there, would I have been motivated to put my money where my mouth is? If I’m just having a good time going to gigs and buying records, would I have tried to make my own grindcore? I don’t think so. I remember one time we had just seen Phobia play in San Antonio, and we were out drinking with them after the gig and we were talking about the lack of grindcore, and I remember the term we used was that there was no more top-shelf grindcore bands in the States anymore.

Earache reissued the album in 2009. What are the circumstances that led to that and what were your experiences with the label?

BEVERLY: They approached us and said, “We’ll pay you guys to license the record.” It was the

slick hand/cigar, “We’ll give you guys a bit of money and you’ll be cool and this and that,” but they had the foresight—and we didn’t—to have lawyers and a lot of things written into it, especially with digital marketing stuff. At the end of the day, they made a lot of money and we signed a pretty bunk deal. The other reason why we did the Earache thing was nostalgia. Here’s Earache, they’re going to give us a Sore Throat catalog number. If you look at the cataloging number, we’re one of the first releases, because it was a catalogue number they saved. We come to find out they were as bad as everybody says that they were. Houston’s pretty isolated, [and in] 2009, we didn’t have a bunch of people reaching out to us on social media warning us.

There was actually a time in 2016, 2017, I was playing better than I was back then, everything was rolling, and I said, “Do you want to do another record?” and Beau said, “Yeah, actually, I think I want to do another record.” So, I think I emailed Earache and said, “Hey, there’s also talk about potentially making another record,” and I got an email back and it said, “We do not have a budget,” and just started threatening us.

Some intern or some new person. I was all like, “Dude, I don’t know why in the fucking world you would do this, but you just thwarted Insect Warfare from making a second full-length record.”

It’s super fucking nuts. Somebody else on the email thread was all like, “Wait, chill out, hang on; if you guys are serious about this, we’re going to talk about something,” but at that point, it had passed. Our contract was up and they were asking about renewing, and we were like, no, we’re not going to renew. They were trying to maintain ownership rights over our streaming numbers, our royalties. I was like, that’s not how this works at all. We didn’t sign anything saying you guys would indefinitely hold this. Someone emailed back saying any argument would not be tolerated and would immediately result in legal this and that. I was like, that’s fine, we’ll get a fucking lawyer, because you don’t have anything saying you own this shit. It was fucking terrible, man.

BEASLEY: We had broken up by that point, and we were just done with [the band]. It was over, as far as I was concerned. One of the guys from Earache emailed the contact on the record, which was my email. They were like, “Hey, we really like this record, we’d like to reissue it.” At first, I was like, no way is this fucking Earache.

But I was like, “Unless Digby [Pearson, Earache founder] himself emails me, I don’t care.”

Literally the next day, Digby emails me. He said that he was interested in the record, and he said it reminds him of the old days when he was first hearing the grind bands; it has that same kind of crusty [sound] to it. Say what you want to say about the dude, but he was there at the beginning and he did put out all those records.

NOVEMBER 2023 : 58 : DECIBEL

He had an idea of what was going on, so it was a compliment to me.

We agreed to it and they reissued it. And we knew that as soon as we did it, people would just hate us even more, like, “They sold out!”

We were fucking broken up; it’s not like we were trying to advance our careers off this shit.

I’ll say this, man: Everything they said they were going to do, they did. They brought us to Europe, and we toured Europe on the reissue, that was kinda crazy. But like anything, it just goes south. [Laughs] We weren’t a functioning band, so who the fuck cares what happens? It prolonged the record for another 10 years—it might have faded off to obscurity if that hadn’t happened. We got a lot of hate for that [laughs], but it was worth it.

GERAMIFAR: When I was a kid, those first Earache albums were the fucking who’s-who of heavy music. I came up at the tail-end of those tape-trading days, and a lot of those records I wouldn’t even get to listen to unless I knew someone that owned it and I could dub a tape.

So, for me, the Terrorizer [World Downfall] LP, the first two Napalms—you know, man, I don’t need to tell you. That shit was like the Holy Grail. We just went with it, you know? We’re used to doing things in a very DIY way: Our buddies put out our records, they give us the records, we tour and we sell the records, and it’s just like that.

So, the Earache thing—that shit was different. I was not knowledgeable on those things.

Yeah, you hear the stories. They put out a Napalm Death/Insect Warfare split, it was a Record Store Day [release]. I remember I was at a Napalm Death show in Houston around that time and it was like, “Hey man, you get any copies of that?” I was like, “No.” [Laughs] And then through the distribution channels, you see them in weird places, like walmart.com selling the World Extermination hoodie or some shit like that.

[Laughs] Nobody asked me. It’s just something that happened that I don’t think we may have been prepared for.

Looking back on World Extermination, what does it mean to you now, 16 years removed from it?

Can you still connect to it and relate to it?

Do you still feel attached to it?

GERAMIFAR: For me, I wanted to make the best record, so it’s very personal. When that record came out—this is going to sound stupid and it’s not the best phrase—but I’m making the world a better place [laughs], you know what I mean?

The world needs grindcore to listen to, the world needs fucking heavy music, and this is what I’m doing. I made this heavy LP, and this is for the world to enjoy. If people can listen to it and enjoy it, I think that’s great. So, it’s not like something where I’m, “Oh, whatever, I was just a dumb kid.” Never. That will never be me. That album is a very accurate representation of who I was at that time and the things that matter

RE!!

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INSECT WARFARE world extermination

to me and what I was into, and the things that motivated me.

BEVERLY: Yeah, man. One hundred percent.

When it comes on, I’m proud of it—very, very proud. I’m very thankful to be involved. Most musicians in our scene don’t get a chance to be a part of something that makes waves like that, and I never take that for granted. I thank Beau every year or so; we’ll be hanging out and I’ll say, “Thank you for fucking including me in this.” It’s surreal, because it was just a bunch of fucking noise pushed to the extreme.

BEASLEY: Man… when we did that record, I lived that record. That’s all I did. I went to work in the morning, and I got off work, and I worked on that record. I still live in the same house I wrote that record in, and I’m sitting on the couch where I wrote that record. So, all the fucking anger and frustration with the city and just feeling alienated, that record was a part of me.

I don’t want to go back. I was such a negative, shitty person back then. There was a lot of anger and it came out in the songs, I think. I don’t listen to it—I never listen to stuff I put out. But occasionally it’ll come on my Spotify randomize or whatever, and I’m like, “Holy shit, that’s us!”

I immediately hear Dobber’s drums and know it’s him. I don’t want to revisit that period of my life, but I’m glad I did it because it’s probably the biggest thing I’ll ever do in my life.

So, when you hear the songs on Spotify, how does it make you feel?

BEASLEY: It sounds cheesy, man, but there’s cer-

tain riffs where I know exactly where I was at.

There’s a song called “Enslaved by Machinery,” and when I hear one of the ending riffs—it’s kind of a powerviolence breakdown—I know exactly what I was doing at that moment when I wrote that riff, and I was in a certain state of mind and just feeling shitty, so when I hear that, it stirs some of those memories, man. There’s that, and then I also think, “Man, that’s fast as shit.” We were really trying to play shit as fast as possible on those songs. [Laughs] Is there anything you’d change about World Extermination?

BEASLEY: No, I wouldn’t. We gave it our all.

That’s an honest record. We didn’t try to deceive anybody. I think it sounds good; I’m stoked on the songs. There are certain songs I think could be better, but with 20 fucking songs, you’re not going to have all winners.

There’s songs I’d just rather not listen to ever again because it’s kinda me filling space, you know? They’re good, but they’re just kinda lukewarm to me. So, maybe that’s it; maybe I’d drop a few of the songs. But would it just be an EP at that point? I don’t know.

“When that record came out— this is going to sound stupid and it’s not the best phrase— but I’m making the world a better place.”

RA HI G E RA MIFA R GERAMIFAR: The way everything happened was perfect. It sucked that we didn’t tour a lot after it came out, so if I were to change one thing, maybe we would have toured some more on that LP. By the time it had hit Earache and that greater channel of distribution, a lot of people might have been hearing it for that first time, and I know personally, when I was a kid and you’re sniffing out records and sniffing out bands, you always wanted to be the first one in your peer group to get a word on a band… I remember when that would happen and the band would be broken up. And that kind of happened with World Extermination, where some people might have been like, “Damn, this is cool, I like this shit,” and NOVEMBER 2023 : 6 0 : DECIBEL

then be like, “Oh, this band’s already broken up.

Fuck.” So, it would have been cool to tour some more, but hey, man, I don’t look back. I don’t think about it and regret it.

BEVERLY: No. When we did that record, shortly after, there was a conversation between Beau and I where I said I think everything I had through playing this kind of shit, I gave, and I don’t know that I could do another grindcore record. I remember telling him I think I hit the peak of what I had to offer and don’t know if I want to do another one. And Beau was like, I think we’ve kinda done what we were going to do and that’s why we made the decision to kill it off at the time. So, no.

story by

D U T C H

photos by

P E A R C E

S H I M O N

K A R M E L

AFTER YEARS OF (WHAT WE MISTOOK FOR) DORMANCY,

T O M B M O L D’D’s

CAREER-DEFINING NEW ALBUM EMERGES WITHOUT WARNING OR PROMOTION

PRESTIGE OF REBIRTH

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ereby clinching—no, crushing—their first Decibel cover, Tomb Mold

are back with The Enduring Spirit, their most ambitious and most awesomely realized album to date. Over the last few years, anticipation for a new LP had reached a fever pitch among death metal fans, and for good reason. We got used to our yearly dose of drummer-fronted Canadian death metal brutality. After the release of this June’s Aperture of Body, the band’s latest promo tape, it was beginning to sound like Tomb Mold’s latest would be more than just another death metal album. And, indeed, what is The Enduring Spirit if not a manifestation of the Torontobased now-trio’s unwavering commitment to pushing the boundaries of their artistry to unparalleled heights? ¶ What a time to be alive and into death metal! One of the sickest groups of the modern era and beyond returns from out of the wild blue yonder to release their fourth album, and that’s only the first in the series of mind-melting surprises surrounding Tomb Mold’s rebirth. ¶ Where have they been? Preparing for this moment. Honing their skills. In the Bardo, if you will. That liminal space between Death and Rebirth.

Not simply awaiting their rebirth, but growing, changing, becoming. This album delivers on a promise made to themselves. Colorful, brighter and all-around more technically and compositionally advanced than we ever dreamed possible, the astonishing return of the once-prolific purveyors of weird death metal lands like a gift from the gods of death metal. Having offered mind, body and spirit to the forces of true self-expression, The Enduring Spirit prevails.

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BY LISTENERS. I WANTED TO AVOID ANY EXPECTATIONS WITH THE RELEASE OF THE ENDURING SPIRIT;

THAT WAY WE WOULD HAVE NO OBLIGATIONS TO ANYONE OR ANYTHING. M

H E AT D E AT H “2019 ended on a high note,” says Max Klebanoff, drummer, vocalist and half of the founding duo that, back in 2015, started calling themselves Tomb Mold—a reference to the PlayStation 4 game Bloodborne. Alongside guitarist Derrick Vella (and eventually guitarist Payson Power and bassist Steve Musgrave), Tomb Mold went on to unleash one of the most prolific and powerful runs of death metal proliferation the extreme metal world had seen in some time. By 2019, Tomb Mold had achieved the modern death metal dream: They were signed to a powerhouse label, they toured relentlessly and they were releasing year-end-list-topping albums like clockwork.

Klebanoff recalls 2019, the year of their third full-length, Planetary Clairvoyance: “[We played] Psycho Las Vegas into a West Coast tour, then shortly thereafter we were in Copenhagen for Kill-Town Death Fest, which kicked off our European tour with Of Feather and Bone and Ritual Necromancy. To cap off 2019, we played Hospital Fest in NYC. “After—and during—that show, I knew that something needed to change,” he continues. “I had grown tired of playing the same songs from that era of the band, and the only thing that kept me going was the reception at our gigs. I knew there was a change coming, but what that change was, I did not know.”

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death metal band. He admits that after said European tour, “It was definitely clear to all of us that we needed to take a breather. We had been writing and touring non-stop since we released [Manor of Infinite Forms] in 2018, so a hiatus seemed like the right thing for us. A new album was the last thing on our minds by the time we wrapped up our final show of 2019.”

Vella remembers the last show in New York City: “We played the Planetary Clairvoyance LP in full in Brooklyn. It was a nice moment for sure and a good show to end the year on.” He likewise cops to suffering from “burnout” by the end of the European tour. Which begs the question, did one of the sickest bands in death metal almost call it quits?

“Nah,” Vella says.

Power backs up the sentiment: “We always knew we were going to continue to make music together.”

“We never expected things would pop like they did,” Vella counters. “Our last tour in the USA with Superstition was a high point for all of us, I think. Just a great mix of tight shows and camaraderie between the bands on tour. Europe was extremely swell, too, with the good shows being great, but I think we felt like we were running on fumes by then.”

If Tomb Mold were to uphold their past greatness, they would have to—as Klebanoff roars on “Heat Death,” the last track on Planetary Clairvoyance—“surrender [their] diminished selves to the all-consuming exuberance.”

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Klebanoff’s epiphany after the New York City gig marked a turning point for the band. The desire for some kind of creative evolution became undeniable as Tomb Mold outgrew the songs of their earlier era. The band knew they needed to seek stranger, unknown territories.

“We were all in dire need of a break, and the world complied,” Power says, speaking of the 2020 start of the pandemic. “But as far as fullfledged hibernation goes, we really weren’t on pause for that long. Derrick was teaching me new songs over Skype while lockdown was still in effect.”

Pointing out another silver lining, he adds, “We really felt no rush or deadline at the time either, since the future of touring was completely up in the air.” With the future of live music—not to mention, occasionally, society itself—uncertain, the band played on.

“I had the collection of songs [that would become The Enduring Spirit] somewhat written going into 2021,” Vella allows, “but I think we all wanted time to sharpen ourselves on our instruments, work on other music, and come back to the band revitalized and ready to push ourselves.

There was no urgency; we had fun cranking stuff out one after another prior to that. I think we earned the chance to take our time.”

While Tomb Mold’s inhuman output may have earned them a breather or 10, they used their time off to redouble their efforts internally. Like Klebanoff puts it, “Our speed and productivity L

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were a strength for us, but once we went on hiatus, the creative energy generated by our momentum needed a new home. Our respective solo practice regimens helped keep that energy stable.”

Klebanoff recalls that when Tomb Mold began rehearsing again, “there was a need to reestablish the band’s priorities, and frankly, redefine the band in general.

“The Enduring Spirit represents a side of the band that we were hesitant to indulge, as there was an expectation built from our prior albums,” he continues. “Our hiatus helped to remove that expectation in favor of a semi-fresh start for the band.

Had we not taken that break, I do not believe that we would have had the energy or wherewithal to complete The Enduring Spirit in its best form. Once we left room for the band—and ourselves—to breathe, we could approach new material with a renewed mindset and produce something that could mark a new era of the band.”

Which path must we take to reach tomorrow?

What must we give up to get there?

FLESH AS ARMOUR “When I started working on the songs, it was warming up and becoming summertime,” Vella remembers. “I was stuck at home through the first part of the pandemic and found myself back into running, as well as exercising outside. I was constantly listening to [Cynic’s] Traced in Air on my runs, as well as [Death’s] Symbolic, which are both bright and exciting albums. I love the pop leanings of Symbolic more than ever now.

From This Day Forward by Obliveon, Unquestionable Presence by Atheist. I found myself really keying on what I would call ‘spirited’-sounding albums.

Stuff like Where Have I Known You Before by Return to Forever or assorted Van Halen albums, Toto, ’80s King Crimson albums—records that just sounded like the band members were having fun playing. Except Fripp, I guess.”

Likewise, Power’s dedication to refining his craft entailed new levels of commitment. “I ended up leaving a guitar at my day job to play on my breaks,” he says. “I’m not really into eating lunch, so I play for 45 minutes and that’s where I do my daily practice. I use a metronome in my ear and do a lot of tremolo-picking, string-skipping and alternate picking exercises. These are what get my solos and leads into shape. I play again in the evenings, always with a dry clean tone so any mistakes I make are easily noticeable.”

Klebanoff tells the story of Bill Bruford, former drummer/founding member of Yes, who had his own poor technique become a defining element. “Writing parts outside of my ability has been a very helpful trick to force my progress and become a more efficient player,” Klebanoff says. “At many points during the writing process for TES, I reminded myself of a video of Bill 66 : SEPTEMBER 2023 : DECIBEL

“Out of necessity, this album had to be different from all our previous work,” Klebanoff emphasizes. “To achieve that, we had to play these songs until we were sick of them; then there would be no doubt of our full commitment to every aspect of the album. If a song still sounds great to us after playing it half to death in our tired rehearsal room, then I’m sure any honest fan of ours is going to enjoy them as much as we do.”

Perhaps the biggest change came not from necessity, but sheer convenience. As Vella explains, “I wrote the songs for The Enduring Spirit around the time I was writing the first Dream Unending album, Tide Turns Eternal, and I didn’t want to change my tuning, so I wrote the new Mold stuff in Drop C#.” (He goes on to let those who don’t speak guitar know that “the previous albums were [tuned to] drop B.”) “I love C# minor and I think it adds a brightness to the songs,” Vella continues. “They don’t work if they’re a lower pitch. I wanted to lean that way. I wanted it to be bright. I guess it’s also easy to draw a line between the two bands to explain adding clean sections to new Tomb Mold songs, but Tomb Mold has a different drummer and an additional guitar player, so I don’t see them in the same light.

“Working on the Dream Unending songs,” he adds, “did help me sharpen one of my favorite aspects of songwriting: building tension to a high release point.”

Power, who considers himself “a slow songwriter,” says, for his part, “the creative process is like walking through a hurricane. I live for those rare moments of calm where I wander into the eye of the storm and everything stops. There’s nothing like that struggle and reward. When it comes to Tomb Mold, I can say with confidence that the sheer amount of hours we put into making The Enduring Spirit is staggering. I know that, for anyone who got used to our breakneck pace of releasing music, it has seemed like forever since we made an album; but honestly, our work rate has never been anywhere near this voracious.

We’ve been working on it for quite a while.”

“Once all of us were back in the same room together, it was like we never stopped,” Klebanoff recalls. “From late 2021 until we recorded this past March, we worked on new material basically nonstop. We had no shows [and] no tours, which allowed us to write and rehearse with zero distractions.”

“I wanted more Payson in these songs,” Vella remembers thinking. “I tend to write in a flurry, and Payson is such a good details guy that he would suggest different licks to play over certain riffs, or just little time or feel changes that went a long way. Plus, I wanted him to have more leads with me on this one.”

This Vella got, and then some. The Enduring Spirit is positively radiant with guitar solos.

Bruford describing his distinct rimshot-heavy snare technique. During his formative drumming years, he struggled with the volume of his snare because he had not learned proper stick grip technique. This resulted in a very weak grip in his left hand, which prevented him from striking his snare hard enough to project over the rest of the band. To combat that, he would tune his snare much higher than his prog contemporaries and rely heavily on rimshots in order to boost the volume of his snare strokes.

That distinct snare tone, born out of necessity— and improper technique—is a defining element of his playing. Adapting my playing to accommodate for my vocal parts had drastically changed the way I approached the kit, but leading up to The Enduring Spirit, I tried my best to highlight tendencies in my playing that may be unique and bring them to the forefront.”

As part of their ongoing evolution, Power and Vella both began taking guitar lessons.

Again, in Vella’s case; he tells us he hasn’t had lessons since he was a teenager. All due respect to Vella’s formative-years teacher, but these days he’s probably in the best hands possible.

Vella takes his lessons from Dysrhythmia/ Gorguts guitarist Kevin Hufnagel. “[We] mostly just work on classical guitar now,” Vella explains, “[but] he definitely helped me break a couple barriers with my playing from a technical and theoretical perspective.”

Power, meanwhile, takes guitar lessons from progressive rock axeman Seth Hollander. “I work mostly on breaking down mechanics and escaping personal formulas,” he says. “I actually gave myself tendonitis in both wrists last year from playing too much with incorrect form. Luckily, it was mild, and thanks to a couple of rounds of physio and the good people at Bayer, I’ve been able to get back on track. Probably the most valuable exercise I did when getting ready for TES was finding the beats-per-minute value for the songs and then playing the tunes with an added 10 BPM to the metronome.”

After the montage of Payson wearing sweatbands and playing along to Tomb Mold songs at Alvin and the Chipmunks speeds, we cut to Power: “I’m very proud of my rhythm guitar playing on this one. I think it’s the best guitar playing I’ve ever done.”

Our flesh as armour Now… Find a way

S E R VA N T S O F POSSIBILITY Necessity is the mother of invention, but who’s the father? In Tomb Mold’s case, time. More time was spent on The Enduring Spirit than any other Tomb Mold album, simply because, according to Vella, “the songs required it.” But also because, thanks to the pandemic, time was on their side.

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Additionally, after the departure of Steve Musgrave, Vella once again took on bass duties.

Vella points out that, while it’s “much less exciting” than guitar solos to some, he “also played fretless bass on the new album, as well as on the Aperture of Body tape.” Vella says he had fun pulling double duty on the record.

“Having the chance to track bass for Outer Heaven’s new album [Infinite Psychic Depths] was also instrumental in helping me brush up on my chops,” he says. “I had more fun playing bass on the new TM album than I did guitar. I don’t think anyone will pay the bass-playing any mind, but I like it.”

What is left to dream?

T hat which is not, I will make myself

FAT E ’ S TA N G L E D THREAD In 2022, Tomb Mold teased their fans with their first new music in three years. Vella explains that he wrote nine new songs and showed them to Klebanoff and Power. “Within the batch, there were two songs that both couldn’t be on the album, and a couple songs that I thought needed to be split up,” says Vella. Those two songs that couldn’t be on the album would become Aperture of Body.

He continues: “Aperture of Body was a good way to say hello again and sort of showcase some new things we wanted to imply in our songs—clean sections, myself back on bass, a bit of a changeup in overall sound—and a tape had lower stakes than an LP. Plus, I think we had a lot of fun

making the tape. We always do. Every time we make a tape, it’s better than the last, and that’s all Max. We would be so screwed if he didn’t have the know-how to do these things.”

“It was the perfect preamble before a new full-length,” Klebanoff admits. “Although, the stakes felt higher for Aperture than our demos prior, as it would be the very staggered followup to Planetary Clairvoyance and the standalone “Adaptive Manipulator” from the Cyberpunk 2077 soundtrack.” Yes, at some point during their socalled hiatus, Tomb Mold also contributed a song to a highly anticipated PC game.

“Fans of the band have also come to expect us to re-record the tape songs for the subsequent LP,” Power points out, “so it is a nice change to have an album that is completely new.”

When Tomb Mold knew they were finally ready to record The Enduring Spirit, they decided that, while innovation and change were crucial to their art, sometimes it really is better to stick with the tried and true. Hence, the band returned to Boxcar Sound in Hamilton, Ontario to record once again with Sean Pearson, who’s produced every Tomb Mold release since Primordial Malignity, their 2017 debut.

“Boxcar Sound has become a quintessential part of this band’s existence,” Klebanoff says. “Even prior to Tomb Mold’s existence, each of us had recorded at Boxcar with different bands, and the space left a strong impression.”

What makes Boxcar Sound different from any other studio? According to Vella, it starts with the engineer, Pearson.

“Sean is a laid-back and disarming guy,” Klebanoff agrees. “Quite the opposite of us. He is always there to talk us off the musical ledge, providing a reassuring voice when we are obsessing over minuscule recording details. On top of Sean being a pleasure to record with, the space itself allows for some of the greatest room sounds and natural reverb imaginable. After playing drums in a studio like that, it feels pointless to go elsewhere. I couldn’t imagine producing a Tomb Mold album without him.”

Vella remarks how it’s now a tradition to find himself at Boxcar at least once a year to track something. “I don’t think we wanted to change things up too much because it was a proven formula, to have him track and have Arthur Rizk mix and master the album,” he says. “It’s a comfort thing. I think we knew we had our work cut out for us and we needed to be as comfortable as possible.”

Sometimes achieving the level of comfort most conducive for creative expression means relinquishing certain duties. For instance, Klebanoff wrote all the lyrics for The Enduring Spirit while collaborating with Vella on overall themes.

“I was so glad you wrote all of the lyrics,”

I WROTE THE SONGS FOR THE ENDURING SPIRIT AROUND THE TIME I WAS WRITING THE FIRST DREAM UNENDING ALBUM, TIDE TURNS ETERNAL, AND I DIDN’T WANT TO CHANGE MY TUNING,

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THE CREATIVE PROCESS IS LIKE WALKING THROUGH A HURRICANE. I LIVE FOR THOSE RARE MOMENTS OF CALM WHERE I WANDER INTO THE EYE OF THE STORM AND EVERYTHING STOPS.

THERE’S NOTHING LIKE THAT STRUGGLE AND REWARD.

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Vella tells his bandmate. “You clearly had a vision, and it makes the record what it is.”

Klebanoff says he isn’t completely sure why he insisted on taking the reins this time, reasoning, “I felt the need to push myself out of my comfort zone to develop a refreshed collection of themes for this album.”

As a result, The Enduring Spirit includes lyrics that are as expansive as they are introspective.

Through each of the songs, there runs a thread of existential awe, something like complete acceptance of the insurmountable forces that rule their lives. For his part, Klebanoff says, “The Enduring Spirit represents our submission into the current of causality, our dive into the wreck. The lyrics were intended to communicate a sense of fanaticism that was born out of this tense and uncertain period of the band. There needed to be a sense of optimism and hope permeating the lyrics and visuals of this album … I knew this album would represent a turning point for the band. Powerlessness, submission [and] reverence are the first steps towards death of the self, and only then can rebirth can be achieved.”

T hey lead me to the infinite

WILL OF WHISPERS Now, the fact that you only heard about the new Tomb Mold full-length basically on the eve of its release is not just atypical for the band; it’s an audacious approach for any established act. According to the band, that has something to do with the way the promotion played out 70 : SEPTEMBER 2023 : DECIBEL

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for predecessor Planetary Clairvoyance, and even more to do with their ongoing desire to take new approaches.

“The nature of Planetary made it a difficult record to preview as far as typical album cycles go,” Power explains. “Two of the seven songs were already available on the [2018] Cerulean Salvation cassette, and ‘Phosphorene Ultimate’ and ‘Heat Death’ are both songs that are significantly more impactful in the context of the album as a whole. By release date, most of PC had already been heard one way or another.

The record went over really well, and we were thrilled with how it was received, but we were looking forward to a different kind of strategy this time around. The Enduring Spirit is our most lush and frenzied work to date, and with the slight tonal shift, there’s never been a better time to throw a grenade into the room.”

“In the immediate aftermath of Planetary Clairvoyance’s release,” Klebanoff recalls, “it felt impossible to even think about a follow-up, and our album-a-year ethic we had developed for ourselves only made things more difficult.

Maybe it was the hype cycle that put us in that corner, maybe not. What I can say for certain is that our consistency made clear the gamified elements of underground music, and I knew that I wanted no involvement in that. No more death metal of convenience. The hype cycle can kill new music dead before it even has time to be absorbed by listeners. I wanted to avoid any expectations with the release of The Enduring N O V

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Spirit, that way we would have no obligations to anyone or anything.”

And as far as sales numbers go, Power assures us there’s no trepidation within the band, especially after a four-year break between LPs. “We all love and have faith in the new album,” he says, “and we're lucky to have a passionate audience who are rabid for new music. 20 Buck Spin has let us do our own thing since day one, and it was actually Dave [Adelson of 20 Buck Spin]’s suggestion to announce the album the same week as its release! And I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that the success of Manor of Infinite Forms and Planetary Clairvoyance is what allowed us to release The Enduring Spirit with basically zero buildup. I really hope it’s a pleasant surprise to anyone who’s been waiting on a new LP.” Another pleasant surprise for fans is the return of artist Jesse Jacobi, who once again lent his immense talents to the mesmerizing Enduring Spirit cover art. It’s plain to see why the band returned to Jacobi: The American artist’s unique style and visionary approach pairs seamlessly with Tomb Mold’s otherworldly aesthetic.

Once more, Jacobi’s talents add an extra layer of mystique and hypnosis, drawing listeners into a world where Tomb Mold’s juxtapositions meet imaginative and otherworldly visuals.

“With the recent works [Jacobi] had been sharing, as well as his work on [the PC video game] NORCO, all three of us knew that he had to be the face of the new album,” says Klebanoff.

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Burden of Hope

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“Jesse’s art style had evolved and further refined itself in such a distinct way since we first worked with him in 2019. His artistic evolution paired with the reimagining of the band was the perfect match. His ability to pick up on themes through my extremely vague lyrics proves that he is a true visionary.

“Both of us were very enthusiastic about the idea of including beings in various transitional and liminal states to better represent transitional points in the process of rebirth.” Klebanoff adds. “These beings would then draw the observer’s eye towards a single hybrid form that represents the final stage of rebirth. [Jacobi] is a true world-builder in his own right, and we are honored to call him a friend and collaborator.”

It traces me to here, to where I must purge myself at last

ANGELIC FA B R I C AT I O N S The Enduring Spirit opens with a drum fill like the shaking of some great unknown beast that’s emerged from primordial waters to dry itself on the shore of life. Soon after, “The Perfect Memory (Phantasm of Aura)” explodes in earnest. Within seconds, it’s evident that Tomb Mold themselves have evolved into new creatures beyond reckoning. Their death metal is tighter, stronger and more innovative than ever.

Adding to that is their newfound penchant for clean parts. Hidden throughout The Enduring Spirit are these moments—some sustained, some brief, of immense beauty, like an oasis of tranquility amidst fiery Pompeii.

Now, having released the work that nearly consumed them whole, Tomb Mold stand resolute

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the burning of our physical form; ‘Servants of Possibility’ is the acceptance of our future uncertainty; ‘The Enduring Spirit of Calamity’ is the final push of the persevering soul.

Much of my inspiration for the lyrics came from media with escapism and pushing the frontiers of the human psyche as central themes [Aura Battler Dunbine, Turn a Gundam, Unica Zürn’s Trumpets of Jericho, Adrienne Rich’s Diving Into the Wreck]. The working title for the album was Cycle Reincarnate Necessity, which was a more literal interpretation of the band’s rebirth. Hope, optimism [and] relief were some of the main feelings I wanted the listener to pick up in through the collective inner dialogue that the lyrics represented.”

Looking back on the journey that brought them to this point, Power can’t help but be “proud of all three LPs I’ve been on for different reasons. But The Enduring Spirit is the one I put the most of myself into. It was created during a time of great personal loss for me, which made it uniquely difficult. I’ll remember the entire process forever.

“Through my experiences in Tomb Mold, I’ve learned so much and gained a ton of perspective, yet these gains often make you realize just how little you know,” he concludes.

“Life is short, and it can change in an instant.

That is a universal truth. It’s easy to say make the most of it and do anything but. I keep that in mind always now. I learned that we in Tomb Mold have been—and continue to be— very fortunate with the opportunities we’ve been afforded. I also learned how to properly EQ my amp.”

and content at the threshold of this new chapter in their awe-inspiring and unlikely journey from “The Solid State Era” (what Vella calls the band’s early days) to “The Troublesome Trio Era” (their most recent period). The group’s tireless pursuit of evolution, honed in the proverbial liminal space of the Bardo, has culminated in a grand opus that redefines the boundaries of modern death metal while simultaneously reinforcing the group’s unquestionable place at the top.

Tomb Mold’s reinventing of their own steel is a testament to their fearless exploration of their own limitations. As they deftly wield the full force of their individual talents and combined musical prowess, the trio emerges as a new lifeform, growing phoenix-like from the corpse of their past. A strange, new fruiting body that promises to continue captivating and challenging the extreme metal world.

“The Enduring Spirit has left an indelible mark on myself both literally and figuratively,” Klebanoff reflects, “and for that, I am grateful.

There were several moments during our practices where I felt I could not go any farther, that I didn’t have the physical or mental wherewithal to continue with the band. But with the support and encouragement from both Payson and Derrick, I managed to pull myself out of those spirals and power onwards.”

No wonder then that The Enduring Spirit is such a personal album, an album that Klebanoff insisted had to be different, be more. He breaks the album’s themes down for us, hinting at how, according to him, “each song represents a stage in the dismantling of our Being.”

He elaborates: “‘Will of Whispers’ is purging of self-conscious thought; ‘Flesh as Armour’ is

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INSIDE ≥

76 ALDAARON Blowing up like Alderaan 76 CIRITH UNGOL Frost has still got fire 80 KRIEG The end of the party 80 THE NIGHT ETERNAL Will not let you die, In Solitude 83 THY ART IS MURDER Human rights warfare

Four of the Apocalypse WAYFARER The devils ride out on fifth collection of Western woe

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ALL THE NOISE THAT FITS

’s blood-soaked

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unno why cowboy metal is suddenly a thing. I suppose SpiritWorld and Wayfarer don’t make a trend, per se, but that’s two more high-profile bands wearing 10-gallon hats and spurs than you usually find in this neck of the woods. At WAYFARER least up until American Gothic, Wayfarer’s Western wear felt mostly American Gothic like an aesthetic trapping, as it is for SpiritWorld. On their ripP R O FO U N D LO R E roaring fifth album, however, they don their dusters and become the Men With No Name they were always meant to be. It may seem to be a more cleanedup, respectable look, but appearances can be deceptive. They’re as mean as ever here.

Maybe even meaner. ¶ Noted outlaw Arthur Rizk (whose production work for bands like Power Trip, Unto Others and the Cavaleras helped define and refine their respective sounds) guides them this time, and his sterling silver sheen on the sonics helps bring buried elements to the surface. It allows the Denver-based quartet to come into their own as they fully move their black metal from the Cascadian mountains to the Rockies. As blasphemous as it seems, leaning into the Western elements provides contrast and allows the black metal parts to stand out. The Ennio Morricone influence

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feels interwoven more organically here—the way “The Cattle Thief” segues from tremolopicked terror to a fistful of twang, for example, shouldn’t work as cleanly as it does.

There are some other notable differences from previous cattle drives, but the big one here comes from the tightness of the songs. They’re mostly shorter—while there’s one almost 10-minute epic, they otherwise roam the range in a more truncated timespan than on previous releases.

That helps each individual campfire tune stand out. There’s also a marked change in the vocal department. Shane McCarthy and Jamie Hansen’s approach feels more varied, bringing in both clean singing and more of a melodeath rasp for the dirty parts. It makes it easier to follow the stories of greed, violence and oil each song tells.

All that adds up to one fine collection of twofisted tales. These pieces come together to present a vision of the frontier as bleak as Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian. No heroes or chances for redemption; just a string of bodies and broken dreams. This isn’t just Western metal— it’s Spaghetti Western metal. No John Wayne or Roy Rogers to save the day. The Americanadrenched darkness of “Reaper on the Oilfields,” the unexpected power chords of “To Enter My House Justified,” the Gothic doom of “Black Plumes Over God’s Country”—all overflow with nihilism. And awesomeness. Too often the individual compositions on epic black metal records get lost in an overall vibe. Here, they each act as a bullet loaded in a chamber, fired into the corpse of the American West. —JEFF TREPPEL

ALDAARON

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Majestic Heights, Melancholic Depths PA R A G O N

Slaughter some?

Definitely

While French black metal is typically synonymous with tonal dissonance, wild musical experimentation and erudite concepts, Aldaaron, of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alps region, play more towards the traditional stylings of second-wave black metal. More specifically, there’s an abundance of Swedish melodicism to their sound—gnashing riffs and rhythms beholden to Dissection, Dawn (track nine is a cover of “The Knell and the World”) and Sacramentum—with an added affinity towards folk-forlorn BM as crafted by Drudkh.

On earlier releases, Aldaaron (composed of multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Ioldar and guitarist Voldr) suffered from a lack of ability to define an identity within the confines of their chosen style of extreme metal. However, a decade-long break improved compositional acumen somewhat on 2022’s Arcane Mountain 76 : NOV EMBER 202 3 : DECIBEL

Cult. That record has now been swiftly followed

by Majestic Heights, Melancholic Depths.

The title of the fourth Aldaaron LP might actually be a statement of intent for the music, as this duo has come closer than ever before in terms of melding the majestic with the melancholic. The songwriting is solid and sensibly direct and atmospheric; the band is keen to pay justice to the epic artwork adorning the cover.

Vocally, Ioldar’s corrosive roar has some necessary low-end that cuts through the tremolo attack of the riffs, as heard best on the BurzumImmortal collision of “Les tambours et le fer” and the Alcest-esque “Impassibles cenotaphes.”

After this release, Aldaaron won’t exactly be thrust to the forefront of BM, given that anyone remotely familiar with metal’s grimmest subgenre will recognize where the band is pulling from—the convergence of their root sonics is nothing new in the year 2023. Yet the entire package—production, songcraft, aesthetic—is executed in such convincing fashion that finding terminal fault with what they have produced here is impossible. —DEAN BROWN

BRUJERIA

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Esto Es Brujeria NUCLEAR BLAST

Baby, Juan more time

I feel compelled to state that I have in no way been coerced to make any flattering remarks as to the quality of this record by a pit-stained cabal of balaclava-wearing cholos (half of whom may or may not actually resemble pasty, Earl Greyswilling colonizers and at least one-sixth of which is definitely not 100 percent shaped like Shane Embury). Zero—I repeat—zero fingers have been severed from my hand with a rusty ol’ bolo, I’m just, um, learning to type with my nondominant hand, guys; chill out!

Anyhoo, I’m going to go way out on the old limb and call this Brujeria’s strongest record to date. That’s not meant to imply that the band has advanced much; stylistically speaking, Esto Es Brujeria explores zero virgin Brujer-itory. The dank Master, Cripple Bastards and Pungent Stench gobbledygook, skidmarked with ’80s-era anarcho-punk à la Chaos UK is all still intact.

The play-pretend-but-not-really sociopolitical turf wars are as picante as ever; Juan Brujo remains one of the most distinctive, inglorious vocalists currently at large; and somehow the record—comprised of 16 tracks averaging at under three minutes per—still manages to feel roughly 10 minutes too long.

On this last point, the inclusion of “COVID666” (previously released as a single in—you guessed it—2020), along with its B-side

“Cocaína,” is a misstep. They make the record feel a bit too much like a catchall, as well as unnecessarily drawn out. Otherwise, the tunes are cutthroat and catchy; the performances are precise, but manage to still shock ‘n’ awe like a prison riot; the doomier passages are fucking gonzo and… oh, I’m being told to lie down on my stomach. Cool! I was feeling pretty lightheaded anyway. Hello darkness, mi vieja amiga!

—FORREST PITTS

CIRITH UNGOL

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Dark Parade M E TA L B L A D E

The Hard Parade

Every legacy metal band looking to stay relevant decades down the line always has to fight the same battle between staying true to the sound that helped create said legacy and not remaining stuck in the past. Certainly, having fresh blood in the band—especially when you’ve been going at it since the 1970s—can be helpful. Ventura, CA legends Cirith Ungol have just the right mix of original/longtime members (iconic vocalist Tim Baker, drummer Robert Garven and guitarist Greg Lindstrom) and fresh(er) blood (guitarist Jim “Jimmy” Barraza and Night Demon bassist Jarvis Leatherby).

As a result, the two new Cirith Ungol albums (including this one) since their reformation in 2016 have been welcome returns to the classic sound that don’t sound like mere Frost and Fire or King of the Dead retreads. Which is the best you can hope for if you’re a fan. And certainly, the modern recording empowers the band’s quasi-doom with more muscle and might. The songwriting is certainly of its era—this is old-school metal all the way—but it somehow doesn’t feel especially dated.

Baker’s paint-peeling howl is intact, and the uncomplicated (but memorable) riffs serve the songs well and provide a solid foundation for frequent guitar harmonies and tasteful, bluesbased solos. Tracks like the upbeat “Velocity” or the downbeat “Distant Shadows” display CU’s versatility and vitality. Dark Parade not only delivers a satisfying experience for longtime fans; it’s a really enjoyable modern expression of metal’s roots. —ADEM TEPEDELEN

COMANIAC

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None for All M E TA L W O R L D

Return to return to the wasteland

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decade of touring with the likes of Overkill and Metal Church. Their debut album, 2015’s Return to the Wasteland, introduced a band that crafts thrash with an extra level of detail. Now their fourth album is on the way, and None for All unites these thrash musketeers for the next chapter.

“Eye to Eye” launches with a clean-toned guitar intro. After sizzling at ramming speed, the track eventually veers into ’90s groove metal territory. The album’s stylistic ventures reflect songwriting aspirations beyond mimicking the genre’s greats. None for All is replete with melodeath embellishments that make the riffs feel ornate and barbed, while crossover gang shouts bring the pit to your headphones.

There’s nothing wrong with delivering a big, contagious chorus in extreme metal. The title track goes for it with a scream-along section that works, but can’t achieve the same level of intensity as the stronger components surrounding it. During mid-paced mosher “Between the Stars,” vocalist/guitarist Jonas Schmid employs a snarled chorus that eventually turns too sugary and sweet for my crusty ears. “Long Life Doll” is a bizarre outlier, a distracting monster ballad that loses the monster along the way.

Comaniac are at full power when they keep their writing snappy. “Start the Madness” is a barn-scorcher that sandblasts gentle passages into distant memory. The blood-red technical shred of “Desolation Manifest” pops as an early-album highlight. Ending the album with the downcast melodicism of “Self Sacrifice” is a risk, but it captures the band’s own instructions for destruction.

None For All is a riveting thrash record softened by pop-rock sensibilities. —SEAN FRASIER

GRAILS

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Anches En Maat TEMPORARY RESIDENCE

Heavy music (for a film)

Calling music “cinematic” is one of our laziest, most overused tropes. Sure, music can have a specific soundtrack-y, wide-shot landscape kind of vibe, but that descriptor is mostly a way of gesturing with waving arms, “It’s too vague to explain, you know what I mean, dammit,” than anything else.

Hopefully that bit of honesty grants a few extra credits so I can do it again for Grails’ new album, because this time it really makes sense.

That visually evocative quality was always one of Grails’ main strengths, but mainly in the sense of being an instrumental band able to create those little vignettes in your mind through nonverbal sound communication alone.

But Anches En Maat really does go that extra mile in sounding like an actual soundtrack, adding a lush, almost orchestral layer to their 78 : NOVEMBER 2023 : DECIBEL

usual spacey, psychedelia-driven sound, kind of grounding their out-there explorations in more mundane settings. The sounds of “daytime soap opera soundtracks, aching Westerns and massive soul-disco strings,” as they freely admit, become as much a feature in the overall atmosphere as their usual language of minimalist melancholy.

In a way, it’s an evolution similar to Mono’s, from a more straightforward, post-rock framework to a more—ahem—cinematic and grandiose presentation of similar feelings.

Vast, yet intimate; exploratory and experimental; occasionally kitsch, but still dense and heavy—whether this direction was a result of the lineup shift that occurred since the last album, or the band being all together in the studio for the first time since 2008 is sort of beside the point— what matters is that it hits the emotional bullseye with immense class. —JOSÉ CARLOS SANTOS

GRAVESEND

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Gowanus Death Stomp 20 BUCK SPIN

The streets of Bushwick run red with blood

It seems Gravesend were concerned that not enough people know they’re named after a neighborhood in Brooklyn, so they went further by name-checking another Brooklyn neighborhood on their second full-length, Gowanus Death Stomp. And, in all earnestness, the record title feels completely appropriate.

If you want to talk genres, the trio is death metal with a big bestial black metal influence, and this “Let’s go fuck up some pricks in Bensonhurst” tough-guy hardcore angle that stitches it together is ugly, ruthless and often unabashedly meathead. This shouldn’t surprise anyone who has heard the band’s previous output—or can imagine what a record described as something akin to “brutal bestialcore” might sound like— but it should be noted that while their playing is tight and the production is nice and clear, there’s a strong affinity for those bashing caveman parts that are practically gift-wrapped in embroidered Revenge patches.

Is that a bad thing? No. Good lord, no. There is a wonderful balance here. They cycle through their bag of tricks to avoid redundancy, and then ease back on the extremity when it’s time to spotlight a riff that—for unfortunate lack of a better term—compels you to make the stank face.

This is what Gravesend do, and despite its bleak, grimy degeneracy, Gowanus Death Stomp is an incredibly fun record to listen to. It asks very little of the listener. Sit back, relax and get your head squashed like a ripe mango. Who wants to say no to that? —SHANE MEHLING

HARM’S WAY

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Common Suffering M E TA L B L A D E

To apostrophe or to not apostrophe…

… this remains the question, as questions apply to Midwest bruisers Harm’s (or Harms) Way. Why? Because any questions concerning the lines of association between thudding metallic hardcore and Godflesh’s historical post-apocalyptic wasteland of sound have been answered by HW’s (see what we did there?)

PSTHMN remix EP of previous album Posthuman and this latest offering, Common Suffering.

It all makes perfect sense, beginning with the mechanized warmth of Christopher Mills’ drum sound. The splashy snare and industrialized kicks are straight out of Justin Broadrick’s wettest dreams. But Mills is a living, breathing piece of defecating meat holding a pair of drumsticks, not a series of programmed beats—though with AI advancements, who knows what’s real anymore? His beating heart, internal clock and sense of meter have him playing to, and off, the searing scathing guitars that stretch delivery from loping windmills and spacious swings (“Heaven’s Call,” “Wanderer”) to taut and tensile bursts of Swedeath-meets-noise-rock-meets-first-wavemetalcore, all force-fed through flux capacitor pedals (“Denial,” “Cyanide”) all the way over to testicle-crushin’, laptop-crashin’, mosh pit-generatin’ haymakers like “Silent Wolf” and “Devour.”

Front-mountain James Pligge tops off the fray, daring you to tell him pumping iron and wearing short shorts isn’t cool, with a 10-rep bellow somewhere between Unsane and Converge, with vocal lines in “Hollow Cry” and “Terrorizer” that spit anger while deceptively bordering on hooky.

HW cover a wide spectrum of sonic punishment in Common Suffering’s cutthroat runtime (Kristina Esfandiari—a.k.a. King Woman— adds haunting vocals to the monolithic “Undertow”), and demonstrate how Skrew’s Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame and Treponem Pal’s selftitled were discovered and absorbed by Earth Crisis and Snapcase nerds, not just snorted up the honkers of Al Jourgensen’s acolytes.

—KEVIN STEWART-PANKO

HAUNT

7

Something Near SELF-RELEASED

Anti-raw-black-metalscene raw black metal

Taking cues from secondwave progenitor Burzum, Haunt’s minimal and driving Something Near aligns itself with the classics, but with a harsher, more impenetrable aura. Riff-forward and heavily atmospheric

DECIBEL : NOVEMBER 2023 : 79

(in an old-school, non-post-rocky way), Haunt separate themselves from the superficial “Instagram school” of collector black metal by actually having substance beyond aesthetics and plugins.

The riffs? They’re good! The vibe? Spooky, if even a little frightening!

This is what solid, “raw” black metal should be, and it’s particularly interesting given this scene’s penchant for aesthetics over substance.

No one needs more of the same stuff: the aforementioned “raw” plugin, a picture of a spooky dude in the woods that’s Xeroxed to absolute hell, some sort of scene manifesto. On this new album, Haunt transcend all that unnecessary noise with quality music that’s appended with an interesting and unique perspective.

For all the “anti-scene” philosophy that drives the new school of raw black metal, there is definitely a “scene” apart from which Haunt exist.

This is the real “anti-scene”: some dude who just so happens to make raw black metal and isn’t connected socially like the rest (though he does have an Instagram, which is something both bewildering and confusing considering Haunt’s antisocial nature). This isolation is apparent in Haunt’s music, whose stark melodic sense and near-unapproachable production portrays sole musician Perthro as a black metal hermit, unimpressed with his surroundings. This is the real way: raw black metal unencumbered by sociability and a greater “scene.” Just be sure to listen with decent headphones or a broken tape deck.

Either way, you win. —JON ROSENTHAL

KRIEG

8

Ruiner P R O FO U N D LO R E

Can you take me higher?

Ah, Krieg. Quintessential.

Mainstays. Stalwarts. You get the idea. They’ve been around a long time, and they’ve always managed to stay fresh with each new release, but it’s honestly been a long time since we last received a full album statement from this legendary act. In the nine years that have passed since Transient (has it really been that long?), Krieg have gestated and, most importantly, persisted. Collaborations, splits and compilations all have indicated activity from the Krieg camp in one way or another, but Ruiner shows Krieg at their most ferocious and mature; it’s perhaps their greatest statement since The Black House.

A quick glance at the liner notes shows powerhouse A. Poole (Chaos Moon, Ringarë and lots of other bands) standing side by side with legendary frontman N. “Imperial” Jameson; but compared to Transient, Ruiner is a much more defined and refined statement. Complex songwriting has never really been a part of Jameson’s or Krieg’s 80 : NOVEMBER 2023 : DECIBEL

story, and yet his and Poole’s atmospheric acrobatics reveal this band of misfits to have grasped onto something deeper and more satisfying than on previous records.

Doubtless the product of not only its primary songwriter Jameson, but also time (a lot went into this record), Ruiner is Krieg’s magnum opus, something that looks beyond the scope of era, context and history, and simply presents itself as a great—and maybe timeless—black metal record. Nine years is a long wait between albums, especially for the previously prolific Krieg, but they’ve obviously made good use of their time. Hails and Aves. —JON ROSENTHAL

LINUS KLAUSENITZER

7

Tulpa AOP

Not so obscura now

Bassist Linus Klausenitzer is part of, appeared live with and was formerly a member of some of Germany’s most important extreme metal acts. To wit, he’s fingered five or six strings in Obscura, Thulcandra, Dark Fortress (RIP), Alkaloid, Eternity’s End and, most recently, his foray in Obsidious, featuring other Teutonic whip-smarts. Like drummer Hannes Grossmann and guitarist Christian Münzner, Klausenitzer felt it was time to create progressiveminded death under his burgeoning moniker.

The accomplished musician/composer has laid out a complex, if recognizable, puzzle on Tulpa, his debut for AOP. Certainly, the trio of first-side tracks (“King of Hearts,” “Axiom Architect” and “Our Soul Sets Sail”) acts as the buttress to the more experimental second. Here, Klausenitzer picks where Obscura and Obsidious left off—if only tangentially different in parts—dealing well-constructed, note-brisk, productionallyclean death metal with the help of fretboard pontificators Ian Waye (Soreption) and Aaron Homma (Annihilator), as well as old friend Grossmann on drums and new bud Javi Perera (Obsidious) on vocals. The latter parts of Tulpa are comparatively experimental. “The Devil’s Tongue” features unorthodox bass-drum punchiness, while “Sehraff Streaming,” “Queen of Hearts” (not the Juice Newton jam), “Dig Deeper” and “Lunar Assailant” offer up brighter, Rust in Peace/Images and Words-ish feels.

If Klausenitzer had embarked on less of a linear journey—using the superbness of instrumental “Sister in Black” as a model—Tulpa would’ve resonated more strongly than an offshoot of his familiar endeavors. It won’t change the world, but in all its integrative know-how and forward-leaning voltage, Tulpa fits wholly into the hole for which it was likely intended. —CHRIS DICK

THE NIGHT ETERNAL

8

Fatale VÁ N

Idol hands

The Night Eternal’s second LP, Fatale, has arrived with very little fanfare due to a lack of promotion in the U.S. In this respect, nothing has improved the band’s global presence since their 2021 debut, Moonlit Cross, which slithered out rather than soared. The lack of a push is a shame, because this Essen-based act’s triumphant and gothic heavy metal deserves to be heard by fans of past breakout bands like In Solitude, Unto Others or Tribulation.

The nine songs on Fatale are born for fist-pumping reverie in a live setting. “Prince of Darkness,” “Run With the Wolves,” “Prometheus Unbound” or standout “Stars Guide My Way” are laden with chantable refrains underpinned by classic jukes, jives and gallops inspired by the sacred tomes of Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and Scorpions.

Frontman Ricardo Baum is the band’s dramatic focal point, though. This guy has a magnetic presence; his vocal timbre and flamboyant delivery is eerily identical to ex-In Solitude ghost Pelle Åhman, yet there are moments of Danzig-esque swagger that add extra bravado. Fatale’s songs are concise, anthemic and defiant, and anyone who lost their shit to Mana, The Children of the Night or The World. The Flesh. The Devil will be all in.

If this talented (and still developing) outfit had the right backing, we would be extremely confident to say that the Night Eternal are a top contender to become a 2023 buzz band. But until that happens, here’s an exciting record for those sworn to subterranean sounds. —DEAN BROWN

ORGAN DEALER

8

The Weight of Being EVERLASTING SPEW

Back to the grind

Considering it’s been eight years since their debut and five years since their last split (with Nerve Grind and Invertebrate), New Jersey quartet Organ Dealer have been noticeably dormant. But that’s over now with the release of their second fulllength, The Weight of Being. While they may be older, they don’t sound any wiser, and for a grind band that’s almost always a good thing.

There isn’t a single one of these 21 tracks that breach the two-minute mark, and these guys don’t even do the obligatory sludge track at the end, instead leaving you with a three-second burst that finishes off the album like a digestif in a broken shot glass. The drums sound like Eric Schnee is actually playing this hard and fast, giving the album that genuine attack you need

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with this much blasting, but both the riffs and Scot Moriarty’s vocals have the heft to continually battle for the spotlight.

There are a few moments where the band shifts gears and throws in a moderately slower part, and those are good enough that some more probably wouldn’t hurt, but by the time you’ve weighed the pros and cons of adding them, the band has already played two more songs and it doesn’t really matter anymore. It’s unclear if Organ Dealer will require another five to eight years to produce another 23 minutes of music, but if that is what it takes to put out something like The Weight of Being, there won’t be much to complain about. —SHANE MEHLING

PRONG

7

State of Emergency SPV

Audio stasis

Any time a band has all of the creative responsibility in the hands of one musician, you can usually count on at least a consistent sound. In Prong’s case, guitarist vocalist Tommy Victor has been the sole driving force for going on four decades.

So, though Prong’s sound has progressed since the more hardcore-influenced debut, Force Fed (1988), once Victor found his groove (literally) with 1990’s breakthrough Beg to Differ—a thrash metal-post punk hybrid—he has tinkered very little with the basic Prong approach. It’s not to say he’s repeatedly made the same album, but if you liked Beg, there’s a pretty good chance you’ll enjoy album number 13, State of Emergency.

Vocally, musically and aesthetically, it’s consistent with the Prong canon. Though Victor is accompanied here by a rhythm section—bassist Jason Christopher and drummer Griffin McCarthy—they are merely support staff. I say this not to be cruel, but because Victor has churned through rhythm sections with little change in Prong’s overall approach. They aren’t crucial to the Prong sound; Victor is.

The downside of being the sole creative contributor is that 13 albums in, that thing that you do so well can occasionally sound repetitive. While there’s plenty of dynamic range covered throughout State of Emergency—from gruff hardcore to crunching thrash to edgy post-punk—some of the rhythmic chug-o-rama groove metal occasionally feels repetitive. The transition between the end of “Light Turns Black” and the start of “Who Told Me,” for example, reveals two riff/rhythmic approaches that are so similar that I initially thought they were the same song. So, yeah—consistent, but perhaps to a fault. —ADEM TEPEDELEN 82 : NOVEMBER 2023 : DECIBEL

RAT KING

7

Psychotic Reality S ATA N I K R O Y A LT Y

Pizza Rat with blast beats

Video games have eclipsed the film and music industries in part because they excel in creating sequels. The most recent addition to a popular game franchise is often the best entry point (hello, Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom), whereas the latest Marvel franchise installment is probably a confusing and unsatisfying mess. Musicians take note: If your new album is more or less a continuation of the last, it should improve upon it in some serious way.

Seattle’s Rat King understood this assignment with their new album, Psychotic Reality. It’s similar enough to their impressive 2020 effort, Vicious Inhumanity, that you could call it a sequel.

The power trio, led by brothers Danny and Ricky Racines, still delivers fierce, thrashy deathgrind that emphasizes groove and clarity. If you were to tell someone that Psychotic Reality was released on Relapse in the early 2000s, they might believe you even if they were blindfolded.

But like any good sequel, Psychotic Reality shows a few definite improvements over its predecessor. Rat King are not so extreme that entry-level metalheads indoctrinated by Lamb of God and Machine Head can’t relate, and their 2023 song arrangements accentuate that strength in a big way. The band still dabbles in moments of psychedelia, but they’re fewer in number and more tastefully deployed than before.

Still, there’s room to grow. Drummer Carlos Delgado is a groove powerhouse, and his playing is a big part of Rat King’s appeal, but his cymbals are mastered so hot that they sound like stabs of white noise. The album sounds all right in Apple headphones, but it’s seriously irritating when played on a half-decent sound system. As such, Psychotic Reality is like a great sequel to a good game… that you can only play on your smartphone. —JOSEPH SCHAFER

RESTLESS SPIRIT

7

Afterimage

MAGNETIC EYE

Picture to burn

Grief is a funny thing.

You could be the hardest motherfucker on the planet and yet, the loss of something or someone you love could rattle your world in the most unfathomable ways. That’s the sort of roller coaster that gave birth to Afterimage, the third album from East Coast metal trio Restless Spirit. Guitarist and frontman Paul Aloisio wrote

its lyrics while grappling with several deaths of friends and loved ones within a relatively brief timespan. Though he intended the project as a warning to himself of where such intense trauma could lead if not properly addressed, he soon found himself down a dark road anyway. As he told Tombs vocalist Mike Hill on Hill’s Everything Went Black podcast, “I wrote the soundtrack to my downfall, truly, and it got scary for a bit.”

Titled for the visions that linger in your eye after looking away from a bright or flashing light, Afterimage captures the sense of being haunted by what used to be and the struggle to find a path forward through every gigantic riff, sludgy guitar line and piercing hook.

Opener “Marrow” plunges the listener into the heartbreaking agony of anticipatory grief while “Shadow Command” (which features guest vocals from Hill) shifts from unsettling, chugging grooves to calmer atmospheres before the ending arrives as imposing and thick as if it were aiming to block out the sun.

Restless Spirit live up to their name on the blistering sludge-pop stomp of “All Furies” and creeping instrumental “Brutalized,” before pouring their souls into standout “The Fatalist,” which features doom legend Scott “Wino” Weinrich.

With its mix of raw emotion, tight songwriting and moments of hard-won triumph amid the wreckage, Afterimage is sure to stick around long after the picture fades away. —JAMIE LUDWIG

RUIN LUST

8

Dissimulant 20 BUCK SPIN

Not.Too.Shabby

Fire up the “bestial,” “cacophonous,” “guttural” or “discordant” descriptors: New York war metallers Ruin Lust have returned with their fourth LP, Dissumulant. Featuring Mike Rekevics (Vanum, Yellow Eyes) on vocals/drums, J. Wilson on guitars and S. Bennett on bass, the black/ death/grind that these players twist into hideous form remains more musical than that of other reprobates out there butchering the already butchered stylings of Blasphemy, Knelt Rote, Archgoat or Teitanblood.

War metal, when it fails, is usually down to a lack of discernible riffs, and this songwriting impotence is typically shrouded by a cavernous recording. The whole shebang tends to echo like churning coagulated filth with a rabid dog barking over it. Ruin Lust have been aware of the sub-subgenre’s pitfalls since their 2013 self-titled debut, but their command of gauntlet-spiked war metal has sharpened since they reformed in

2019. Dissumulant houses their most face-flayingly impactful material yet.

Rekevics roars, belches and hacks up parts of his esophagus while hammering out brutalist rhythms as though he’s hitting drums with human femurs. Riff-wise, Wilson knows how to make it hurt. Each song is posed in such a way that Ruin Lust sound memorable while still on the verge of all-out chaos. Brevity is key to the success of this kind of aural annihilation, with the trio destroying everything in a no-second-wasted sensory barrage. Because of the foregoing, Dissumulant should herald greater attention from fans of Full of Hell or Revenge as much as those dedicated to Incantation or (early) Anaal Nathrakh. —DEAN BROWN

7

SLIDHR

White Hart!

DEBEMUR MORTI PRODUCTIONS

Misanthropy pure

Slidhr releasing anything is a momentous occasion, even just five years

after their last full-length (the band’s been around since 2005, so songwriter Joseph Deegan is no stranger to playing the long game). This Ireland/Iceland collaboration, featuring members of Sinmara, Wormlust, Almyrkvi and the sorely departed Myrkr (not to be confused with Myrkur), plays a unique take on orthodox (read: what the kids call “dissonant”) black metal, featuring actual riffs and song structure, both alien concepts to many of this band’s scene peers.

White Hart! (an exclamatory title) is notably aggressive and doesn’t rest on the now-traditional discord that defines modern black metal orthodoxy. Opting instead for something more feral and Pissed With a Capital P, Deegan and company quest for heaviness in traditionalism, ultimately finding it on this record. Misanthropy is an easy target for black metal nerds, but Deegan’s throaty howl and drummer Bjarni Einarsson’s relentless blast feel angry, making their point clear. Rather than trying to convince their audience about their Sartrean feelings concerning others, one quick listen shows that, yes, Slidhr are not big fans of people and, yes, Slidhr are angry about

the fact that there are other people around them.

I did use the dirty word “dissonant” earlier, and I suppose it’s important to make the distinction that, no, Slidhr are not one of the many DSO clones that waltz through the Bandcamp wilderness. Slidhr are tasteful with their skronky riffs and use them sparingly, which honestly makes White Hart! a much easier listen than many others who could be compared to Slidhr. It’s… kind of nice? Is that a good thing to say about black metal? —JON ROSENTHAL

THY ART IS MURDER

7

Godlike

H U M A N W A R FA R E

Doglike

To those sitting in the nosebleeds, it seems that everything these Aussies touch turns to controversy. Which is weird because, when it comes down to why anyone has even heard the name Thy Art Is Murder (the music, dummy), there’s hardly

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anything controversial about what they do.

Still, it appears they can hardly poke at religion, have their financially strapped vocalist quit (then return after realizing if you’re going to be broke, might as well be broke doing something you enjoy), have edgy artwork, encourage onstage pig piles and move to start self-releasing their own music.

Thy Art Is Murder may be held up as one of deathcore’s more popular lights, but critical history has been inconsistently (un)kind to them.

In one fell swoop, they get praise/stick for being too technical and dumbed down; for cramming breakdowns unnecessarily and abandoning the breakdown; for being too death metal and/or hardcore, but not death metal and/or hardcore enough. Despite it all, they remain one of the few in the original deathcore wave that still move units and tickets like MySpace never died. If the sound of deathcore ever seemed like something you couldn’t understand, the world surrounding that sound will turn your beard hair white.

With a life spent in a comfortable wheelhouse (public opinion be damned!), TAIM ferry on with Godlike, their sixth full-length and one that trucks along with a more polished and sinister air. Breakdowns, half-time floor tom-pummeling, down-picked chugging and ethereal layers combining the esoterica of Fredrik Thordendal with whatever post-Y2K mess In Flames have devolved into comprise the majority of Godlike, rocking things into a familiar cradle. The standout (read: best) moments are when gears are kicked high in the absolutely awesome “Keres,” “Everything Unwanted” and “Anathema,” which summon Cryptopsy and Suffocation, but still offer little surprise and no controversy. For now, anyway.

—KEVIN STEWART-PANKO

WITCHING

8

Incendium

T R A N S L AT I O N L O S S

Off to Nether-Netherland

If Ludicra’s reunion-cumfarewell tour this year proved anything, it’s that the Bay Area black metal iconoclasts were too singular to leave any true heirs. Witching might be the closest thing we’ve seen yet. Thanks in no small part to vocalist Jacqui Powell, who can match Laurie Sue Shanaman moan-for-moan and scream-forblood-curdling-scream, the Philly band taps into the same gripping, genre-agnostic vein that Ludicra did on albums like Fex Urbis Lex Orbis and The Tenant.

Witching’s first record, 2020’s Vernal, was a promising opening strike, but it’s on their 84 : NOVEMBER 2023 : DECIBEL

Translation Loss debut Incendium that they really come into their own. The songs have gotten longer, on average, and the arrangements have gotten weirder and proggier along with them.

Take “Damnation,” a seven-minute tune that starts out like a smoky Dorthia Cottrell solo joint, twists itself into a blackened doom exorcism, then loops back to its pensive part with the reverence of a funeral hymn. That song is just the most explicit example of the emotional richness the band regularly wrings from their warped collisions of black metal, doom, post-metal and thrash.

That effect is even more impressive when the band whips itself into a high-speed frenzy, as they do on songs like “Incendium” and “A Grave Mistake.” Powell remains steadfast in the middle of the maelstrom, her pained exhortations taking on new urgency as guitars and drums whiz by her head at 100 miles an hour. That was something Ludicra was great at, too. The two bands aren’t doing the exact same thing—Witching have a lot more doom and sludge in their DNA than Ludicra ever did—but they’re dialed into the same frequency often enough to make Incendium feel like a blessing for fans of the (once again) departed greats. —BRAD SANDERS

WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM

8

Crypt of Ancestral Knowledge RELAPSE

Dark upheaval times

Black metallers Wolves in the Throne Room are experiencing a renaissance. Not that they ever had a lull—though Celestite had its fair share of detractors, myself included—but they appear to be shining brighter since Thrice Woven re-throned the Washington-based canis.

Crypt of Ancestral Knowledge, the follow-up EP to 2021’s panoramic Primordial Arcana, asserts itself immediately on the wintry symphonic thrust of “Beholden to Clan.” It pulls the same threads that Obtained Enslavement and Limbonic Art found exploring the darkest reaches of post-horizon Second Wave of Black Metal. Its counterpart, “Twin Mouthed Spring,” is more picturesque, where keyboards, bass, acoustic guitar and ceremonial drums conspire to enthrall. The latter is more bombastic, blastytrem riffs galore stitching violently into dismayed gasps of extramundane frustration. “Initiates of the White Hart” is a rework of “Spirit of Lightning.” Here, Wolves in the Throne Room emerge from their arboreal sojourn as steel/concrete monoliths tear apart the sky with industrious might.

This kind of thing made EPs—actual EPs of old days—so interesting. Bands used these interstitial releases for broader innovation without hyperventilating otherwise myopic (if dedicated) fans. Crypt of Ancestral Knowledge also features a dark ambient piece called “Crown of Stone.”

Again, if Celestite had been of this quality—think Rapoon mixed with Shinjuku Thief—it might’ve been hailed differently. But lessons learned, it appears. Crypt of Ancestral Knowledge won’t pull YouTube chuckleheads out of their elitist folly, but it does show the Wolves in a heightened state of creative awareness. —CHRIS DICK

XORSIST

7

At the Somber Steps to Serenity PROSTHETIC

Death kids

Let’s set aside the fact that Xorsist have in their corner famed producer Tomas Skogsberg, the storied Sunlight Studios and death metal’s nearly unbelievable Stockholm history. Those are constants for the sake of not just the new album, At the Somber Steps to Serenity, but the group’s debut LP, Deadly Possession. What hath the Swedish young guns—the average age is north of 19 tender years— wrought since forming in 2020? Two albums, clearly. They’ve busied themselves with the grotesquery of Dismember, Entombed and the rest of the usual suspects, right down to nailing the growl of HM-2s (made in Japan only, natch) from 1991.

There’s an argument that the “Stockholm sound” has, by old and new bands, been hammered to literal death, but Xorsist have enthusiasm that’s hard to fault. Not only do they look the part—right down to white high-tops and red-eyed photos—but the spirited graveyard punch of “Carve It Out,” “Distorted Shapes,” the eight-minute title track and the aptly named “Imitation” is difficult to ignore. Suecophiles exult, ’cause At the Somber Steps to Serenity feasts on all the nasty bits of our favorites with fangs out, while also exposing nascent musicality with acoustic passages and bucolic harmonies that recall… the left coast of Sweden.

Vocally, Xorsist split thrice-like, where Gustav Ryderfelt (guitars), Birk Castenmalm (bass) and Alphonse Bouquelon (drums) croak, scream and snarl, the differing tonalities complementing aggression (“Blessed by the Divine”) and heaviness (“Grace”) with surprising dexterity. What the Swedes lack in horizon, they make up for in youthful, almost bright-eyed brutality. —CHRIS DICK

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by

EUGENE S. ROBINSON

AND THE

OXBOW TERROR TRAVELOGUE BEGINS the

band Oxbow started

in the late 1980s.

Very definitely as a suicide note. For people who largely would not have cared whether I lived or died. So, its conception was misbegotten, even if its execution was noteworthy.

However, over the course of time, when ideation shifted from suicidal to homicidal, there was something else: a renewed vigor for life. At least the lives of people who didn’t deserve to die. The list of those that deserved to die? Long, so long, and storied. But the alteration was simple: Restrict it to those that seemed to be asking for it.

These are the people that we’re most likely to encounter in the place where people in bands are most likely to encounter that ilk: at shows.

So, Oxbow shows became fraught with the hysteria that goes along with the uncontrollable urge to fuck around. Which inevitably leads to finding out. What?

88 : NOVEMBER 2023 : DECIBEL

What, for example, will happen if you grab my testicles and penis mid-song and squeeze as hard as you can. Or, given very real-world examples, you throw lit cigarettes, beer, ice and/or beer bottles at me.

The happenings were depressingly routine and expected, and usually resulted in the malefactor waking up more than once a day.

During the 26 odd shows Oxbow will be playing both in the United States and Europe, a public service announcement is being offered here—just because our newest record, Love’s Holiday, is full of downtempo songs dedicated to the unearthing of the uncomfortable slings and arrows of love as a meditation doesn’t mean we are any closer to brooking kindly responses to the above behaviors.

In fact, it’s closer to what one of my daughters once said: “I’d be terrified to see you sobbing because it would mean that something was very wrong.”

Likewise, if you hadn’t realized it over the course of the last 30-plus years and eight-odd records, realize it now: No one in Oxbow wants to come back being chased with any kind of murder charge. However, thinking we’re your punching bags for the evening would be a serious tactical error.

We say this now and as clearly as possible because we understand the temptation is there. Like the woman in the Berlin Zoo who we imagined showed up at the polar bear enclosure every day with the same thoughts.

“Maybe… maybe today…” Until the urge overcame her and she leapt into the polar bear enclosure. The end was as quick as should have been expected. The magnificent animal— the bear, not her—swam across the enclosure and dragged her to what was almost certain to be mealtime.

She screamed all the way, and gathered onlookers were launched into action that saw a tug of war between the now-stick-wielding crowd and the bear. Once the woman was even-

tually rescued and then hospitalized, the zoo’s press officer’s response was at once both wonderfully German and beautifully expressed: “When you jump into an enclosure with a polar bear, these kinds of things are bound to happen.”

No chill, just the facts, and if you think they weren’t smirking when they said it, you might be wrong.

I tell you this story for a reason.

A reason I saw best expressed on a T-shirt being worn by a Hells Angel I once saw at a Hells Angel party where I was a referee for some fights that they were having: Don’t fuck with Mister Zero.

And as I wandered around their clubhouse, I saw another—a fine and fitting coda, as well—printed on a sign by the clubhouse winged logo: Don’t be that guy.

I hope these messages serve you in good stead, because we expect to enjoy coming to your town if we’re coming to your town. But we’d really like it if you enjoyed it, too. So, here’s hoping we all get lucky.

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