Decibel #231 - January 2024

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JANUARY 2024 // No. 231

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January 2024 [R 231] decibelmagazine.com

upfront 8

metal muthas Love by the blade

10 low culture Something to say 11 no corporate beer Making small smaller

12 exulansis Keeping white power out of black metal 14 cruciamentum Staring into the void 16 phobocosm Oui saw it coming 18 high spirits Returning on a high note

features

reviews

20 vastum Dying on the inside

71 lead review Suffer no fools and become one with the new album from techdeath monsters Vitriol

22 q&a: helmet Page Hamilton wants to jazz up the future generation of musicians 26 the decibel

hall of fame Cathedral’s lineup doesn’t survive a long, hard look at themselves but manage to craft a major label doom classic with sophomore release The Ethereal Mirror

39 exclusive:

decibel presents the top 40 albums of 2023 Friendly reminder: Typing in all caps doesn’t make you more correct

72 album reviews Records from bands that are in our list of Top 40 Bands Reviewed This Month, including Axioma, Left Cross and Strigoi 80 damage ink Not-so-meantime

58 PANOPTICON Rime and Reason COVER STORY COVER AND CONTENTS PHOTOS BY SHIMON KARMEL

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.

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2023 RELEASES!

MORTUARY DRAPE Black Mirror

AUTOPSY Ashes, Organs, Blood And Crypts

VINYL/CD/DIGITAL

VINYL/CD/DIGITAL

RUÏM Black Royal Spiritism – I – O Sino da Igreja

AKERCOCKE Decades Of Devil Worship

VINYL/CD/DIGITAL

VINYL/CD/DIGITAL

DHG/ Dødheimsgard Black Medium Current VINYL/CD/DIGITAL

VINYL/CD/DIGITAL

STATIC ABYSS Aborted From Reality

SIGH Live: The Eastern Forces Of Evil 2022 VINYL/CD/DIGITAL

MORK Dypet

HELLRIPPER Warlocks Grim & Withered Hags

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VINYL/CD/DIGITAL

ANNIVERSARY MARBLE VINYL SERIES

OUT NOW ANATHEMA ALTERNATIVE 4

(25TH ANNIVERSARY)

OUT NOW ANATHEMA SERENADES

(30TH ANNIVERSARY)

OUT NOW KATATONIA DANCE OF DECEMBER SOULS

OUT NOW KATATONIA DISCOURAGED ONES (25TH ANNIVERSARY)

(30TH ANNIVERSARY)

(30TH ANNIVERSARY)

ROTTING CHRIST Thy Mighty Contract

30th anniversary edition - 2LP (black & red vinyl) 8th December

DARKTHRONE ‘Unholy Black Metal’

MORTA SKULD Dying Remains

30th anniversary edition 2 cd / Red vinyl LP - OUT NOW

5 x tape boxset, postcards, posters, booklet & certificate!

OUT NOW DARKTHRONE UNDER A FUNERAL MOON

DARKTHRONE Goatlord

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1st december AT THE GATES WITH FEAR I KISS THE BURNING DARKNESS

8th december CANDLEMASS ANCIENT DREAMS (35TH ANNIVERSARY)

(30TH ANNIVERSARY)

ULVER Vargnatt

30th anniversary edition Oxblood vinyl LP / CD 8th December

DARKTHRONE The Wind of 666 Black Hearts - Vol.1&2 VINYL

ALL AVAILABLE (AND MUCH MORE) FROM WWW.PEACEVILLE.MERCHNOW.COM

15th december MY DYING BRIDE TURN LOOSE THE SWANS (30TH ANNIVERSARY)

FIMBULWINTER Servants OF Sorcery

Gold vinyl LP / white vinyl LP CD - OUT NOW

CANDLEMASS ‘NIGHTFALL’

3 X VINYL, poster & booklet BOX SET

I first interviewed Scott Burns in August 2002 while I was writing Choosing Death. By the time he answered my first question regarding where he grew up, he’d already offered to take me to a Buccaneers game the next time I was in Tampa. That’s the kind of guy he is.

But it was his answer to my next question that, looking back, speaks to not only his humility, but to death metal’s modest profile just over two decades ago.

“I think it’s definitely cool that you’re doing this book,” he told me over this archaic contraption known as a landline. “It was a big scene. Like I said, I’m pretty out of it now, but I guess I just wonder is anybody in the year 2002 interested?

Unless you were part of it or grew up with it. I just wonder what the audience would be. Are there little young metal kids growing up that are 15-16 that go put on an old Slayer record or that listen to Death or Deicide? I don’t know. It is a movement, and it should be documented.

I was just curious how many kids out there really had any passing interest in death metal.”

Turns out that the answer was considerably more than a few.

Choosing Death—let alone this magazine you’re holding in your greasy mitts—wouldn’t still be here if that wasn’t the case. Revisiting this interview 20 years later as I write these notes on the official release date of Decibel Books’ The Scott Burns Sessions: A Life in Death Metal 1987 – 1997, a massive 460-page oral history of Scott’s celebrated Morrisound recording career, is borderline surreal. Moreover, it’s vindication that the innumerable days Scott spent in the studio recording transformative albums isn’t just recognized, but celebrated by multiple generations of death metal fans who’ve kept the genre vital as it creeps into its fifth decade.

Being able to publish his story—and getting to once again work with David E. Gehlke, who so diligently conducted over 100 interviews with the bands Scott recorded and spent countless hours interviewing Scott—is one of my most gratifying Decibel experiences. If you read this book and get to know Scott, it will likely be for you as well.

www.decibelmagazine.com

January 2024 [T231] PUBLISHER

Alex Mulcahy

alex@redflagmedia.com

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Albert Mudrian

albert@decibelmagazine.com AD SALES

James Lewis

james@decibelmagazine.com DIRECTOR OF MARKETING AND SALES ART DIRECTOR

Aaron Salsbury

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Michael Wohlberg

michael@decibelmagazine.com CUSTOMER SERVICE

Patty Moran

COPY EDITOR

Andrew Bonazelli

BOOKCREEPER

Tim Mulcahy

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tim@redflagmedia.com CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS

Chuck BB, Ed Luce Mark Rudolph

Online DECIBEL WEB EDITOR

Albert Mudrian

DECIBEL WEB AD SALES

James Lewis

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CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Emily Bellino Adrien Begrand J. Bennett Dean Brown Nathan Carson Liz Ciavarella-Brenner Dillon Collins Chris Dick Sean Frasier Nick Green Raoul Hernandez Addison Herron-Wheeler Jonathan Horsley Courtney Iseman Neill Jameson Kim Kelly Sarah Kitteringham Daniel Lake Cosmo Lee Jamie Ludwig Shane Mehling Justin M. Norton Dutch Pearce Forrest Pitts Greg Pratt Jon Rosenthal Brad Sanders José Carlos Santos Joseph Schafer Kevin Stewart-Panko Eugene S. Robinson Adem Tepedelen Jeff Treppel J Andrew Zalucky CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS

MAIN OFFICE

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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.

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READER OF THE

MONTH create a plugin version of an effects pedal his company created. That would have been great, but it never happened.

Complete respect  Paul (L) with the late Curt Low of Complete

Paul Newman Austin, TX

You've been a Decibel subscriber since 2007.

Previously, you informed us that Decibel is one of two music magazines to which you subscribe. What’s the other? Note: If it’s Revolver, please lie and tell us it's something else.

Ha, no, it’s Mojo magazine. That covers most of my non-metal music reading. I read a lot of music books, too, though. I’m currently reading United Forces [An Archive of Brazil’s Raw Metal Attack, 1986-1991, by Marcelo R. Batista], on the ’80s Brazilian metal scene. I'm a huge fan of Brazilian metal.

As a longtime resident of Austin, TX, can you safely encourage tourists to visit the city any time except during SXSW?

Not during the summer. It’s getting beyond brutal here. This past summer reminded me

6 : JANUARY 2024 : DECIBEL

of the first time I drove through the desert in Arizona in August back in the early ’90s (in a car without a working A/C). I remember thinking, “Wow, and I thought it was hot in Texas.”

I can’t in good conscience say to visit in the winter either. We’ve had some nasty winter weather across the past few years, and Texas is not equipped to deal with ice. If you can, come during spring (but not during SXSW); that’s probably the best time.

You're a software developer. Do you get to work on anything cool that might wind up in our Kill Screen column, or is it un-fun corporate stuff?

It’s corporate 9-to-5 stuff. Opportunities for cool stuff get kicked around from time to time, but nothing has come of them. A friend asked me to help revamp their record store’s online shop, and another friend asked if I wanted to try to

It’s getting beyond brutal here. This past summer reminded me of the first time I drove through the desert in Arizona in August back in the early ’90s (in a car without a working A/C).

This issue features our annual teeth-gnashing Top 40 Albums of the Year. Without giving too much away, this year’s #1 artist is a repeat Decibel AOTY winner. What’s your top 5 of the year?

Not necessarily in order: Autopsy, Ashes, Organs, Blood and Crypts; Incantation, Unholy Deification; Aspid, Effusion of Blood (reissue); Cut, Vanquish the Weak (technically released in 2022, but only in China); Cannibal Corpse, Chaos Horrific. Bonus round (tied for sixth): Tomb Mold, The Enduring Spirit and Final Gasp, Mourning Moon.

Chuck BB is the illustrator of the graphic novels Black Metal, Vol. 1, 2 and 3 . For more info and art, head over to chuckbb.com

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

Well, here are the records that we spun most while crying ourselves to sleep thinking about our 2024 schedule.

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

This Month’s Mutha: Judy Geyer Mutha of Tracy Vera of Metal Blade Records

Tell us a little about yourself.

I’m 80 years old, brought up in a small town in New England, worked all my life, had three girls of my own, and I’m proud of all of them.

You are the rare Metal Mutha that unironically loves metal. Did you influence your daughter’s taste in music when she was growing up or vice versa?

Vice versa. She subjected me to a lot of different groups because she was so into music. It was always her life. She would bring records home from Roberts (a music store), where she worked.

Black Sabbath was one of my favorites early on.

I like the older stuff better. I like the dynamics. We always had music in the house as well, and she grew up listening to our Rolling Stones, Doors, Hendrix, Cream, Velvet Underground, Mothers of Invention and so many others.

You’re still going to metal shows at age 80 and have met a lot of prominent musicians. Who are some of your favorites?

Well, of course, my favorite is my son-in-law, Joey Vera, and I always see him play when he comes through the Northeast, whether in Fates Warning or Armored Saint. But I also have met Scott Ian many times and spent time with his lovely and talented wife, Pearl Aday, and had dinner with Robert Trujillo and his wife. My daughter and her family bring me along for their adventures whenever possible. This past summer, we all went to see Queensrÿche when they played at Mohegan Sun Casino. I’ve met them before and they seemed to remember me, and I got my 8 : JANUARY 2024 : DECIBEL

photo with Eddie Jackson. Michael Wilton came and gave me a guitar pick and was so nice! I still would like to meet the whole band of Metallica some day. When I went to Amon Amarth, it was with my other daughter, so we were too shy to go backstage on our own to meet the band.

We understand you like to crank Rage Against the Machine when you’re on the treadmill.

What are the best heavy bands to exercise to?

Best heavy bands to exercise to: Queensryche, Armored Saint, Guns N’ Roses, Cinderella, Metallica, Amon Amarth, Anthrax. I just enjoy all kinds of music all day long. It brings back so many memories. I like to listen when I clean the house. Any heavy rock, or metal, the faster the better, I like it. It gives me energy to work faster.

It’s been almost four years since your daughter became president of Metal Blade. How proud are you of her career?

Super proud! She’s a hard worker and extends herself beyond measure and deserves anything she gets. She has a wonderful work ethic. She’s right into the music, too! But Brian Slagel, he’s done wonderful things for the metal world, too.

He doesn’t have to give all he gives back.

Tell us something the metal community would never suspect about Tracy.

She’s an artist. Outside of her job, she is a painter. She has a master’s degree in fine art and regularly shows and sells her work. Probably most in the metal community don’t know that.

I love her artwork. —ANDREW BONAZELLI

Albert Mudrian : e d i t o r i n c h i e f  Dream Unending/Worm, Starpath  Paradise Lost, Icon 30  Panopticon, The Rime of Memory  Blind Guardian, Imaginations from the Other Side  Cathedral, The Ethereal Mirror ---------------------------------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  Conflict, Increase the Pressure  One Way System, All Systems Go  Reagan Youth, A Collection of Pop Classics  Rudimentary Peni, Death Church ---------------------------------James Lewis : a d s a l e s  Panopticon, The Rime of Memory  Outer Heaven, Infinite Psychic Depths  Wayfarer, American Gothic  Neurectomy, Overwrought  Vastum, “Befouled in Self-Salvation” ---------------------------------Mike Wohlberg : a r t d i r e c t o r  Gunship, Unicorn  Dream Unending/Worm, Starpath  Woe, Legacies of Frailty  Xasthur, Subliminal Genocide  Cattle Decapitation, Terrasite ---------------------------------Aaron Salsbury : m a r k e t i n g a n d s a l e s  Umbra Vitae, Shadow of Life  Graveripper, Seasons Dreaming Death  Graveripper, Radiated Remains  Psychosomatic, The Invisible Prison  An Albatross, We Are the Lazer Viking

GUEST SLAYER

---------------------------------Kyle Thomas : exhorder/trouble  Melvins, Bad Moon Rising  Herakleion, Curse of Eternity  Butthole Surfers, Rembrandt Pussyhorse  The Stooges, Funhouse  Budgie, Bandolier

AN

NEY ISEM

T

BY COUR

Apple Spiced Oatmilk Latte Hails haven’t done a press cycle in years,

probably because I haven’t done anything particularly noteworthy in almost a decade, if ever. Things have changed a lot in that time, which I guess I should have paid attention to, especially since it involves the music scene/industry that I do most of my writing about; but honestly, I tend to only care when it involves me. Which it now does, hence the following few hundred words. Don’t worry, it’s mostly swearing with maybe two coherent thoughts in between.

Previously, interviews were mostly conducted via email, with the occasional phone call here or there. This was back in 2014. I know they were mostly phone calls before that—that’s not the point I’m trying to make here. These days, it’s almost entirely podcasts, with a smattering of old-school media. And, for someone whose social graces are akin to finding a tampon in your Wendy’s order, it was difficult for me to acclimate to since it meant I’d have to actually speak to a human instead of typing away in my office while I was ignoring whatever work I was being paid actual money to do. I picked up the cadence quickly, though, although I tend to go on and on, extending each podcast’s runtime by a minimum of 30 percent because once I get talking about myself, boy, I can’t shut the fuck up. I also get lost in what I’m saying, but continue saying words until my mind catches up with whatever point I’m trying to sound smart while making.

It’s also provided two points to contemplate.

First, most interviewers—once the recording device is off—will express how it’s become difficult to cover music considering the amount of research you have to do to make sure a band is “safe” for public discourse. Even after that, there’s still a swath of folks (mostly Metal Twitter™) who will still find fault, even if there’s nothing really there. They would mention certain bands or labels, just the overall 10 : JANUARY 2024 : DECIBEL

challenge of being someone in the—for lack of a better word—media in this subculture while having to dodge the pontifications of the vocal minority. The loudest voice in the room… you get the picture.

I suppose this came up with me since I’m also (allegedly) a writer, and I’m in a band with a history and, thus, a sympathetic ear as well as someone who’s been there. I bring this up not just because I have a new Krieg record out (link in bio), but also, I’m preparing all my year-end nonsense and already have seen the internet rumble with the usual “Neill is a virtue signaling cuck who promotes NSBM bands” bullshit and I haven’t even posted anything this year. I also look forward to the emails of people telling me what labels I’ve promoted are unclean. It makes me hate the holiday season.

But my second point is much more chipper. It dawned on me when I did the excellent Getting It Out podcast that being able to really discuss music as a fan—having a genuine interaction without anyone taking their crank out to measure—is deeply gratifying.

Since I moved out of Richmond and now live my life online, I rarely speak with people on that level and forgot just how exciting sharing the love of music can be. It’s also made me steadfast in continuing to not (publicly, at least) talk shit on bands I don’t like. And that’s the moral of the fucking story, Charlie Brown. While this issue features our Top 40 Albums of 2023, just remember it’s not your list. It’s not “Generic Name’s Metal List” either. So, if you have the urge to inform us that the list sucks or “you forgot,” please just shut the fuck up. I haven’t seen the Top 40 as of writing this, and I guarantee I think at least 10 of the records suck. But it’s not my list; it’s the collective. It’s Decibel’s list. Don’t like it? Fuck off, make your own. Spend more time enjoying what you love instead of emptying the asshole in your face at people. God bless.

Looking Back at the Year in Beer

The year we realized craft beer ain’t

exactly what it used to be. At its annual Craft Brewers Conference, the Brewers Association’s chief economist Bart Watson declared the market maturing, calling a new decline in brewery openings and increase in brewery closings the “new normal.” Mergers and acquisitions dominated most of the year’s biggest beer headlines. It became clear that craft beer is officially past the glory days of small and independent over everything. Simply being not another macro lager no longer cuts it in the face of generational drink-preference pendulum swings, rising interest in sobriety and/or at least moderation, and the flavor-and-convenience onetwo punch of canned cocktails.

Some breweries grasped at straws to revive consumer interest, vying to make long-running flagship beers seem fresh and new. In January, New Belgium revamped Fat Tire. Not only did the branding change, but the beloved amber ale was suddenly more golden. The move failed. Drinkers never interested in Fat Tire in the first place weren’t suddenly moved, and the devotees had lost this iconic beer as they knew it.

If Racer 5 West Coast IPA was another foundational beer for you, February’s news that Drake’s Brewing acquired Bear Republic Brewing Co. might have been a bummer. In

 From small to tall 2023 may have seen some craft beer legends crushed by corporate interests, but the growing interest in tallboys and local taprooms shows the future of craft beer is far from kicked

March, New Belgium proved it’s thriving, after all (Fat Tire be damned), expanding with a new space in Virginia to pump out more of its runaway hit. Voodoo Ranger Imperial IPA is the top-performing IPA among U.S. craft brands in grocery and convenience stores, with that number-two spot belonging to Voodoo Ranger Juice Force Hazy Imperial IPA. Voodoo Ranger prompted another one of the year’s biggest turning-point trends: the rise of the tallboy. This goes together with another big story for the year, which is the success of craft beer in convenience stores. Even as craft faltered elsewhere—see another 2023 story, which is that draft beer sales simply cannot seem to recover post-pandemic even as other channels manage to—its one bright spot is convenience stores and gas stations. The demand for big IPAs like Voodoo Ranger in onthe-go, to-be-consumed-immediately formats has fueled an explosion of 19.2-ounce cans.

On July 12, Anchor Brewing announced its closure, instantly becoming the year’s most powerful symbol for this changing industry.

The San Francisco institution boasted a whopping 127-year history. But it was acquired by Sapporo in 2017, and the corporation clearly never appreciated Anchor’s legacy. Anchor may have not had a huge sales footprint outside of California, but it was a revered piece of beer history with brands still sought out by beer nerds, and bidding it farewell was a real sign of the times. A month later, another corporate behemoth cut ties with craft: Anheuser-Busch InBev sold eight craft brands to Canadian cannabis company Tilray Brands.

This included Breckenridge Brewery, Widmer Brothers, 10 Barrel and Blue Point, and was a real 180 on the craft excitement of just a

decade ago that prompted AB InBev to invest in these brands.

There’s plenty of good news to be had, though, and that’s how we should close out 2023 and look to 2024. The oversaturated market that has proven big distribution goals unrealistic for most breweries has fostered a real return to hyper-local. Taprooms again exist just for their immediate communities, with time to think about building those communities and the ability to serve super-fresh beer, often with local ingredients, and experiment in smaller batches. This has enabled returning tap-list variety, with new spins like amaro-inspired beers and revived traditions like pub ales and rauchbiers. This year, craft beer finally, successfully took on the light lager, so you can enjoy the easy-drinking beer without resorting to watery macros, and new non-alcoholic offerings like hop water exploded in both ubiquity and quality.

Plus, 2023 saw cultural gains for craft beer, too. In May, the National Black Brewers Association launched, led by some of the most brilliant Black movers and shakers in the industry, from brewery owners to diversity educators. And vocational and educational programs continued to grow, offered by individual breweries like Pittsburgh’s Trace Brewing as well as initiatives like New York’s Lovibond Project, both helping underrepresented people learn and grow into beer careers. So, yes, the industry may be plateauing and changing, but between a re-embrace of all things local and an emphasis on making tomorrow’s craft beer more diverse and equitable, that may not be such a bad thing.

Craft beer could stand to be a bit smaller, if it means it’s better.

DECIBEL : JA NUA RY 2 0 24 : 11

EXULANSIS

S

elf-described as “antifascist black metal” and “anarcho doom,” Exulansis’ political and ideological stances are very clear. But at the same time, that’s far from being the entirety of their message. ¶ “I feel like it’s evolutionary,” posits guitarist/vocalist Ellis Ray. “I never want to think that I’m doing all the right things. I feel that, just like music is evolving, so is political theory and how it influences life: There’s always more to learn. It’s very easy to have the best takes on the internet, but the world is on fire.” ¶ “I feel we definitely touch on political things, but at the same time we turn it into more of a story that fits a context,” offers drummer/vocalist Mark Morgan. “A lot of it ties into our depression, nature aspects, everything we see around us. Our lyrics are not theory—it’s our personal lived experience.” ¶ Violinist Andrea Morgan continues: “As far as bringing our ideology into the music, my brand of anarchism and anti-fascism is really driven by bringing people together. There’s something really beautiful happening in the black metal community, with a lot more diversity, and I want to continue fostering that.

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By having a country/folk-influenced album, I’ve seen people at our shows that come from very different worlds strike conversations and find common ground, and for me to be able to make music to facilitate that feels like the most I can do.”

Ah yes, a folk-influenced album.

So, the reason for this conversation is that Exulansis have not one, but two new records out. There’s the foursong, furious blackened doom rager Overtures of Uprising, which amplifies what they did on their 2019 debut, Sequestered Sympathy; but more surprisingly, there’s also the somber folk/ chamber music acoustic album Hymns of Collapse, featuring guest appearances from Anne K. O’Neill of Serpentent and Austin Lunn of Panopticon.

“As soon as we did Sequestered Sympathy, it became very apparent we have two sounds, even if one can draw a bit from the other,” Ray explains.

The band only has a few vague ideas on how to combine these different paths in the future, but

Andrea does consider that this approach “reflects our versatility as a band and shows our different influences. However, releasing two albums simultaneously like this was a special circumstance, I think.”

Clearly companion pieces, these two albums are nevertheless different enough to be enjoyed for what they are individually. They are certainly the result of very different influences.

“With the acoustic album, it was like Chumbawamba, Elliott Smith, Iron & Wine, Townes Van Zandt— it’s all over the place,” Ray laughs.

“You can hear the progression of our riffs on those songs,” Mark says of the “electric” album. “Our chalkboard in the practice space was just full of other bands’ names—it’s not like we’re trying to copy or sound like anyone, but we want an aesthetic and a mood that is invoked when we hear some music, and we use that simplification as an explanation of what we’re trying to accomplish.” —JOSÉ CARLOS SANTOS

PHOTO BY JAMES REXROAD

EXULANSIS

Oregon atmospheric metallers collapse and crush with ambitious two-album assault

CRUCIAMENTUM

Eight years after their stunning debut, international death metallers rechristen the afterbirth

C

ruciamentum made us wait for a full-length followup to their stellar 2015 debut, Charnel Passages, but the patient death metal fan will be rewarded with an auditory experience akin to opening up the abyss and sinking into a series of hallucinatory nightmares. The album is titled Obsidian Refractions and it sounds like just that—darkness repeating on itself. This is crushing, bruising death metal that takes the air out of your lungs. ¶ Cruciamentum’s rank and file go by initials, the whole anonymity thing, and we’ll respect that here as guitarist, backing vocalist and keys player D.L. joins us to explain that we’ll find no grand message behind the record. Take it as a meditation on mortality. ¶ “The album mainly deals with death from the individual or spiritual sense to a broader perspective of universal collapse,” he says. “There’s no message we’re trying to preach; it’s simply an attempt to put specific experiences and ideas into music.”

14 : JA NUA RY 2024 : DECIBEL

The sound is such that it plucks different flavors from black metal and doom and elsewhere into its bleak orbit, but that’s purely to season the abyss. D.L. laments those experimental bands who in all their experimenting forgot how to write a song, to be heavy, and if this didn’t turn out 100 percent death metal, Cruciamentum would fly under a different flag. “Even though we’re influenced by other things,” he grants, “I feel those elements complement our death metal and bring more dynamic, texture and contrast rather than diluting and making the music less heavy and intense.”

He’s not wrong. The lineup has changed over the years, D.L. stepping back with C.E. assuming lead vocals and bass duties. D.R. makes his fulllength debut on guitar after joining up for 2017 EP Paradise Envenomed. The trans-Atlantic balance remains, with the band split between the U.S. and

U.K., but all four got to track this in the studio together, later reamping the solos with Greg Chandler of Esoteric, who also handled the mix.

“I can only speak for myself here, but the studio is the real magic in the music-making process,” says D.L. “That’s where the songs start to take form, the sounds in your head begin to manifest and we all, as a band, hear the songs in a new light.

As an audio engineer, I can easily communicate my ideas, so it’s a straightforward process that doesn’t require much experimentation.”

What it does require is execution. D.L. makes it sound easy, but if it were, more bands would be doing this, holding their concentration as riff begets riff on tracks such as “Abhorrence Evangelium,” or exploring just how heavy metal can get as the epic “Drowned” closes us out. The answer? Pretty goddamn heavy. —JONATHAN HORSLEY

PHOTO BY NECROBLANCA PHOTOGRAPHY

CRUCIAMENTUM

PHOBOCOSM

PHOBOCOSM

Québécois’ death/doom extremity mirrors the extremity of modern times

A

vast chasm has cracked open in Québec. After prolonged dormancy, Phobocosm have emerged in statuesque fashion, raising an offering to the Ancient Ones in the form of their first full-length since 2016’s Bringer of Drought. While that death/doom monolith deservedly took its place in our Top 40 that year, the impervious power behind Foreordained eclipses it entirely. ¶ Foreordained sounds absolutely immense. Subterranean bellows rumble forth alongside movements that split the difference between Immolation’s infernal DM discordance and Incantation’s world-devouring doom—all with the overwhelming “otherness” that only extreme metal from the French-speaking part of Canada can manifest, from Gorguts or Beyond Creation to Cryptopsy or Voivod. It begs the question: What is it about Québec metal that makes it so experimental, technical and heavy as all fuck? Is there something sinister in the poutine? ¶ “I wish I could tell you,” says Phobocosm’s main songwriter/guitarist Samuel Dufour. “But it probably has something to do with Voivod.

16 : JA NUA RY 2024 : DECIBEL

Those guys were such innovators and they probably influenced in one way or another the cool bands that you mentioned. We focus more on atmosphere, though, and we’re not that crazy musically; those guys are way ahead of us in terms of playing ability. Our music is weird, but at the same time, it’s very simple, too—unlike theirs.”

“Simple” might be an understatement; while there is a slow predatory gait to Phobocosm that elevates foreboding atmospheres to a primary focus, there’s still no shortage of crushing technical downpours. They’re all pitched perfectly, adding immersive dynamics to a style that, in the wrong hands, can sound inhuman to the point of mundanity.

“I think we’ve gotten a little better at writing songs in which riffs are well-connected together,” Dufour acknowledges. “We also tried to break the patterns that

we tend to follow subconsciously when we write songs; like, for example, starting the song really fast and ending it really slow. So we’re trying to work with different movements in songs. As a band, I would say that we’re committed more than ever and we want to push it as far as we can—without ever compromising our sound and our vision, of course.”

Conceptually anchored around the futility of trying to avoid death’s inevitable chokehold, Foreordained is controlled destruction operating on a parallel axis to the uncontrollable global turmoil all around us. “I’m only speaking for myself here, but I think we’re getting closer and closer to social unrest and even more chaos all over the world,” says Dufour. “Things are so tense right now, and everyone is at each other’s throats. I hope I’m wrong, though, but it’s definitely not looking good.” —DEAN BROWN

HIGH SPIRITS

HIGH SPIRITS

Chris Black emerges from the darkness thanks to his appropriately uplifting metal project

S

ometimes the work that you don’t do is as important as the work that you do.” ¶ It’s hardly an adage you would expect to hear from Chris Black. The multi-instrumentalist metal maniac is known for his prolific output; his present and past projects include High Spirits, Aktor, Dawnbringer, Professor Black and more. ¶ Then the pandemic induced a complete shift in perspective. ¶ “That period, those couple of years, they are defined by the pandemic, but by other things, too,” elaborates Black. “The political situation in the United States, the way that race has played out in the United States, and the various things that had happened around all of it. It’s all very interconnected. I think those couple of years were difficult times to be an American citizen. They were difficult times to be a parent.

They were difficult times to be a human on the earth… For me personally, my creativity, in terms of motivation, in terms of time to work on music, to work on art, it was really at an all-time low. I just wasn’t the same person. ¶ “I knew myself as a very productive songwriter for many years,” he continues.

18 : JANUARY 2024 : DECIBEL

“It seemed like there was no end to these musical ideas and certainly enough opportunities to express them, and the will and opportunity to express them. But for that period of time, that was just gone.”

After a lot of internal work, Black was forced to come to terms with the fact that he might be done as a songwriter.

“I had to make peace with what the reality I was experiencing was in order to progress from that,” says Black. Then High Spirits, the highenergy dance rock band for which he is the sole lyricist and multi-instrumentalist, started playing live again in 2022, and that “residual adrenaline, emotional adrenaline” gave him a “a little burst of motivation and a little burst of excitement towards working on songs again.”

His creativity rushing back, Black set to work on Safe on the Other Side, the band’s fifth studio album.

The title refers to surviving the pandemic, to surviving the possible

loss of the thing he cherished most, and it’s arguably the Chicago-based band’s strongest and most consistent record, surpassing even 2011’s cult classic Another Night. Yet again, the music merges the unbridled joy of Andrew W.K. with the simplicity and repetition of AC/DC. Peaking on “(There Will Be) Magic Tonight,” the songs are destined to cause venue-wide dance parties, as High Spirits’ best tracks long have. It’s no surprise that the band’s finest album was born of adverse circumstances that forced Black to narrow in on what was truly important.

“It’s the [album] I’m the most satisfied with in the short term,” he says. “I think it’s the best-produced one, I think it’s the best-sounding one. A lot of people would say that Another Night will always be the best one. I can accept that, but I don’t know that I agree with that. [Laughs] If anyone else doesn’t like this, that’s on them. I like it enough for everyone.” —SARAH KITTERINGHAM

driven

S VASTUM inside the messy birth of

’S latest negative

miracle story by DUTCH PEARCE photo by CHRIS JOHNSTON 4 E: CDI B EC 20 : J AAPN RU I LA 2R0Y2210:2D E ILB E L

by

ince the release of their 2011 debut album, Carnal Law, San Francisco

five-piece Vastum have pushed a uniquely filthy brand of American death metal, psychologically hostile as well as perversely sonically brutal. Considering that Vastum’s modus operandi has always involved, as founding vocalist/guitarist Leila Abdul-Rauf puts it, “discovering pleasure hidden in pain,” it tracks that so many of us would salivate and genuflect at the very mention of a new album from these West Coast dominators. ¶ Daniel Butler, Vastum’s vocalist and venerable iconographer, breaks down the new album’s title and its greater connotations as such: Aside from its biblical significance, he muses, “‘Gethsemane’ is thought of as a site of spiritual agony.” The album title, Inward to Gethsemane, he tells us, makes references to confronting “a kind of psychic suffering that’s very difficult to bear, so difficult it’s divine, or a kind of suffering that Bataille might call ‘the negative analogue of a miracle.’”

The album title is also a clear reference to Incantation’s debut album, Onward to Golgotha, Butler confirms, saying,“I don’t think I would’ve had the idea without [Incantation].”

Inward to Gethsemane marks a significant step forward for Vastum, both in terms of sound and songwriting. “This album is the largest creative departure we’ve made from previous albums to date,” reflects Abdul-Rauf. “But I also don’t think it’s such an extreme departure that our old-school fans will be disappointed.”

Butler reminds us, “Leila and I are the only original members. I remember when we came up with the band name, our early conversations about the aesthetic [for the band], etc.” Inward to Gethsemane, he says, “is a progression toward something new. We’re headed in a weirder direction that might alienate some people. I don’t really care if it does. I love this album.”

For her part, Abdul-Rauf reckons, “Any time a band changes personnel, it becomes a different band. In my mind, the original lineup of Dan, [guitarist] Kyle [House], [bassist] Luca [Indrio], [drummer] R.D. [Davies] and me was an entirely different band, in creative approach and spirit, than the Vastum of 2023. No two albums have had exactly the same lineup, and it’s remarkable how consistent our sound has been in spite of that.”

Speaking of consistency, Inward to Gethsemane was yet again recorded with Greg Wilkinson at Earhammer Studios. According to Abdul-Rauf, Wilkinson has been progressively improving in his role, too. “Greg seems to get his process down more and more quickly and efficiently with every album we record with him; it’s an impressive feat to witness. The overall process is generally the same for all the albums. For a lot of reasons, we were in an unusually challenging time crunch, to the point that it was a miracle we finished it when we did. We really owe it to Greg for making that happen, and to Dan for getting such incredibly detailed artwork done in time for a 2023 release.”

For Butler, Wilkinson’s talent went well beyond merely production. He remembers how the recording process felt “rushed and stressful,” adding, “We argued a fair bit. Shed some tears. Shit was real.” Butler also recalls how “Greg tempered a lot of the stress. He’s great under pressure. Me? Not so much. I felt rushed and irritable at times. The experience sort of lived up to the album title!”

“It’s funny—the actual tracking process was entirely smooth, and we all ripped through basic instrumental tracking like demons,” Abdul-Rauf remembers. “I thought, ‘Wow, we have all this time left over for vocals, synths and mixing, etc., right?’ Wrong. We barely had time to mix the album by the time we eventually got through all the vocals and decided on the samples, and that felt incredibly stressful.

“But what was most stressful,” she continues, “was when it came down to sequencing the album. Just like with Orificial Purge [2019], we just couldn’t all agree on what song should be the opener and closer, which should be the flexi track, etc.” Now that it’s all set in wax, Abdul-Rauf admits, “The compromise we came to on this album was a good one, and we have Colin [Tarvin], our bassist, to thank for that. Many lessons were learned from this experience.”

Regarding the lyrics and Inward to Gethsemane’s overall sound, Butler considers this latest full-length to represent “Vastum at [our] darkest … I think we’re only getting darker from here.”

As he goes on to explain the thematic concepts behind the band, it becomes even more clear that Vastum are a band inspired—even fueled—by the horrors of existence itself. “Lyrically, the album is quite conceptual,” Butler says. “We’ve always been interested in the relationship between violence and religion, eroticism and mysticism, etc. This album is no different. ‘Corpus Fractum (Inward to Gethsemane)’ is about deicidal and homicidal impulses that stem from being strung out, hopeless, abused from an early age.

Although he wasn’t strung out, I had Christ in mind, since he never asked to be socialized into a messianic hell that culminates in his crucifixion.”

“The world and my lived experience directly inspires my music and lyrics,” Abdul-Rauf notes. “The horror of being a middle-aged woman, for instance. I’ll often imagine that time doesn’t exist and draw parallels between every kind of experienced horror imaginable, whether I’ve lived it myself or others have, and wonder what would make it even worse, and then I write about it.”

D E CDI B EC E ILB:EJLA:NAUPARRI L Y 2021 4 : 21

interview by

QA j. bennett

WI T H

HELMET’s main man on jazz, guns and the band’s new album

22 : JANUARY 2024 : DECIBEL

P

age Hamilton is in West Virginia. He’s on tour with his band,

Helmet. “It’s a nice warm-up for Europe,” our man says with a laugh.

“I tease the crowd about it, too: ‘You guys are just a warm-up for Europe.’” Perhaps known for his onstage quips as much as Helmet’s inescapable 1992 hits “Unsung” and “In the Meantime”—not to mention his stint in David Bowie’s band—Hamilton is on the Decibel hotline to discuss Helmet’s ninth album. It’s called Left, and it encompasses everything that comes along with that word in 2023. ¶ “I’ve had that title bouncing around for 10 years,” he says. “I was gonna call the last album Left, but I think it’s a good thing that I waited. The tenor in this country is so absurd now that you can just say that word and people will get riled up and become your mortal enemy. I saw some preacher on TV railing against Democrats, saying that we should die. What the fuck is going on? It’s freaking me out.” ¶ On the other hand, he’s leaving the title open to interpretation. Sort of. “There’s so many ways to look at it,” he says. “David Bowie was left-handed. I wanna be left alone. What’s left? Who’s left? It’s just a fuckin’ word. Calm down. It could have no political significance whatsoever, besides the fact that it’s the most political album I’ve ever written.”

Tell me about your new song “Gun Fluf.”

Gun violence is the number one killer of kids in this country now. I grew up in Oregon. I hunted and had guns. I understand that we have Second Amendment rights, but I get destroyed every time I wake up to another mass shooting, when a parent has to go identify their dead child by their sneakers because their head has been blown apart. If that’s not crushing, I really don’t know what is. I’m fed up. I’d give up every gun I own to save one child’s life, let alone the hundreds that have died. So, the song just poured out. And we’ve been playing it live.

“Make-Up” is an anti-Trump song, isn’t it?

Yeah. I borrowed some lines from Marvin Gaye and Tom Wolfe for that one. I’ve always been “inspired” by William Butler Yeats, so there’s some of him in there as well. I think I said something about “feckless, orange and dickless.”

I’m not sure—I’d have to go back and look. I’ve always been aware that racism is sewn into the fabric of this country, but I had no idea how deep it ran. The fact that Trump somehow made it okay to be a racist piece of shit is crazy.

I had a door that needed to be replaced at my house back in 2020, and the two guys who came to do it were Ecuadorian. We got to talking, and one of them said there’s been a huge change in how some people treat them since Trump became president. It’s like it gave people carte blanche to treat him less than human. That’s heartbreaking to me. I thought we’d made so much progress.

I was proud to travel the world when Barack Obama was president. And then we were in the

exact opposite position. This is a guy who’s completely self-absorbed, who could give two shits about this country, who doesn’t know his ass from a hole in the ground.

“Bombastic” is a more personal song, right?

Yeah. I have a trans godson in Oklahoma. I’m gonna see him in Tulsa on our day off. I sent him some of the lyrics. I believe every human being has a right to be who they are. It seems so simple to me. It’s upsetting that people are so caustic and violent and toxic about this. How can people think that it’s okay for them to dictate how someone else should live their life? “Why do you care where I come from? It’s nobody’s business who I love or why. It doesn’t matter to me what you do because I’m not you.” That’s basically the sentiment of the song. And I just love how the melody and the chords work together.

Is “NYC Tough Guy” directed at anyone in particular?

It took me 25 years to write a song about my ex-wife, but she’s the “NYC Tough Guy.” I spent 10 years of my life with her. I love her and care for her, but she put me through hell. She was born in New York City, and she was tough. She’s smarter and better than me and my family, and that’s the gist of the song. God bless her; I haven’t spoken with her in 20 years. She’s married and has a family now, but her husband doesn’t know what I went through to get her to that point. I’m sure she’s a great partner. And now I have the love of my life, but it took me to 62 years old to get here.

The last time we spoke, you told me that you don’t consider lyrics to be poetry. Why do you feel that way?

Because in poetry you’re not restricted by chord changes, melody, rhythm … well, I know there are rules in poetry. I can only remember iambic pentameter and haiku. It’s a freer art form in a lot of ways. In the early days of Helmet, I was always trying to be the anti-poet and the antisongwriter because I got so tired of everyone talking about singer-songwriters and how brilliant this person or that person was when all they were doing was using the same three or four folk chords that Bob Dylan and Woody Guthrie used. Not that there aren’t great singer-songwriters, but for some reason I had a bee in my bonnet about Jewel. Like, who cares? She’s singing about scrambled eggs. I have nothing against her or anyone who recites from their diary. It’s just not what I listen to. I still listen to stuff by the Gershwins and Cole Porter and Victor Young or whoever. Jazz standards that have been around for a million years.

I mean, instrumental music evokes an emotion, right? Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7, the second movement. It’s gonna be played at my funeral. There are no words. John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme. The last little bit we did on the album, “Resolution,” is a nod to that. When you add words, there’s another emotional level, but also an intellectual side. I like wordplay.

I’m blown away by stuff like Elvis Costello singing, “I wish you luck with a capital ‘f.’” But I guess I just think of them as two different art forms. Poetry is a huge part of what I lean on when I’m writing, but I don’t have Bob Dylan or Bob Marley genius. I might consider Dylan or Leonard Cohen to be poets, but to me lyrics and poetry are two different things.

I understand the album cover was inspired

by Cormac McCarthy.

The last page of The Road is some of the most beautiful writing I’ve ever read in my life.

Richard De Silva, our artist in Melbourne, wasn’t familiar with it so I sent it to him, and he got it immediately. Two weeks later, McCarthy died. I randomly opened a book of Yeats poetry I keep in my study, and I landed on “Sailing to Byzantium.” The first line is, “That is no country for old men.” I was like, “Oh my god! That’s where he got it.” I love seeing those connections because I’ve always felt that we’re all connected.

You mentioned the album closer, “Resolution,” which is your tribute to Coltrane’s A Love Supreme.

Why was it important for you to include that?

It’s another thing I’ve had bouncing around in my head for 20 years. I’ve transcribed hours DECIBEL : JANUARY 2024 : 23

 All that jazz

Hamilton (center r) and Helmet say more with one word than most of the world’s so-called “poets”

You released your cover of Bowie’s “Move On” during the pandemic. I know you were in his band, but why did you pick that song in particular?

The mediocre musicians are the caustic, critical pieces of shit. Back then, I vowed I would never make someone feel bad about playing music. It’s a beautiful thing.

You can’t fail at it. and hours of jazz solos, tons of Coltrane stuff, and I’ve played so many of his songs. He was on another level. Over the years, he’s been an important musical, spiritual and intellectual inspiration for me. He opened me up to a different approach.

A Love Supreme was the album that got me. It took me out of my body. It took me to this other place.

When I play Helmet music, I get to that place. I’m not thinking about what I’m doing. I don’t think 24 : JANUARY 2024 : DECIBEL

when I write—I just write. I practice every day, and I work on things, but it’s like the great [jazz pianist and former Miles Davis band member] Bill Evans said in an interview with his brother a billion years ago. I’m paraphrasing, but he said, “You study and work and practice, but then when you sit down to write, you have to have an almost childlike approach. You have to just play and be.”

Coltrane did that for me.

My two favorite Bowie albums are Scary Monsters and Lodger. Aladdin Sane is up there, and I love Low and “Heroes” as well, but for some reason those two are my favorites. And I just think “Move On” is such an incredible accomplishment, musically. He took the “All the Young Dudes” tape and put it on backwards to come up with this weird chord progression. He just had this gift to come up with these unorthodox progressions and cool melodies. When I joined his band, they gave me 30 songs to learn in two weeks. The first day I played with him, it was just he and I. We played “Quicksand,” and that song; I mean, what the fuck? It’s amazing. Those diminished chords, this weird progression, that stunningly gorgeous melody. I asked him, “What were you thinking?” You know what he said?

“Oh, I thought I was so clever.” I wanted to say, “Fuck off.” Are you kidding me? And he was like 19 or 20 when he wrote that.

But yeah, “Move On” is one of those underrated songs. So much rock and pop stuff is cookie-cutter bullshit. “Move On” is the opposite of that. It’s emotional, it’s powerful, it’s unconventional. That feeling of heartbreak and getting away. It’s just an amazing fucking song. And people don’t know it!

Obviously, I cried when he passed. I was so excited to have him hear it. I hope he would have liked it. Or maybe both him and Coltrane would’ve heard my tributes and been like, “Aw, that’s cute. Nice try. Stick with it, kid!” But David was something else. It was such an honor to play with him. I learned so much.

What’s the biggest thing you learned from Bowie—or from anyone else you’ve played with over the years?

When I was probably 20 years old back in Oregon, a young goober fumbling around and learning jazz, I’d come sit in with the older musicians for a jam. And you know what? All the jazz veterans were so encouraging and supportive, even though I sucked. I loved that. I learned early on that the great musicians are that way.

The mediocre musicians are the caustic, critical pieces of shit. Back then, I vowed I would never make someone feel bad about playing music. It’s a beautiful thing. You can’t fail at it.

the

definitive stories

behind extreme music’s

definitive albums

Can You Feel the Groove? the making of Cathedral’s The Ethereal Mirror JANUARY 2024 : 26 : DECIBEL

by

chris dick

ALL

the warning signs were there. We should’ve seen The Ethereal Mirror coming. The large majority of us didn’t. The glacial pace of Forest of Equilibrium and its overcast attitude weren’t going to be replicated on Cathedral’s second album. The Coventry-based outfit had moved on for all intents and purposes, with 1992’s Soul Sacrifice EP serving as the vanguard for new sounds from new influences penned by musicians whose growth between intervening years was unprecedented. The Ethereal Mirror was doom evolved, a near full-circle back to its origins of Black Sabbath and musical zeitgeist of the late ’60s and early ’70s. Doom metal, from Cathedral’s point of view, was no longer caged in single-digit BPMs and the misty moors of an imagined gothic England. It’s what we all wanted—maybe a few thousand worldwide—but didn’t get on The Ethereal Mirror.

This must be said, however: Cathedral in 1993 were radical. The Brits had signed to directly Columbia Records, independent of the label’s ill-fated early ’90s license agreement with Earache Records. They had, along with a select few, mystifyingly transitioned from dusty mausoleums of the underground to the big boys’ club of major labels and major label expectations. To us, Cathedral’s John Hancock in Columbia’s numbers-only hands was both betrayal and exciting. Additionally, Cathedral didn’t want to be locked down as an edge-case death metal band. They didn’t want to be linked to their once and future labelmates sonically or aesthetically.

When singles “Grim Luxuria” and “Ride” hit in early 1993, the sudden brightness to Cathedral was shocking.

They were still ultra-heavy, but at the same time, Garry “Gaz” Jennings and Adam Lehan’s riffs didn’t suffocate and consume. They illuminated—shed light on the origins of doom, heavy rock, progressive music—and grooved like a pair of corduroy bell bottoms. Lee “Doz” Dorrian’s subterranean growl had also changed. He was no longer the exNapalm Death singer moaning in agonizingly slow motion.

It was almost like somebody had paid his rent for the next year and given him a healthy record shopping stipend.

When the full album hit later that winter, Cathedral fans divided the album into likes and dislikes. “Jaded Entity,” “Ashes You Leave” and the wild “Phantasmagoria” were in Camp Doom. “Ride,” “Midnight Mountain” and “Enter the Worms” took refuge in Camp Rock. The rest of the album’s tracks, “Fountain of Innocence” and “Imprisoned in Flesh,” were left for inclusion on either side. In truth, Cathedral were mixed about The Ethereal Mirror. Dorrian wished for a darker, more extreme vibe, while Lehan, Jennings and drummer Mark Wharton were ready for Cathedral’s newfound ability to rock socks off. Perhaps they wanted the same thing, but producer David Bianco didn’t allow that to happen. Bianco’s big-time production separated the Brits’ sound like no producer previous.

The Ethereal Mirror enters the Hall on the merits of its vision, bravery and heft. At the time, it sounded like Cathedral had gone mad, taken too many psychedelic drugs and made an album for an audience that didn’t exist. Not since 1977 anyway. Now, 30 years later, it’s an influential piece that has stood the test of time, still stuck between doom and rock. Back to pinnacles high, my friends!

DBHOF229

CATHEDRAL

The Ethereal Mirror COLUMBIA MAY 24, 1993

Now you see them

DECIBEL : 27 : JANUARY 2024

DBHOF229

CATHEDRAL the ethereal mirror

Describe the thought process—musically, aesthetically and personally—between Forest of Equilibrium and The Ethereal Mirror.

LEE DORRIAN: We had a couple of years to build up to Forest. We put everything we had into that record. All of our darkness, angst and overall heavy vibe were put into it to make the most morose and dark album we could make. It wasn’t like we had a big future ahead of us. We never looked forward at all. When we finished Forest, we felt it was a very big achievement. But Forest wasn’t exactly appreciated in a wider sense.

Doom was very underground. Death metal was peaking. We were completely into the music we were making. It was more like a labor of love rather than a career or band. It was more a collective, to exercise a feeling. We never thought beyond Forest.

GARRY JENNINGS: After we did Forest of Equilibrium, we discovered our love for ’70s rock bands. They influenced us more. You can hear it on the Soul Sacrifice EP. When we started writing The Ethereal Mirror, we could’ve carried on in the vein of Forest. The material is similar, but it’s not as gothic-sounding, not as morose and dense. We were listening to Bang, May Blitz and other ’70s rock bands. So, it was natural to put that in our music. The Ethereal Mirror was a mix of Trouble, Vitus and Revelation and the ’70s rock thing. You can hear it in “Midnight Mountain.” On the Soul Sacrifice EP, we realized we could up the tempo and put more groove into the songs. It opens up a whole new world. I’m sure a lot of people wanted us to write songs like “Serpent Eve” and “Ebony Tears,” but that wasn’t in us. People who bought Forest of Equilibrium and then heard “Midnight Mountain,” “Enter the Worms” and “Grim Luxuria” were in for a big surprise, even if we were influenced by the same bands.

ADAM LEHAN: We really weren’t having much fun in our private lives when we made Forest. It was pretty grim: break-ups with girlfriends, cheap beer and pot noodles, support slots with Morbid Angel, no money even to buy guitar strings.

So, to go from that to finding yourself in New York having all your drinks bought for you by Columbia’s A&R department, well, you’re going to cheer up a bit. [Laughs] Although, it did feel a bit alien. But we came home after that U.S. tour that we all loved from beginning to end and we were having a bloody good time. In fact, eventually it became a problem that I was having such a good time, I couldn’t write any doom riffs!

[Laughs] Every time I sat down to try and write something morose, a bloody three-minute ’70s rock ditty would come out!

MARK WHARTON: I didn’t join the band until after Forest was recorded, coming onboard for the Soul Sacrifice EP. Things just evolved naturally. There was never a conscious effort to take the music

“We were being flown over to New York for photo shoots. They were costing $10,000.

The label would take us out to five-star restaurants and stuff. I couldn’t even afford the rent at home.”

LE E D O RRIA N in a particular direction. It’s just the way our sound and style changed over that time.

Do you think people expected Cathedral to be, well, fun? I remember personally thinking, “Uh, what happened here?” Beautiful as it is, Forest of Equilibrium was such a morose album.

The Ethereal Mirror’s a vibrant color wheel in comparison.

DORRIAN: If people expect anything from bands, they’re always going to be disappointed. At the time, I think it was viewed as a more radical change than it is now. If you look back on it, it’s not that big of a departure. The Ethereal Mirror has a hell of a lot of Sabbath on it. There’s a lot of doom on it. We were also into bands on the Vertigo label. U.K. progressive rock bands.

I think those things were coming through. We didn’t have a definite idea of where we were going to take Cathedral. I think the main difference is the production. It’s massive. Forest was done for about 3,000 pounds. The Ethereal Mirror was done for a lot more. It’s just a brighter production. There’s more separation on the instruments. If The Ethereal Mirror had the Forest production, I think it’d be a different story. Also, the musicians in the band were advancing so fast they didn’t want to write songs like “Ebony Tears.” They probably couldn’t with much conviction. When we did Forest, it was kind of JANUARY 2024 : 28 : DECIBEL

painless. I wanted to continue down the line making extreme doom records. But I think it would’ve been hard to recapture Forest. It’s quite a groundbreaking album.

JENNINGS: No, not all. If you were a fan of the first record, you automatically said to yourself, “Jesus! What the fucking hell are they doing?!”

I get it. I mean, the handclaps on the demo was my idea. I thought, “We should do some handclaps!” No doom band will ever have handclaps.

They were very much in the vein of Slade, Gary Glitter and Sweet handclaps on a ’70s rock song.

From our point of view, we had a love/hate relationship with that record. We had done the first record. We had done the EP. We were young lads.

We’re all from relatively shitty backgrounds in England. We’re not well-off. All of a sudden, we’re doing a record in Manor Studios—which is beyond anyone’s wildest dreams, really—for Columbia, and it’s like, “What hell is going on?!”

We had a big-shot producer who worked with Mick Jagger. We had separation on our instruments like we never had before. Everything was coming out refined. It was a strange feeling. We wanted to sound like the Soul Sacrifice EP, not a greatly produced record. For years on end, it was almost alien to us. I remember doing promo for it. Instead of promoting it, we slagged it. I have to say, if I put this record on now for somebody, I’m always pretty proud of it.

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LEHAN: Honestly, if they’d heard Soul Sacrifice

and they’d seen us on tour between Sacrifice and Ethereal, they should have seen it coming, really.

WHARTON: Yeah, I suppose it must have come as a bit of a shock to some people, but I think Soul Sacrifice can be seen as a stepping stone between the two albums.

There was a lot of transition—experimentation and innovation—in the early ’90s. How much of the times affected and/or influenced Cathedral?

DORRIAN: The bands we were up against were death metal. Death metal, at that point, was very predictable. We didn’t want to be pigeonholed as one of those bands. Most of the death metal bands had frowned faces and folded arms. We might have looked down about the world around us, but we weren’t testosterone-filled blokes. We were deeply into certain types of music. We were deeply into things other than looking tough. We did experiment and explore. We didn’t want to play things safe. If you’re playing it safe, it’s like living death. There is the other side of it, too.

Cathedral did, honestly, go too far down experimentation’s road. I wouldn’t deny that. At least I can say we tried to be different in an honest kind of way.

JENNINGS: It’s a very early ’90s-sounding record.

It’s kind of weird. I still think it stands up, sound-wise. The production is really good. Some of the later records—Caravan [Beyond Redemption] and The VIIth Coming—sound dated compared to The Ethereal Mirror. When I listen to it, I’m always pleasantly surprised.

What do you remember about the songwriting sessions? It doesn’t sound like there was much creative restraint.

DORRIAN: We had recorded a demo around summer of ’92. We sent it to the record company, and they liked it. I felt it didn’t have enough intensity. It felt a bit light. We didn’t use any of the songs from the demo. Actually, we used “Midnight Mountain,” which was then called “Magic Mountain,” and it had flutes on it. Very hippyish ’70s. It’s very different from the version on The Ethereal Mirror.

But anyway, we toured heavily throughout the year. We knew we had an album to record at the end of the year. We knew it was a big deal. It was for Columbia Records, who were, at the time, one of the biggest record labels in the world. We were just a bunch of underground kids who were hands-on about everything we did. As much as there was excitement, there was fear. We carried on recording more demos down at a friend’s studio in Coventry. He had an eight-track studio in his basement. We wrote and recorded tons of stuff. Out of everything we recorded in [that] basement, it was just “Ride,” “Fountain of

Innocence” and “Midnight Mountain” that we used on the album. The majority of the songs on the album were finalized in the studio or written on the eve of going into the studio. Lyrically, half of the album was written in the studio.

I remember I had writer’s block. I had written loads of stuff, but I wasn’t really happy with it.

Columbia gave me 500 pounds and had me visit a cottage down in Penzance. It was the middle of winter. December, if I remember right. I had 500 pounds, but the cottage was right next to a pub. [Laughs] I was reading a lot about death and getting stoned. I wanted to get deeper into death philosophies and stuff. I don’t think I came up with more than ideas. I guess they ended up as songs on the album. I think they were “Grim Luxuria,” “Jaded Entity” and “Ashes You Leave.”

JENNINGS: Some of the songs that ended up on The Ethereal Mirror were last-minute additions. Those were “Jaded Entity” and “Phantasmagoria.”

When we started writing, we had quite a lot of tracks. We have one song that Adam wrote called “Azrael” that was never released. It was quite Egyptian-like. “The Olde Oak Tree” was never released until [2004 compilation] The Serpent’s Gold. Same with “Violet Breath.” We had a load of acoustic songs as well. From what I remember, I think Lee felt the album was too straight-ahead.

More of a rock record. We didn’t have much outright doom songs. “Ashes You Leave” was the most doom song we had. I think he felt we needed something more doom-like, which is why “Jaded Entity” and “Phantasmagoria” were on the record.

LEHAN: Queuing up for a veggie burger with Tony Iommi! [Laughs] There was no restriction.

We were all throwing ideas in there and we had quite a lot of material written, and a lot of it didn’t make it to the album. Later on, [producer David] Bianco put his neck in, but early on it was just the four of us all doing our bit. Originally, it was looking like it would be a lot more of a straight-ahead rock thing. There was no “Phantasmagoria,” “Jaded Entity” or “Ashes You Leave.” And I loved it. I thought it was going to be great. Lee was unhappy, though, with the way it was going, and so we went back and got some of the doom back in there. Looking at it now, that was the right thing to do. “Phantasmagoria” is probably my favorite track on the album.

At the time, fans equated The Ethereal Mirror with Columbia Records. Big label meant big sound changes. Any truth to Columbia making The Ethereal Mirror something that it’s not?

Like the British version of the Black Crowes.

DORRIAN: They certainly tried to do that with the photos. [Laughs] We rejected them all. But I won’t think they tried to pressure us on the record. They wanted us to use the producer.

Josh [Sarubin], our A&R guy [who later signed Lady Gaga—ed.], was really cool. He was into the band. He wanted the record to be good. He didn’t JANUARY 2024 : 30 : DECIBEL

want us molded in any specific way. The video for “Midnight Mountain” is where it all went wrong. They said, “Give us a disco video.” We said, “OK, we’ll give you one.” I mean, we were still a new band at the time. We were on our second album, not our fourth.

I never had aspirations of being on a major label. In fact, I was against major labels. When it came our way, we decided to give it a go. A guy at the label said to me, “When you sell 450,000, I’m going to get a Cathedral tattoo on my arm.”

I remember thinking, “Well, you’re gonna have a long wait.” [Laughs] We were pessimistic about it. We were playing the game to some extent, but the whole major label thing wasn’t really in us.

We were foolish.

JENNINGS: It was a weird situation that just happened. A band like Cathedral was on Columbia.

I don’t know what they expected us to sell. We never thought we’d sell whatever the target was. We did go along with Columbia to a certain extent. We had to do these photo shoots, with a wardrobe and everything. We had ’70s retro clothes, but updated, modernized. They were pretty embarrassing. We just wanted to wear Candlemass and Trouble shirts. Not flares bigger than flares in ’71! We fought the corporate route as much as possible, in reality. Like, we wanted the record to be like Soul Sacrifice. But it sounded completely different. Produced! It sounded like a really good record. For us, we felt, “What are they doing to us?!”

What was it like for a young underground band to have major label support?

DORRIAN: It was weird. It was completely alien to us. This wasn’t our world. We were being flown over to New York for photo shoots. They were costing $10,000. The label would take us out to five-star restaurants and stuff. I couldn’t even afford the rent at home. I don’t think we felt too comfortable with it. I don’t want to be too cynical about it, though. We did get the chance to come to the States a lot and meet great people.

We did have a great time when we were in our element. We got to try what most bands don’t get to. We got The Ethereal Mirror out of it, too.

JENNINGS: We all came from poor backgrounds.

We all scraped by. I had to sell my octave pedal just to get bus money to make it to rehearsals. We didn’t have money. All of a sudden, a year later, we’re in this big fuck-off studio, with a big-name producer, with meals being cooked for us. It’s like a mansion. The bedroom I had in the studio was bigger than my mom’s house. We were being taken out for meals, and as a young lad I could never dream of spending that kind of money on food. We were getting flown down to Florida to meet record company executives. We were in these big executive meetings. I remember thinking to myself, “What am I doing here?!” Very surreal.

LEHAN: Odd. Weird. Annoying sometimes. But a lot easier when it came to getting a round in.

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WHARTON: It was great in many respects. We got

to tour America for a start. But we were more comfortable on an independent label. There was always a conflict between what they wanted from us and what we actually gave them. That’s ultimately why they dropped us.

The album title was changed last minute from Ride Through the Decay to The Ethereal Mirror.

Why didn’t the former title work?

DORRIAN: There was also Decadence as well. Some cassettes were printed up with Decadence on them. I don’t think the label liked the word “decay” in the title. I’m not sure if I did either.

That was the original title for the song “Ride.”

I just cut the title down. Ride Through the Decay worked well with the album art. We were riding through the aftermath of some perverted apocalypse. To me, none of those titles were mystical enough. I wanted a semi-mystical title. At the time, there were very bold and aggressive titles coming from extreme metal. I wanted our title to be different. I just thought of The Ethereal Mirror one day. And it worked.

What does the title The Ethereal Mirror mean exactly?

DORRIAN: Another world as opposed to the world we live in. It’s like an acid vision of the world or society we live in. It’s good that nobody knew what it meant. People interpreted it themselves.

Everything was too definite then. Too in-yourface. We had been listening to progressive rock for about three years by that point, so some of what they were doing also came through in the title.

Lyrically, what was happening in your head? It’s almost like a disco at LaVey’s house after a night of observing Bosch paintings.

DORRIAN: [Laughs] That’s not far from the truth. I had an opposition to organized religion. A song like “Fountain of Innocence” had a certain religious vibe. I was brought up a Catholic. When you’re a young Catholic, you get fed all these whimsical ideas. When you face the cold reality of life after being fed all the bullshit, it makes a person quite nihilistic. My opposition to religion comes through in everything. I think the band is individual. I am individual. That’s opposite of religion, to some extent. There weren’t outright attacks on religion on The Ethereal Mirror, though.

I was being more subtle than that.

David Bianco produced The Ethereal Mirror.

How’d he come into the picture?

DORRIAN: I don’t remember. We would’ve

recorded the album ourselves, had they let us.

We had to entertain a proper producer. He was a very good producer. Very good at what we did.

He brought the best out of us.

DORRIAN: It was a huge mansion owned by Richard Branson. [Mike Oldfield’s] Tubular Bells was recorded there. But we never had a proper producer before. We had never been into a proper studio before. We had all this music, but it was bewildering because here we are entering this whole new world with a major label.

There was also a situation where someone is dictating how a record should sound and how each individual member should play their solos.

We weren’t really into the guitar tones at the studio. We were more happy with the guitars in our friend’s eight-track studio. I remember thinking, “Oh, this is where Never Mind the Bollocks was recorded. It all sounds too polished, too clean.”

“If you were a fan of the first record, you automatically said to yourself, ‘Jesus! What the fucking hell are they doing?!’

I get it. I thought, ‘We should do some handclaps!

No doom band will ever have handclaps.’”

GA RRY JE NNING S After it was done, we had to live with it. It stuck with us for a while. Everyone was telling us how killer it was, but to me and Gaz, it wasn’t raw enough. The Ethereal Mirror didn’t represent us. All these years later, I think it’s a great record. The production is awesome. At the time, we were dedicated to the underground and felt it was being taken away from us. We told people at the time and they were like, “What the fuck are you talking about?! It’s a killer record!” I’ve always wanted it to be a bit more raw. [Laughs] JENNINGS: I played the bass on the record, right?

I remember David saying to me, “Ah, Mick Jagger’s bass player wouldn’t have played the bass part like that.” Bear in mind, I was 22. I picked up the bass and threw it at him. I said to him, “I’m not Mick Jagger’s bass player! I’m me!

I’m a guitar player trying to play what I think a bass player would play.”

JANUARY 2024 : 3 2 : DECIBEL

I remember going home for a few days. When I came back, Adam had done some of his solos. I highly rated Adam as a guitar player. He’s much more bluesy. He’s more into [Ritchie] Blackmore.

More control and feel. I’m more manic like [Tony] Iommi. I’d let rip without much thought. The producer said to me, “The solos are really amateurish.” I thought to myself, “If he thinks Adam’s solos are amateurish, what’s he going to think of mine?!” Adam’s solos were nice and tasteful.

Of course, this guy worked with musicians on a different level. We were just kids. It was quite daunting being in the studio with a big-name producer. He would come in and want to change our songs. Like “Fountain of Innocence.” He rearranged it. We never had anybody do that to us. It was a strange feeling. Now, listening to the version on the album, it sounds great. He did a good job.

LEHAN: Being giddy because of the other bands that had been there. Born Again is one of my favorite Sabbath albums, and “Zero the Hero” one of my favorite songs. The grub was incredible! We were certainly very well looked after on that front. I remember the pub just a short walk down the canal towpath; took my baby brother in there when the folks came to visit. Took Josh from Columbia in there, too, got plastered.

I remember arguing with Bianco about the sound on my guitar solos. I wanted to try and get natural reverb, have the mics well away from the amp. He didn’t. [Laughs] Ghosts. I couldn’t sleep properly. When I got in bed at night, it was like something was sat on my chest. I’d wake up gasping for air. I remember very vividly feeling something unseen pass me in a corridor and head toward Gaz’s room. Honestly.

Once the recording was done, me and Doz went to see Pantera, got backstage passes and toyed with the idea of getting involved in a drinking competition with them, even though we were both pretty much plastered already.

Thank god that didn’t happen. I’d have ended up in A&E [Accident and Emergency, the British version of an emergency room].

WHARTON: I loved it. The place itself was amazing. We even had our own chef! [Laughs] Not the one from the “Midnight Mountain” video either.

When it came to recording, we spent a lot of time getting the drums sounding right, and then it took me about a week to get the tracks done.

After that, it was great to sit back and watch the whole thing come together! It was clear as soon as the guitars were being put down that the whole thing was going to sound immense. Personally, I enjoyed working with Dave; I think he got the best out of me and I’m very proud of that album.

David Patchett reprised his cover art role. Like the music, it’s full of color. Dark-themed, yet full of color. What do you remember saying to David when it came time to paint the cover?

DORRIAN: I did want it to be more psychedelic and more vibrant than Forest. I wanted there

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to be a central figure, an angel that’s not to be trusted. The angel’s holding The Book of Lies. All these abnormal, adverse effects that morality has on people were around it. There we are, these warriors in the background, riding through the mess of civilization. [Laughs] Whose idea was it to print lyrics in a spiral on the inside sleeve? Reading them is vertigo-inducing.

DORRIAN: One of the main reasons was that Curved Air did it. The real reason was the lyrics were written spontaneously. I wasn’t even sure I was 100 percent into them. I shouldn’t be saying this, but I wasn’t convinced by the lyrics. That’s why they’re not in blocks. I wanted them to be presented in an esoteric way.

What do you recall about touring in support of The Ethereal Mirror?

DORRIAN: Columbia put us on a tour. The Mercyful Fate tour wasn’t really relevant. As much as I love Mercyful Fate, the tour that coincided with the album being released had us under Flotsam & Jetsam. We opened this bill. I couldn’t see what it was going to do for us. The label was telling us we’re going to be the next biggest thing in metal, and here we are, an

opening band. It wasn’t a radical bill. We got offered a tour with Monster Magnet and Kyuss.

The crowds were smaller, but the tour was fresher.

They were trying to push us into a big arena.

The Fight tour was great. Meeting Rob Halford was cool. The whole tour, he was on me about doing “Sweet Leaf” with him. Every time it got to that point in their set, I’d rush to the back of the room. Halford would point me out in the audience. [Laughs] I was shit scared. One night, he pulled me out onto the stage and put a mic in my hand. I thought, “Oh my god!” That was in upstate New York, if I remember. So, I did a duet with Rob Halford. [Laughs] I don’t think we fit with Fight either, though. On the Fight tour that’s when things inside the band waned a bit. We were getting on each other’s nerves. I think the label, at that point, was also ready to pull the plug.

JENNINGS: We did the Fight tour. That went really well. The Mercyful Fate tour was really up and down. We weren’t treated the best. The band we alternated with was Anacrusis. They eventually left the tour. I remember we’d start right at doors open. There’d be a handful of people in the audience. Maybe less! Most people were at the bar. I think a lot of the problems in the band started with this tour. We had [Repulsion’s] Scott Carlson on bass. There were divisions in the band. It was me and Lee on one side. Mark and Adam on the other. Poor Scott was in the middle.

He was friends with everybody. It was all petty stuff, but it built up. The band fell apart after that.

LEHAN: That’s when things started to go wrong, really. We were on tour in Europe with Penance and Sleep, and I ended up getting a gut complaint that meant I couldn’t drink. It was a bloody awful feeling, like having a really bad gut hangover, but it never stopped. My own fault.

I’d been drinking too much and not eating well enough for quite a while. But it’s not much fun being the only sober guy at the party. There are times when I really do think that if I hadn’t had to be sober on those last two U.S. tours, I probably would have ended up staying. The sober thing certainly made our problems a lot worse.

I’m the kind of guy who will usually avoid conflict at all costs when I’m sober, so a lot of stuff that really should have come out into the open didn’t. It just festered on the inside.

WHARTON: Going across America in a tiny van with Brutal Truth is something I’ll never forget!

What was the video-making process like for “Ride” and “Midnight Mountain”? Adam playing the “Midnight Mountain” lead with a chef’s spoon was pretty hilarious. Still is.

DORRIAN: We didn’t like “Ride” because it was too slick. We had to get a friend to rough it up a bit.

It cost a fortune. Like $35,000. We just wanted a “B club” vibe, but it turned out [to be a]

Q&A with The Ethereal Mirror cover artist

david patchett

How did The Ethereal Mirror cover start out?

You’re asking me to go back in time to another age. We thought things were bad then! Lee was my only contact with the band at that time. And even now, come to think. Lee wanted gothic horror of the Inquisition kind.

And the group riding into the fray to rescue the innocents like secular Knight Templars.

How do you start a piece like that?

Cathedral cover artist David Patchett has an eye for the fantastical, for the strange, for the surreal.

The British painter first appeared on Cathedral debut Forest of Equilibrium. Ever since, he’s mentioned in near the same breath as “Midnight Mountain,” Lee Dorrian and the greatest doom albums of all time. We were able to corner Mr. Patchett, albeit briefly, to celebrate The Ethereal Mirror’s entry into the Decibel Hall of Fame. 

At that time, I would spend a week doing a drawing on paper the same size as the panel [painting surface]. Lots of trial and error and a fortune in erasers. I used to use carbon paper to press the drawing onto the panel. Later, I got more confident and just went straight to the painting bit.

What was the medium?

I’m pretty sure that back then I was doing backgrounds in acrylic and the fine figure work in oils. Gradually, acrylics took over as I learnt how JANUARY 2024 : 3 4 : DECIBEL

to use the Tempera technique of the Middle Ages to create perfect shading, etc.

What’s your favorite part of the piece?

The leather jacket of the main figure turned out well and I liked the personification of the maggots, too. More interesting is that, at the last minute, a Cathedral member went missing and I had to go to Nottingham with my paint and get rid of his face, masking him out in the Earache Studios.

OK, so is it true you painted over Griff (a.k.a.

Mark Griffiths) with the horned warrior?

If Griff was the face that went missing from Cathedral just before the plastic got pressed, yes.

Everyone has their own interpretation of the album art. What does it say to you?

Careful, you’ll get me on the high horse. I hate nearly all religions, none more so than Christianity. For 600 years they took great delight in torturing and torching hundreds of thousands of human beings. If they still had the power, they would still be at it today. And in a way, they are. —CHRIS DICK

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real slick, MTV-like rock video. Wasn’t really us.

“Midnight Mountain,” we went to town on that one. In many ways, that backfired. [Laughs] We were totally frustrated. The way the Columbia deal had started to change. People thought we were ridiculing everything. That we were taking the piss, but we weren’t, really. Behind all the comedy, there’s a bit of angst. We were very frustrated.

JENNINGS: They were embarrassing! The “Ride” video, the original, was like Top of the Pops. That was the idea. Usually, the band would be close together, with the drums in the front. The singer would be behind the drummer. We tried that, but the video director had a script and wanted none of it. That’s when we went to Pinewood Studios, which was home to a lot of British films from the ’60s and ’70s. We went down there to do “Ride.”

The director hired dancers. They were really attractive women. It wasn’t what we were about.

When we saw edits of it, me and Lee thought, “Nah, this isn’t what we want to be portrayed as.” Not sure if you know this, but [ex-Venom, ex-Carcass guitarist] Mike Hickey was doing stand-in bass in that video.

a band. We went through a couple of years of having people guesting with us. We had Barry Stern from Trouble on drums. Before that, we had Joe Hasselvander and Victor Griffin from Pentagram. They did the Sabbath tour. We had hired hands for a good couple of years. It was a disillusioned time. We never expected major things to happen with Columbia, so when it did fall to shit, we weren’t that surprised. There was no happy ending for us. [Laughs] JENNINGS: I was disillusioned. It was a reality check. We knew we didn’t want to be the next big [thing]. We weren’t going to sell loads of records. We knew it.

LEHAN: I walked away full stop! Although [1994 EP] Statik Majik came afterwards and I was on that release, as we’d recorded it previously, I was long gone by the time it came out. So, those last two Ethereal U.S. tours were my last, and in fact, after leaving, I tried to get a band of my own going and failed miserably, ended up working in a nightclub. It’s only now, all these years later, that I’ve started tinkering again.

The Ethereal Mirror was, to some degree, an entry point to heavy music for a lot of music fans. What’s it like to have people tell you the music had a great impact on them?

DORRIAN: It’s amazing! A lot of people pick out the first three Cathedral albums as having some impact on them. There wasn’t much like Cathedral at the time. It’s flattering when people tell you you’ve influenced them.

JENNINGS: It’s nice, of course. I never set out to write for anyone else but me. I write music for myself. You never really expect your music will stand the test of time. Sabbath is my biggest influence ever. Same with KISS and Witchfinder General. I’m pretty sure if I went up to Gene Simmons and said, “Hotter than Hell changed my life,” it wouldn’t be something he hasn’t heard before.

LEHAN: I love them for it, but it makes me uncomfortable. I don’t feel worthy of the praise.

WHARTON: It’s incredibly flattering. It’s strange to think that something you did so long ago has influenced people and been part of their life.

There are people out there who have grown up with this album and listened to it their entire life. That’s really very humbling.

What did you guys walk away with after The Ethereal Mirror album cycle had run its course?

DORRIAN: A broken-up band. Everything was fucked for us. It was up to me and Gaz to pick up the pieces and soldier on. Columbia was lost. We had a tour with Sabbath lined up in the beginning of 1994 and we didn’t even have JANUARY 2024 : 36 : DECIBEL

WHARTON: I think we wanted to get things back

to a more normal kind of level. I remember we did a photoshoot in a field with a dog, which Columbia hated and refused to use.

Any regrets about The Ethereal Mirror?

DORRIAN: You know what? As much as I said all this negative stuff, I don’t think so. It all happened for a reason. The fact that it all fell apart made us more determined to not be beaten by it.

And to carry on. We did carry on for a good 20 more years. No regrets, really.

JENNINGS: Changing it? No, not really. It would’ve been a different record had we not done what we had done. Looking back, it’s quite advanced, the structures. We were only 22 years old at the time. It’s a great record for a bunch of young guys. There’s great energy on that record.

LEHAN: I really should have punched the guy that nicked Mark’s chips.

WHARTON: None. I think it’s a great album and I’m proud to have been part of it. Regrets about leaving Cathedral might be a different story!

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F

or the second consecutive year, my favorite release of the past

12 months doesn’t appear on the Decibel Top 40. Lest you think I’m that populist of an editor who lets the staff determine a year’s crowning achievement, rest assured that these omissions are simply the result of a pair of technicalities. Last year, Worm’s Bluenothing EP ruled my world, but EPs and mini-LPs (there’s a difference?) don’t qualify for the Decibel list. Hey, I don’t make the… oh, shit. ¶ This year, Venomous Concept’s The Good Ship Lollipop is my disqualified favorite. But that’s only because we released it via our Decibel Records imprint and its inclusion might be viewed as a conflict of interest. That said, I wasn’t the only Decibel contributor who ranked this incredible release at their list’s pole position. ¶ There were, however, a half dozen more who penciled in our eventual Album of the Year winner as their No. 1.

While no list pulled from an electorate of over two dozen writers spread out over several generations will ever approach anything close to a consensus, this is the most unified our voters have ever been. At least for the AOTY. The rest is the usual clusterfuck of records you like, but are ranked either too high or too low; albums you haven’t heard, but still have strong feelings on; and—for a select few—the lack of a particular release that renders this entire exercise “invalid.” Please consider occasionally going outside. The rest of you, enjoy. —ALBERT MUDRIAN

DECIBEL ▶

39

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DECIBEL : JANUARY 2021 : 39

40 DØDHEIMSGARD

BLACK MEDIUM CURRENT ▶ P E AC E VILLE

Though eight-year passages define eras between the past three Dødheimsgard albums, the period following 2015’s A Umbra Omega was especially suspenseful.

How would black metal weirdos “DHG” follow up such a creative album? Written as a full band in the rehearsal space, Black Medium Current explores the dynamics between black metal and other styles with a deep songwriting sense. Opener “Et smelter” begins with a blistering blast and somehow turns into a prog epic without any sort of whiplash or confusion, and this exemplifies Black Medium Current’s smooth nature. — J O N RO SE N THA L

ALBUMS THAT TIED FOR #41 41.

Necrofier, Burning Shadows Necrofier, in the Southern Night, Night, [ S E ASON OF MI ST]

41.

All Out War, War, Celestial Rot, Rot, [ T R A N SLATI ON LOSS]

41.

Godflesh,, Purge Godflesh Purge,, [ AVALAN CHE ]

41.

Uada,, Crepuscule Natura, Uada Natura,

39 KOMMODUS

WREATH OF BLEEDING SNOWFALL ▶ G OATOWA R EX

You don’t often think of the adjectives “barbaric” and “melancholic” together, but that’s exactly what we have here. Kommodus has crafted a savage black metal record with an aurally blue undertone, somewhere between Loose Nut and Blood Fire Death sonically, with absolutely vicious vocals and possibly the best drum sound on a black metal record in 10 years. Wreath doesn’t just build on an impossibly great discography—it surmounts it. This isn’t just music—it’s a mission whose only conceivable end is total victory. — N E ILL JA M E SO N

[ E IS EN WALD ] 41.

Fuming Mouth, Mouth, Last Day of Sun, Sun, [ N U C LE AR B LAST]

BEERS OF 2023,

BY COURTNEY ISEMAN 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Smoked Braggot, Miel Brewery, 11% 11% ABV Amaro di Malto, Barrel-Aged Dark Farmhouse Ale, Oxbow Brewing Company, 9.5% 9.5% ABV Smodfest, Festbier, Saint Mars of the Desert, 5.8% 5.8% ABV Stolen Pine Tree, American IPA, 3bir 3 bir Brewery, 6.7% ABV Fervor & Defiance, Czech-Style Dark Lager, Wild East Brewing Co., 4.9% 4 .9% ABV

SELECTIONS FROM THE IKEA CATALOGUE,

BY NICK GREEN 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

BY ALBERT MUDRIAN 2.

3.

4.

5.

37

OBITUARY

36

FIRES IN THE DISTANCE

(Lamp of) Murmuur Mizmor Krigsgrav Dødheimsgard Huvudroll (Plant-based alternative meatball)

BREAKOUT SUBGENRES FOR 2024,

1.

38

STREET TOMBS

Grindsludge Blackened synthpop Post nü-metalgaze Tape hiss core Whatever the fuck Poppy sounds like

40

▶ JANUARY 2024 ▶ DECIBEL

RECLUSIVE DECAY ▶ CA RBO N IZE D

After three abyss-ripping demos, Santa Fe, NM sadists Street Tombs released a down ‘n’ dirty debut with Reclusive Decay. Run by Necrot drummer Chad Gailey, you can always trust Carbonized Records to release killer death crust. Primitive and punk-as-fuck doesn’t mean regressive; the guitars offer more hooks than Leatherface’s slaughter parlor. What if Morbus Chron had mange, or Grave went on a desert peyote killing spree? It would sound like “Devour” and the other cuts off this platter of splatter. — SE A N F RA SIE R

DYING OF EVERYTHING ▶ RE LA P SE

The Heavy Metal Hall of Fame™ never fell prey to the rich white mogul syndrome of all the others. Those first 666 inductees—classic, contemporary, cult—legitimized so goddamn much. Full-length No. 11 in only 35 years, Dying of Everything likely already appears in the Obituary room at the actual Hall: humid rhythms, venomous riffs, vile spew. Halfway through opener “Barely Alive,” one too many shovelfuls of dirt finally chokes you alive in the DM wing. The Tardys’ Lifetime Achievement cleavers proved a knowing complement. — RAO UL HE RN A N D EZ

AIR NOT MEANT FOR US ▶ P RO STHE TIC

Their 2020 debut was nice enough, but Air Not Meant for Us swaggers and serenades with more confidence and character than a sophomore record has any right. The tension between the rhythm guitars’ unforgiving weight and the keys’ sprightly grace is both mirrored and enhanced by the interplay between unerringly growled vocals and whip-smart guitar solo delivery. Somehow, this music about the futility of human endeavor as we crawl toward bitter oblivion achieves a state of almost blissful consolation. This density is delicious; the serenity, sublime. —DANIEL LAKE

35 WITCHING

INCENDIUM ▶ TRANSL ATION LOSS

For those who aren’t yet familiar with Philly’s own Witching, Incendium—their second LP and first for Translation Loss—is an excellent introduction to the fiery fivesome’s genre-bending take on extreme metal. Their sound is fluid, traversing black metal, thrash, doom, NWOBHM and prog, but that versatility never melts into incohesion. Shapeshifting tracks like “So Young, So Useless” flaunt formidable songwriting chops alongside frontperson Jacqui Powell’s elastic vocal range, which drops seamlessly from a hellish screech to a throaty whisper. With any luck, they’re going to be huge. —KIM KEL LY

EPs EP s OF 2023,

BY ALBERT MUDRIAN 1.

[ 20 2 0 BUC K SP IN] IN ] 2.

34 33 32 31

CIRCLE OF OUROBORUS

LUMI VAIENTAA KYSYMYKSET ▶ HIS WO UN D S

Sad-but-catchy black metal has come back in a big way over the past few years, but Circle’s latest era isn’t symptomatic of that; the trend is because more people are becoming hip to Circle. This Finnish duo boasts an intimidating discography, but right here’s a perfect entryway for those seeking mid-paced, melancholic perfection. For Circle of Ouroborus, Lumi represents one of the finest and most confidently experimental black metal bands of all time epitomizing their greatest era to date with a mere four-track LP. —DUTC H P E A RC E

Dream Unending/Worm, Unending/Worm, Starpath Starpath,, Graf Orlock, Orlock, End Credits, Credits, [ VITRIO L]

3.

Dead Heat, Heat, Endless Torment, Torment, [ TA N KC RIM E S]

4.

Blood Incantation, Incantation, Luminescent Bridge, Bridge, [ C E N TURY M E D IA ]

5.

Negative Prayer, Prayer, Negative Prayer, Prayer, [ SE E D O F D O O M ]

TRHÄ ALBUMS OF 2023,

CATTLE DECAPITATION

BY DUTCH PEARCE 1.

TERRASITE ▶ METAL BL ADE

2.

Cattle Decapitation have never wavered from their primary message—a literal interpretation of Slipknot’s mathematical principle “people = shit”—but as the scope of their viewpoint widened over the past quarter-century, from the slaughterhouse floor to the inevitable extinction of mankind, so did their sound. Terrasite shows that 2019’s Death Atlas charted only a small part of their ambitions. Their cinematic approach to death metal doesn’t envision a third act redemption for humanity, and “We Eat Our Young” and “… and the World Will Go On Without You” prove that a global pandemic didn’t exactly change their minds. —JEFF TREPPEL

4.

FINAL GASP

MOURNING MOON ▶ REL APSE

There’s always been at least an aesthetic crossover between the goth and metal worlds going back to the dark post-punk of the early ’80s. We all love black, right?

It ain’t easy, however, to blend the two musically, while successfully incorporating the characteristics that make both so compelling. On Mourning Moon, Final Gasp do this adeptly, with the right balance of reverbed Killing Joke-like vocals, affected guitars and thundering rhythms. Most importantly, they nail the mood, which is 12 songs and 38 minutes of prime gloom. — A D E M TE P E D E LE N

3.

5.

MOST IMPORTANT HEADLINES OF THE YEAR ACCORDING TO METAL INJECTION, INJECTION,

BY NICK GREEN 1.

2.

3.

4.

SPIRIT ADRIFT

GHOST AT THE GALLOWS ▶ C E N TURY M E D IA

Moving steadily away from their doomier roots, Austin, TX collective Spirit Adrift have firmly embraced their status as a heavy metal throwback on their fifth studio album, Ghost at the Gallows. The brainchild of frontman Nate Garrett, Spirit Adrift circa 2023 is no frills, no bullshit, all metal. Stocked with soaring vocals, catchy riffs and earworms aplenty, Ghost at the Gallows is a no-gimmicks-required love letter to an altogether simpler time, and we are here for it. — D ILLO N C O LLIN S

rhejde qhaominvac tla aglhaonamëc Eliante / Trhä Split Lhum'ad'sejja §ºanΩ §ºan Ωë aglivajsamë cá nëlh¶iha i eddana pi¶e Starcave Nebula / Trhä Split

5.

Nikki Sixx Explains Recent Onstage Appearance Bob Rock Reveals That Nikki Sixx Was Confused About Recent Onstage Appearance Tommy Lee Reacts to Bob Rock Revealing That Nikki Sixx Was Confused About Recent Onstage Appearance Vince Neil Eats Pastrami Sandwich While Tommy Lee Reacts to Bob Rock Revealing That Nikki Sixx Was Confused About Recent Onstage Appearance Mick Mars Refuses to Comment on Vince Neil Eating Pastrami Sandwich While Tommy Lee Reacts to Bob Rock Revealing That Nikki Sixx Was Confused About Recent Onstage Appearance, Guzzles Blood of Virgins Instead

DECIBEL ◀ JANUARY 2024 ◀

41

30 KRIGSGRAV

FIRES IN THE FALL ▶ W ISE BLO O D

Nestled in Keller, TX, a quaint hamlet outside of Dallas-Fort Worth, one of America’s best-kept secrets resides. Somewhere between aggro-harmonic Dawn and the mountainous verdure of Wolves in the Throne Room, Krigsgrav quietly reign supreme.

Fires in the Fall, the group’s latest full-length, ups the ante considerably from its high-octane predecessor, The Sundering. Here, commander David Sikora conjures atmosphere, intensity and energy with the same mastery as more prominent counterparts, while guitarists Justin Coleman and Cody Daniels paint the sky and depths as if they’re meant to rule both. Don’t fucking sleep on these Fires. — C H R I S D I C K

FAVORITE (NOT BEST) GAMES OF 2023,

BY KILL SCREEN 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Resident Evil 4 Remake [CAPCOM] Baldur’s Gate 3 [ LARI AN STUDIOS] Blasphemous 2 [ THE GAM E KITCHEN] Dredge [ B LACK SALT GAMES] Final Fantasy XVI [ SQU ARE ENIX ]

29

WILL HAVEN

28

SMOULDER

27

KRUELTY

TAKEAWAYS FROM THE BON SCOTT STATUE IN KIRRIEMUIR, SCOTLAND,

VII ▶ M IN US HE A D

Will Haven’s cult credentials were secured in the wake of 2001’s Carpe Diem, the band’s third, understatedly influential LP. The Sacramento act’s sludgy metallic hardcore was underscored by an unnerving atmosphere heightened by vocalist Grady Avenell’s desperate screams. However, such insidious horror has been brought to the murder room front and center on their seventh album. No band with as fractious a past as Will Haven’s should sound this relevant, threatening or powerfully reenergized 28 years into their existence. VII is midlife crisis metal as a sustained howl into the void. — D E A N BROW N

BY RAOUL HERNANDEZ 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Like the eight-strong siblings of the Glaswegian Young clan, Bon Scott remains Scottish, not Australian.

Birthplace listed as Forfar nearby, a distant cousin of his there told us people from Kirrie drive to the hospital the next town over for birthing.

Pop. 6,000 6,000 in the Scottish highlands, Kirrie’s other most famous son rests in the cemetery at the top of the town: Peter Pan creator J.M. Barrie.

Every year Kirrie hosts a Bon Fest, at which the singer’s son usually sings and plays, and last year, on a flatbed truck à la “It’s a Long Way to the Top” video, a Top 1 10 0 Aussie hit on which Scott famously played bagpipes he bought and learned that same day of recording.

I could scarcely read all the Scott and AC/DC info at the statue to my fourth grader without choking TF up.

FLEXI DISCS OF 2023,

BY ALBERT MUDRIAN 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Mother of Graves, Graves, “Sunset” Doro,, “Heart in Pain” Doro Terminal Nation, Nation, “Concrete Hell / A Pound of Flesh or a Gallon of Blood” The Silver, Silver, “The Vagrant Soul” Wayfarer,, “Night Shift” Wayfarer (original by Siouxsie and the Banshees)

42

▶ JANUARY 2024 ▶ DECIBEL

VIOLENT CREED OF VENGEANCE ▶ C RU Z D EL S U R

Smoulder aren’t the first musical swordspeople and sorcerers, but they seem determined to be the best. Having the members spread all over Hyboria didn’t slow them down for their second full-length. If anything, they go even faster and heavier than on their debut. Influenced as much by the writings of Michael Moorcock (who appears on the album) and Tanith Lee as they are by Omen or Manilla Road, this anti-fascist epic doom act truly comes into their own here.

“The Talisman and the Blade” and “Path of Witchery” solve the riddle of steel easily. — J E F F TRE P P E L

UNTOPIA ▶ P RO FO UN D LO RE

Untopia is an album best experienced live, and witnessing Kruelty earlier this year on their recent North American tour is a major reason why these sadistic Japanese death metal brutalizers landed so high a position on my personal yearend list. Watching the venue almost literally torn asunder by the crowd during tracks like “Harder Than Before” or the titular crush ‘n’ roller title cut is the stuff of long-lasting memories. As far as truly memorable albums of the year, images of violence and mayhem will forever be synonymous with Kruelty’s Untopia. — D UTC H P E A RC E

26 NIGHT DEMON OUTSIDER ▶ C E N TURY M E D IA

Though the ambition to write and record a concept album is impressive, those types of endeavors always struck me as a little restricting for a band. That’s definitely not the case with trad metal wizards Night Demon, who on Outsider have simply made a really compelling album that just happens to have a story that runs throughout the nine tracks. Appreciate this for the killer songs, meaty production, pro performances and spectacle of a band at the peak of its powers. — A D E M T EP ED EL EN

HOMICIDAL ECSTASY

GLACIAL DOMINATION

… SO UNKNOWN

LUMINESCENT BRIDGE

OUTSIDER

ENDEX

GHOST AT THE GALLOWS

WAR REMAINS

THE WRETCHED; THE RUINOUS

REMEMBER… YOU MUST DIE

COMING SOON IN EARLY 2024 DEAD MOTHER MOON 1/19/2024

SUFFER & BECOME 1/26/2024

DECIBEL : JANUARY 2024 : 43

25 INCANTATION

UNHOLY DEIFICATION ▶ RE LA P SE

Incantation have long mastered the precarious art of holding death metal’s constituent parts in perfect equilibrium, writing jams that are both exhilarating in the moment and haunting long after. Unholy Deification is case in point, one of those records where the savage brawn of the riffs, the tempo-shifting pummel from underrated drummer Kyle Severn and John McEntee’s bestial voice summon immediate thrills—with Dan Swanö’s three-dimensional mix making it all pop—while insidious melodies permeate both mind and body, despoiling the soul. — J O N ATHA N HO RSLE Y

ONLINE RESPONSES TO DECIBEL DECIBEL’S ’S TOP 40 ALBUMS OF 2022,

BY ALBERT MUDRIAN 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

It’s November.

NO BELPHEGOR?! GTFO!?

It’s only November.

Seriously, no Kardashev?? Not only is it the best metal album of the year, it’s a generational release that will age like a fine wine.

Not to nag, but there’s still almost 2 months of the year to go.

ENDURING CANNIBAL CORPSE STAGE RAPS AS VOICED BY GEORGE “CORPSEGRINDER” FISHER,

24

FILTH IS ETERNAL

23

CANNIBAL CORPSE

22

GREAT FALLS

BY KEVIN STEWART-PANKO

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

[Re: headbanging] “Try and keep up with me. You will fail. Miserably!”

“This next song is about shooting blood… from your cock!”

“After careful consideration of your cries and your pleas, I’ve decided this is still the last song. Hahaha!”

“Do you want one more song?

I can’t hear youuuuuu!”

“I don’t need to tell you what the next song is, but I’m going to anyway: ‘Hammer. Smashed. Face!’”

FUNNIEST THINGS OUR CONTRIBUTORS ACTUALLY INCLUDED ON THEIR YEAR-END LISTS,

BY ALBERT MUDRIAN 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Babymetal Their own album Multiple releases from 2022 2022 Բոսորագազան The new Metallica album

44

▶ JANUARY 2024 ▶ DECIBEL

FIND OUT ▶ M N RK

There cannot be enough good things said about Filth is Eternal’s latest album, Find Out. The title, which seems to be one part threat, one part spiritual musing, pushes the band in new directions. It is rare that a band both gets more experimental and even poppy, but also heavier and more aggressive. That actually happens here.

Vocalist Lis Di Angelo got majorly in touch with themself over the pandemic, including embracing sobriety and coming out as nonbinary, adding another layer to the record. — A D D ISO N HE RRO N - W HE E LE R

CHAOS HORRIFIC ▶ M E TA L BLA D E

Sticking a band’s 16th full-length on a year-end list can seem more like an acknowledgement of their legacy than the actual quality of the album. But this is Cannibal Corpse. Erik Rutan’s second time on guitar (and sixth behind the board) gifts the band with a brutality, virtuosity and creativity they gobble up like fresh entrails as they push themselves with the focus of exhilarated upstarts trying to make a name for themselves. The legacy is undeniable and Chaos Horrific only helps to reinforce it. — SHA N E M E HLIN G

OBJECTS WITHOUT PAIN ▶ N E UROT

This record evokes painters who shift from representation to abstraction in search of purer expression. You do get riffs and songs here, rendered both menacingly huge and uncomfortably vulnerable by the production, but those are just units, i.e., human constructs, and this record seems to be about breaking down, well, everything. No-fucks-given is rarely this masterful; musical space hasn’t felt this hostile since Khanate. I get an Akira-esque image of a gargantuan object bursting at the bottom, burying a small human in biomechanical sludge. — C O S MO L EE

21 KRIEG

RUINER ▶ P RO FO UN D LO RE

Neill Jameson was one of the enfants terrible of USBM. Along with Wrest, Ledney and others, he set the stage for decades of USBM. Jameson is now a father, music writer and columnist. Ruiner marks the middle ground between his audacious youth and his current life. It’s as caustic as his earlier works, but also mature. Ruiner is more unified than any of his previous albums, even The Black House, but loses none of the vitriol. Let’s hear it for mid-career, low-culture highs. — J USTIN M . N O R TO N

20 RID OF ME

ACCESS TO THE LONELY ▶ K N IF E HITS

How do you follow up a strong debut? By making things more honest and raw, like Rid of Me did on Access to the Lonely. They’re heavier than ever, with a revamped lineup that sounds a little bit like if PJ Harvey, Pissed Jeans and Kowloon Walled City got thrown in a blender together. Frontman Itarya Rosenberg’s vocals seethe with emotion while guitarists Mike McGinnis and Jon DeHart rip discordant, menacing riffs and walls of noise. Access to the Lonely wouldn’t be out of place in the ’90s, but we’re glad it’s out in 2023. — E M ILY BE LLIN O

OBSERVATIONS ABOUT PERSEKUTOR’S “NIGHT JOB” VIDEO,

BY KEVIN STEWART-PANKO

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Having a duffel bag with “Drug Money” written on its side is bad for keeping the underground drug trade underground.

Cocaine heals wounds quickly, but apparently does little for limps.

Someone, somewhere still owns one of those shitty 1984 1984 Toyota MasterAce Surf minivans.

With right-side steering, no less!

The cops assigned to this case have nothing on the Reno 911!

911! gang.

The night job wasn’t actually done at night.

WAYS TO TELL ALBERT DOESN’T ACTUALLY READ ANY OF THIS SHIT,

19

MIZMOR

18

AUTOPSY

BY MICHAEL WOHLBERG 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

The only thing Albert likes better than reading angry comments about the Top 40 is hearing them in person at Decibel live events.

The green rooms at Metal & Beer Fest are stocked with Coors Light.

Thee only things we liek bettr than metal is good grammer, proper puntuation, and Oxford commas..

It is actually spelled “Decible.”

Decibel would like to send heartfelt congratulations to the 2022 Astros and 2023 Diamondbacks on... nah, even I can’t fake that one.

ALBUMS OF 30 YEARS AGO,

BY ALBERT MUDRIAN

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Carcass, Heartwork Carcass, My Dying Bride, Bride, Turn Loose the Swans Morbid Angel, Angel, Covenant Eyehategod,, Take as Needed for Pain Eyehategod Type O Negative, Negative, Bloody Kisses

46

▶ JANUARY 2024 ▶ DECIBEL

PROSAIC ▶ P RO FO UN D LO RE

It’s been a triumphant year for A.L.N. (née Liam Neighbors) and his frequently collaborative, but ultimately solo project Mizmor. On Prosaic, his lean and essential fourth LP, Neighbors throws solid chunks of red meat to his black metal fan base while doubling down on his doomier impulses (particularly on the shuddering, swampy “No Place to Arrive”). Earlier Mizmor releases wrestled with lost faith, but Neighbors breaks the cycle with Prosaic. There is a lightness woven into even the album’s blackest moments because he is finally free. — K IM K E LLY

ASHES, ORGANS, BLOOD AND CRYPTS ▶ P EAC EV I L L E

Pressing play on a new Autopsy joint is like rocking up at your favorite Italian spot in a freshly laundered white shirt—you’re gonna need a bib to stop getting it covered in red. But this ain’t no spaghetti sauce gore. After all these years, Chris Reifert, Eric Cutler and Danny Coralles have super-primal punky, doom-death metal down to a fine art. It’s not quite as simple as tossing viscera into the NutriBullet. You need grooves, meaty hooks and wit to sound this sick.

— J O N ATHA N HO RSLE Y

17

CRUCIAMENTUM

OBSIDIAN REFRACTIONS ▶ P RO FO UN D LO RE

Eight long years passed following the release of Charnel Passages, and, while we did get a single in 2017, the Cruciamentum void was felt. Obsidian Refractions is the heavy, atmospheric death metal album we’ve needed, and the proper follow-up an album like Charnel Passages deserves. Sinister and weighty, Cruciamentum’s long-awaited second album draws from even doomier inspirations to make their slower passages all the more dramatic and immersive, and also injects faster riffs with an even more frantic energy. — J O N RO SE N THA L

16 TRIBUNAL

THE WEIGHT OF REMEMBRANCE ▶ 2 0 BU C K S P I N

Gothic death-doom requires some essential ingredients to make a worthwhile listen. The riffs, above all, need to be memorably morose to draw in the listener.

The vocals should have a mix of cleans and growls that propel the drama forward.

Finally, the rhythms should set the sound on solid ground, while strings and synths glide across the foggy landscape. Something like Tribunal’s The Weight of Remembrance, a work of triumphant romanticism that recalls classic masters like My Dying Bride, Draconian and October Tide. — J . A N D RE W ZA LUC K Y

15 THE NIGHT ETERNAL FATALE ▶ VÁN

RELEASES THAT PROVED NOT ALL RE-RECORDINGS HAVE TO SUCK,

BY ALBERT MUDRIAN 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Cavalera, Bestial Devastation Cavalera, Cavalera,, Morbid Visions Cavalera Paradise Lost, Lost, Icon 30 30 … um… … three is pretty good, too.

German gothic metallers the Night Eternal have tapped into the same well of disparate souls as Americans Unto Others and (sadly defunct) In Solitude. Fatale is the second full-length from the Ruhr-based daylight vampires. Ricardo Baum’s croon is prominently weepy and profoundly indicative of Eldritch/McCoy worship of yesteryear. Guitarists Rob Richter and Henry Käseberg boom and gallop against the driving rhythm section of Jones Nühlen (bass) and Aleister Präkelt (drums). While gothic rock and NWOBHM intercourse is largely uncommon, the Night Eternal flex animalistically on Fatale. — C HRIS D IC K

14

NEON METAL ALBUMS OF 2023,

ENSLAVED

HEIMDAL ▶ N UC LE A R BLA ST

In time, the Viking horn blasts opening Heimdal on foggy waters will become iconic. Some 48 minutes later, pipes burst toward the end of the closing title cut. In between beats the covenant of modern prog: metaphysical vox, cathedral riffs, synthesizer lift. Old Norwegian gods then return the favor: Grutle Kjellson’s black throat malevolence and Ivar Bjornson’s guitar menace. This April, Enslaved rowed into my town after a 15-year absence, their micro noontime set opening Motörhead’s day party at South by Southwest. Viking funerals ensued.

— RAO UL HE RN A N D E Z

BY JEFF TREPPEL 1.

Gunship,, Unicorn Gunship Unicorn,, [ S E LF- RE LE ASE D ]

2.

Megadrive,, 200XAD Megadrive 00XAD,, [ F IX T N E ON ]

3.

Occams Laser, Laser, New Blood III, III, [ S E LF- RE LE ASE D ]

4.

13

GEL

12

ENFORCED

11

BLACKBRAID

Volkor X, X, The Loop, Loop, [ S E LF- RE LE ASE D ]

5.

Sierra,, A Story of Anger, Sierra Anger, [ V IR GI N FRAN CE ]

BETTER TITLES FOR THE MOST RECENT WOE ALBUM,

BY ALBERT MUDRIAN 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Nelly!

To You, Oh, Earth and Sea Is Me Is I Self-Titled [But said in Joey Lawrence voice]

MOST ANTICIPATED BLACKBRAID ALBUMS,

BY NICK GREEN 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Blackbraid With a Vengeance Blackbraid IV: The Voyage Home Battle for the Planet of the Blackbraid Blackbraid 6: 6: City Under Siege Blackbraid and the Deathly Hallows, Pt. 1

48

▶ JANUARY 2024 ▶ DECIBEL

ONLY CONSTANT ▶ C O N VULSE

In what can only be described as a very strong year for hardcore, Gel succeeded by taking things back to basics. Only Constant is a sub-17-minute ripper loaded with side-to-side riffs, stompy mosh parts and scream-along vocals. Gel take a no-bullshit approach to sequencing, only letting up from their hardcore punk barrage for the interlude “Calling Card,” which serves to remind you that they don’t take hardcore too seriously. The 10 tracks contain serious live energy, perhaps a product of Gel’s never-ending touring schedule. — E M ILY BE LLIN O

WAR REMAINS ▶ C E N TURY M E D IA

Imagine if Enforced were on the scene during the so-called “thrash revival” at the start of this century. The pastiche party thrashers would have choked to death on their pizza slices if confronted by the raging crossover blitz this Richmond, VA unit rains down on War Remains. Enforced’s third studio album takes prime Exodus, Sepultura and Slayer and further amps up this head-on thrash collision with the clangor of classic hardcore, resulting in the kind of fierce undisputed attitude not felt since Power Trip’s untimely hiatus. — D E A N BROW N

BLACKBRAID II ▶ SE LF - RE LE A SE D

Blackbraid is a way better band name than “Needlethreader,” but the latter works just as well as a description of what main man Sgah'gahsowáh has brought into the world with his phenomenal, still new-ish project. Are you looking for fresh-sounding black metal in that old misanthropic tradition that revels as much in acoustic nature worship as it does bloody-fisted, arson-minded riffs that are somehow melodic and masochistic in equal measure? Convention and innovation stride shoulder-to-shoulder here, in every way improving on last year’s banger. — DA N IE L LA K E

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HRR 1000 – MARKING 20 YEARS OF HIGH ROLLER RECORDS. WHAT A WAY TO CELEBRATE!

Following »Another Night« (2011), »You Are Here« (2014), »Motivator« (2016) and »Hard To Stop« (2020) Chicago’s finest, the mighty High Spirits, are about to unleash their long awaited fifth studio album entitled »Safe On The Other Side« onto the expectant public.

DI

T O H E AV

Y

IC

20

US

YEARS ND CE LOUD SIN

00

3 A

2

ST

www.hrrecords.de

ED

FA

A wide range of over 15.000 articles (vinyl, CDs, tapes, merch, zines, shirts & patches) can be found in our webshop:

AT

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HRR 1000 Safe On The Other Side Vinyl / CD / MC

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HRR 999EP In The Moonlight / One Last Chance

D E C I B E L : J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 4 : 49

10 THE KEENING LITTLE BIRD ▶ RE LA P SE

ACCOUTERMENTS TOMB MOLD COULD HAVE USED TO “MEET THE MOMENT” FOR THEIR DECIBEL COVER SHOOT,

BY ALBERT MUDRIAN

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

For a spell, it looked like Rebecca Vernon might follow the path of the former rock star narrator of Great Jones Street and go into hiding. Fortunately, she was fine-tuning her vision and marshaling her resources. Little Bird is heartfelt and intimate—a barebones take on doom and Americana, more Vernon’s storybook than an album. It is spacious, lush and revelatory. Repeated listens unravel hidden layers of meaning. Get lost in Little Bird. — J USTIN M . N O RTO N

9 THANTIFAXATH

HIVE MIND NARCOSIS ▶ DA RK D E SC E N T

A trio of unnamed, cloaked beings is not unheard of in black metal, but it feels particularly apt with Thantifaxath, as the band creates songs that sound completely detached from how people write music or play their instruments. Wildly shifting tempos, challenging time signatures, seemingly random strings of notes that quickly become vicious earworms—the band are elite BM deconstructionists.

Yet, when they train their sights on fulfilling the genre’s traditional rituals, Hive Mind Narcosis is as mighty and godless as anything else this year. —SHANE MEHLING

Pocket watches Monocles A cup of tea Bent Billiard pipes Wooden teeth

BANDS OF THE YEAR ACCORDING TO A 10-YEAR-OLD BOY WHOSE PARENTS CAN’T TAKE HIM ANYWHERE,

8

FROZEN SOUL

7

LAMP OF MURMUUR

6

PANOPTICON

BY NICK GREEN

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Jizzmor Rid of Pee Great Balls Commode-us Døødøøheimsgard

RELEASES FROM (ALLEGED) DECIBEL CONTRIBUTORS THAT JUST MISSED THE TOP 40,

BY ALBERT MUDRIAN 1.

Persekutor,, Snow Business, Persekutor Business, [ B LUE S FU N E RAL]

2.

Oxbow,, Love’s Holiday, Oxbow Holiday, [ IP E CAC]

3.

Cronos Compulsion, Compulsion, Malicious Regression, Regression, [ CA LI GARI ]

4.

Colony Drop, Drop, Brace for Impact, Impact, [ N A ME LE SS GRAVE ]

5.

Bellum Mortis, Mortis, The Woeful Steel, Steel, [ S E LF- RE LE ASE D ]

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▶ JANUARY 2024 ▶ DECIBEL

GLACIAL DOMINATION ▶ C E N TURY M E D IA

Frozen Soul has emerged at the head of the wave of proud and loud modern death metal torchbearers. The Fort Worth ensemble set the scene ablaze with their 2021 debut Crypt of Ice. Two years later, their pulverizing sophomore offering Glacial Domination cements their status as leviathans of the scene. The album features a who’s who of metal mainstays, from Dying Fetus frontman John Gallagher to Power Trip guitarist Blake Ibanez and Trivium vocalist/guitarist Matt Heafy, while never skimping on mind-numbing heaviness or thick, toxic groove. Plug in and let vicious nature take its course. — D ILLIO N C O LLIN S

SATURNIAN BLOODSTORM ▶ A RG E N TO

Lamp of Murmuur mastermind M. has emerged from the crepuscular rays of his own creation. Eschewing the black-and-white aesthetic, cobwebbed gothic stylings and lo-fi sonic traditionalism that had made LOM an underground black metal sensation, M. gate-crashed the ice-crested realm of Blashyrkh with an Immortalbaiting warning shot of supreme melodic BM. Saturnian Bloodstorm is LOM in multi-dimensional form; every facet of this one-man prodigy’s sound—from the evolved interplay of guitars and synths to the bombast of the drums—is now rendered in striking technicolor. — D E A N BROW N

THE RIME OF MEMORY ▶ BIN D RUN E

Fifteen years into Panopticon’s reign, Austin Lunn’s accolades for using black metal as a canvas for personal reflection and expression still pile higher than Minnesota snowfall. The Rime of Memory is a 75-minute concept album patiently written for years, featuring a stable of loved ones and collaborators. This atmospheric and heartfelt epic offers poignant discourse on mortality, memory and the lost art of living—and listening—deeply. In a world where sensationalism and fake outrage generates clicks, Panopticon’s authenticity remains exceptional and exemplary. — SE A N F RA SIE R

DECIBEL : JA NUA R Y 2 0 2 4 : 51

GODTHRYMM DISTORTIONS

D

PROFOUND LORE

ecibel aren’t strangers to master Hamish

Glencross. Once lord of strings in Solstice, My Dying Bride and Vallenfyre, our affable, humble friend, is an absolute monster in Godthrymm. The group’s debut, Reflections, landed at a respectable #17 on our Top 40 Albums of 2020. Subsequent doom ‘n’ gloom domination on Decibel Flexi Series single “In Perpetuum” presaged Godthrymm’s triumph on their sophomore album, Distortions, which jumped to #5.

“I’m deeply honored and so very thankful,” beams Glencross when we reveal Distortions is in the top five. “I love Decibel and can’t believe we get to be part of this list.”

An ocean separates our bro-fest.

But it’s not unwarranted. When we

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▶ JANUARY 2024 ▶ DECIBEL

first heard Distortions opener “As Titans,” we were absolutely chuffed.

Glencross, drummer Shaun TaylorSteels, bassist Sasquatch Bob and vocalist/keyboardist Catherine Glencross had skillfully bridged the gap between traditional doom metal and

(the heavier edges of) grunge. Singles “Devils” and “Echoes” cemented Distortions as one of the best things we’ve heard out of Old Blighty in ages. We weren’t the only punters into Godthrymm’s woebegone thrum, though.

“The reaction to Distortions has been absolutely amazing,” Glencross’s better half Catherine says. “As the newest member of the band at the time—before Al [Kotwal, guitars] joined—I was unbelievably nervous about how it would be received and didn’t really know how I’d react in the face of criticism. It’s quite a departure from Reflections, with the addition of keys and more female vocals. The response has been quite overwhelming, and, at times, it feels like I’m reading about someone else.”

Distortions is, however, greater than its first three tracks. “Obsess and Regress” is massive, yet there’s an undeniable elegance to it—no doubt cultivated by Catherine’s

alluring lilt. The 12 minutes of “Follow Me” recalls the downcast fuzzies of yesteryear Yorkshire doom. But the journey it takes (check out the halfway point) is something to behold.

Finally, “Pictures Remain” is not unlike someone dropping 4AD loveliness on top of a Victorian graveyard.

“For me, ‘Pictures Remain’ is one of the best songs on the album,” says Sasquatch Bob when asked about other Distortions highlights. “It’s a beautiful song. I think it’s possibly a bit overlooked, possibly as it’s the last song in the album. I’d highlight ‘In Perpetuum Eternal,’ too. Mainly because I get a bit of a bass solo in it.”

As Godthrymm (and the rest of metaldom) basks in the momentous occasion that is Distortions, plans for the follow-up—titled Projections—are already underway. If Glencross’s thoughts on Distortions were that Godthrymm had set the “bar higher,” imagine what comes next. — C HRIS D IC K

WE

covered the making of this mod-

ern metallic hardcore masterpiece pretty extensively in the cover story for our April 2023 issue, but rest assured—the ensuing eight months did nothing to dull its impact. …So Unknown is an absolute beast of a record, an unrelenting half hour of Jesus Piece’s Philly-based fists to your face. Its politically charged aggression perfectly encapsulates the two words on the side of this magazine: “Refuse/ resist.” No surprise that it landed so hard with our scribes.

For vocalist Aaron Heard, however, the true test of an album comes when they take it on the road— which they have, touring extensively over the past year with acts like Show Me the Body and Baroness. Heard cites leadoff single “An Offering to the Night” and universally relatable sing-along “Fuck the Bullshit” as going over especially well. “It’s always one thing sitting in the studio and drilling these things,” he posits. “But PHOTO BY JC CAREY

sonically, once you’re in the room, it feels so much different, and it feels a lot heavier. So, once we start playing things live, it clicks and you kind of get that muscle memory of doing things. It just feels a lot stronger.”

And turnout at those shows has been strong. Heard thinks the rising popularity of their nü-metal/ hardcore/death metal hybrid was only a matter of time. “It’s not necessarily something that’s new,” he

JESUS PIECE …SO UNKNOWN C E N TURY M E D IA

reasons. “For a while, there was a lot of younger bands and underground [bands], playing this kind of like death metal and hardcore and stuff like that. And when those things start to meld, you get these different sounds and, I mean, when I got into music, that’s the kind of shit that I got into, so it’s just really crossing over into the mainstream now.”

Even mainstream publications like Pitchfork and boomer bastion Rolling Stone have taken notice. “The Rolling Stone one was the biggest surprise to me; that fucked me all up,” Heard laughs. “I got sent it from a couple of people before I saw it. And I was just like, ‘Whoa, man, Rolling Stone.

How about that?’ You know? But I

mean, we still have a lot of work to do. It doesn’t really mean much—a review’s a review.”

Unless it’s a Decibel review, of course. Heard was both surprised and humbled at making it into our top five. “It’s sick—I don’t know.

Like, it always takes me a second to kind of process these kinds of things. I’m really excited, but I’m just like, man, big shoes to fill, you know? I don’t know if I’m just conditioned to be uncomfortable when I get good feedback or something.

But it always does. Like, it’s exciting, for sure, but it just puts more pressure on me. I feel like next record, I gotta beat number four now.”

— J E F F TRE P P E L DECIBEL ◀ JANUARY 2024 ◀

53

WAYFARER

AMERICAN GOTHIC

W

PROFOUND LORE

ho knows what Decibel was smoking in our

collective peace pipe back in 2020 to have not included Wayfarer’s A Romance With Violence in our Top 40? The jaunty and aptly titled “The Curtain Pulls Back” gave way to a gripping two-part suite (“Gallows Frontier, Act I & II”) that invested USBM with the kind of whiteknuckled intensity and high drama not heard from the scene since Panopticon’s Kentucky (2012). The epic sonic terrain the rest of the album traversed was rife with unforgettable moments of melancholy, bloodshed and brutal aftermaths. It was a deeply immersive voyage through the harshness and hostility of the Wild West.

Dark-hearted Americana continues to burn incandescently in the black metal pit of Wayfarer’s making on this year’s American Gothic. With weight from post-metal returning,

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▶ JANUARY 2024 ▶ DECIBEL

and enthralling sojourns into postpunk/goth newly engrained, this Denver band has a gritty Blood Meridian or Deadwood score on their calloused hands. And for what it’s worth, we’ve

righted some past wrongs by deservedly positioning this soon-to-be modern classic high on our 2023 Top 40.

“I can’t argue against the value of landing on a prestigious list these days,” guitarist Joe Strong-Truscelli responds after we broke the news of the album’s number three slot.

“There’s so much music getting released every year, and most people, frankly, don’t have the time to sift through it all. We aren’t writing music to get on lists, but it’s always a cool honor if we can get recognized that way.”

Drummer/keyboardist Isaac Faulk seconds the notion: “I think our placement speaks to how the album has synthesized the band into a coherent and dynamic sound that is unique to itself.”

Indeed, there is refinement afoot on American Gothic, the sound of a united band comfortable in their world-building. Guitarist/vocalist Shane McCarthy refers to the new album as a “fully focused effort,”

adding, “We had the concepts and direction in mind from the jump, and I think at this point we all just work well together. Working with Arthur [Rizk] to bring [the LP] together was the final piece, as he brought a lot out of it as a producer, and it feels like a full statement.”

In lesser skilled hands, Wayfarer’s overarching Western theme could appear hokey. But interestingly, there’s a consistent and true authenticity to their execution. “It is important with any art form to take it seriously even if it may have some outwardly precarious interpretation,” says Faulk.

“We approach the material from a perspective that is genuine to our experience as Americans and at least [has] some personal truth from living here. Much as bands from Europe dive into their histories, so do we, and we pull from that well to bring forth something that means something to us. If it means something to others, that is the best possible response to one’s art.” —DEAN BROWN PHOTO BY NICOLA HUFFSTICKLER

D

on’t call the four-year break between Tomb Mold’s

Planetary Clairvoyance and head-spinning prog-death opus The Enduring Spirit a “hiatus.” Sure, the Toronto outfit had just cranked out three albums in as many years at the tail end of the 2010s, each an essential entry in the canon of modern death metal. And yes, drummer/vocalist Max Klebanoff, guitarist/bassist Derrick Vella and guitarist Payson Power were focused on other projects while Tomb Mold was dormant. (Vella’s doom band Dream Unending even placed an album on this very list in 2022.) But that quiet period from the usually prolific band—initially a pandemic necessity—was actually a crucial ingredient in making The Enduring Spirit the level-up that it is.

Klebanoff describes the vibe at the band’s first in-person jam after a year and a half apart: “We just weren’t content making the same album again. We all tried to revamp our playing and find what makes us each unique, as individual players, and then approach something new with a refreshed mindset.”

PHOTO BY SHIMON KARMEL

“There were really no rules for this record,” Power echoes. “Not that there were before, but there were kind of guidelines. And now, we’re like, ‘Let’s find our own voices and put them on there.’ I think that really comes across, because people are like, ‘Damn, this is weird!’ And I’m like, ‘Good! I want you to think it’s weird.’ I’d be pissed if people

TOMB MOLD

THE ENDURING SPIRIT 2 0 BUC K SP IN

were like, ‘This is exactly what I expected and wanted!’ That’s boring, you know?”

“It’s just a reflection of us getting better as musicians,” Vella adds. “Every time we get to do something, every bite at the apple, we learn more about ourselves. We dig deeper. And it just gets better and better.”

The Enduring Spirit journeys further into both progged-out wildness and blissed-out brightness than its predecessors in the Tomb Mold discography. From the sundappled, jazzy “Will of Whispers” to the colossal, album-closing epic “The Enduring Spirit of Calamity,” the band sounds intent on finding out what happens when they bend their death metal to its

breaking point. As with guideposts like Death’s Human and Cynic’s Focus, there’s also a deep sense of spirituality to the album. Power lost his father while working on The Enduring Spirit, and the whole band dealt with personal trials during the sessions. They sought refuge in the music, and in each other.

“I don’t mean to be super gushy or sentimental, but the fact that I can just churn up some bullshit and be like, ‘Here’s some songs,’ and then they make it into something truly special, you can’t take that for granted,” Vella says. “Jamming together became an escape from the world at large, and it felt good. On the nights when it was great, we were just buzzing.” — BRA D SA N D ER S DECIBEL ◀ JANUARY 2024 ◀

55

HORRENDOUS

F

ONTOLOGICAL MYSTERIUM

SEA SO N O F M IST

rom the first notes of “The Blaze,” the song that opens Ontological Mysterium, it

sounds like Horrendous are the most comfortable and creative they’ve ever been.

Recorded in sessions that began as far back as 2019, Ontological Mysterium marries the band’s death metal core with the more ambitious ideas broached on their previous album, Idol. ¶ “Idol was an exercise in pushing ourselves musically, and I think all the extremes that we arrived at on Idol, we’ve retained on Ontological Mysterium,” explains guitarist/ vocalist Matt Knox. “But the burden and kind of the task of getting to those extremes is gone because we were there already.” ¶ Bassist Alex Kulick notes that the songwriting is more restrained than Horrendous’ last effort, giving each track a chance to form its own unique identity. They describe Ontological Mysterium as a “clarified” version of some of those ideas, melding with things established on the band’s lauded third album, Anareta. ¶ “Sometimes I see it as a cutting of the distance between some of the feeling of Anareta and some of the things on [second album] Ecdysis and some of the things that were introduced on the Idol sessions,” Kulick explains. “We just have a stronger, more edit-conscious mindset and were able to fuse a bunch of things we like to include in our music.”

The ability to edit and try new things comes partially because Horrendous record, mix and master with their own guitarist and vocalist, Damian Herring. Herring’s presence as producer is two-pronged: Horrendous have functionally unlimited time to record and edit themselves (something that Kulick points out can be a detriment if left unchecked) and Herring understands what makes his band sound best. Though he didn’t go into Ontological Mysterium with a specific approach in mind, Herring prides himself on always improving as an engineer as well as a musician.

“I’m always sort of honing my craft and trying to outdo what I’ve done before in terms of the sonic fidelity or just how it sounds,” he says.

“I always want to improve; it’s like a challenge for myself. It’s always sort of a game of ‘how can I make this sound better than the last?’”

The methodology when recording Ontological Mysterium was not typical of most bands, either. Instead of entering the studio for a set block of time, Horrendous—whose members are scattered across Philadelphia, Northern Virginia and upstate New York— would gather for long weekends PHOTO BY SCOTT KINKADE

in Maryland and work specifically on individual songs. This allowed each member to remain engaged in the process, rather than recording one musician’s parts for every song at once, and gave the band room to develop songs in-studio, an important part of their process.

“If Damian didn’t record our stuff, we’d be having to go into the studio with a much more fully formed project,” drummer Jamie Knox says. “And I think a lot of the magic happens in the studio when we’re really stewing on the songs together and brainstorming in the moment.

I think having him do it just gives us complete creative control and allows us to get the songs to places we wouldn’t be able to otherwise.”

The unorthodox recording style also contributed to the triumphant spirit present on the music, an element of the band’s live set that has never been more clearly communicated on a Horrendous album.

“I think part of our journey has been like maintaining the seriousness of the music and the seriousness of the content of the music and the lyrics while also bringing in the joy, being ecstatic for being alive,” says

Matt Knox. “I think that, to me, another one of our accomplishments as a band in general is being able to bring that lightness without sacrificing any of the seriousness, too.”

His brother notes that none of the members of Horrendous are dark or unhappy people. Describing Idol as “darker and more paranoid,” he says that Ontological Mysterium succeeds in part because it’s a truer reflection of its creators.

The members reference characteristics of ’80s heavy metal as an influence on their sound; Herring took inspiration from the “ear candy” production choices of popular albums from bands like Def Leppard, while Matt Knox and Kulick specifically reference the “larger-than-life” qualities of Iron Maiden and Judas Priest.

Though the more mainstream influence may not be immediately apparent, the energy, recording techniques and love for heavy metal are encoded in Ontological Mysterium’s DNA. Horrendous are no strangers to the Album of the Year conversation; 2015’s Anareta also nabbed Decibel’s top spot. Reminiscing on that album’s release and the ensuing reaction that quickly elevated the group,

they find themselves in a similar position spiritually. “[Ontological Mysterium] does feel like an almost new beginning and a new milestone in a way, honestly,” posits Jamie Knox. “In a sense that Idol maybe didn’t feel quite that same way. There is a parallel there… it feels like a new stage.”

With that new stage comes a sense of total musical freedom; after five albums that refined their style and a positive reception from longtime listeners, the members feel they’ve been given a greater level of trust from listeners.

“I think the reception that was received has been an invitation and a validation for us to really dig in even more to what it is that we started on this record,” concludes Matt Knox.

“That, to me, is really exciting. I think we were really successful in what we did this time around and arrived at this place of peace or reconciliation of what we are as a band, and now that people have given us a stamp of approval, the doors and the freedom we’re experiencing as songwriters is only going to expand. It feels like there’s even less obstacles and less parameters for what we can make.” —EMILY BELLINO DECIBEL ◀ JANUARY 2024 ◀

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O U T

OF

AU S TI N

T H E

L U N N ’S

W I L D E R N E S S

G R E A T E S T

S T O R Y

B Y

L O N G

R O A D

CU L M I N A T E S

A L BU M

P H O T O S

DA NIEL LAK E

B Y

S HI M O N K AR M E L

LEAVE IT TO AUSTIN LUNN— crust-punk graduate, beer connoisseur, wilderness preservation advocate, father, son and friend, all while continuing his tenure as Panopticon’s core perpetrator and one of the quintessential souls of the rural American experience—to stab into the heart of our musical community’s central values. ¶ “You can’t just be a bystander with this music,” he asserts about underground metal.

“Otherwise you’re missing the point. There’s tons of people who listen to the Big Four who love metal casually, but it’s not their lifestyle. There are people who love grunge and hard rock, but it’s not their lifestyle. But I feel like, with these more obscure genres, it becomes a big part of our identity. Once you’re in this world, it’s so meaningful. It makes the hair on my neck stand up.”

58 : SEPTEMBER 2023 : DECIBEL

W IT H

58

For more than 15 years, listening to Panopticon’s music—and, of course, making it—has been a lifestyle. The poignant success of 2012’s Kentucky could not have borne fruit without Austin first clearing away some of the stinging emotional underbrush of his life through the previous years’ Social Disservices and …on the Subject of Mortality, nor would those monuments to pain and loss have been possible without first engaging his nascent black metal muse on his earliest eponymous record and Collapse. Likewise, it was Kentucky’s love letter to Austin’s longtime home that gave him access to Roads to the North and eventually Autumn Eternal, which allowed him to grapple with and finally accept his

DECIBEL : SEPTEMBER 2023 : 59

relocation to Minnesota and all the changes that those years had wrought on his life.

Where some expert musicians craft individual albums with dramatic narrative arcs that tell 45-minute stories, Panopticon’s mainline discography carves the same kind of artistic path on a much grander 11-hour scale, each record mapping its own unique territory within the landscape of Austin’s life. His life is the narrative, and his friends and family are the characters who buoy his creative endeavors. On this year’s dense and demanding newcomer, The Rime of Memory, all these assertions are doubly true. Guest vocals were provided by friend and merch-slinger Victor Sanchez, J. Joshua Phillips of Fauna and Echtra, and Jan van Berlekom of Waldgeflüster; bowed strings thread their way throughout the album courtesy of Charlie Anderson, with significant assists by fiddler Nina Nilsson and Dämmerfarben cellist Patrick Urban; photography and overall visual presentation are again overseen by Bekah Lunn, Austin’s partner in life and art.

“We added all these choirs,” Austin remembers, his voice edged with both awe and exhaustion at the thought. “That took forever, 37 real voices. Out of all the releases I’ve done, this record is the most complicated, because I wanted to make something that was almost suffocating and chaotic. I’ve been afraid that people were going to be like, ‘Eh, I can’t listen to it. Too long.

Too dense.’ But then, did I make this album for me, or did I make it for them?”

The most succinct and correct answer is clearly both. In fact, duality itself provides the twin lenses through which The Rime of Memory is most fully experienced. “This album has two meanings,” Austin writes in Rime’s liner notes.

“You can see this album solely as a rant about the climate crisis and wilderness advocacy. Or you can see this album as coming to terms with the aging process. Or, as I do, you can see it allegorically about both.”

OPEN HORIZONS Reductively, the themes on The Rime of Memory represent the changes that time sculpts on our environment and our lives, the passing of youth into that lingering, liminal adulthood that marches us inexorably toward advanced age. “The guitar player in Exulansis posted a photo [of us] on social media,” Austin starts wryly, “and someone wrote him, ‘You’re singing next to the old guy, right?’ Guess who the old guy was—it was me! Come on! Forty is not… Well, yeah, if I was a 20-year-old, I’d be like, ‘Look at that old dude.’

That was a weird thing to come to terms with.

It’s really hard, but it happens to everyone. And you want it to happen! If we’re lucky, this is what we get. You don’t want your life cut short. I don’t want people to perceive the new album as me complaining about getting older. It’s just pointing

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out that it’s important that we don’t take these moments in our lives for granted, and don’t let them go unserved. We should not spare the opportunity to put down a mile marker.”

The past couple years have provided Austin with ample opportunity to mark the miles in his own journey. One of the primary reasons he moved to Minnesota more than a decade ago was to start the Hammerheart Brewing Company with his brother-in-law, Nate, complete with a beautiful taproom that the pair ultimately decided to shut down in the late spring of 2021. They shared a passion for brewing beer, not serving the sometimes unruly groups that would crowd into the space they had so meticulously built, so the business spent a couple years shifting into a different configuration, which in turn laid the groundwork for another transition in Austin’s life.

“The brewery continued as just a production facility for another year,” Austin recounts. “But then I decided to move up north because that’s where I really wanted to be, and it’s where Bek wanted to be, too. It’s where we’re happy. For so long, I lived down there [near Lino Lakes] for the brewery, and it got to the point where I was like, ‘Man, I can’t live my entire life for this.’ I told Nate, ‘We don’t want to have a taproom, and we’ve got to move anyway, because if we don’t have a taproom, we can’t afford that building anymore. Why don’t we just sell everything—the whole building, the brewery—and start over with a production facility up north, and I’ll move to Ely.’ “This has been fantastic. We decided to do as much of the construction ourselves as possible.”

In fact, on the day of our interview, a small mishap led Bekah to catch a tumbling length of two-by-four lumber with the bridge of her nose, an accident more surprising and aggravating than physically damaging. After relating that story, Austin continues, “I’m learning how to epoxy floors and all kinds of new things that I didn’t know how to do before. It’s really rewarding.

We’re almost done installing everything. I’ve got a new system that’s got some cool bells and whistles. It’s like starting over. But I’ve been a brewer for 10 years, so I know what I’m doing… ish.”

Moving his family into the northernmost reaches of Minnesota has been full of its own rewards. “The boys love it—seeing wolves run through our yard, seeing the Northern Lights regularly. We have 10 acres right on the edge of the Superior National Forest, so it’s endless wilderness. We can cross-country ski and mountain bike all over the trails. They’re going crazy, having a ball. Bek loves it. She is constantly surrounded by her inspirations. I practically live in my album covers at this point. Listening Point, on the cover of Scars? I could walk there from here. That song, ‘A Ridge Where Tall Pines Once Stood’? I run that ridge once a week. In a lot of ways, it’s living with my muse now.”

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Austin’s initial move to Minnesota brought him into contact with Tanner Anderson of Obsequiae, a friendship that broadened when Tanner joined Panopticon’s performing lineup and, for a time, also worked at Hammerheart.

When the Lunn family moved to Ely, yet another dimension of that brotherhood opened up. “He moved into a house that I used to play in as a child,” Tanner reveals, which he found out when his mother spent some time in Ely with her friends. “I said, ‘You should say hi to Austin,’ so she was texting Austin for the address. He sent it, and my mom’s like, ‘I know that house! Mary, Tanner’s friend, lives in your old house.’ So she called him, like, ‘This is really weird, but can I bring my friends?’”

Charlie tells a winding yarn about meeting Jordan Day, “a genius country musician,” in Austin, TX, who he was first drawn to because Jordan was “wearing a cowboy hat, a Morbid Tales T-shirt and this awesome blue jean jacket.”

They bonded over country music and black metal, playing acoustic fiddle-and-guitar shows around Austin and listening to Nechochwen and Panopticon records back at Jordan’s apartment.

In 2019, “Panopticon announced their appearance at Austin Terror Fest, which was run by my friends Dorian [Domi] and Dusty [Brooks],” Charlie recalls. “They were playing two sets—a Blaze Foley cover set and then the full black metal set. Jordan had bought tickets to go to the festival immediately. I was not in a good financial

Life is constant chaos that we’re making sense of.

As we live in the chaos, it’s so overwhelming, and then we look back on it and it looks so sweet, and we go, ‘Man, if I could just relive that. If I could just hold my son as an infant again, one more time…’

WHEN I WAS GETTING PUKED ON ALL THE TIME, IT WAS A DIFFERENT FEELING. –AU S TI N

“How appropriate,” Austin comments of the synchronicity. “His parents’ best friends were the ones who built this house. Tanner ran around this yard in diapers. [During a recent visit] he just walked around the house like he owned the place. He knew where the bathroom was. He said it was really surreal.”

OF TIME AND PLACE The Rime of Memory was being written and recorded before many of these life changes took place, but as with any transitional moments, the roots of these decisions had been spreading even while Rime coalesced. Just as Panopticon’s earlier records are inextricable from one another, each one budding from the last, The Rime of Memory clings frostily to the foundation laid by 2021’s …and Again Into the Light, which itself marked both a brutal period for Austin and a remarkably fertile new direction for Panopticon. Rime delves more deeply into that direction, and the astonishing results can be credited as much to violinist and collaborator Charlie Anderson as to Austin’s own creative dynamism. Their musical partnership grows from one of those chance meetings that can easily feel like the mechanisms of fate locking so satisfyingly into place.

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L U N N

position at that time. On top of having to pay rent and groceries, I was now having to pay my tuition dues, which were expensive. [But] something came up with Jordan’s family, and he was no longer going to be able to go to the festival. He knew how bad I wanted to go, so he gave me his tickets. He said, ‘The only thing I’m going to ask you is to see both of the Panopticon sets and tell me how they were. Take video.’

“The first day was the Blaze Foley set. It was fucking hot as balls outside. It was the first summer that White Claw had come out, so I was having a real good time, feeling really bold.

Eventually, Austin introduces a song before playing it and says something along the lines of, ‘Forgive me, this one has a lot of words in it.

Bear with me and we’ll get through it.’ It was my favorite Blaze Foley song, a beautiful love song called ‘Picture Cards Can’t Picture You.’ He got to the third verse, and he’s just vamping on a chord, and then he comes up to the mike and says, ‘I forgot the rest of the words.’ But I knew exactly what the next words were, and I just shouted the line to him over the crowd: ‘Time will come and time will go…’ He hears me, points out to the crowd and sings, ‘Time will come and time will go, and I believe this guy I know!’ He made it through the rest of the song,

and at the end he said, ‘Thank you, whoever that was. I owe you a beer!’”

The two found each other after the show, and when Austin found out that Charlie played fiddle, he offered Charlie a chance to audition for Panopticon. “I sent him the Laktating Yak record as my audition, and Austin wrote back saying he thought it was cool, but it would be better to send something a little bit more stylistically in line with the country stuff I’d been describing to him.”

For the uninitiated, Laktating Yak is a skronky art-prog collective that sounds a little like Grails bumping uglies with Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, which is both an extraordinary listen and nothing at all like Charlie’s eventual work in Panopticon. “I wound up sending some iPhone demos of me and Jordan playing together,” Charlie continues. “Austin had listened to all the songs, and he sent back a six- or seven-paragraph email talking about how much he loved the music. At the end he was like, ‘And you’re great at fiddle, too!’ When I read that email, I was drunk in a Whataburger parking lot, face-deep in a patty melt. I immediately took screenshots and sent them over to Jordan.

Shortly after that, Austin started by sending me the title track from …and Again Into the Light.

Eventually, he sent me the rest of the record.

He just let me take the reins on writing and recording the string parts, and we made that beautiful record together.”

Austin is effusive when he talks about Charlie’s impact on Panopticon and his own personal musical gratification. “When I introduce Charlie to people, I say, ‘This is my musical soulmate.’ Charlie and I are two peas in a pod. We could sit and play together for an entire day and not do anything else. When we go on tour, we’ll just sit in the apartment the day before the show and play 10 hours straight. We practiced the other day until my fingers were sore, and I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to play the next day.

Because Charlie showed up, all of a sudden, I’m rethinking things, I’m looking at things from a different point of view and changing as a musician massively. I never would have made these past two records if it wasn’t for Charlie. If I was left to my own devices, those records wouldn’t have been even a quarter of what they are.”

“At first,” Tanner chimes in, “it was like, here’s this funny guy we met in Texas and everyone likes, who is very easy to fall in love with as a person and a musician. But once he started playing, and the arrangements he was writing, it felt like this was missing the whole time. And not just when he’s accompanying Lunn on acoustic sets, but with the metal. He is an essential part of the energy onstage. And as capable as he is of stealing the spotlight, he definitely knows when to disappear, too, where he’s not overplaying. He’s really mature. With Charlie, it’s felt

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DECIBEL : JANUARY 2024 : 63

like much more of a band than just a group of friends playing Panopticon songs. With Charlie, we felt complete.”

THE HIDDEN FOREST For …and Again Into the Light, Charlie laid string arrangements atop the otherwise finished songs, a familiar position for him as the music’s final layer. All that changed when it came time to create The Rime of Memory. “This record is the first one where we’re recording it and writing it as great friends,” Charlie says. “The process was very different. We were together in the same room in Minnesota for the writing and recording of all of the parts. Rather than me doing it in isolation, we worked from the ground up completely collaboratively. We had all these moments of springboarding back and forth off each other. It was such a blast recording all of these parts. It was in the same week that the taproom at Hammerheart closed. There was a lot of celebration going on.

“The strings play a very different role within the record. I think that, because it’s more collaborative, the string parts feel like they’re much more a part of the DNA of the songwriting, as opposed to being more of a cinematic layer that goes on top. There’s a lot of things that go along with the guitars more, or places where melodies that Austin had written for guitars were being played on strings instead. The ways I’m being inspired and the ideas I’m throwing in there are passing through conversations that Austin and I are having before we put them to tape. We were approving the ideas as we were recording them.

We just rocked through it. It was very seamless, effortless. We knew exactly what we wanted to do, and we had a lot of fun doing it.”

“I enjoyed making this record more than I’ve ever enjoyed making an album,” Austin confirms. “With …and Again Into the Light, I’d listened to it so many times that I didn’t know if it was good, and I almost deleted it. I just couldn’t tell anymore. I almost canceled that release. [Rime] wasn’t nearly as painful. So much of the record was written with Charlie in consideration.

He came in pretty early. When we’re writing together, all of a sudden, new ideas are popping up. Next thing I know, I’m rewriting stuff so that it fits with Charlie’s ideas. We ended up really blending together and bouncing off each other, passing it back and forth. At the end of ‘Cedar Skeletons,’ there’s that whole section where he does that shredding solo, and I answer him with a lap steel solo, and we trade licks…

There was a lot of that stuff going on.”

Lyrically, Austin decided it was finally time to embrace a challenge he had been itching to attempt for a while: “Duality is something I’ve long been fascinated with. Like ‘Cortez the Killer’ by Neil Young. The whole time, you think

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he’s talking about Cortez and the natives. But then he says, ‘I know she’s living there, and she loves me to this day, I still can’t remember when or how I lost my way.’ You realize he’s Cortez and the natives are the girl whose heart he broke.

It’s about him wrecking this girl’s life, who was happy and healthy, and she was perfectly fine until he showed up and screwed up her life.

That song is so brilliant. And George Jones used to do that. A whole song you think he’s talking about [estranged love]: ‘Every time I look at you, I can tell you wish someone else was here, you’re thinking about someone else even though I’m sitting next to you…’ And then at the end you realize it’s his daughter and his wife has passed away. He pulls this fake-out. I love that.

“I’ve always wanted to write a record using duality as a primary device. When I was in Anagnorisis, we started to write an album that was duality-themed, and then I quit the band and we never finished it and never did anything with it. It took me all these years to circle back and write about two things at once. It was a challenge to navigate. I tend to be such an emotional critter; I just rattle off my feelings and barf up my heart and call that a song. I had to be really in control for this.

“I’m writing about two things at once, dividing my thoughts. I’m talking about the climate crisis, but I’m also talking about midlife crisis.

When I’m talking about the stasis that winter brings, I’m talking about the things that we do to preserve our youth, so that we don’t let go of the

way we perceive ourselves in the heyday of our lives. That line about ‘the acid in the vomit bears no resemblance to the meal that was had’ [from ‘An Autumn Storm’]—that’s the consequences of our youthful living on ourselves, now, as we age.

We’re paying the tab for the things that we did.”

As Austin describes it, while …and Again Into the Light focused on the darkness at the bottom of an emotional crater, “the record I wrote as I was digging out of the pit. In a lot of ways, Rime is the thoughts you have once you get out. You’ve finally caught your breath and you’re looking back on it and thinking, ‘This is the way life turned out? How’d I get here? Why did I get here?

Where do I go from here? What does it really mean? What are the consequences of choices I made and choices I didn’t make? What are the echoes of the things we have said in the past?’

Rime of Memory deals with a lot of regret that comes along with age. A lot of that reverberates around this record.”

“Cedar Skeletons” perfectly exemplifies the metaphors that permeate the album. “On the surface,” Austin says, “it’s about the Greenwood Fire [of late summer 2021]. My cabin almost burned down. But it’s also about things that rip through our lives—changes and unexpected situations that burn through our lives, and our lives are never the same afterwards. What remains is the charred skeletons of 300-year-old trees that were growing for so freaking long. Everything else around it burned, but that tree’s still there, with fire scars around the bottom. That [tree]

DECIBEL : JANUARY 2024 : 65

is us. These are things we’ll always remember. It doesn’t mean we’re not going to come back from them or that we’re not going to recover, but the scar will always be there. It will change the landscape of our lives to come. New things will grow back. Maybe all the birch were burned, but now the larger trees that were able to survive will have more space, and there will be a healthier understory. And the fire actually encourages the growth of new fire-adapted pine, and fireweed grows back and brings native pollinators into the area. There’s a metaphor for life right there!

You go through some massive [event] that forces your life to change, and now there’s an empty space that something good can come back in and occupy it. Or something bad. It’s up to us.”

LISTENING POINT The first time I heard The Rime of Memory was Saturday July 3, 2021 in Austin Lunn’s home studio. I had gotten COVID vaccinated and boosted, and I was in the middle of my sixweek victory lap around the U.S. after the publication of my book USBM: A Revolution of Identity in American Black Metal. Austin had just served Tanner and me a delicious meal—my abiding memory of which is only that vegan mole sauce featured heavily—and he invited us to listen through the record as it existed at that moment. The album already felt huge, but Austin occasionally narrated where guitar solos, friends’ voices or other details would show up in the final version.

The second time I heard The Rime of Memory was Monday June 26, 2023, almost two years to the day from my stay in Minnesota. This time, it came in a text with Austin’s tongue-in-cheek Gandalfism—“keep it secret, keep it safe”—and I waited until my kids had wandered toward bed before I started listening. But my 17-year-old son, Elijah, came back to the couch after brushing his teeth, while the introductory strains of “I Erindringens Høstlige Dysterhet” were still awakening from the speakers. He is also a practiced musician, having played the trumpet for eight years already, as well as having experience with the tuba, mellophone and quad drums, and a glancing familiarity with the piano, guitar, melodica and saxophone. He began commenting on some of the details he heard as the music dipped and twisted through multiple movements. The album is 75 minutes long, and he stayed up to hear all of it with me.

Austin comments on how these overlapping experiences relate to the theme of the music itself: “Both of you are reliving different memories. It’s beautiful. Rime is these layers of frost that cling to things, because it’s cold enough and the humidity creates these layers, these spikes of hoarfrost; it’s thick, but very fragile and doesn’t last. Such is the nature of our perception. As

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I ENJOYED MAKING THIS RECORD MORE THAN I’VE EVER ENJOYED MAKING AN ALBUM. –AU S TI N

time goes on, our perception is changed. Life is constant chaos that we’re making sense of. As we live in the chaos, it’s so overwhelming, and then we look back on it and it looks so sweet, and we go, ‘Man, if I could just relive that. If I could just hold my son as an infant again, one more time…’ When I was getting puked on all the time, it was a different feeling. But now I look back and the picture’s in focus, and everything’s beautiful. There’s the lyric [in ‘Enduring the Snow Drought’]: ‘Goddesses depicted in splendor may be more haggard than the brush stroke’s render.’ We remember it through rose-colored lenses, but it wasn’t really like that when we were doing it. But that’s the layer we put on it.

That’s the layers of frost that can’t stay.”

Austin reflects on his own fatherhood and how to hold onto each moment of it as long as the moment lasts. “Something I’m working on now is not wishing my kids’ youth away. Especially the age they are now. They’re dudes, their own people. I have these crazy conversations with them. I talk to Håkan about amazing things.

It blows my mind. ‘You’re 11? I’d vote for you.’

L U N N

Rune’s favorite band is Rush. Before I had Rune, I associated listening to Rush with my childhood.

I wanted two China crash [cymbals] so I could play ‘The Spirit of Radio’ all the way through.

I remember running upstairs Christmas morning with my Rush CD and learning how to play ‘The Spirit of Radio’ with my two China crashes.

But now I listen to those albums, and I see my son; I see long car drives down to Kentucky from Minnesota, and playing the entire freaking Rush discography just to keep him from crying in the back seat. As we age, things mean different things. There’s something poetic about adding a new layer to these things. That, in a nutshell, is what the record is really about.”

WILDERNESS DAYS The first seven Panopticon records—as well as all the splits from that time—passed without ever being performed for a live audience. Tanner Anderson and Gilead Media supervisor Adam Bartlett take joint credit for nudging Austin into taking the stage with a group of close friends

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I AM WHO I AM BECAUSE OF AUSTIN.

I don’t mean to say there aren ’t people in my life who haven ’t had a significant role, but Austin strikes a unique chord in me.

–TA N N E R

and Bindrune alumni. Since then, the band has become a time-tested powerhouse that centers the music and its impact on everyone in the room over any other consideration.

“We’ve toured Europe three times,” Austin tallies up Panopticon’s live outings. “We’ve done Roadburn and [other] festivals in Europe, and we’ve done a slew of festivals in America.

I counted up all the shows the other day, and it was like 50 or 60 shows. It’s turned out to be a lot of gigs. I used to get so anxious before we would play. I used to be so consumed with fear and dread, but now I don’t feel that way at all anymore. We were playing a festival in Seattle and, right before the show, we were standing around the stage-side curtain, waiting and singing old country songs, but we kept changing the lyrics and making them dirty. We were laughing like idiots.

“I got curious and I poked my head out of the curtain, and the fans were right there [raises his hand about an inch in front of his face], right next to the curtain. I looked at the guy who was standing there and asked, ‘How much of that did you hear?’ He goes, ‘All of it, man. All of it.’ We laughed so hard that I thought I was going to cry.

After that, because we were in such a good mood, we went out there and played a great show and had a really good time.

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“That was the biggest lesson I learned: I’m really lucky that I get to do this. There comes a time when you have to dissociate yourself from the memories that you process in making your art. You can’t live in those moments forever.

You can’t just drag your pain around with you everywhere you go. If you do, you become your pain; it’s who you are at that point. I don’t want that for my life. This bird image [used on the Live Migration record, tattooed on Austin’s arm] that’s on all my stuff, it’s about leaving your traumas behind and letting go. I’m not going to spend my time being consumed with dread and fear, when I’m so fortunate that I’m allowed to perform. What a crazy privilege to have. I’m going to enjoy it as much as I can and not take it for granted. I take it very seriously, but I also feel this joyfulness when we perform.”

Other members of the live band are grateful for that joy, and generally grateful for having this experience at all.

“I am who I am because of Austin,” Tanner states without pause or pomp. “I don’t mean to say there aren’t people in my life who haven’t had a significant role, but Austin strikes a unique chord in me. He’s not going to be someone who just stagnates and stops wanting to grow spiritually or intellectually. There was a point in my life when I was definitely less happy, and

A N D E R S O N

that was before I met him. A lot of people have the privilege of saying what I just said.”

Charlie Anderson tells stories about shows he has played with Panopticon—his first adventures outside the U.S., the community he gathered around him at the Shadow Woods festival in Maryland in 2021, the personal revelations he received at Fire in the Mountains in 2022—and how every step of this process has empowered him to take the next one.

“These records have been very therapeutic.

They’ve been such a huge part of the healing process for me as I work through a lot of reservations and regrets in my life, a lot of the trauma of just growing up. Austin is simultaneously a brother and a mentor. He meets you right at eye level. With everything he’s experienced and all that he has triumphed through, all that he knows and all that he’s learned, he has this very gentle guiding hand, helping me to navigate so many things that I’m going through. It’s like going on a crazy hike, crushing some really brutal trails with a bunch of craggy rocks, and your older brother has got you by the hand and is helping you get over all those hurdles so that you can get to the top and see the view. The emotional relationship I have with the music, and with Austin, speaks to the fact that I’ve found home. I’ve found family.”

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INSIDE ≥

73 ELITIST Not quite good enough 74 HINAYANA When glory beckons 76 MOUTH FOR WAR We find it hard to impress 76 NEURECTOMY What's the opposite of Burning Witch?

78 STRIGOI Grab a bite

Irate EternalVITRIOL

Portland death metal trailblazers construct beauty in chaos on Suffer & Become

JANUARY

15

Still over a month left

12

2025 list incoming in June of next year

6

The years not over yet [facepalm emoji]

1

It’s not even Thanksgiving yet

ALL THE NOISE THAT FITS

I’VE 9

concluded that I don’t listen to Vitriol. I experience Vitriol. The group’s debut, To Bathe From the Throat of Cowardice, had the same effect as Gorguts’ paradigm-shifting tech-death (as we then knew it) VITRIOL mind-bender Obscura, but for entirely different reasons. Whereas Suffer & Become Gorguts mastermind Luc Lemay orchestrates with SchoenbergCENTURY MEDIA esque complexity and innovation, Vitriol’s Kyle Rasmussen and Adam Roethlisberger’s beehive musicality—everything’s dizzyingly in motion—is designed to overwhelm and exhaust. Only higher up or deeper down does the larger structure reveal itself. ¶ We’ve heard this playbook to varying degrees before in Hate Eternal, Rebaelliun and Liers in Wait, but it hits differently on Suffer & Become. There’s something ominous at play, as if Rasmussen and Roethlisberger are not only at war with mores of civilization, but, more importantly, their instruments. Their antipathy is palpable and disconcerting. Like its predecessor, Suffer & Become is completely berserk most of the time, yet utterly fatidic all of it. ¶ With guitarist Stephen Ellis coming aboard after Bathe, the lineup change has only intensified Vitriol’s resolve and attack-minded mentality.

ILLUSTRATION BY MARK RUDOLPH [MARKRUDOLPH.COM]

DECIBEL : JANUARY 2024 : 71

It’s probably not discernible at first, but repeated plays of bookends “Shame and Its Afterbirth” and “He Will Fight Savagely” declare that Rasmussen and his new sideman aren’t fucking around. Their approach is almost corrupt, layering counterpoint atop counterpoint against a firestorm of drums and percussion. Predictably, it’s wild—as if The End is well underway. Yet, there’s a command of time and space in Vitriol’s baleful domain. The solos that skillfully spear into the coda of “Shame and Its Afterbirth” remind me of Nocturnus axemen Mike Davis and Sean McNenney’s early work, only imbued with more DIY furor.

Elsewhere, Suffer & Become, as a matter of course, sits at the edges of extremity. Not in terms of intensity and all that, but the neverending riff barrage inevitably impedes the brain’s ability to retain anything after Vitriol shift into a different level of Hieronymus Bosch-like Hell with seconds-level precision. It’s nearly impossible to distinguish “Nursing From the Mother Wound” from “Weaponized Loss.” The thousandhammer pummeling of “The Flowers of Sadism” and “Locked in Thine Frothing Wisdom” aren’t gonna be-bop the next day. Rasmussen and Roethlisberger’s two-pronged, relentless vocal mauling only exacerbates the feeling of being the willing victim to Vitriol’s death by a thousand (precision) cuts. But this is understood, and the entirety of the albatross they’ve purposefully slung around our pitiful necks.

They’ve come a long way since Bathe. There’s occasional restraint at critical points in Vitriol’s 10-track assault. The symphonic undertones in “Nursing From the Mother Wound” and “He Will Fight Savagely” are merciful alms to the eartrodden. At the same time, the slow grind of “The Isolating Lie of Learning Another” and sepulchral angles of “I Am Every Enemy” are sleights of hand, tricks to lull before more hurried, unsparing lashings. Suffer & Become also possesses a better, more robust production. The lows of Roethlisberger’s bass almost hurt, while Walker’s snare has interesting tonal shifts. If the soundscape were degraded slightly, it’d be a different Vitriol.

Thankfully, that’s not the case here.

There’s beauty in chaos—don’t expect to immediately grasp Vitriol’s unflagging intensity and compositional impermanence. Absorb it. Become one with it. Suffer because of it. —CHRIS DICK

ALCHEMY OF FLESH

7

By Will Alone REDEFINING DARKNESS

Will dine alone, too

Alchemy of Flesh is Tim Rowland. In this guise, he explores the segments 72 : DECEMBER 2023 : DECIBEL

of his death metal-loving personality that worship equally at the altar of simplicity and complexity. One minute, our dude is dragging his knuckles through the Florida swamps, getting the tattered hem of his cutoff cargo camo shorts soaked by swamp water; the next, he’s graduating at the top of an online production masterclass session as taught by the professorial duo of Erik Rutan and Trey Azagthoth. “Chapel of Ghouls” feeds heavily into “Other Eden,” the wrenching burl of Domination powers “Labyrinthine Fortress,” various parts of King of All Kings and Fury & Flames help to pace “Earth Dragon Totality.”

But for Rowland, it’s not entirely about putting his brutal nose to the brutal grindstone, as a surprisingly portentous amount of By Will Alone’s second half injects noticeable melodic swirls. A track like “An Erratic Existence” still intends to shatter concrete and kneecaps, but it’s obvious the willpower exists to occasionally shelve the usual influences and break out some Lykathea Aflame, the Senseless, and small handfuls of melodic post-black metal and shoegaze.

Death heads will praise By Will Alone for doing death dirty, while those on the perpetual hunt for morsels of difference will find them in this record’s deep cuts. —KEVIN STEWART-PANKO

AXIOMA

7

Primal Descent SELF-RELEASED

Triumphant return from obscurity

Let’s get one thing straight: Aaron Dallison is Cleveland metal royalty. The Axioma mainman first made his name as the bassist/vocalist for Hydra Head math-sludge oddity Keelhaul, and he’s a longtime associate of fellow 216 legend Human Furnace, having played briefly in Ringworm and contributed to the self-titled Holy Ghost album. Keelhaul have been on ice since 2011, but Dallison has remained heavily involved in the Cleveland scene. Since forming in 2015, his black metal-ish band Axioma have become a fixture on bills at local metal watering holes like No Class and the Foundry. I last saw them opening for Immolation at the Grog Shop. They were great.

Axioma share in much of the dark, moody palette of the Isis-era post-metal scene that Keelhaul called home, but when Dallison and his bandmates lean fully into their black metal tendencies, things really take off. On the band’s two full-lengths to date, Crown and Sepsis, they tended to deliver those moments amid longerform explorations. Their new EP Primal Descent feels a lot more direct. Its songs are shorter, on average, than the ones on the LPs, and only one of them—the eight-minute “Pageantry of Miscreants”—is based on a slow-build,

tension-and-release dynamic. The rest of them rip like flames through a church, even when they take stylistic detours.

The title track barrels ahead like the spawn of Black Anvil and Watain for three devastating minutes before emerging into a jazzy, clean section powered by the Martin Lopezlike drumming of Nick Amato. “Spectre in the Code” and “Fellowship of Serpents” are blazing black metal workouts—the former more of a mid-paced stalker, the latter an all-out assault.

Throughout Primal Descent, Axioma sound confident and in control. Dallison has still got it.

—BRAD SANDERS

BLACK KNIFE

6

Baby Eater Witch W I S E B LO O D / MERCENARY PRESS

Not kid-friendly

A confession: My appetite for consuming trashy, sleazy, punky black metal is pretty much insatiable. Can’t really get enough of the stuff, even though it’s all essentially a couple variations on the whole Venom-meetsMotörhead theme. Nonetheless, when assessing the quality of said trash, there’s gotta be a baseline for what’s great and what’s maybe merely good. Midnight have set the bar pretty high, in this regard. Athenar has made a career, so to speak, adhering to a fairly simple and consistent formula that works.

Lexington, KY trio Black Knife are clearly familiar with the Midnight discography and have produced a very accurate representation of everything Midnight excel at on new fulllength Baby Eater Witch: trashy horror-show lyrics, relentless D-beat rhythms, rotten vocals and buzzsaw guitars. It’s all here in abundance, down to the anthemic choruses, provocative song titles and cover art. Check, check and check.

It’s hard, though, to begrudge a band playing an inherently sort of derivative music for sounding derivative. Realistically, all these bands sound more or less the same, or at least are making the same moves, just with different personnel. So, yeah, Black Knife are scratching that itch for me on Baby Eater Witch, but they may not exactly be distinguishing themselves from the pack. —ADEM TEPEDELEN

BLESSED CURSE

8

Pray for Armageddon M-THEORY AUDIO

Thoughts and prayers

There was a time in the late ’80s and early ’90s when thrash essentially climbed up its own ass and

spoiled the genre for everyone. For some reason, the prevailing trend was to get more complicated and progressive, which just made it dull. Death metal seemed like a welcome antidote to all that nonsense, and it took more than a decade for thrash to sort itself out and get back to the basics. On their second full-length, Pray for Armageddon, California thrash quartet Blessed Curse offer a perfect example of what modern thrash can look like. It’s neither simplistically retro, nor needlessly complicated.

Pray for Armageddon shows a band with exceptional musical skills, an ear for sharp arrangements and plenty of songwriting acumen. Thus, Blessed Curse can get nasty and aggressive on full-tilt tracks like opener “P.F.A.,” or unleash something darker, slower and moodier like “Graveyard World.” It’s been more than a decade since they released their self-titled debut, and it feels like they’ve spent the intervening years immaculately honing the 10 tracks here.

All four players—bassist Colin Kyger, guitarist Gregg Laubacher, drummer Derek Bean and vocalist/guitarist Tyler Satterlee—are super talented, but Saterlee’s Teutonic-inspired, unhinged vocal approach offers the perfect foil to the occasionally overly detailed arrangements.

He’s the consistent voice of aggression when things get too fussy. This is where thrash should have gone 35 years ago. Guess it’s never too late.

—ADEM TEPEDELEN

CARNAL TOMB

8

Embalmed in Decay TESTIMONY

More buzz than the buzzsaw

Almost a decade has passed since Carnal Tomb released their first demo of putrid, fuming death metal. Fittingly titled Ascend, those four tracks foreshadowed the band’s steady growth. They have been anything but dormant cadavers since; along with a splatter of splits and EPs, they are now three LPs deep into their killing spree.

After an obligatory intro replete with horror flick ambience, Embalmed in Decay sprints out of the catacombs. Lead single “The Putridarium” was inspired by the same Tombs of the Blind Dead films that informed Hooded Menace’s aesthetic.

Though they’re based in Berlin, Carnal Tomb remain rooted in Stockholm’s cesspool-stomping death metal. But Carnal Tomb aren’t trying to echo early-’90s buzzsaw brutality. Like their contemporaries in Sentient Horror, Swedeath is their sound’s strongest mutagen, but it’s far from the only defining trait. If anything, Embalmed in Decay is the furthest their guitar tone has strayed from the HM-2’s familiar snarl.

The leads from guitarist Toni Thomas (a.k.a.

Goat Eviscerator) are varied and vibrant, from the carnivalesque unease of “The Putridarium'” to the haunted melodicism of “Defiled Flesh.”

Mustafa Kaya’s concussive bass clangs in the cacophony, eager to join the bloodshed. When Carnal Tomb craft a killer groove (“Cerebral Ingestion”), they double-down on a rock beat and commit to being catchy. The band has also trimmed song lengths since the comparative bloat of 2019’s Abohorrent Veneration, so every melee attack hits harder. Some serial killers have a rigid modus operandi. Down to the last sledge-swinging note of “Eyes of the Chasm,” Embalmed in Decay carries the murder hammer of tradition while using the whole damn toolshed.

—SEAN FRASIER

ELITIST

7

A Mirage of Grandeur INDISCIPLINARIAN

No delusions on this avant-death debut

Elitist are precise. The death-grinders from Copenhagen keep it tight and coldly clinical throughout their debut full-length A Mirage of Grandeur. And that’s a good thing. Probably.

This is “avant-garde death metal,” which is something I stole from Wikipedia, and that pretty much means any music that can be traced back to Obscura from Gorguts. So, we’re talking weird time signatures, broken chords, and riffs that clash with the double-kick blasting and deep gutturals. Unlike many of their contemporaries, though, this is fairly streamlined songwriting that never dips into the spacier, contemplative passages, instead sticking more to a relentless brutality. That doesn’t mean the band skimps on creativity; the opening of “Ahistorical Pride” or breakdown of “Funneled Into Oblivion” are clear examples of a band with the capabilities to rise above others in this niche genre.

But while it’s true that some of the worst avant-death cliches can be overwritten songs filled with momentum-killing digressions, this record could probably let off the brakes occasionally. There is some of that “What the fuck is going on?” riffage that a band like Portal uses repeatedly to beat listeners into a paste, but there are way more dynamics and intricacy here. The band sounds confident enough to wander a few other places without getting lost or boring.

Also, though, who gives a shit? Maybe Elitist could expand on what they’ve done with A Mirage of Grandeur, but if they maintain this level of songwriting, their follow-up is probably gonna be pretty fantastic anyway. —SHANE MEHLING

EX EVERYTHING

7

Slow Change Will Pull Us Apart NEUROT

Well-known pleasures

If you go into Slow Change Will Pull Us Apart only having read about the band, the music might catch you off guard.

Featuring two veterans of post-metal luminaries Kowloon Walled City and released on Neurot Recordings, the debut album by Ex Everything, by all rights, ought to be a contemplative affair.

Press releases can be deceiving—the Bay Area quartet’s clear-eyed and confrontational take on post-hardcore runs at a relatively high tempo and suggests a metaphorically higher blood temperature.

These songs carom between tempos and time signatures in a manner that gestures toward the Dischord oeuvre and the gnarled discographies of Coalesce, Nomeansno and—if you squint— Die Kreuzen. In lesser hands, these ideas might breeze by or throw listeners off, but that’s where the post-rock pedigree comes in. Songs like “Slow Cancellation of the Future” linger on their main riffs long enough to let them make an impression and anchor them with energetic drum lines that flirt with pop-punk territory. To the band’s benefit, a bone-dry production surfaces all the nuance of Jon Howell’s scraping and percussive guitar sensibilities.

Ex Everything’s X-factor (Ex-factor?)is vocalist Andre Sanabria, whose brooding and bellowing performance encapsulates a wide-eyed aghastness that undercuts an often cheeky subgenre and suits his on-the-nose but righteous lyrics.

Sanabria previously screamed in criminally underrated Seattle hardcore outfit Mercy Ties, and his furious timbre is more than up to the task of matching Howell’s ferocious tones.

That control and patience sometimes leaves me wishing they’d go for the throat a little more.

Five minutes is a dead zone as far as song length goes, and Ex Everything likely could have cut these songs by 20-odd percent without losing their potency. That said, it’s worth the wait when their determined builds lock into tight grooves, like they do at 3:30 of “The Last Global Slaughter.” —JOSEPH SCHAFER

GAMA BOMB

8

Bats

PROSTHETIC

In the belfry, and pretty much everywhere

Like most extreme metal bands this deep into a career—21 years and counting!—Irish thrashers Gama Bomb ain’t doing it for the money. Which pretty much DECIBEL : DECEMBER 2023 : 73

I DON’T WANNA COME BACK DOWN FROM THIS iCLOUD

J

OHN CARPENTER tackled his most famous movie themes on its predecessor, so Anthology II (Movie Themes 19761988) [S ACRED BONES] dives deeper into the cult director/ composer’s archives. The triptych of lost cues from The Thing, previously only available on an out-of-print 12-inch, are the choicest excavations from the Antarctic ice, but it’s a treat to hear freshly rerecorded deep cuts from Halloween III, Escape From New York and Prince of Darkness given shiny new life by his frequent collaborators Cody Carpenter and Dave Davies.

GUNSHIP lined up a bevy of guest musicians for their third airdrop—John Carpenter, Carpenter Brut, Health, Dave Lombardo, Gavin Rossdale (?!)—but the trio prove themselves the real stars on Unicorn [ SEL F -REL EASED] . While they’ve always had the retro aesthetic and sound down, the hooks here hit as hard as a volley from an ED-209 unit. “Monster in Paradise,” “Taste Like Venom” and “Weaponized Love” all feel designed to play at a laser-filled nightclub in an ’80s space anime.

It would be pretty novel to receive a concept album about a utopian future from a darksynth artist. Instead, MEGA DRIVE’s 200XAD [F IXT NEON] plunges the listener into his cyberpunk dystopia for a third time. References abound—“Mnemonic Head Trip,” “Multipass” and “Nakatomi Night Assault” aren’t exactly subtle. Thankfully, no words ruin this immersive atmosphere.

It’s perfectly calibrated to soundtrack a run through the shadows of Night City.

While VOLKOR X isn’t quite as fearsome an intergalactic supervillain as Ziltoid the Omniscient, The Loop [ SEL F- R EL EA SED] presents a chilling tale of his opening salvo against humanity that pits him against a lone (and lonely) astronaut sent to investigate an unexplained phenomenon. The nine narrative interludes that tell the story blend in decently enough, but the Zombi-esque synth-driven post-rock excursions express the alienation so eloquently they feel unnecessary.

Fellow French maniac (and tour partner) Carpenter Brut heavily informs SIERRA’s debut full-length, A Story of Anger [ VIR G IN ] .

Harsher EBM may be more her weapon of choice, but these deadly dancefloor-fillers wield blades just as jagged as the ones carried

by Brut’s serial killer Leather Teeth—especially on their bloodsoaked collaboration “Power.”

eliminates any concern for making a new record that pleases anyone other than themselves. I mean, the fan base they’ve established over the past two decades probably isn’t gonna abandon them barring any significant stylistic changes.

So, why not have some fun?

Unlike 2020’s Sea Savage, Bats doesn’t have an overarching theme, but it does feel like a band indulging in whatever (sorry) batshit crazy whims strike their collective fancies. Got an 74 : D E C E M B E R 2 0 2 3 : D E C I B E L

Egyptian-themed tune about an “iron pharaoh, programmed by Anubis” (“Egyptron”)? Well, then you definitely need to get ’80s rapper Egyptian Lover to lay down a few lines. Through the 11 tracks, these dudes shuffle between clever musical riffs and references and flat-out badass riffing and dual-harmony soloing from Domo Dixon and John Roche. Nothing is half-assed or mailed in; the songs may lack gravitas, but they still kick ass.

Vocalist Philly Byrne belts it all out like Overkill’s Bobby “Blitz” Ellsworth on the lower register lines and wails like 3 Inches of Blood’s Cam Pipes on the high notes. It’s glorious. He rattles off lines fluidly, filling each track with his wacky, imaginative narratives. If there is any sort of thread here lyrically, it seems to be a schlocky horror movie bent. But certainly the most appealing aspect of Bats is the evident joy and satisfaction that the members of Gama Bomb clearly received in making it. It’s infectious.

—ADEM TEPEDELEN

HINAYANA

8

Shatter and Fall N A PA L M

Black winter slay

Melodic death metal has long been the opposite of dangerous. Early adopters plied aggression and harmony to great effect. At the Gates, Eucharist, one-and-done Cromlech—not to mention the formative stages of In Flames and Dark Tranquillity—were wild-eyed and feverishly truculent.

At the Gates gigs, in particular, were renowned for absolute mayhem. The youthful Sturm und Drang subsided quickly and the edges were smoothed over. And here we are.

Hinayana don’t have any of the Scandinavian dinosaur-days menace, but what they lack in spry piss and vinegar, the Austin-based quintet—powered by multi-instrumentalist Casey Hurd—makes up for in sheer conviction and professionalism. Inspired by the Finnish model, Hinayana’s contemplative and atmospheric death is, however, wholly unique. There’s an interesting dynamic at play. The deeper chasms of Hinayana’s sound could be likened to a brighter Bolt Thrower, while the melodic upper layers recall the wintry splinters of Wolfheart and the sadly dead Slumber.

These are, of course, mere signposts to Shatter and Fall. Centerpiece “Reverse the Code” exhibits enough burl to offset Hurd and sideman Erik Shtaygrud’s harmonic choices and ultra-tasty solos. Opener “Slowly Light Collides” is more ruminative. Though no less forthright, the slower tempo and melancholic bent are on the doomier side of Hinayana’s rich strum and hum.

“Mind Is a Shadow,” featuring Æther Realm’s Vincent Jackson Jones, is somewhere between the two: ominous, somehow nightsky pretty.

“A Tide Unturning,” sporting Wolfheart’s Tuomas Saukkonen, captures the Finnish “synkkä” sentiment well. Absent Atoma finally getting off their asses or Black Sun Aeon reforming, there’s nothing quite like Shatter and Fall.

—CHRIS DICK

Prepare the flesh.

KVELGEYST

6

Blut, Milch und Thränen EISENWALD

Blood, milk and tears

To discuss Kvelgeyst, we first need to delve into the Helvetic Underground Committee, or the H.U.C. A Swiss black metal (and related) circle of artists, the H.U.C. boasts a particularly powerful lineup, ranging from Ungfell’s folkloric chaos to Ateiggär’s spooky atmospheres, Arkhaaik’s crawling gloom, the upcoming Ophanim’s symphonic glory and a solid handful of other quality artists. The H.U.C.’s blanket approach to black metal is allencompassing, and its overall holistic nature can be found in Kvelgeyst’s synecdoche.

On the band’s second album, Blut, Milch und Thränen, the trio (Meister T., V. Knüppelknecht and Urgeist) looks to the various reaches that both black metal and the H.U.C. have captured in favor of presenting them in a single vision.

Though this album slants towards the stranger sounds of Norweird and the early Czech scene more than its predecessor’s melodic and aggressive approach, Kvelgeyst’s bizarre sounds and discordant riffs still do a pretty solid job of recalling genre luminaries and precursors, giving us a fun album filled with twists, turns and strange voices alike.

The only big issue with Blut, Milch und Thränen is its inconsistency, a result of its wide berth and ambitious, genre-spanning songwriting. That being said, this isn’t a bad album; it’s just one where you forget what you’re listening to if you don’t listen super intently. There’s a lot going on here, and it is ultimately rewarding if you take the time to really get to know Kvelgeyst.

—JON ROSENTHAL

LEFT CROSS

8

Upon Desecrated Altars P R O FO U N D LO R E

For the refined bestial fan

There are a lot of great things about bestial black metal, and a lot of things that you just sort of deal with. It sounds like Left Cross had this top of mind when writing their second full-length, Upon Desecrated Altars.

Without picking on the genre too much, the main selling point here is that you can clearly hear the riffs, and these riffs are really, really good. They have tinges of melody and hooks, but hurtle forward with freight train intensity. The majority of this record requires pretty intense blasting, and Scott Bartley is a precision drummer who sounds like he is always banging on them as 76 : DECEMBER 202 3 : DECIBEL

hard as he can. But the band isn’t pure speed, and their breakdowns still retain that same intensity; in part because, not only is there audible bass, but the bass actually does interesting and cool shit.

And while the music means more than anything, the band is pulling off the war metal aesthetic well with an insane logo and some very solid song titles that include “The Blood of Mars” and “Deity of Molten Iron.” If you’re going to listen to a band like this, being able to tell your friends that the next track is called “Pyramid of Conquered Skulls” goes a long way.

So yeah, this is still evil and punishing, but more importantly, the songwriting and execution are excellent. Left Cross may not check all the bestial boxes, but with Upon Desecrated Altar, that is mostly for the better. —SHANE MEHLING

MOUTH FOR WAR

6

Bleed Yourself M N R K H E AV Y

Drop and give me 20!

Or 15!

Someone standing on the tripwire between cleverness and wiseassery once described Hatebreed as the sound of push-ups becoming a band. Once guts stopped contracting from laughter, minds wandered to the countless other 17-inch-neck metallic hardcore bands worshipping at the altar of palm-muted pit-activating riffs, avalanche drums, and bulging forehead vein vocals locked in on frrrrappin’ kick patterns as the spittle-soaked front row experiences tales of strength in the face of adversity and the perils of friendship.

In the same way there are different classes of push-up difficulty (read: brutality, because this is an extreme music publication), metallic hardcore has its brutal frontrunners and not.

If Hatebreed, Terror, All Out War and Xibalba are metalcore’s one-armed push-ups, and the countless day-glo all-over print likes are the wall push-ups of that world, then Mouth for War fall somewhere in the middle. Consider them the scene’s wide arm… push-up, that is.

They certainly know how to pen a solid wall of Slayer-ized hardcore riffing, with “Roses in Place of Your Ashes” and “Taste of Steel” cutting a mean swath and rumbling along with a particularly vicious bass tone. But where adjacent bands like Harms Way and Ingrown add elements that are gradually elevating this stuff beyond the pale, Mouth for War fall in line to a fault. A 13-song album drenched in borderline aching amounts of repetition and familiarity isn’t going to cut the mustard. Bleed Yourself is rigid and powerful, but not transcendent and definitely not unique. But there will be bicep gains. —KEVIN STEWART-PANKO

NEURECTOMY

8

Overwrought

SELF-RELEASED

This holiday season, give her Neurectomy

Neurectomy play a sort of deconstructed, yet excruciatingly technical DM—dismantled of nearly all orthodox, compositional values—whose real charm lies more in the listener’s gradual accustomization to their claustrophobia-inducing, particolored madness.

For myself, listens one through four (or so) were migraine-inducing earfucks, while over succeeding playthroughs the tracks became increasingly decipherable and idiosyncratically charming.

This sort of progression into focus is incredibly rewarding. Yet, for those that aren’t equipped with the patience and curiosity required to meet a cluttered, uncompromising assault such as this halfway, Overwrought is bound to serve as an irritating novelty at best.

Neurectomy belong within the same suite of bands as Psyopus, Gigan and the mighty Viraemia, but, to put a finer point on it, picture Spastic Ink at their most maximalist, reprising present-day Origin. The relentlessness is just this side of cartoonish, and every passage is grossly congested with fills, sweeps and gravity blasts.

That Neurectomy features Origin drummer John Longstreth is an obvious boon, and Longstreth hammers his unmistakable presence into every millisecond of the album. But it also comes with a cost, given that the drums are shouldered way up into the pole position of the mix. If what you crave is a John Longstreth flexfest, then run, don’t walk to snag your copy of Overwrought; however, a notable amount of sonic dimension is drowned out, leaving precious little room for clarity regarding its low-end frequencies. (That said, this too could be considered just another of the record’s many pleasant eccentricities.)

I’ve been aggravated and brutalized, but ultimately won over, and am certain that this will be an AOTY contender for a few godforsaken wackos. Ask your doctor if you’re cool enough for Neurectomy. —FORREST PITTS

OWDWYR

7

Receptor

SELF-RELEASED

Know your roots

Many bands proudly wear their influences on their sleeves, displaying who and what motivated them to forgo a regular life, healthy relationships and gainful employment. Those with delusions of grandeur will try to claim that the obvious influences (and rip-offs) you’re hearing

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are the fault of your defective ears because they’ve been rewriting the rules before they even stepped into a rehearsal room. In the case of OWDWYR, who formed presumably during and as a result of the pandemic, they’ll not only come right out and tell you who they’re influenced by, but by which exact parts of which influential songs, etudes and movements. This, before they rejig shit for this dizzying handheld blender mix of symphonic black metal, metallic hardcore, tech-death, oddball grindcore and even a bit of driver cap NYHC on “Not Afraid.”

The album’s notes will tell you that “Praefatio/The Liminal Carapace,” “Reverie” and “Pitchtongue Vesper” are adaptations of pieces

by Arvo Pärt, Allan Holdsworth and Heitor Villa-Lobos, respectively, but if that info wasn’t explicit, chances are you’d never know. That’s because the classical, jazz fusion, prog and whatnot amalgamation ends up more like a spirited attempt at Brutal Truth playing Ulcerate and Gorguts from underneath Fleshgod Apocalypse’s wigs, makeup, ties and tails, with lots of Human Remains toggle-switch massaged into the riffs.

The issue that Receptor drags to the surface is how much of their squawking polyrhythmic metal sounds like other squawking polyrhythmic metal while the detours into outside genres end up being the factors of interest. That the metal they play isn’t the clear-cut divider between novel and familiar is slightly discouraging, especially considering the acumen available between members and guests.

But what they add to the mix makes it worthy of investigation, if multi-directionality is your thing. —KEVIN STEWART-PANKO

PATRIARCHS IN BLACK

7

My Veneration MDD

Things they do look awful cold

You and your friends, me and mine—curated groups, but generally speaking, the more the merrier, right? Jersey riff manufacturer/distributor Dan Lorenzo of Cassius King, Hades and Vessel of Light, plus Type O Negative drummer turned Texan Johnny Kelly, have touched the lives of myriad other metal OGs. A mere 10 guests graced the duo’s full-length bow as Patriarchs in Black, 2022’s Reach for the Scars, so that number nearly doubled for fast follow-up My Veneration, which perhaps counterintuitively coheres even more horns-in-the-air worthy.

78 : DECEMBER 2023 : DECIBEL

As metallurgists, the twosome’s classical outlook continues to read in their choice of covers: “I Stole Your Love” by KISS and Black Sabbath’s “Hole in the Sky.” Also seek out concurrent single “Dragon Attack,” forgotten mugging off Queen mega platter The Game. PIB juice it rough and ready, and the same applies to My Veneration, whose call sheet stars 10 different vocalists who all deliver.

C.O.C. Blind vocal legend Karl Agell lends a heavyweight intonation to opener “Dead or Dying,” Lorenzo’s sidewinder riff coiling, roiling, twisting inside its wicker basket. That segues into “Show Them Your Power,” a midtempo roller transporting Mark Sunshine’s twoheaded vocal: Peter Steele-y one moment, then deeper into 1980s hair treble the next. Sunshine nails the centerpiece title track, a 1990s NYC block party featuring Darryl Matthews McDaniels—DMC to you and me—that funks and beats and 40s like a Beasties’ keg stand that got left off the Judgment Day soundtrack.

“Lust for Lies” and “Non Defectum” court the same metallic funk, while banging breakdown “Crooked Smile” applies Seattle sonics and the whole B-side mixes and matches all those elements and more into a 7% brew. Sláinte!

—RAOUL HERNANDEZ

STRIGOI

7

Bathed in a Black Sun SEASON OF MIST

This doesn’t suck

It’s been barely a year since this vampirically named Paradise Lost offshoot released its second album, Viscera. And it was good! Ten tracks of punishing death/doom in the style of Triptykon from PL’s Greg Mackintosh, Guido Zima, Chris Casket (McIntosh’s live guitarist for the sadly-defunct Vallenfyre) and former Carcass live shredder Ben Ash. Nothing much to complain about there.

Now they’ve blessed us with a new five-song EP, Bathed in a Black Sun, consisting mostly of leftovers from the Viscera sessions.

They also could have called it “here are all the fast songs we cut from Viscera.” The title track bears the most resemblance to the mid-paced misery of the full-length. Beyond that, it feels like the band taking its foot off the brakes— there’s even a straight-up grind track, “Beautiful Stigmata,” which slashes open its palms in a brisk 42 seconds. Decibel Flexi Series entry “The Construct of Misery” doesn’t last much longer, and finds the metal lifers trying their hands successfully at crossover thrash, so if you missed

that disc, you get another chance here. “The Grotesque” and “A Spear of Perfect Grief” both have old-school Swedish death metal vibes that the band also nails.

It’s understandable why none of these tunes would have fit on the more ponderous Viscera, but they certainly weren’t cut for quality.

While it’s a short listen—and nothing that’s going to change your life—it’s definitely worth taking a quick dip in this dark star.

—JEFF TREPPEL

VALDRIN

8

Throne of the Lunar Soul B LO O D H A R V E S T

Ruling hard

Ohio’s Valdrin don’t rest on their laurels. Throne of the Lunar Soul is (believe it or not) their fourth album since forming more than a decade ago. If symphonic/ melodic black metal fell into disrepair and keyboard nightmare overload sometime in the late ’90s, the subgenre’s resurgence with Stormkeep, Moonlight Sorcery and Véhémence (to name a few) is thankfully picking up musically and aesthetically before the “mesh shirt era.”

There’s not a lot of flowery to Valdrin. Sure, there’s orchestral overtures, but they’re kept just behind the explorative guitar work— think Vinterland, not Covenant (Nexus Polaris).

“Golden Walls of Ausadjur,” “Sojourner Wolf” and “The Hierophant” reveal Valdrin’s bound is more about a furious, somber(lain) blend than highlighting particular instruments. The guitars spike (solos) while the keyboards pull back; during “Throne of the Lunar Soul,” “Seven Swords (In the Arsenal of Steel)” and “Vagrant in the Chamber of Night,” the keyboards slip just above the fray.

Clearly, vocalist/guitarist/keyboardist Carter Hicks has an affinity for Jon Nödtveidt, particularly in his timbre and phrasing.

Throughout Valdrin’s D&D-like yarn around the self-constructed Ausadjur mythos, Hicks spits familiar. The production is supportive. Encased in a slightly rough mix, Throne of the Lunar Soul has enough savagery and charm to not feel contrived. Opener “Neverafter” is the album’s champion in that regard.

The downside to Throne is the overly long frame. At 73 minutes, Valdrin’s draw dims a bit. A track or two less—like the prancing “Paladins of Ausadjur”—would build and resolve tension more effectively. Roll the dice on Valdrin. —CHRIS DICK

DECIBEL : JANUARY 2024 : 79

by

EUGENE S. ROBINSON

THE

HELMET PARADOX T

hese pages were recently roiled with a fashion incident of the most vapid order. Funny, but fundamentally empty—this idea that someone in this magazine should, or would, adhere to a dress code to be in this magazine. But we, people, do this. And if you were into hardcore, you saw hardcore do it, too, from the punk influence of first-stage hardcore in 1980 and 1981 to what the Boston crew called forth in 1983 and 1984.

Which was precisely a more street-friendly, athletic team apparel. Punk rock finery was fine for suburban punks who were driving to shows, but if you were in Boston, you had that whole city thing to deal with, and so pullover jerseys, sneakers and shorts in summer. So, it was no visual surprise afoot when we first saw Helmet.

The first stage of post-punk, third stage-influenced hardcore saw Page Hamilton and crew look remarkably not dissimilar to Youth of Today, DYS or any half a dozen other Beantown (or in YOT’s case, Connecticut) bands.

80 : JANUARY 2024 : DECIBEL

But the music?

The music absolutely was not, and when I was editor in chief of EQ—a magazine for studio engineers—and had a chance to interview Hamilton, I jumped at it.

Not because of Hamilton’s uncanny resemblance to someone else I had just interviewed (skateboard legend Tony Hawk), but because of that whole brass ring. Yeah, yeah, yeah, for talent, I’ve always been a much bigger fan of luck.

Now I’m not saying we’re still talking about Helmet decades later because they were merely lucky. That would be insulting and an actual insult. But I am saying the mania that followed Nirvana’s rapid ascent from “just a Seattle band” to Hall of Fame status 100 percent benefited them in the aftermath of “Smells Like Teen Spirit” whipsawing the necks of label heads around to see that there was money to be made in the nonstandard.

So, like any degenerate gambler, which I am, I had a deep, innately respectful respect for what Hamilton and Helmet had wrought. Or at the

very least the kind of money being thrown their way. But there was still the music. Stolid where someone like, for example, the Dillinger Escape Plan were frenetic, Helmet made no pretense of being less than they were; and that kind of comfortability with intelligence was a line being drawn in the sand when the aspiration of many musicians back then topped out at sniffing coke off of the asses of strippers.

So, yeah. Excited to talk to him.

Even excited to, in the last question, bug him about the Hawk similarities. Just to be an ass. Which I am. But I stumbled because all of the elements of cool, flecked with something preternatural, had resulted in Hamilton the Chill. While I had heard different through the rumor mill, claims of him being a taskmaster, I got none of that in the interview.

“I tried to not let much of that affect me,” he intoned from his studio, which made sense since I was interviewing him? Yeah, about his studio. But he was fulminating on the craziness that followed the

bidding frenzy that brought them to Helmet and some kind of superstar status since that is how they were brought to most of the rest of America.

And I can actually feel him shrug over the phone line. So, now the question remains: Do I let him know I’m not just a journo, but also a guy in a band who had an elementally deeper understanding of exactly what it took to not have much of that affect you? I mean, shit, his rise to fame may not have affected him much, but it sure as shit affected me in the possibility of smart and heavy-hitting in a much more significant way than what was coming out of Los Angeles back then.

“Thanks for the interview, bud,” I say, and I ring off without the whole “I’m a guy in a band, too” deal. Why not tell him and embrace that whole band of brothers deal that comes with that deeper understanding? Because of that precisely: a deeper understanding. So, I sit for a bit. Then I put some Helmet on.

That’s the only thing making sense right… about… now.

ILLUSTRATION BY ED LUCE