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FEBRUARY 2025 // No. 244
THE HELLACOPTERS YOTH IRIA MASTER BOOT RECORD BEDSORE HARAKIRI FOR THE SKY HEATHEN DEITY SARCATOR CLUSTERFUX MEFITIS
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February 2025 [R 244] decibelmagazine.com
upfront 10 metal muthas Mom coded
14 mefitis Double trouble
12 low culture Same shit, different year
16 clusterfux Fux it, they’ll do it live
13 kill screen:
18 bedsore They dreamed a dream
master boot record Machine learning
20 abduction Stranger than fiction 22 yoth iria Star light, star blight 24 harakiri for the sky The forest for the trees 26 heathen deity Trvth be told 28 sarcator The new buzz
58
features
reviews
30 q&a: the hellacopters We’re not exaggerating when we say that main man Nicke Andersson is ready to rock
67 lead review With a pedigree that’s no joke, the Halo Effect return with their red hot sophomore release March of the Unheard
34 exclusive:
the top 21 most anticipated albums of 2025 At least you have these to look forward to
46 the decibel
hall of fame When half of their lineup hauled ass out of town, a rebuilt Fu Manchu souped up their sound to build the 1997 classic The Action Is Go
68 album reviews Records from bands that would like to have a word with Decibel’s social media manager, including Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Mörk Gryning and Patriarkh 72 damage ink Running free
Norwegian Wood COVER STORY
COVER AND CONTENTS PHOTOS BY ESTER SEGARRA
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. © 2024 by Red Flag Media, Inc. All rights reserved. ISSN 1557-2137 | USPS 023142 Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission of the publisher is strictly prohibited.
4 : FEBRUARY 2025 : DECIBEL
He’s a survivor Reifert front-and-center with Gailey manning the kit at Metal & Beer Fest: Denver 2024
www.decibelmagazine.com
February 2025 [T244] PUBLISHER
Alex Mulcahy
alex@redflagmedia.com
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Albert Mudrian
albert@decibelmagazine.com SALES DIRECTOR
James Lewis
james@decibelmagazine.com ART DIRECTOR
Michael Wohlberg
michael@decibelmagazine.com
Beer Fest, I’m typically in regular contact with the bands scheduled to perform. It’s mostly finalizing schedules, sourcing gear and tidying up other production elements that a concertgoer would never notice if everything is executed correctly. So, receiving a text from Autopsy drummer/vocalist Chris Reifert four days before the latest installment of our Denver Metal & Beer Fest was hardly surprising, but the “URGENT AUTOPSY SITUATION— can you call me?” message it blared was considerably less expected. Moments later, Chris informed me that he’d been experiencing severe left shoulder discomfort for months, but had planned to play through the pain during Autopsy’s headline performance at Metal & Beer Fest. That was until the MRI results he received an hour earlier revealed a significant bone spur in his left shoulder that could potentially sever his rotator cuff if he continued to drum before having it surgically removed. According to Chris’ doctor, such an injury would be a “careerender” at his age. “But I think I might have a solution,” he told me. A couple months prior, Chris mentioned the shoulder issue to Necrot/Mortuous/Vastum drummer Chad Gailey. He suggested that it wouldn’t be a terrible idea if he learned Autopsy’s set “just in case,” even if Chris didn’t really believe he’d have to tag in his Bay Area bash buddy. Chad spent the next several weeks mastering every critical bit of madness that is Autopsy’s landmark Severed Survival debut, but didn’t think much about it until Chris called him and asked, “What are you doing this weekend?” This was Monday night. Chad and the band would hold their first practice together late Tuesday evening, where Chris would sing with Chad behind the kit. This was about 72 hours before showtime, so I tried to prepare a replacement headliner in case Autopsy’s rehearsal was a trainwreck. My only practical option almost immediately fell through, so I went to bed Tuesday night with only Chad as my potential (pagan) savior. I woke up around 2 a.m. to the following message from Chris: “Dude, Chad killed it at practice. Totally badass. We’re officially a go for the show!” On Wednesday morning, we booked last-minute flights for Chad and prepared an announcement about the lineup change. The response was, of course, universally positive. I mean, we’d just added Chad Gailey to Autopsy, which is like adding bourbon to an imperial stout—it’s gonna fuck you up. And to almost no one’s surprise, come showtime, Chris, Chad and the rest of Autopsy fucked everyone up. You can read about it (and the rest of the weekend) in the next issue. Until then, eternal thanks to Chad for answering the call with, “OK! I’ll do it!” albert mudrian, Editor-in-Chief
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Chuck BB, Ed Luce Mark Rudolph
Online DECIBEL WEB EDITOR
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CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Anthony Bartkewicz Emily Bellino Adrien Begrand J. Bennett Dean Brown Liz Ciavarella-Brenner Chris Dick Sean Frasier Nick Green Raoul Hernandez John Hill Jonathan Horsley Neill Jameson Kim Kelly Greg Kennelty Sarah Kitteringham Daniel Lake Cosmo Lee Jamie Ludwig Shane Mehling Tim Mudd Justin M. Norton Dutch Pearce Forrest Pitts Brad Sanders José Carlos Santos Joseph Schafer Kevin Stewart-Panko Eugene S. Robinson Adem Tepedelen Jeff Treppel J Andrew Zalucky CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS
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To order by phone: 1.215.625.9850 (10 a.m. – 5 p.m. EST) To order by fax: 1.215.625.9967 To order online: www.decibelmagazine.com Decibel (ISSN 1557-2137) is published monthly by Red Flag Media, Inc., P.O. Box 36818, Philadelphia, PA 19107. Annual subscription price is $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. Copyright ©2024 by Red Flag Media, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission of the publisher is strictly prohibited. PRINTED IN USA
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READER OF THE
MONTH Filth, there’s another band, the White Horse, who’ve been working hard to get out and play shows and promote themselves. If you like country, bluegrass and cover bands, Shelby has that covered.
Dennis Mullinax Shelby, NC
Tell us about Shelby. It seems like a pretty small town, but we did find one deathcore band called Filth from there. Is there more to the local metal scene than that?
Shelby is a pretty small town. If I’m not mistaken, the population is less than 25,000. This city became Shelby after Colonel Isaac Shelby, a war hero from the American Revolution. This area was huge in textiles and cotton during the 1930s. As far as metal, Shelby hasn’t had a huge metal scene. There are metalheads here; just not many metal bands. Besides
8 : FEBRUARY 2025 : DECIBEL
Our admittedly spotty records indicate that you’ve been a subscriber since issue No. 29. Thank you for the longtime support and congratulations on avoiding a subscription during our “metalcore years.” Was that what prevented you from signing up sooner, or were there other factors?
new music without just retreating to the comfort of records released in the ’80s?
As metal has progressed and evolved, I’ve felt it’s important to be open-minded enough to want to check out new music. At 55, I just didn’t want to be that cranky old dude who complains that everything was better in the ’80s.
As metal has progressed and evolved, I’ve felt it’s important to be open-minded enough to want to check out new music. At 55, I just didn’t want to be that cranky old dude who complains that everything was better in the ’80s.
I have almost every issue of the magazine that I’d usually pick up if I were stopping by a Barnes & Noble or Books-A-Million. I even still have the “legendary, world-famous” Trivium cover! Eventually I just decided to plunk down the cash and subscribe.
Wardruna is the cover artist of this month’s issue. Are you down with that kind of metaladjacent ambient/world scene?
You’re a seasoned old-school metal fan. How have you managed to maintain an interest in
Absolutely! I feel it’s important to listen to artists in this style. It’s like exploring new or former worlds that you never knew existed!
ChuckBB.com / Instagram: @chuckbb_art