THE ENDING GOREMENT QUEST
KYLESA CUTTING THE TENSIONS
BEHEMOTH FORGET ME NOT
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WITCHCRAFT THE AUSTERITY PROGRAM AHAMKARA DECREPISY WRATH OF LOGARIUS ANCIENT DEATH WITHERER PYRAMIDS
JUNE 2025 // No. 248
EXTREMELY EXTREME
June 2025 [R 248] decibelmagazine.com
upfront 8
metal muthas Unquestionable presence
features 12 ahamkara Lost and found
10 low culture Louder than words
14 the austerity program New testament
11 kill screen:
16 pyramids 70,000 reggaetons of metal
wrath of logarius Death is death
22 behemoth Somebody should tell Nergal what happens when you turn over 5318008 on a calculator 24 witchcraft Cat scratch fever
18 decrepisy Through sickness and in hell 20 witherer The shadow of death
reviews 26 q&a: kylesa Following Kylesa’s return, Laura Pleasants tunes up her sound 30 the decibel
hall of fame Swedish death outfit Gorement may have ended before they began, but things may not truly be over for cult classic album The Ending Quest
55 lead review Tribunal continue down the long and winding road to doom glory with sophomore offering In Penitence and Ruin 56 album reviews Records from bands that prefer their government briefs on Snapchat, including Candlemass, Melvins 1983 and Planning for Burial 64 damage ink Hawk tuah birds
Fanning the Flames of Contentment 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. © 2025 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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June 2025 [T248] PUBLISHER
Alex Mulcahy
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EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Albert Mudrian
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tim@redflagmedia.com CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS
Decibel has published 215 issues
since Pelican last appeared on the cover of the magazine. That’s 18 years. You—well, let’s be honest, some of you—could have co-produced a fullygrown adult from scratch in the time it has taken us to revisit our favorite instrumental metal band in longform format. In fact, it’s the longest break between covers for any artist in the magazine’s 21-year history. Obviously, a lot has happened to our fine feathered friends since issue #33 hit then-existing newsstands at a heady time when we believed Myspace, JaMarcus Russell’s NFL career and the Britney/K-Fed marriage would last forever. Consider that it’s been so long since their last Decibel cover that one of Pelican’s founding members, guitarist Laurent Schroeder-Lebec, left the band for an entire decade and returned three years ago. It’s new LP Flickering Resonance, though, which marks the full-length recording reunion with the band’s classic, original lineup of SchroederLebec, guitarist Trevor Shelley de Brauw and the bass/drummer/ brother tandem of Bryan and Larry Herweg. In Daniel Lake’s extensive cover story interviews with each of them, it’s clear that the traditional upheavals around lineup and label changes that occur over a band’s lifespan are perhaps the least interesting part of the Pelican narrative. Instead, it’s that multi-decade process of balancing the demands of non-endemic careers and starting families while still making time to pursue the art that helped shape you two decades prior. For SchroederLebec, in particular, he had to step away in order to be in a better position when he eventually returned. When he did, that chemistry between the four of them that helped make Pelican one of the most beloved bands of Decibel’s foundational years was still very much in place, despite the musicians’ profound evolution of their crafts. That, and the return to their triumphant sound on Flickering Resonance, both made the decision to break our 18-year Pelican coverless streak such an easy one. Oh, and who could forget that Pelican’s first cover appearance marked the introduction of the current Decibel logo? Does that mean the old-school distressed dB scribble will adorn next month’s cover? Maybe. As Pelican have proven, sometimes you can go home again. albert mudrian, Editor-in-Chief
Chuck BB, Ed Luce Mark Rudolph
Online DECIBEL WEB EDITOR
Albert Mudrian
DECIBEL WEB AD SALES
James Lewis
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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 Aris Hunter Wales 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 ©2025 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 My main favorite subgenres of metal are prog, thrash and death metal, along with all things doom. What’s the one record or item that has eluded you?
Rob Kachluba Hamilton, Ontario
You boast one of the most impressive collections of metal records and memorabilia that I have ever seen, simply dubbed “The Shrine.” When did you first start collecting records, and when was it clear that your collection was growing to the size of a large record store or small museum?
I started collecting as a teenager when I still lived in Regina, Saskatchewan. My first foray into vinyl was walking into Music Plus in my hometown and buying the first two Mötley Crüe albums, Manowar’s Battle Hymns and Virgin Steele’s Guardians of the Flame. Back in the early ’80s, music magazines were the only resource for finding out about bands and albums. I started buying Metal Forces with issue #2 and found out about the self-titled Metal Church album and I ordered Jag Panzer’s Ample Destruction via World Metal Report after reading about it there, too. One of the main reasons I moved east to Ontario from Saskatchewan—outside of work
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opportunities—was because there was such a vibrant metal scene in Toronto. Just to show what a maniac I was: It was only my second day living in Ontario and I drove into Toronto’s Rock and Roll Heaven club, a famous iconic live music bar, and I asked some greasy-haired lads where to buy metal in Toronto. I was told I needed to go down to the Record Peddler on Carleton Street in Toronto, across from Maple Leaf Gardens. Fast forward five days later; I am at the Peddler getting my first two Death Angel LPs signed and my picture taken with the band as they were doing an in-store before playing the next night with Rigor Mortis. All in my first week! Around the turn of the millennium, my collection started to get really serious, especially with picture discs. I now have over 330 picture discs, 232 different box sets and over 1,900 LPs in my collection. All of which is metal. When we decided to build a new house, I told my wife she could do what she wanted with the main floor, but I wanted to dedicate the basement to my metal collection.
I still want to find an original 1984 Black Mark label pressing of the first Bathory LP with the yellow-colored goat on the cover—not a bootleg one, but the original that sells for thousands. What does your wife think of a floor of your home dedicated to all of this?
My wife has no issues with my music collection. She knows it’s my passion, but for some unknown reason she actually thinks my shrine is too crowded—HA! To be honest, I feel my shrine looks amazing due to the time invested in setting it up to display everything. I try to use the 1,900 square feet of my basement to my full advantage. I am now even going into the cat/furnace room with my CDs and flags. My wife is concerned that soon the collection will be coming up the stairs… My collection is decent, but I have pals with far superior record collections with lots of original pressings and many other musical genres included. I just focus on metal and my love of box sets and picture discs. But again, it is down to the display that makes the “wow” factor. I work hard, I play hard and I love my metal collection. It’s my big passion in life.
ChuckBB.com / Instagram: @chuckbb_art