Albums
of 2013:
Carcass Gorguts In Solitude 1? who’s
#
e xt r e m e ly e xt r e m e d e c i b e l m ag az i n e . c o m
Integrity systems Overload
King Diamond presents After
christmas
free 6
toxic holocaust
flexi disc inside!
also
Hell D.R.I. Mortal Decay Corrections House Oranssi Pazuzu Obliteration Funeral Circle
jan 2014 // No. 111
Don’t see it? Then subscribe!
100
Custom
SCREEN-PRINTED
BLACK T-SHIRTS
$399 with WHITE INK
NO Setup Fees l 3-DAY Turn l 15 × 20″ Print Area
JAKPRINTS.COM/100SHIRTS
T-Shirts, Hoodies, Flyers, Posters, Stickers, Banners, VIP Passes
Call 877.246.3132 | Create Yours Now™
+ More
extremely extreme
January 2014 [T111] decibelmagazine.com
64
cover story
King Diamond Shine on, you crazy Satanist
upfront 12 my awesome
day job
Ex-dB scribe’s prosthetic releases 14 metal muthas Pics and pans 16 grinding it out Conditioning drills 17 brewtal truth Bombed printed matter 18 killing is my
business
Licensed to thrill
20 cry now, cry later Missed erections 22 river of nihil Heavy flow 24 oranssi pazuzu Orangemen rule 26 mortal decay On a silver splatter 28 funeral circle Rites and wrongs
reviews
features
79 lead review Mutoid Man mutates Cave In and Converge’s sickest attributes
34 q & a: andy sneap Raising Hell from the dead
80 album reviews Records that Josey Scott would love to be on, hit me back bro, including Vastum, Gift of Gods, Pyrexia and the Body
30 corrections house Unchained melodies
92 sub:culture Classic bathtub antics with Jack Frost
32 obliteration Once more, with feeling
96 south pole dispatch Leave those kids alone
39 the top 40
albums of 2013 Still hard, still heavy
42 the decibel
hall of fame
Systems Overload, as does righteous indignation, on Integrity’s hardcore classic
cover photo by Axel Jusseit contents photo by Soile Siirtola Decibel (ISSN 1557-2137) is published monthly by Red Flag Media, Inc., 1032 Arch Street, 3rd Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19107. Annual subscription price is $29.95. Periodical postage, 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, 1032 Arch Street, 3rd Floor, Philadelphia PA 19107. Copyright© 2013 by Red Flag Media, Inc. All issn 1557-2137 | usps 023142 rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission of the publisher is strictly prohibited.
Hail to the King, baby Dailor exhibits his diamond love www.decibelmagazine.com
extremely extreme
January 2014 [T111]
Publi s her
Alex Mulcahy
Editor -In-Chief
Albert Mudrian
albert@redflagmedia.com
managing Editor Andrew
Bonazelli
andrew@redflagmedia.com
ar t di rector
Bruno Guerreiro
bruno@decibelmagazine.com
Co ntro lle r
Nicole Jarman
nicole@redflagmedia.com
Patty Moran
cu s tomer se rvice
patty@redflagmedia.com
co ntr ibuting ar tis ts
Chuck BB, Mark Rudolph
adve r tising
Albert Mudrian
albert@redflagmedia.com
540.878.5756 unde r to nes secti on
Drew Juergens
drew@decibelmagazine.com
Online Deciblo g editor
just words
online adve r tising
Andrew Bonazelli
andrew@redflagmedia.com
Ben Umanov
ben@blastbeatnetwork.com
Let’s be honest: If you’re
reading this magazine, you’re not a causal music fan. In fact, chances are that music— and heavy metal, in particular—is such a vital part of your daily existence that when an acquaintance declares something stupid like, “Oh, I just like whatever’s on the radio,” you silently judge them as the soulless human being they truly are. Everyone has a different metal band or record that brought us here. Maybe a certain LP takes you back to the area where you grew up and cut your teeth (and bangs) as a young hesher. Perhaps it was a specific band you discovered and shared all too long ago with an old friend who you think about every time you spin one of their records. Or maybe it was simply a certain magazine that acted as your gateway to a whole new style of music. Whatever it is, the memories and emotional attachments are the very real forces that drive some of us to troll eBay during the wee hours of the night in search of Melissa, Don’t Break the Oath, Abigail and “Them” on every format, color and foreign pressing ever produced. Mastodon drummer Brann Dailor has a personal connection to the music of this month’s cover star than runs about a million times deeper than anything you can possibly imagine. It’s best to let our man explain it in his own words, so please read what he has to say in J. Bennett’s ridiculously excellent piece on living legend King Diamond. So many great tales came out of Decibel’s time spent at the home of the artist formerly known as Kim Bendix Petersen, but it’s MastoBrann’s story that reminds us of the essential role this music plays in the best and worst parts of our lives.
Anthony Bartkewicz Adrien Begrand J. Bennett Shawn Bosler Brent Burton Richard Christy Liz Ciavarella-Brenner John Darnielle Jerry A. Deathburger Chris Dick Sean Frasier Jeanne Fury Nick Green Joe Gross Jason Heller Jonathan Horsley Scott Koerber Daniel Lake Frank Lemke Shawn Macomber Shane Mehling Kirk Miller Justin M. Norton Matt Olivo Etan Rosenbloom Kevin Sharp Rod Smith Zach Smith Kevin Stewart-Panko Adem Tepedelen Jeff Treppel Jeff Wagner Co ntr ibuting photo gr aphers
from the editor
albert mudrian, Editor-in-Chief
Co ntr ibuting Wr iters
alex@redflagmedia.com
Main Office
1032 Arch Street, 3rd Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19107 Tel: 215.625.9850 / Fax: 215.625.9967 www.decibelmagazine.com
Axel Jusseit Shimon Karmel Scott Kinkade Ester Segarra Josh Sisk Gene Smirnov
Rec or d Stor es
To carry Decibel, call 1.215.625.9850 x105 Decibel Sub s cripti o ns
Decibel subscriber service/change of address: 215.625.9850 x105 or contact@decibelmagazine.com To order by mail: Consult the subscription page To order by phone: 215.625.9850 x105 To order by fax: 1.215.625.9967 To order online: www.decibelmagazine.com VISA/MASTERCARD/DISCOVER accepted Subscribers: please alert us of any change of address 6-8 weeks before the date of your move. Decibel is not responsible or obligated to re-ship issues missed because of a move we were not informed of 6-8 weeks before the move took place. Decibel B ack Iss ues /Me rchandi se
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., 1032 Arch Street, 3rd Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19107. Annual subscription price is $29.95. Periodical postage, 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, 1032 Arch Street, 3rd Floor, Philadelphia PA 19107. Copyright ©2013 by Red Flag Media, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission of the publisher is strictly prohibited. PR INTED IN U SA
issn 1557-2137
|
u s p s 023142
fanbase Reader of the
Month
Alex Hudson
Detroit Lansing, MI Based on your collection of Facebook friends, I’m guessing you frequented the old Decibel online forum (RIP, 2013). Now that it’s been shut down, how are you filling those 12 to 16 hours a day? Many of us board members ended up tracking each other down on Facebook. The demise of the board made me rediscover this thing called “sunshine.” I also remembered I have a girlfriend. My time is generally occupied by my job at an employee-owned health food store and my band Hordes. (Are blatant plugs allowed?)
8 : j a n u a r y 2 0 14 : d e c i b e l
You reside in Detroit. Please share your fondest Jim Leyland stories. If you don’t have any, just explain how you narrowly avoid death/suicide in that city today. I actually reside in Lansing, MI, the state capital (East Side represent!). It’s not as dangerous a city as Detroit (though many would argue it is, since our murder per-capita rate is possibly a tad steep). However, some tours just don’t make it our way, so we often make the trek to the Motor City (or Murder City, depending on who you ask). My girlfriend and I once made the two-hour drive to see Louis CK. We missed our exit and ended up in a seriously sketchy part of Detroit. I called a friend that grew up there for directions. He told us where to go and finished the call with, “Oh, by the way, you’re going to die!” He then laughed hysterically and hung up. That’s what friends are for, right? There was also the time 50 Nazi skinheads showed up for the Napalm Death gig at Harpos and things got really ugly, but that was a long time ago. As for Jim Leyland? The last time I followed baseball, Kirk Gibson was doing commercials for Right Guard. At one time, you DJed a local midnight metal show on WRIF (you still might, in fact, not sure). Everyone always talks about how the rise of the internet has affected print, but how do think it has affected radio?
We missed our exit and ended up in a seriously sketchy part of Detroit. I called a friend that grew up there for directions. He told us where to go and finished the call with, ‘Oh, by the way, you’re going to die!’” (I’m confused here—was there an actual DJ by the name of Alex Hudson, or is this a fictional scenario that I’m supposed to pretend to answer?) I’m going to say the internet has made radio worse, judging by how bad it is out there. I’m going to guess that since CD sales are plummeting, all these major labels are throwing more money into promotion to push for more crap on the airways. The rats scurry while the ship goes down. I think most people into extreme or underground music probably don’t listen to much radio anyway, aside from the occasional specialty show on their local college station. This issue features our annual albums of the year list. What’s your personal Top 5 of ’13, so we can see what we fucked up? For financial reasons, I’ve fallen a bit behind in the last year trying to keep up with new sounds of various extremes. (I’m told the new Carcass is great, though.) I know there’s still plenty of unheard jams from this year, and I’m looking forward to hearing them. The following have totally turned my crank, though (bring it, haters): BerT, Wall of Bees; Black Sun Roof, 4 Black Suns & a Sinister Rainbow; Slavestate, Masochist; Deafheaven, Sunbather; Wolf Eyes, No Answer: Lower Floors.
Chuck BB is the illustrator of the graphic novels Black Metal, Vol. 1. and Black Metal, Vol. 2 For more info and art, head over to chuckbb.com