Decibel Magazine - June 2023 [#224]

This month’s Upfront section features a pair of vocalists in Smoulder’s Sarah Ann and Bandit’s Gene Meyer that are also regular Decibel contributors. Over the magazine’s 19-year history, we’ve enlisted numerous extreme metal musicians to write for us. So many, in fact, that while listening to the new Decibel Records-released Venomous Concept album—which features former Decibel columnist Kevin Sharp on lead vocals—longtime writer Daniel Lake opined that we should encourage the formation of new projects based solely around our musician contributors, simply because “It’s time. The world needs this.” So, move the fuck over, ghost of Lou Pearlman—I’m curating the next big thing(s).

Lineup: Kevin Sharp (vocals) • Matt Olivo (guitar)

J. Bennett (bass) • Richard Christy (drums)

Style: old-school grindcore

This one is a total no-brainer, in that no brains should be required for listening to or performing it. Just blast, burn and howl. Tapping Colin Richardson to produce it. He’ll take 11 days just to get the snare sound down, but it will be totally worth it.

Lineup:

Neill Jameson (vocals) • Jon Rosenthal (guitar) • Matt Solis (guitar)

Eugene Robinson (bass—are you gonna tell him he can’t play it?)

Mookie Singerman (programmed drums)

Style: trve USBM

Lyrics are taken straight from Neill’s long-running Low Culture column, which works out nicely because Rosenthal and Solis are largely incapable of writing songs under 15 minutes long.

Lineup:

Chris Dodge (bass/vocals) • Shane Mehling (bass)

Blake Harrison (programmed drums/ironing board)

Style: powerviolence

It might seem ridiculous for a trio to have two bass players, but Shane breaks his arm within the first 90 seconds of every live performance.

Lineup:

Jerry A. Deathburger (vocals) • Jeff Walker (bass)

John Darnielle (guitar) • Richard Christy (drums)

Style: death fuckin’ metal

Darnielle keeps up via guitar pointers from engineer Erik Rutan. Richard Christy is forced to keep drinking rat shit coffee just to keep pace with all these new bands. Jeff Walker shoehorns a Die Flüffers cover into the set. Everyone breaks a foot.

Lineup: Albert Mudrian (all)

Style: dungeon synth

Totally original take on the subgenre that doesn’t sound exactly like Era 1 Mortiis. What can I say? I’ve got a nose for this sort of thing.

albert mudrian, Editor-in-Chief

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June 2023 [ T224] www.decibelmagazine.com

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Emily Bellino

Adrien Begrand

J. Bennett

Dean Brown

Liz Ciavarella-Brenner

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

Tim Mudd

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

Jason Blake

Justin Borucki

JC Carey

Shane Gardner

Hillarie Jason

Shimon Karmel

Ester Segarra

Hristo Shindov

Gene Smirnov

Levan TK

Hannah Verbeuren

Frank White

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Decibel (ISSN 1557-2137) is published monthly by Red Flag Media, Inc., P.O. Box 36818, Philadelphia, PA 19107. Annual subscription price is $29.95. 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.

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The Pittsburgh metal scene has its fair share of legends among its ranks, like Dream Death and Derkéta, but can you tell us some upstart Yinzers we need to keep an eye on?

Pittsburgh’s metal scene is pretty damn prolific, though Pittsburgh is anything but progressive musically, so it’s kind of a wellkept secret. Trad warriors Lady Beast are awesome, and their singer Deb Levine is one of the most charismatic people on the planet. She also puts together the annual Metal Immortal Festival here in town. (Come see us in September!) Horehound has the sludgy doom thing down to a science, and they play all the time and always deliver. Their singer Shy Kennedy heads up the annual Descendants of Crom fest, which is insanely fun and wellrun. Ritual Mass are death metal killers; Vale

READER OF THE MONTH

is an immersive atmospheric solo black metal project; Narakah will take your head off; Uzkost wield a black metal and doom buzzsaw; Pyrithe are indescribable chaos; and Vicious Blade carry the burning torch of thrash with a violent edge.

You’ve been a subscriber since 2010—holy crap, thanks! What’s kept you around so long? Well, I love the magazine. I’m not blowing smoke here: It’s honestly a highlight of my month. Wait, is that sad? I’ve actually been a reader since the [beginning], as I got the Dillinger Escape Plan issue #1 in the mail somehow. I’m guessing I got on a mailing list based on also being a metal scribe, but it was an awesome surprise. It was exactly what I was looking for, and in 2010, I think I was tired of trying to track it down each month in stores and didn’t want to miss anything. You can’t make me leave!

Tell us about your It’s the Beer Video podcast. I think this technically counts as a podcast, right? I have to credit my friend Zakk “Old Man” Weston

(of Low Cunning infamy) for the idea. He’d occasionally drink perversely old beers and comment. During the pandemic, I kindly asked if I could steal the idea to entertain myself. It started off just me in my kitchen drinking a beer and giving my thoughts on Instagram, and then my friend Helen wanted to come on as a guest. So, we did one together, had a good time, and now we’re a team (fun fact: we have never met in person)! The only rule is whatever we’re drinking we cannot have ever had before. Perverse can/bottle art and weird beer names are a plus. We’re not experts; we’re just having fun, and there is literally no editing done. I cannot stress this enough. We talk about metal, yelling cats often make appearances, we make fun of Ron DeSantis, and we just launched our YouTube channel a couple months ago.

Frozen Soul are on the cover of this issue. They’ve only been active since 2018, so with that in mind, who’s your favorite new jack death metal band of the past five years? Well, that’s rad as fuck because I really love Frozen Soul and am psyched for the new record (I own Frozen Soul socks!). It’s hard to pinpoint one, so I’ll toss out a few names: Putrescine, Konvent, the mighty Castrator, Worm and Majesties, whose new record has so many riffs, they should be investigated! Get on their level!

Brian Krasman Duquesne, PA

BYthe fall of 1986, the Bay Area thrash scene was established and fiercely competitive. Metallica had Kill ’Em All, Ride the Lightning and Master of Puppets. Exodus had Bonded by Blood. Possessed used thrash as a template to help create a new genre: death metal. That type of talent and ferocity would intimidate lesser bands. Dark Angel arrived midway through the decade unfazed and supremely confident. They turned heads with their debut We Have Arrived and upended thrash with Darkness Descends, widely considered one of the best thrash metal albums ever.

Guitarist and Dark Angel co-founder Jim Durkin, an architect of that sound, died at 58 on March 8. A cause of death was not released. Durkin is survived by his wife Annie and remembered by peers and rising bands for his hellacious riffs and idiosyncratic guitar playing. “The first time I heard We Have Arrived, I thought I’d discovered a new lower plane of hell,” says Craig Locicero, guitarist for Dark Angel’s thrash peers Forbidden. “It was unlike all the other thrash I knew. Then came Darkness Descends. That was a blur of insane riffs and relentless energy that shocked the hell out of me. Jim was one of the sweetest and kindest riff-masters I’ve ever known. The world needs more guys like him.” Even in 2023, Darkness Descends is a revelation. If you could compare it to any album from ’80s

thrash, it would be Slayer’s Reign in Blood. Both albums aren’t just fast, but sound genuinely evil. Like Slayer’s Jeff Hanneman, Durkin created sounds and tones with a guitar that didn’t seem quite of this earth. In addition to the first two Dark Angel albums, Durkin played on Leave Scars He left Dark Angel in 1989, rejoined a decade ago and has been a part of the band since. He also played in other thrash acts including Dreams of Damnation and Hirax.

“He became one of my best friends and helped me through two of the most painful events in my life,” says Dreams of Damnation vocalist and former Nuclear Blast publicist Loana dP Valencia. “He’s a forefather of thrash, an ancestor to all current incarnations of thrash and even black metal bands. The musical bloodline is

direct. He was an elder statesman of the nascent scene, a tape-trading founding member of this immense, globe-spanning community.”

Immolation guitarist Alex Bouks says Durkin’s playing was integral to his development. “Jim was one of the greatest guitar players in thrash history and is criminally overlooked,” Bouks explains. “Dark Angel was a big deal for all of us in the early death metal scene. His insanely brutal, fast and dark riffs and super chaotic virtuoso leads profoundly influenced what I do today.”

Bouks says when he heard Darkness Descends his life changed. “The record was mind-blowing and hugely influential on my journey into what would become the death metal genre,” he explains. “Jim was the guy steering the ship. Without his contribution, the death metal world would not be what it has become.”

“I only met Jim a couple of times, but he was always super friendly and humble,” offers Death Angel drummer Will Carroll. “His vicious and demented riffs propelled Dark Angel a cut above other thrash metal bands. His influence can still be heard and cannot be overstated. I look forward to hearing the new Dark Angel, which will be a living tribute to his legacy.”

Safe travels, Jim. Thank you for all you left for generations of metal fans. —JUSTIN M. NORTON