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0306818066-Mudrian_01:Layout 1 5/4/09 1:28 PM Page i PRECIOUS METAL “This page left intentionally blank.” 0306818066-Mudrian_01:Layout 1 5/4/09 1:28 PM Page iii PRECIOUS METAL ø DECIBEL Presents the Stories Behind 25 Extreme Metal Masterpieces Edited by ALBERT MUDRIAN DA CAPO PRESS A Member of the Perseus Books Group 0306818066-Mudrian_01:Layout 1 5/4/09 1:28 PM Page iv Copyright © 2009 by Decibel magazine All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Printed in the United States of America. For information, address Da Capo Press, 11 Cambridge Center, Cambridge, MA 02142. Designed by Jeff Williams Set in 11 point Adobe Caslon by the Perseus Books Group Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Precious metal : Decibel magazine presents the oral histories of 25 extreme metal essentials / edited by Albert Mudrian. p. cm. Includes index. ISBN 978-0-306-81806-6 (alk. paper) 1. Extreme metal (Music)—History and criticism. 2. Death metal (Music)—History and criticism. 3. Heavy metal (Music)—History and criticism. 4. Rock musicians—Interviews. I. Mudrian, Albert, 1975– II. Decibel (Philadelphia, Pa.) ML3534.P73 2009 781.66--dc22 2009007835 Published by Da Capo Press A Member of the Perseus Books Group www.dacapopress.com Da Capo Press books are available at special discounts for bulk purchases in the U.S. by corpo- rations, institutions, and other organizations. For more information, please contact the Special Markets Department at the Perseus Books Group, 2300 Chestnut Street, Suite 200, Philadel- phia, PA 19103, or call (800) 810-4145, ext. 5000, or e-mail [email protected]. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0306818066-Mudrian_01:Layout 1 5/4/09 1:28 PM Page v FOR JENNIFER AND GROB OF SONIC RELIEF PROMOTIONS Ø “This page left intentionally blank.” 0306818066-Mudrian_01:Layout 1 5/4/09 1:28 PM Page vii CONTENTS Acknowledgments ix Introduction xi 1 Ø HOLY HELL The Making of Black Sabbath’s Heaven and Hell, by Adem Tepedelen 1 2 Ø A RARE GEM The Making of Diamond Head’s Lightning to the Nations, by Adem Tepedelen 15 3 Ø PROCREATION OF THE WICKED The Making of Celtic Frost’s Morbid Tales, by J. Bennett 31 4 Ø WHO’LL STOP THE REIGN? The Making of Slayer’s Reign in Blood, by J. Bennett 48 5 Ø SLAVES TO THE GRIND The Making of Napalm Death’s Scum, by Kory Grow 56 6 Ø SCARED TO DEATH The Making of Repulsion’s Horrified, by Matthew Widener 73 7 Ø IMMORTAL RIGHTS The Making of Morbid Angel’s Altars of Madness, by J. Bennett 85 8 Ø MEMORIES REMAIN The Making of Obituary’s Cause of Death, by Kory Grow 96 9 Ø LEFT HAND LEGACY The Making of Entombed’s Left Hand Path, by J. Bennett 109 10 Ø AN ETERNAL CLASSIC The Making of Paradise Lost’s Gothic, by Scott Koerber 120 vii 0306818066-Mudrian_01:Layout 1 5/4/09 1:28 PM Page viii 11 Ø ROTTEN TO THE GORE The Making of Carcass’ Necroticism—Descanting the Insalubrious, by J. Bennett 130 12 Ø THE CRYPTIC STENCH The Making of Cannibal Corpse’s Tomb of the Mutilated, by Chris Dick 142 13 Ø HAZARDOUS PRESCRIPTION The Making of Eyehategod’s Take as Needed for Pain, by J. Bennett 165 14 Ø HUNGER STRIKES The Making of Darkthrone’s Transilvanian Hunger, by Albert Mudrian 179 15 Ø 1993: A DESERT ODYSSEY The Making of Kyuss’ Welcome to Sky Valley, by J. Bennett 196 16 Ø ALTERING THE FUTURE The Making of Meshuggah’s Destroy Erase Improve, by Kevin Stewart-Panko 213 17 Ø MASTERBURNER & THE INFINITE BADNESS The Making of Monster Magnet’s Dopes to Infinity, by J. Bennett 223 18 Ø AT THE GATES OF IMMORTALITY The Making of At the Gates’ Slaughter of the Soul, by J. Bennett 237 19 Ø FLOWER POWER The Making of Opeth’s Orchid, by Chris Dick 245 20 Ø PILLAR OF ETERNITY The Making of Down’s NOLA, by J. Bennett 267 21 Ø TOTAL ECLIPSE: METAL, MAYHEM & MURDER The Making of Emperor’s In the Nightside Eclipse, by J. Bennett 280 22 Ø HIGH TIMES The Making of Sleep’s Jerusalem, by J. Bennett 292 23 Ø 100% CLASSIC The Making of the Dillinger Escape Plan’s Calculating Infinity, by Kevin Stewart-Panko 304 24 Ø FALLEN EMPIRE The Making of Botch’s We Are the Romans, by J. Bennett 318 25 Ø WHO’S THAT GIRL? The Making of Converge’s Jane Doe, by J. Bennett 331 Photo Credits 349 Index 351 viii Contents 0306818066-Mudrian_01:Layout 1 5/4/09 1:28 PM Page ix ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Decibel ’s Managing Editor Andrew Bonazelli, who tirelessly edited each Hall of Fame in this anthology at least five goddamn times. Senior Editor Patty Moran, who’s also copyedited more of these stories than she likely cares to remember. Decibel Publisher Alex Mulcahy, who still doesn’t understand why there’s no Hall of Fame on Sepultura’s Arise album. Gordon Conrad, who waits in vain for a Judge Hall of Fame. Decibel Art Director Jamie Leary, who would still rather listen to You Fail Me instead of Jane Doe. Decibel designers Bruno Guerreiro and Jon Loudon, who’ve somehow made 6,000-word features look awesome—even over seven-page spreads in the magazine. Mark Evans, who remains cautiously optimistic about the possibility of a Fudge Tunnel Hall of Fame. Scott Hun- garter and Lucas Hardison, who are secretly bummed that both Katatonia and Mastodon didn’t make the cut for this volume of the book. J. Bennett, who has written half of these Hall of Fame pieces and turned in less than 10 percent of them under word count. Michaelangelo Matos, who has been talking peoples’ ears off about us for years. Ben Schafer, who was smart enough to listen. Nick Green, who is still waiting for Refused, Suicidal Tendencies and Rage Against the Machine to return a few emails. Adem Tepedelen, who has obviously been metal longer than any of us. Kory Grow, who is still splicing that Bill Steer in- terview tape back together. Matt Widener, who owns the corresponding t-shirts for half of these Hall of Fame records. Kevin Stewart-Panko, who owns the other half. Scott Koerber, who’d rather bridge a scene if he could. Chris Dick, who is currently working on a Moog-less mix of Tales from the Thousand Lakes. The dB online forum, which has created over a dozen unique threads dedicated to just the Hall of Fame. And all the band members who agreed to be inter- viewed for these pieces—we literally couldn’t have done it without you. Every- one mentioned here rules. Thank you. ix “This page left intentionally blank.” 0306818066-Mudrian_01:Layout 1 5/4/09 1:28 PM Page xi INTRODUCTION “What’s gonna be the next Hall of Fame album?” As Decibel ’s Editor in Chief, that’s the question I’m asked more than any other by our readers. “What the fuck were you thinking running a cover story on Trivium?” is probably the second-most-asked (though it’s clearly the most often posed by Jeff Walker of Carcass). I conceived the Hall of Fame as a nice excuse for us to revisit our favorite records in the magazine. I’m a pretty nostalgic guy (um, I actually collect CD long-boxes) and still regularly spin dozens of LPs that I worshipped in high school. So, the success of the Hall of Fame series suggests that there are actu- ally plenty more dorks just like me who can’t really “grow out” of certain albums. If you don’t already know the dB HOF deal, it goes a little something like this: Take a classic extreme metal record (as determined by our staff) released at least five years ago, track down and interview every band member who played on it, and present them questions exclusively about the writing, recording, touring and overall impact of said album. Sounds easy enough, right? I even often wondered why other publications never pursued similar features until I discovered first- hand what a complete bitch it is to assemble every month. Whether it’s track- ing down old, long-forgotten-about metal bones or convincing bands to talk at length about past records universally considered more relevant than their current release, it’s always a unique challenge to make every Hall of Fame installment a reality. In fact, I could write another book about all of the HOFs that didn’t happen. For starters, there’s the piece on Faith No More’s Angel Dust, where we con- vinced everyone except pumpkin-farming former guitarist Jim Martin to par- ticipate. Or the story on Helmet’s Meantime record—a perpetual source of discontent for dB Managing Editor Andrew Bonazelli—that was scrapped after it was revealed that ex-drummer John Stanier made some midnight blood pact with guitarist Peter Mengede and bassist Henry Bogdan to never speak of their xi 0306818066-Mudrian_01:Layout 1 5/4/09 1:28 PM Page xii time in Helmet again. Henry Rollins won’t do a Black Flag one (but Greg Ginn is totally available!). Neurosis have refused to partake in HOF stories for Souls at Zero, Enemy of the Sun, Through Silver in Blood and Times of Grace (but they’re always really nice about it when they shoot us down).