Fear, Emptiness, Decibel: In Solitude Grace the Cover of the November 2013 Issue

Before there were blogs there were these things called magazines, and the only metal magazine we still get excited about reading every month is Decibel. Here’s managing editor Andrew Bonazelli…

Whatever In Solitude are going for with their logo, we’re backing it. It’s sort of an old western font, which may not seem to mesh with the occult trad-metal they produce, but when you hear the stampeding charge of new record Sister’s title track, it all makes sense. We rounded up the Swedish quintet for the November cover, which shouldn’t be much of a surprise. They kicked ass opening the inaugural Decibel Magazine Tour with jams from our fourth favorite album of 2011, The World. The Flesh. The Devil, and Sister is a huge step up from even that impressive accomplishment (so get ready for it to tie with four other albums for #41 in the forthcoming Top 40 Albums of 2013 feature).

This one’s a departure, in a real good way. In Solitude have grown up and imbued far more of their own personality into their third full-length, possibly in response to criticism that they’ve hewn too closely to the Mercyful Fate blueprint. J. Bennett’s got a big boner for this stuff, and he interviews not only the band, but Watain’s Erik Danielsson and Repulsion’s Scott Carlson to get perspective on this transformative new effort. It’s the main entrée in a pretty diverse dB menu this month: Godflesh flexi, Hank 3 Q&A, a fucking Bad Religion (!) HOF. In Solitude easily win hair of the month, though.

The November 2013 issue of Decibel can be purchased it here. But why not just get a full subscription to ensure that you never miss an issue?