Fear, Emptiness, Decibel: Listen to Leviathan Cover Blag Flack’s “My War”

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…

Axl took a couple days in February to contemplate some new Leviathan songs in the lead-up to Scar Sighted’s release (just last week on Profound Lore). Be it respectfully disagreeing with Jef Whitehead’s assertion that he’s “not really making black metal anymore” or hur-hurring at the inclusion of “coprolite” (fossilized shit) in a song title (that song being a “mindfuck” that makes him want to “hide under the bed”), your fearless co-leader agrees with Team Decibel: Whitehead is lapping his peers in terms of generating truly unsettling, arresting extremity.

One has to imagine that the writing process takes a lot out of an artist of Whitehead’s caliber, so it’s only natural to take a breather once in a while and bang out something “fun.” We’re happy (no quotes necessary) to bring you just that in the form of Leviathan’s Flexi Series debut, a cover of Black Flag’s classic “My War.” You won’t be surprised to learn that Whitehead has warped the hardcore anthem into a version that is singularly his own. “My War” was recorded way back in 2002, and is now getting not only its first-ever vinyl release, but a brand new mix from the great James Plotkin (OLD, Scorn, Khanate, a billion more bands you need to hear if you haven’t already). Take a listen here:

And as always, if you want the real deal—in this case white-on-black plastic—hurry into the dB webstore where we have a few copies of the issue containing the flexi currently available!

The May 2015 issue of Decibel also features a list of The Thirty Greatest Extreme Vocalists of All Time, Celtic Frost, and At the Gates, and can be purchased here. But anyone who doesn’t just get a full subscription may find themselves cornered in a dark alley by Jef Whitehead and Henry Rollins.