Over the past few years, Decibel has championed Indianapolis sons Mother of Graves due to their continuation of the somber spirit the likes of Anathema, Paradise Lost and My Dying Bride. So smitten are we that each of their full-length offerings, 2022’s Where Shadows Adorn and 2024’s The Periapt of Absence, landed comfortably in our scientifically accurate Top 40 Albums of the Year (No. 27 and No. 11, respectively). We’ve even been so fortunate as to line up rare live appearances at the 2023 installment of Metal & Beer Fest: Denver and the upcoming Metal & Beer Fest: Philly 2025. But in spite of all that attention, it’s only by sheer luck that your dependable co-nerds learned that the rhythm section of the quintet—bassist Corey Clark and drummer Don Curtis—had their fists full of proverbial quarters, ready to throw down in the Kill Screen arcade.

Gamers in the metal community aren’t always quick to wear their love of the game on their battle vests, proving a problem for both sides of the digital table. As fathers and members of such a solemn metal act, preconceptions and lack of communication can make it difficult for the two to find shared enthusiasm for their self-described “hobby from their hobby.” “For Mother of Graves, we’re kind of the last go-to guys to talk about the origins of the music and stuff,” explains Curtis. “And us loving games… We can at least feel confident in what we’re talking about. Because other than that, I’m like, ‘I just like to hit things! I play drums!’” The flickering neon lights of Decibel’s nerdiest column prove to be the right environment for them to indulge, leading to an uncommon interview with the death-doom duo. Ahead of their Philadelphia debut at Metal & Beer Fest next month, we were more than happy to lift the shadows on their gaming proclivities.

What were your first gaming experiences?
Corey Clark: For me, it was the NES. Duck Hunt and [Super] Mario [Bros.], like, right out the gate. That’s just nostalgia for me as a gamer. I’ve gone through a lot of the systems, but that was the one that started off. We did have an Atari. My dad had an Atari, so we had that for a little while. But other than that, for me personally, the NES. I was maybe between, like, 6 and 10, something in there. I don’t remember exactly. It wasn’t the year that it actually dropped, but I was pretty young. It was probably ’90 to ’93 area.

Don Curtis: My first experience was a laundromat with some Pac-Man. My dad and my mom would sell it to me like, “We’re gonna go to the laundromat, but they got a game there!” “Alright, I wanna go!” I like pinball, also from the laundromat experience. And then I got the Nintendo with R.O.B. the robot when it came out. Like, ’85 or something like that.

Did you ever get R.O.B. to work?
Curtis: I did. It took a lot of batteries I remember. My dad liked the gyro, the spinner. He played with that by itself. But I figured out I could use my feet for Gyromite. I’d put the second controller in and use my toes to raise the columns or whatever. Made it pretty easy.

Both of you mentioned your parents. Was this a shared family excitement? Or were these just toys to keep you distracted so they could do all the adult shit?
Clark: I think it was a little bit of both, probably. I’m sure they got to the point where they needed a break and needed to handle some business. But I think it was one thing that they shared the excitement for sure, especially the day of getting it and giving it and everything, seeing our excitement. It was a thing that we definitely all sat down and did, especially early on. They were always kind of into the idea of technology. We got a computer when they were first coming out, and then we got dial-up [internet] when it first came out. The moves in technology, they kind of went with us, which was cool. But yeah, gaming was a lot more early on.

Curtis: Yeah, my dad actually enjoyed Pac-Man and stuff, so we kind of did it together. He actually showed me the first cheat code I’d ever seen, where he figured out how to get “no missiles” on Galaga. He did it in front of me one time—you gotta go to, like, the third stage and keep two guys alive or something—and he did it first try. I was blown away. He’s not a gamer per se, but there were times where they’d, you know, “Go in your room, you leave us alone!” My dad, I know he liked Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!! a lot. And he was better than me just for a little bit, because he read the instruction book. [Laughs] So that was his claim to fame: “Yeah, I read the manual!” But I figured it out and then eventually started overtaking him. But that was when we just had the one TV and I had to wait for him to get done watching his shows. We just didn’t have a TV in every room like we do now.

What have you guys been playing lately? What are the games that you typically prefer to play?
Clark: I like playing dungeon crawlers, horror games, things like that. I’ve been diving into Path of Exile II, which is really fun. It’s kind of like a Diablo remake. For me, it’s, like, on steroids, you know? It’s just got all of the little tiny cracks that were missing in Diablo games for me personally. And then Resident Evil games, I like to run those. I’ve been working on a speedrun of Resident Evil 2 Remake, so I’ve been really diving into the nooks and crannies of all of the quick turns down the hallways and all of that stuff, which has made it really fun trying to beat your own time. But for me, that’s what I like doing—horror and dungeon crawlers, for sure.

Curtis: For me, the Yakuza series has pulled me in. I love it. I can’t get enough. And there’s the pirate one [Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii] coming out this month, I think. I’ll be playing that for sure. I think I played [Yakuza 6] first and I was like, Wow, this is a pretty cool game! It drug me in to play the earlier ones, so I went and revisited all the other ones, like the Kiwamis. And then there was the Judgment offshoot—same combat and everything, enjoyed those. I just got done beating [Like a Dragon:] Infinite Wealth, which is the RPG style. Love it. The characters are cool, I like their sense of humor. A little bit different, a little bit of change.
Other than that, I just got done playing Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown. It’s got a good retro vibe—side-scrolling, parkour type of platformer—which brought back the adrenaline of Mario kind of, when you’re trying to make certain jumps without falling in a hole or something. Yakuza doesn’t do that. It’s a different kind of vibe.

You started with part 6. You obviously weren’t there at day one of the franchise, but it hooked you so much that you went back and played all of the old ones. What was it about it that like really sunk the claws in?
Curtis: One thing I really liked is games within a game. They had a lot of mini games. They even had a Sega arcade building you can go into and play Virtua Fighter. I really like that. You get tired of what you’re doing, I’ll just hit the arcade and play some Virtua Fighter. It’s just neat to be able to do that. The first time I noticed that was Animal Crossing. You could get a Nintendo system for your room and you could play, like, Excitebike or something. I thought that was really cool. I like the mini game aspect.

You just finished Infinite Wealth. How was it going from the very button-mashy combat of the mainline Yakuza series and then going into the very Dragon Quest, turn-based RPG of Infinite Wealth?
Curtis: I think there were so many games with the action combos that it was really refreshing. The way they did the first Like a Dragon game, it was so well done, I couldn’t get enough of that game. I like [the first one] better than Infinite Wealth. The grinding aspect of it, sometimes I like to grind. I felt like Infinite Wealth was a little bit too easy, maybe. I didn’t know if I would like it or not, but I ended up really liking it. I think I like the RPG style better, even though I really enjoy the action. It’s one of my favorite games, Like a Dragon.

When would you say you found 6?
Curtis: Maybe five years, something like that.

Do you typically find new games that get you excited or do you seek out stuff that hits that comfort food feeling?
Curtis: For me, it’s hard to get excited like I used to. You know what I mean? We’re not children anymore. And so I think I do look for something a little bit different. I was a really heavy Destiny player. It kind of took over my life for a couple of years. We really bonded with our fireteam; it was tough dropping out. It gets you in the feels because you become really tight with these people. [Laughs] I made some really good friendships off of that. But recently, I’ve been leaning towards a single-player experience where I’m not needed. I don’t have to be on by 7 p.m. or [else] people will be upset with me. Music picks up, leaves less time for the games. That’s the one thing I have to sacrifice. I can’t beat a game as fast as I used to.

Clark: Probably in my top three right now would be Elden Ring. It hasn’t been out that long and that’s probably one of my favorites. I could play over and over again. I think I put 262 hours in it already. I platinumed it on the PS5. It was so much fun to play. FromSoft games have been something that I’ve always kind of gone to just because the difficulty of it. That kind of ties into the excitement of it, because when you work a boss for two hours and you finally get him, that level of excitement there is kind of close to what I feel like maybe childhood was getting that new game or getting that new system or whatever it may be. But for me, I’ve been on a quest of collecting game systems that I had when I was a kid and games that I’d played or games that I wanted to play. I’ve been doing that for probably 5 or 6 years now, just collecting old consoles and stuff like that. But yeah, I think the more difficult the game can be, the more excited I get, if that makes sense.

What are some of the gems in your collection that you’ve gotten recently and what are the ones that you’re looking for?
Clark: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, that’s the one that I’m looking for currently. I have a lot. [Laughs] They’re all gems to me. Some of them are games that I played and some of them are games that I want to play that I haven’t because the backlog just keeps getting bigger because I keep finding little gems. Silent Hill would probably be one of the gems, Silent Hill 2. I have Boogerman: [A Pick and Flick Adventure] on Genesis. [Laughs]

You brought up horror games. The umbrella for horror games has gotten very, very wide. What would you say is your wheelhouse when it comes to the horror genre?
Clark: Survival, probably. I’ve made friends that are more into survival, less just jump scare kind of stuff. More ominous horror, I guess, for me. The Resident Evil games, those are great. I think that those will still stand the test of time, even the original games. But for me, I think survival—having very minimal [supplies], not a lot of gung-ho, shooter kind of horror.

Curtis: I really like Silent Hill. I think I played 2 first on the Xbox. Really liked that. [Silent Hill 4:] The Room, really neat story. Had a weird ending, and I don’t think I got the best ending. But I like the puzzle-based scariness of being stuck somewhere. I thought it was neat that he was stuck in his apartment.

That was a weird game. It’s definitely very different than a lot of other titles.
Curtis: Yeah, I enjoyed that one. But I’ve kind of always leaned towards the Silent Hill series for my horror. I do like Resident Evil as well, but yeah.

At what point are you two going to fight over which one is better between Silent Hill and Resident Evil?
Clark: [Laughs] I love them both. I do. They both have very unique aspects to them that make them obviously different than the other, but I do enjoy them both. I still think maybe Resident Evil is a little bit more superior, but I guess I do have a specific side to it. The weirdness sometimes, it’s fun and I like the idea of the world changing and things like that. But for me, the earlier Silent Hills were a bit more clunky and not as smooth as the Resident Evil games.

Curtis: I’ll give you that. [Laughs]

Both the Silent Hill and Resident Evil franchises have seen pretty significant remakes in recent years. Silent Hill 2 is the most recent, but you have Resident Evil 2, 3 and 4 that got very popular remakes. Are you finding enjoyment with these remakes [as they’re] revisiting these titles and giving them these quality of life updates? Do you have any kind of feelings about the purity of these franchises?
Clark: With speedrunning and stuff like that, I watch speedrunners. I watch other gamers play these games. You can kind of tell that they’re kind of gearing it towards more modern wants and needs with the way that technology is in our face. We’re just constantly stimulated. I feel like they’re changing those games to kind of gear more towards that ideal. The earlier games focused a lot more on what you have, how to use it and not use too much of it—you never know when you’re going to get more ammo or whatever. I think a lot of the newer games, it’s kind of like you can just go buy ammo or run down that hallway and they’re going to drop ammo and things like that. I have an appreciation for the originals because they’re the ones that I played and those are the ones that helped guide my journey through gaming. But the new ones, it’s almost like you can look at them not necessarily as a remake, but like a branch of that franchise. I feel like the third remake in Resident Evil, they cut out half the game almost from the original.

Yeah, huge environments were just gone.
Clark: Yeah. And the fact that they showed you the clock tower and they didn’t give you the clock tower? [Laughs] It’s funny.

Right? So frustrating! You get there and you’re like, Oh, sweet! We’re going in the clock tower next! Alright, here we go! And then no clock tower. [Shrugs]
Clark: Yeah. I mean, I wouldn’t say that they’re bad games in any way, shape or form. I like playing them. I think Resident Evil 2 remake has been the better remake of all of the ones that we’ve gotten so far. I think it’s as cut and dry to the original. Obviously, you get a lot more graphically and things like that, and they do kind of change a little bit here and there. But more or less, it’s straightforward and I appreciate that. But for 3, I was kind of let down. 4 was good, though.

Curtis: I haven’t checked out any remakes, really. A lot of the time, I like to keep my memories pristine and intact. If I have a good memory of a game, I don’t want to go and ruin it for some reason or get mad at it. But I don’t have a whole lot of time to play, so I’m looking for the new games. Unless I really like it. If they remake those middle Yakuza games, I’ll play those. 3, 4 and 5, I’d like full remakes of those, please. [Laughs] That’s about it.

Mother of Graves plays very somber music. Do you find yourself attracted to those more somber, serious stories in gaming, or do you typically look for something that’s more of an escape from those heavy feelings?
Curtis: I definitely feel like it’s an escape. You gotta take a breath every once in a while, or come up for air. I think games are therapeutic, especially for musicians, because you do need a hobby from your hobby sometimes. Anything can become work if you do it too much, so I definitely try to keep games for my therapy side. I don’t want to make it too serious. And that’s why I do like Yakuza, because they do keep it lighthearted. There’s a time for everything, but I kind of like to get upbeat a little bit, kind of forget about the gloom for a while.

“I think games are therapeutic, especially for musicians, because you do need a hobby from your hobby sometimes. Anything can become work if you do it too much, so I definitely try to keep games for my therapy side. I don’t want to make it too serious.” –Don Curtis

Clark: Yeah, it’s kind of the same for me. I guess it’s kind of situational; where I’m at in life or even the season, I feel it can add to the atmosphere and the feeling of gaming. So if you’re stuck inside all of the time because of winter, you want to play something a little bit more lighthearted. But if everything’s up and going and constantly running, sometimes it’s nice for me to settle down and dive deep into a storyline or something like that.

Resident Evil 2 remake speedrunning: What made you decide that not only that was the game, but that you were going to pick up speedrunning?
Clark: Watching other people do it, seeing the excitement going through. I feel like beating a game is one thing, but beating a game better is another kind of thought process, like, How can I cut getting from here to here down with less ammo, less saving? or whatever it may be. I think I got my first S+ run on Resident Evil 2 remake and then I was like, OK, maybe I can do the same thing, but do it faster—take less damage to where it cuts eight seconds off my time. Watching these other people do it, it doesn’t seem impossible.
The fun thing about speedrunning is you don’t have to do it a certain way. You’re really just racing yourself inevitably. You can try to get on leaderboards, but they’re down to milliseconds, you know? It’s so frustrating to see. And then you do a run and you’re three quarters of the way through the game and then the RNG changes, the zombie comes a little earlier than he normally does and now you’re out five seconds and that’s the run—you gotta start over.

Do you see a parallel to practicing and becoming a better musician?
Clark: Honestly, I’ve never actually thought about it, but saying it and hearing it out loud, I can definitely see that being a correlation. It definitely plays into each other, for sure. We used to play in a death metal band called Summon the Destroyer and it was a very technical death metal band and it was something that was timed and fast and technical on the guitar. It was super fun to play and I loved it, but it was one of those things where I felt like we kept testing ourselves. Like, Could we go up a couple more BPMs? Could we go a little faster? And it felt like that. So yeah, I definitely could see a parallel between the two. Absolutely.

Curtis: My mom was cool and would always say, “You’re working on your hand-eye coordination.” She was one of those that bought into that, so I’m like, Yes! I do believe that, especially the platforming type games where you’re reacting. It definitely sharpens you up a little bit. You’re using your hands. Drum sticks, the controller, it’s just an extension of your body basically. You kind of forget that you’re holding a controller—it just becomes you and the game. It’s the same with my instrument. When I’m playing the drums, I forget that I’m holding a wooden stick and I’m hitting things.

What’s your personal best time?
Clark: I think for me right now, it is an hour and, like, 46 seconds or something like that—which is, like, 12 or 13 minutes away from the world record, if I remember correctly. Even though it’s only less than 15 minutes, that’s forever away from getting close to a world record, [laughs] so that’s why I haven’t tried to get on any of the scoreboards. I haven’t submitted anything or anything like that. It’s just for me. I think it’s a personal thing, like, How good can I do?

We have spoken to a contemporary of yours, Corey Parks from Graveripper, who is also very into speedrunning. Have you ever shared notes with him? Do you have many gamers in the Indianapolis metal scene or are you three kind of the anomaly?
Curtis: I think we keep it low-key for some reason. We’re all tough guys, you know, while we’re at the gig. I’m sure there’s lots of gamers—there has to be. It’s something we should touch on more, but it’s always talking about gear, whatever.

Clark: I have talked with Corey a little bit about gaming. Nothing about speedrunning or anything like that. I know he was playing a bunch of the Silent Hill games, I’m not sure if he was speedrunning any of them. But we haven’t really, like I said, discussed anything more than just chitchat back and forth—what we’re playing, what we’re doing—but no notes. That would be cool.
Going back to the parallel you brought up earlier James, gaming and playing, I feel like they’re hand-in-hand, music and games. I definitely feel like there should be more communication. I love what you guys are doing with this, with your segment, with what you guys put together. It’s phenomenal. I love it. I’ve actually been watching and keeping track before this ever even came about. It’s really rad.

We appreciate your support. We’re small, but dedicated.
Clark: Yeah, that’s where it starts and then it blows up. I think that this is actually a little bit of motivation for me to to start talking about it a little bit more because it would be nice to get together. I remember in the early days playing Halo on Xbox, having LAN parties with all your buddies coming over. You’ve got four TVs and four rooms and a router spreading cables through the hallways. Mountain Dew and pizza! That’s the kind of stuff that made me not only appreciate but love gaming—the camaraderie that comes with it. But yeah, as he said, you get older and you gotta act a little bit differently. I don’t think you should have to, [laughs] but like I said, maybe this is motivation.

“I remember in the early days playing Halo on Xbox, having LAN parties with all your buddies coming over. You’ve got four TVs and four rooms and a router spreading cables through the hallways. Mountain Dew and pizza! That’s the kind of stuff that made me not only appreciate but love gaming—the camaraderie that comes with it.” –Corey Clark

After reading some of the interviews that we’ve done, was it surprising to see how many others in recognizable bands were interested in video games? Did you just never consider it to be a thing?
Curtis: It never crossed my mind, really. It’s just something you don’t think about. Sometimes—I don’t know why—it sparks the creativity. But yeah, it’s something I never thought about, really.

Clark: I feel like there has to be a correlation with metal, and like I was saying earlier, if there is, there are more gamers. I just feel like it’s one of those things where not knowing an individual or speaking to an individual, you’re like, “Oh!” Like, I never would have thought that [Cannibal Corpse vocalist George] “Corpsegrinder” [Fisher] would play claw machines and donate all of the stuffed animals. But then you read that and you’re like, That’s amazing! But I never would have thought that! You know what I’m saying? [Laughs] It’s something that you probably are like, “Yeah, for sure,” but then when you do see a certain person band members or celebrities or whatever, you’re like, Oh wow, cool! That’s neat.

The connection to death-doom wouldn’t exactly be the most apparent, but would you say that there have been any gaming OSTs that have influenced either your approach to music or your appreciation of music in any way?
Curtis: Certain game soundtracks stand out to me. ActRaiser for Super Nintendo has a very orchestral, big, epic theme. I really enjoyed that. As an impression, it stayed with me. It set the mood for the game. I’d always pop for good music, like SimCity, Pilotwings. Super Nintendo had a really cool lounge organ vibe. Those are the ones that really stick with me. There’s a bigger connection to be made with bands and games—crossovers and soundtrack type stuff. It’s starting to happen a little bit already, but it could get real huge.

Clark: Are you guys familiar with Mortal Shell? Rotting Christ did a bit for them as well, if I remember correctly, which is super cool. I’m almost positive. You can download it on PS5. It’s like an extra I think $7 or something like that, not very expensive. But if I remember correctly, yeah, they did a couple tracks for it, which is insane. I got the game because it kind of gave me that dark FromSoft kind of feeling, and then after getting the game I was just reading through the “about” part of it and at the bottom it said something about it. I was like, This is insane! It should happen more. I definitely think it would bring a different demographic to gaming as well.

Let’s say somebody approached you and said, “We’re going to set up a deal where you can do an OST to a game in any one franchise.” In this magical world where it’s that easy, what franchise would you possibly like to do a soundtrack?
Clark: I would say FromSoft, for sure. Not only because I’m biased, but I feel like there’s a lot of atmosphere in those games. Even though they can get kind of brutal, they can really get heavy in just the battles and constantly going into it. With our approach to doom, I think that it can be massive and be atmospheric in itself. I think traveling from place to place would definitely be easy to fit that gameplay.

Curtis: Let’s try to hook up the next Doom soundtrack, whatever that is.

You guys don’t [play outside of Indianapolis] much. You’ve only played a handful of shows, but you are slated to play at Metal & Beer Fest in Philly, and you have been hitting other fests as well. Do you ever get a chance to bring gaming with you on the road, or is that strictly an at-home decompression thing?
Clark: I do like to game on the road if I can. I think a couple of years ago, we did a short little stint to the East Coast and I brought my Switch with me, and that was a little bit after they dropped the new Zelda [The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom]. So I got to play bits and pieces of that on the road when we were going back and forth to areas. And then I realized that I didn’t bring a charger for it, so I had to buy a new one just to keep it going. [Laughs] But, yeah, I do like gaming as much as I can, honestly. I don’t think there’s really a boundary to what I’ll try, too. I’ll try any game once, but there’s certain ones that do drive me, like the FromSoft games.

Curtis: For me, for the most part, I keep the games at home for now. We’re on the road more, I would consider. I have so many drum pieces and it’s nerve-wracking to keep track of all that. It’d be hard to bring another rig with me. And I try to stay locked in, you know what I mean? If we’ve got a big show, I don’t want too many distractions. I mean, if there is a lot of downtime, it is nice to have something.

Do you ever hit a Barcade or just in general arcades?
Clark: Oh, every time.

Curtis: Yeah, yeah, for sure. If there’s one there, we’ll both do it, for sure. We’ve got Tappers here. It’s a bar/arcade, really cool. You buy a drink and all the games are free. Really cool concept.

That seems very generous. [Laughs]
Clark: [Laughs] Yeah. Well, they’re all custom beers and whatnot. So, it’s not a inexpensive drink, but, if you’re playing for free, it’s worth it, for sure.

We see a couple of cabinets behind you. What are you working with there?
Clark: [Looks back] That’s Marvel Super Heroes, and then Rampage back behind it. It’s just the little [Arcade1Up machines]. They’re super fun. I have a 10-year old and we both love gaming. This was something that we got earlier on, and it kind of gave him that arcade feel with us just being at home. I love them. They’re super fun. They’re tiny, they’re out of the way and it kind of brings back the nostalgia of it.

Are you hoping that your son carries on the legacy of gaming?
Clark: I have no doubt in him. He’s got a hold on gaming. I feel like it’s one of those things—kind of like the story you [points to Curtis] were saying earlier—I’m a little better at most of the games that we play together, but then a month later, I’m no longer better. [Laughs] Kids are sponges, like they say. We’ve already had this kind of wiring happening throughout our lives, so playing a new game, we kind of readjust the way that we think. It’s going from the clunky controls to something more smooth. For kids, they just absorb it and it’s instant. So, I have no doubt that he’s going to definitely carry on the gaming love and legacy of it.

Curtis: I have a son who’s a really good gamer, and it’s to a point where if he comes in a room, I’ll stop playing if I’m playing something because I don’t want him to roast me. [Laughs] He’s like, “What did you do that for?” I’m like, “I don’t know what… Just shut up!” If he comes in, I just pause it and ask him about his day. [Laughs]

Even though you’re a band that’s associated with very morose, somber music, like you said, we all could use some escapism in our life. What would be a game that each of you would recommend as a good form of escape or release or even something that offers a little bit of hope?
Clark: That’s a good question. [Pauses] I guess it kind of depends on the release you’re looking for you. I don’t know. I feel like a game that you can thoughtlessly play would be Helldivers 2 or something. You’ve had a long day at work or whatever, you get home and you don’t want to commit to a storyline, you just want your brain to let go and just grind, for me, that would be Helldivers. You drop in, you kill a bunch of shit and then you go back up and then you drop in again, kill some more shit, go back up. For me, I think that’s a good one that’s just thoughtless and a good release and easy to kind of let go of reality for a little while.

Curtis: I gotta go back to the Yakuza series, man.

Clark: [Laughs] Tried and true.

Curtis: There’s a lot of good stuff in there, feel good stories. You get to help a lot of people out. There’s a lot of side missions where people are in trouble and you get to help out, you get to be the hero. You always come out on top, which is cool. [Laughs] I can’t think of anything better than that.

The Periapt of Absence is available now via Profound Lore and can be purchased here.
Tickets to see Mother of Graves at Metal & Beer Fest: Philly 2025 can be purchased here.
Follow Mother of Graves on Bandcamp, Instagram, Facebook, BlueSky and Twitter.

The post KILL SCREEN 058: Corey Clark and Don Curtis of MOTHER OF GRAVES Shatter Their Toughened Visage appeared first on Decibel Magazine.