Managed Decline: Track By Track with Underdark

A tale of generational suffering wrought by Thatcherite policy and intended socio-economic neglect, the new record from Underdark isn’t just a brilliant black metal record; it’s a documentation of our past and our future.

The second full length from the Nottingham post-black metal collective, Managed Decline documents the tale of your average post-industrial town in the Midlands. An audible slice of life if you will. However, this is not a cosy snapshot of endearment. Capturing the economic downfall of the town in the 1970’s from Thatcherism and the bleak fallout over the next several generations, Managed Decline is a bleak, vivid and painfully visual retelling of the people trapped in the festering conditions intentionally engineered by Conservative rule. As Managed Decline intricately spiels tales of addiction, forced sex work and collective hopelessness on a cultural level, the record becomes gripping and vivid in it’s presentation; especially given it’s foretelling of our future with our political leaders currently stripping the country for all it’s worth and leaving us destitute.

Though a riveting concept this may be, what truly makes Managed Decline painfully gripping is it’s presentation. Bounded by paramount emotion, driven by genuine urgency and articulated with atmospheric contemporary black metal in the vein of the Underdark’s contemporariness of Svalbard, Dawn Ray’d and Downfall Of Gaia, Managed Decline further pays credence to how black metal can be an unparalleled vessel for storytelling when approached and utilised with creative finesse. On top of that, it also serves as a testament to how Underdark are well and truly one of the best black metal acts in the national scene. Improving upon everything laid out in their brilliant 2021 LP debut Our Bodies Burned Bright On Re-Entry, this record is both a fantastic exploration in musical documentation and proof of Underdark’s creative brilliance.

With the record out today via Church Road Records, we got in touch with frontwoman Abi Vasquez to break down Managed Decline track by track.

Managed Decline I

“Managed Decline is a story told over three generations about the degradation experienced by the residents of a post-industrial town in the Midlands. I wanted to explore the long term effects of Thatcherite neoliberalism and the slow-burning disaster they’ve been for people here. Each generation has to make do with less, and turns to more extreme vices to cope as the loss of purpose and community sets in.

The first song, ‘Managed Decline I’, sets the scene. It’s a broad picture of the town and its troubles, where they started and hints at what’s to come.

Employment

“The second, ‘Employment’, is concerned with the closure of the mines towards the end of the 80s, the clashes between the unions and police. The focus tightens to one ex-miner in particular as he struggles with destitution and directionlessness and ultimately drinks himself to death.”

Matrimony

“’Matrimony’ takes place a generation onward, where a chance hookup at a party results in an unplanned pregnancy and hasty wedding. The couple, both heroin users, try to keep it together for the sake of their child. Addiction, unfortunately, is a bitch and the mother relapses in a fatal overdose.”

Related: Underdark – Managed Decline | Album Review

Enterprise

“’Enterprise’ is the most aggressive song on the album so it’s fitting that it’s the darkest part of the story. The family from Matrimony, now just a father and daughter, are earning money – by pimping the kid to buy dope. I wrote it to also serve as a metaphor for the fetishisation of entrepreneurship in neoliberal society.”

Managed Decline II

“’Managed Decline II’ closes out the story on a semi-hopeful note – the escape of the child. It’s also symbolic of brain drain – young people leaving their communities because there’s nothing left for them. It’s at once victory and defeat; while the individual is free from the nightmare of post-industrial decay and the horrors she experienced; the town is still collapsing. She herself is living out the neoliberal dream: greed is good, abandon your community, self- interest is what makes us great. The focus pulls back out through that song, and addresses the audience – this is what the country has made of us all.

I guess ultimately, lyrically, it’s a ghost story.”

Managed Decline is out now via Church Road Records. Pre-order the record here.