Month: September 2011

The Lazarus Pit: Treponem Pal’s Aggravation

September 30, 2011

Welcome to The Lazarus Pit, a biweekly look at should-be classic metal records that don’t get nearly enough love; stuff that’s essential listening for students of extreme metal that you’ve probably never heard of; stuff that we’re too lazy to track down the band members to do a Hall Of Fame for.  This time around,…

Cliff Burton is awesome: 25 years on

September 30, 2011

Tuesday marked the 25th anniversary of Cliff Burton’s death. Metallica were traveling through Sweden on the Damage Inc. tour in support of Master of Puppets, when the band’s bus crashed just outside Ljungby, killing Burton. He was 24. Sometimes it’s easy—perfectly natural, too—to over-egg it and go nuts when evaluating the dead’s music or art….

Metal Never Takes a Holiday

September 29, 2011

According to the calendar hanging on the wall about two feet to the left of my bulbous head, today is Rosh Hashanah. In technical terms, this means today is the first of the high holidays, or Yamin Noraim, celebrated ten days before Yom Kippur and is observed on the first two days of Tishrei, the…

Kyuss Lives! & The Sword: Interviews From The Road

September 29, 2011

09/23/2011, Terminal 5, NYC Is this exciting, or what? Seeing Queens perform their self-titled was cool, but I never, ever thought I’d get to see Kyuss…or, uh, anything like Kyuss, either. When I found out about the NY date, as Decibel’s self-appointed toke-master general, I felt it was my duty to attend. In addition, I…

Ministry – “The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste”

September 28, 2011

I distinctly recall the first time I heard Ministry’s The Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Taste.

Korn Shifts Gears, Explores New Territory

September 28, 2011

I was going to write what I hoped would be the definitive critique of the heart-stopping shit mountain known as Loutallica, but then I got this in my inbox: Korn announced today that they will release their tenth studio album, The Path of Totality on December 6. But this is unlike any Korn record. It’s…

Justify Your Shitty Taste: Cave In, Everything After “Jupiter”

September 28, 2011

Almost every band has that album: you know, the critically and/or commercially reviled dud in an otherwise passable-to-radical back catalog. This time, Comrade Bennett accepts the editor-in-chief’s challenge to resurrect Cave In’s post-Jupiter oeuvre from beyond hypothermia.

SubRosa Interviewed

September 28, 2011

To quote your bio: “SubRosa comprises the deep thrum that makes up the underlying plasma of our invisible surroundings.” What does that mean?Sarah Pendleton: We are attempting to be the sonic interpreters of that which is intangible. The name SubRosa implies mystery. Something hidden. Do you actively try to keep things a bit obscure? Rebecca…

Sneak Preview of an Upcoming UK Thrash Documentary

September 27, 2011

Because of the stature they have attained, much of the metal-loving world puts the Big Four as the sort of holy, uh, quadrinity of thrash metal. These are the bands—all American—that we consider the originators and finest progenitors of the genre. But not so fast. If we’re to look at many of the Big Four’s…

Hey, that Angel Has an Axe!

September 27, 2011

Looking to get off that sis river of dreams… …and onto the thrashing, squalling river of rapture? Let Death Angel be your guide! The band is partnering with Jackson Guitars to give away three signed JS32 Rhoads guitars. All you have to do is fill out this online form and then mosey on down to…

LIVE EVIL FESTIVAL 2011 PREVIEW

September 26, 2011

One way to make sure your festival doesn’t suck, isn’t polluted by buy-on bands and weird compromises that all but beseech the audience to head to the bar for every third act is to have Darkthrone’s Fenriz choose the line-up. Using our favorite hiking metal punk’s Band of the Week blog to draw upon, the…

Carlsberg Beer Tests Your Intestinal Fortitude

September 26, 2011

Here’s some genius advertising. Imagine you and a friend walk into a movie theater filled with 148 very uncuddly men, and there’s only two seats left. What do you do? Do you muster up the courage to say, “Excuse me, giant, terrifying, tattooed sir,” and politely scooch your way to the seats in the middle…

Doom fans: get weirded out by Obake’s shapeshifting debut

September 23, 2011

Obake’s self-titled debut is a worthy soundtrack to finishing off a nightcap on such evenings when you’re expecting some gnarly spectral giant to visit mid-dream and inform you in disembodied tones of some uncomfortable truths, or deliver a prophecy on your soon-to-be-doomed future. Sure, when the opening riff to “Human Genome Project” kicks in, Obake…

Melt-Banana Tours North America. KSP Transforms into Pig in Shit, Dancing on Clouds.

September 22, 2011

Can you feel it in the air? For two months starting October 1st, it’s Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving and my birthday all rolled into one once again! Throughout my years as an unashamed and drooling Melt-Banana fanboy, whenever the Tokyo’s masters of the musical kitchen sink return to tour North America, I get all giddy in-and-outside…

Al Jazeera’s Look at Mid-East Metal

September 22, 2011

Dubai-based band Nervecell “The best rock is a religious experience,” says Mark Levine, author of Heavy Metal Islam. Yes, sure, but as history has shown, since man first grew hair on his ass, if you happen to belong to the wrong religion, it’s reason enough for you to die in a hail of bullets. And…

Tom Neely Currently Scaring the Fuck Out of West Coast

September 21, 2011

If you don’t know what Tom Neely is all about, that drawing up above should be a pretty damn good indication. Band artist, Decibel artist and the proud papa of Henry and Glenn, the man can de-virginize with pen or brush. And now he’s on tour. To promote his “painted novel” The Wolf, he is…

Disposable Heroes: Emperor’s “In the Nightside Eclipse”

September 21, 2011

Nothing’s more annoying than the immoral majority telling you how essential, transcendent and (huh-huh) seminal a particular extreme album is, when you know that it’s overrated as fuck. Hence, our OCCASIONAL Wednesday morning column, “Disposable Heroes,” in which one brave soul sails against the current to inform all you clones why you can’t spell classic…

STREAMING: Fuck The Facts “Alone”

September 21, 2011

There’s a quaint perception that grindcore is, in fact, two-dimensional. One (maybe two if you’re lucky) emotion — aggression — and the music follows accordingly. Of course, there are outliers to everything, but Ottawa, Canada-based Fuck The Facts proves that grindcore in 2011 doesn’t have to be like grindcore of 1986, 1987, or 1997. It…

Skeletonwich Exclusive Video Reveal of Triple Gatefold Art

September 20, 2011

OK, vinyl nerds, pay attention. What you’re about to witness is a little teaser from the fellas in Skeletonwitch and their label Prosthetic Records. In case you haven’t heard, Skeletonwitch will be releasing their fourth long-player, Forever Abomination, via Prosthetic on October 11 in North America. It’ll be available in three different formats but the…

Run Through the Purple Haze

September 20, 2011

Yep, no denying it: Danava loves Sabbath. To its immense credit, however, the band chooses to kick it on the Vol. 4 tip rather than open another franchise in the cottage industry of Master of Reality riff reheating. Hemisphere of Shadows, the follow-up to Danava’s much-acclaimed 2008 effort UnonoU, also throws a wonderfully off-kilter early…

ANCIENT WISDOM: Senior citizens run the rule over Album of the Year shortlist

September 19, 2011

Yeah, I know what you’re thinking, it’s a bit early to start thinking about the album of the year. It’s only mid-September. But such are publishing and album release schedules that we Decibel footsoldiers are mentally ensconced in winter, like, this year is so over. But the thing is, compiling a top 10 ten or…

Glorior Belli – The Great Southern Darkness, Album Stream!

September 19, 2011

There are certain Satanic rites you must preserve before previewing Glorior Belli’s latest offering, The Great Southern Darkness, in its entirety, here on the Deciblog. First shave yourself entirely, except for the hair on your head, which must be grown to maximum length. Then take two lumps of coal and rub them vigorously all over…

The Lazarus Pit: Anacrusis’s Screams and Whispers

September 16, 2011

Welcome to The Lazarus Pit, a biweekly look at should-be classic metal records that don’t get nearly enough love, stuff that’s essential listening for students of extreme metal that you’ve probably never heard of.  Stuff that we’re too lazy to track down the band members to do a Hall Of Fame for.  This week, we…

Cannabis Corpse take the high road through Europe

September 16, 2011

The Deciblog took to sober prayer and genuine concern when Cannabis Corpse brought their marijuana death metal party through Europe. The big worry was in the logistics: just how were four weed-obsessed death metal dudes from Richmond, VA going to negotiate over ten border controls, navigate themselves across the continent without some Midnight Express fucking…

Interview: Fuck the Facts

September 15, 2011

Fuck the Facts is a name grind fans and people interested in the mortified reactions of mainstream society have probably heard bandied about for years. Originally a solo project of guitarist Topon Das, FtF has existed in some form since 1998 with countless releases under its sweaty belt. Inarguably, the line-up currently comprising the “fucking”…

AVV Satanic Contest Winners Announced!

September 15, 2011

Finally! The moment of coagulated anticipation has arrived! The Deciblog is ready to unveil the top five Satanic souls who conquered our Ancient VVisdom Contest, presenting their Satanic treatises unedited and unabridged. Each scored themselves a fresh, hands-on copy of A Godlike Inferno! Jealllooouuusss. 5. Through a simple twist of fate, Paulee was converted from…

Metal Fit for Extinction

September 14, 2011

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6sHd7JRHCM Let’s not kid ourselves or spend too much time building up to what we’re discussing here. Hevisaurus (read that name out loud) is a Finnish power metal band for children with members dressed like dinosaurs. As they stare out into the elementary-aged audience with their cold, dead, prehistoric eyes, my once cherished vision of…

Justify Your Shitty Taste: Pestilence’s “Spheres”

September 14, 2011

Almost every band has that album: you know, the critically and/or commercially reviled dud in an otherwise passable-to-radical back catalog. Well, once in a while, a Decibel staffer or special guest will take to the Deciblog to bitch and moan at length as to why everybody’s full of shit and said dud is, in fact, The Shit. Let’s keep the death spiral going with Jeff Wagner “circle”-jerking Pestilence’s Spheres

Lifelover guitarist Jonas Bergqvist (aka ‘B’) passes away

September 14, 2011

Lifelover guitarist Jonas Bergqvist (aka ‘B’ and ‘Nattdal’) passed away on September 9th, 2011. Although Bergqvist’s death was unforeseen and unfortunate—rumors suggest he had a bad ticker—the members of Lifelover, who have now officially disbanded as a result and in honor of Bergqvist, vow to keep the band’s various Internet websites alive. Lifelover issued a…

Fate Brings Arch/Matheos Together Again

September 13, 2011

It’s big news in the metal world when an album (or EP, or whatever) arrives with John Arch’s vocals on it. His Bruce Dickinson-like tenor was a beacon in the mid-’80s U.S. metal scene when he fronted Fates Warning on their now-classic first three albums. After he left the band, however, he basically put music…