Month: October 2011

Warbringer Tour Diary, Part II

October 13, 2011

Hey out there metal dudes! Week two of the tour blog now, we have been completely hauling ass across the south. In the week since I wrote the last blog in Anaheim, we are now clear on the other side of the country in Tampa, Florida. Been doing drives averaging 9 or 10 hours every…

For the Fat Metalhead in all of Us

October 12, 2011

If you met Riley online or at a show, you may talk about the new Wolves in the Throne Room or Primordial or Agalloch. What you’d probably skip is dietary restrictions and a jogging regimen at six in the morning. But this metalhead is trying to lose some fucking metal weight. “Being fat is dumb;…

Justify Your Shitty Taste: In Flames “Reroute to Remain”

October 12, 2011

The nature/nurture quotient breaks down, the promise of the sprawling, churning overture that launches the anthemic title track is relentlessly fulfilled. Reroute to Remain is not only In Flames most multidimensional, diverse offering, it is also the record where every previously established aspect of its game — stellar, yeomanly guitar work; a rhythm section jackhammering ever deeper into the foundation — congeals, raising the whole to hitherto unscaled heights.

Pathology’s Top 5 Unsung Death Metal Albums

October 12, 2011

By Oscar Ramirez (bass) To me these albums take me back to when I was in my high school days. Walking home with my headphones in, people looking at me weird because I’m trying to mimic the brutal vocals, just overall crushing in-your-face music. I got the privilege to see most of these bands, except…

Your Metal Guide to the Great American Beer Fest Winners

October 11, 2011

Let us first just throw out a few numbers at you, just to give you an idea as to what the competition is like at the Great American Beer Festival, held by the Brewers Association every September in Denver. • 526 breweries from 48 states plus Puerto Rico, submitted beers • 3,930 beers vied for…

Mad Mad Muir Speaks

October 11, 2011

Mike Muir releases the damn near schizophrenic funk-folk-metal-punk hodgepodge The Mad Mad Muir Musical Tour under the Cyco Miko moniker today, and to mark the occasion Decibel conducted a wide-ranging interview with the iconic Suicidal Tendencies/Infectious Grooves frontman. Topics include the recent “Big 4” shows, his longtime bandmate Robert Trujillo’s insane success as an extra…

Insomnium – Contest!

October 10, 2011

Roll up, folks: it’s competition time! Courtesy of the good folks at Century Media we have one strictly limited edition boxset of Insomnium‘s new album, One for Sorrow and a t-shirt too (see below… It’s reassuringly black so won’t clash with downcast expressions and your sense of metal self). One for Sorrow is the Finnish…

Warbringer Tour Diary

October 10, 2011

Hello all! Kevill here, writing the first blog I’ve ever done for, well, anything. I’m not much of a blogger/record keeper kinda guy, I never take photos of anything or write in a journal, any of that. But here I get to report all the happenings on our first ever USA headlining tour with Lazarus…

For Those About to Squawk: Waldo’s Pecks of the Week

October 7, 2011

Every other Friday, Waldo the African Grey Parrot, frontbird of thrash-grind immortals Hatebeak, will get you caught up on the week’s latest “extreme” releases. What’s up? Your boy Waldo is back from the humdrum void of “real” work. As the year starts to wind down, so do the releases. Not that there’s not plenty coming…

Justin Broadrick interview: Godflesh, growing up and anarcho-punk

October 7, 2011

If Godflesh’s supremo of beats ‘n’ riffs, Justin K. Broadrick, is having trouble getting an unbroken night’s sleep, it’s not the attendant stress of having resurrected the industrial metal project for near-monthly live excursions after a near-ten-year hiatus. It’s not their forthcoming appearance at UK metal-fest Damnation that’s worrying him either, because he and Ben…

Vote With a Boss-HM2

October 6, 2011

As I sit and write this from sunny Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, it’s Election Day here in my home province. Today, Ontarians are being asked to go to the polls to elect the Premier of Ontario. I know to a lot of you FOX-watching ass-hats, the word/title of ‘Premier’ sounds suspiciously Soviet-like in its pronunciation, but…

STREAMING: Absu “Abzu”

October 6, 2011

There was a time when we divined the future out of tea leaves and coffee grounds (tasseomancy), a time when we ritualistically porked one another to achieve a greater sense of being (sex magick), a time when we stacked sticks and let them fall to try to find the right path (Rhabdomancy), and there was…

Top 5 Cookbooks That Everyone Should Own, by Derrick Prince

October 6, 2011

In the current issue of Decibel, Master Chef contestant Derrick Prince dishes on his recent experience as a finalist on the Fox cooking competition. So, what was it like going before that judge’s panel? “Gordon Ramsay is like one of those angry football coaches you see on TV – they’re rough and they scream at…

Flesh Parade – Heavy Metal Tattoo Reviews – Slayer Ass

October 6, 2011

Ha! I’ve finally received a heavy metal tattoo for critical analysis! This week’s installment of Flesh Parade comes from Josh over at the LunchMeat VHS fanzine. Josh says that he got this tattoo after a night of heavy drinking. Drunk points? Check. Josh continues, “It was decided that my buddy, who was the piercer of…

Exclusive: Cover art for Bloody Panda’s ‘Summon: Invocation’

October 5, 2011

The haunting, evil, beautifully fucked music of Bloody Panda is the exact kind of experimental doom that lends itself to multiple interpretations. Do an orchestral version or piano jazz take on their debut, and if done well the same sort of tar black feelings will likely bubble up. That’s why the remix of Summon, titled…

Justify Your Shitty Taste: Diamond Head’s “Canterbury”

October 5, 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, on Wednesday morning, 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…

Krisiun’s Top 5 Hellish Places In Brazil

October 5, 2011

5. Praia Boa Viagem Praia da Boa Viagem is the beach located in the most fashionable district of Recife, capital of the state of Pernanbuco, situated in the Northeastern coast of Brazil. The beaches there are beautiful and the weather is always nice and warm, inviting swimmers and surfers to get in the water—but don’t…

Baltimore Music Fest Celebrates the Old School

October 4, 2011

Being the senior member (in age, that is) of the Decibel contribs, any time anything “old school” comes around, it frequently gets kicked our way. And we’re totally OK with that. Especially when we get to shine a little light on a burgeoning metal fest in Baltimore that’s all about celebrating old-school metal. Defenders of…

STREAMING: Vallenfyre “Desecration”

October 4, 2011

Upstart British death metallers Vallenfyre will be new to most, but the group’s membership is as seasoned as they come. Featuring Paradise Lost’s Gregor Mackintosh on vocals/guitar, Paradise Lost drummer Adrian Erlandsson, My Dying Bride’s Hamish Glencross on guitar, and Doom bassist Scoot, Vallenfyre have only issued the Desecration / Iconoclast 7-inch to date. Limited…

Tapes from the vault: Triptykon’s Tom G. Warrior Q&A

October 3, 2011

This is some pretty hefty call-and-response type shit going on here, so it you’ll thank me in advance for not yammering on with no end in sight about how great Tom G. Warrior is, about how Celtic Frost and Hellhammer‘s collective legacy is responsible for some of the most essential records in metal, a whole…

Terrible Heavy Metal Halloween Costumes

October 3, 2011

The Sammy Hagar outfit encourages manscaping. I thought I’d get a head start on my Halloweening this weekend, so I began looking around the web for costume ideas. That, coupled with pumpkin beers and the Misfits discography, led me to seek out what America thinks qualifies as a heavy metal costume. The Dallas Costume Shop…