Month: February 2012

I didn’t watch the Super Bowl. I’ve died many small deaths with the loser-ass Jets for 26 years and really wasn’t in the mood for one more dick in the ear. Instead, I Netflix Instant-ed this… … which had its moments, but wasn’t long enough to sufficiently ignore the entire game. And so just as…

About two weeks ago, a massive set of Bob Dylan covers compiled to honor 50 years of Amnesty International—4 discs, 73 tracks and 73 different artists—hit shelves.  Sure, it’s fascinating to see an expansive and eclectic roster that includes old-timers like Pete Townsend, Jeff Beck and Mark Knopfler alongside relative newcomers like The Gaslight Anthem,…

Decibel illustrator and layout guru Bruno Guerreiro is curating his first art show in Philadelphia. Huzzah! Held at Kung Fu Necktie, a neighborhood-centric watering hole/club, Guerreiro is aiming for the highest highs, displaying his illustrations to a backdrop of outer space heavy — in the form of local astro rockers Rosetta and Restorations, Brooklyn-based doom…

It’s a well-established fact that Satan is responsible for all the best bands. Without His presence in the music—from AC/DC to Zyklon B—it wouldn’t be as dangerous, wicked or br00tal. Every metal band worth a damn has in its own way paid the devil his due. Like Diamond Head, for instance, who wrote a song…

So Alissa White-Gluz of The Agonist recently appeared on MTV’s Made to wear odd tiny hats and dispense life advice as a quote-unquote “Queen of Scream.” Her disciple is a lil pious church mouse named Julia, a sixteen year-old so terribly cyberbullied that by her own admission the only places she feels safe are “church,…

The phone just kept ringing out and going to Tony Foresta’s voicemail. We tried a few times, on each occasion considering leaving a “horny message” at the beep, as requested by the Municipal Waste frontman. It feels now like an opportunity missed. Ach, no matter, it was all cool. Foresta wasn’t dogging the call, obviously,…

Teaming up with Warbringer and label home Century Media Records, we’ve been able to score — for you, of course — a pretty swell prize pack for doing almost the same amount of work as flipping over a couch cushion.

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 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.  You people can’t bitch that I picked the…

Currently tearing across the States with fellow thrash vets Anthrax and Death Angel, Testament will be releasing their tenth album in spring. Entitled The Dark Roots of Earth, Testament frontman Chuck Billy has intimated that it’ll go atomic in the pit much in the same fashion as 2008’s The Formation of Damnation did. Hmm… Good…

First of all, let me say that I think one and all will agree: no one likes being ripped off. There are a lot of things we haven’t experienced in life and a lot of things we never will experience, but I don’t think anyone wakes up in the morning and thinks to themselves, “Shit,…

A sharp blast of powerviolence and sludge, with intricate lyrics and a pitch-perfect cover of Napalm Death’s “You Suffer,” Maine trio Robocop’s 2011 full-length Robocop II is easily one of the best releases on Grindcore Karaoke to date. Maybe we’re a little biased, because Robocop guitarist Ryan Page is consistently one of the most droll…

The name of Scourge Schematic’s debut is not exactly cryptic. Life Savings is what the four-piece cashed in to record this EP, hoping somebody out there would give a damn. Money well spent, dudes. Clearly influenced by the death and grind giants of the 90s, the band has soldered elements of thrash and punk rock…

To honor national prog day — yes, it really is 2.1.12 here in the United States, where we don’t mess up the date by transposing the month and day — Decibel was originally going to get Rush to perform Opeth covers in our offices, but logistics proved the event’s undoing. They were all up for…