Month: July 2012

Justify Your Shitty Taste: Faith No More’s “Introduce Yourself”

July 31, 2012

The tribal beats, the crunching metal guitar and the half rap/half sung vocals of Chuck Mosley coalesced into something altogether original. You can unfortunately perhaps heap some blame for nu metal on these dudes, but what they created at the time was in fact revolutionary. It was like Killing Joke, Metallica and the Red Hot Chili Peppers swapped members for a jam session and came up with a new genre.

Metalus Non Grata

July 31, 2012

These should be top-of-the-world days for Vilipend bassist Mike Crossley. The two early streams off the Toronto band’s upcoming Inamorata 12-inch — “Last Stand of the Hopeless Romantic” and “Great White Nothing” — have earned an enthusiastic from fans of chaotic noisecore aggression and a sure-to-be-killer tour with Meek is Murder is imminent. Alas, some…

Pagan Altar “The Time Lord” EP remastered and reissued on CD

July 30, 2012

English N.W.O.B.H.M./doom elders Pagan Altar will release remastered EP The Time Lord through Shadow Kingdom Records on 11 September 2012. Having previously only available limited vinyl runs, The Time Lord has hitherto harder to find than a taxi on New Year’s Eve, a pint of unicorn milk, etc… This is the first time it has…

STREAMING: Denial Of God “Death and the Beyond”

July 30, 2012

Denial Of God formed in Denmark in 1991. Right in the middle of the Golden Age of Swedish death metal and the nascent stages—Abruptum had just started to kick coffins, for example—what would be come the a worldwide black metal scene. Though few bands had full-lengths out—save for Bathory (now in the Viking phase), Root,…

Nuclear Death – “Bride of Insect”

July 28, 2012

Nuclear death were one of those bands that you really had to be there for. Formed in the depths of the Arizona desert in 1986 and dragged kicking and screaming through metal’s collective consciousness until 2000, the original trio was still in high school when they concocted what was to become their most beloved and influential recording.

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

July 27, 2012

What’s up? There’s definitely some stuff to crow about here, and I’m going to tell you all about it.

Black Shape of Nexus Espouse Noisy Doom, Disavow Anger

July 27, 2012

I’m pretty sure the guys in Black Shape of Nexus are fucking with me. I mean, I’ve heard heavy music borne out of positive catharsis and even righteous abandon (Devin Townsend, Cynic, et al come to mind immediately), but B.SON sound like they’re coming from a totally different place – specifically boiling out of a…

Exclusive Preview Track: The Catalyst Wants to Swordfight

July 26, 2012

I discovered Richmond’s The Catalyst the old-fashioned way: the dude at their former record company, Perpetual Motion Machine, sent me a vinyl copy of their first EP, Marianas Trench. Then, that same person sent me a CD copy of the expanded version of said record, Marianas Trench+9. At least that was the old-fashioned way for…

INTERVIEW: Shelsmusic’s Mehdi Safa (Part 2)

July 26, 2012

Two weeks ago, we ran the first part of our interview with Shelsmusic’s Mehdi Safa in which we discussed, among other things, how he finds bands and his label’s history with vinyl (you can read that here). In the concluding half of our interview, find out about Shelsmusic Studios, Safa’s views on streaming services like…

Inside The Shredder’s Studio: Elizabeth Schall’s Favorite Riffs

July 25, 2012

Welcome to the opening installment of Inside The Shredder’s Studio, where we talk to accomplished players and guitar nerds about the riffs that make them warm and fuzzy. It would be easy to call this another “Women In Metal” bonus feature but I’m not going to do that. You see, chances are Elizabeth Schall can…

STREAMING: Perzonal War “Tongues of Cleavage”

July 25, 2012

For the past 16 years, German “power” thrashers Perzonal War have wowed thrashers and heshers in their native land. They were discovered by Rock Hard magazine in what is presumed to be a Battle of the Bands/OK Corral-type competition that pitted the hard-hitting Perzonal War against sad kids in Burzum shirts and female-fronted acts with…

GIVEAWAY: Two Autographed Baroness “Yellow & Green” CDs

July 24, 2012

Don’t say that we never tried to give you anything. We’re not saying that we are definitely going to give each and everyone of you reading this something. But if you play your cards right [see footnote 1] you may at least have a chance for us [see footnote 2] to give you something. Mighty…

Cosmic Doom & Inky Toons: The Ominous Black Mega-Contest

July 24, 2012

Lord, do we have a bizarrely amazing contest for you all this morning! To celebrate their upcoming Steve Albini-produced 10-inch release on Anthropic Records, Philadelphia’s own self-described “down tuned psychedelic outer space beard metal” outfit Ominous Black has agreed not only to allow Decibel to stream one of these monsters of epic eclecticism, but is…

Interview: MARDUK’s Morgan “Evil” Håkansson on “Serpent Sermon” and jogging to black metal

July 23, 2012

Twelve albums in on a 22-year-old career and Swedish black metallers Marduk can still be relied upon 100 per cent to stick to the program and deliver a typically iconoclastic tour de force, touching upon all the genre essentials, anti-hymns to send toes curling in the Vatican and throughout Christendom. Serpent Sermon is pound for…

The Myth of the Peaceville Three

July 23, 2012

This piece is a long lost companion section to Decibel #92 cover story Paradise Lost. It explores and debunks the myth of the Peaceville Three—Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride, and Anathema—connecting and riffing off one another in the early to mid-’90s. Think of it as an updated version of fellow Decibel contributor Greg Moffitt’s UK…

The Lazarus Pit: Decoryah’s Wisdom Floats

July 20, 2012

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.  This week, we go skinny dipping in the…

Interview – Max Côté blackens the Great White North

July 20, 2012

It’s nice to have friends introduce us to new music, but in this age of ever flowing information and ubiquitous quick links, we often rely on bands’ personnel connections to lead us to our next aural awakening. Dude in our favorite death metal band also plays on this grind record or in that prog collective,…

Fight Fire With Metal

July 19, 2012

Obviously, War On Music’s Charley Justice works a lot faster than I do. When his original retail location at 38-44 Albert Street in downtown Winnipeg went up in flames back on April 19th, he ramped up his usual whirlwind of internalised kinetic energy and went to work at opening another location as quickly as possible….

CHOCK FULL O’CASPIAN

July 19, 2012

The past week or so has brought lots of Caspian news, which we were thrilled about given that aside from some shows here and there, it’s been a while since we’d heard from the instrumental post-rockers. According to their Facebook page, the Massholes spent much of April through June not playing, but rebounded nicely by…

Garage Days Eternal: Zac Ohler’s Life In Hardcore

July 18, 2012

If this sounds like the rambling of an old fart, so be it: kids have it too easy these days when it comes to underground music. If you have a laptop and spare time you have unfettered access to pretty much every rare treasure recorded during the past four decades of metal and punk. That…

Silje Wergeland (The Gathering) interviewed

July 18, 2012

Silje interviewed as part of our most excellent Women in Metal issue [dB #94]. How will Disclosure differ from The West Pole? Silje Wergeland: it’s fresher, braver, more confident and honest, deeper, newer. Now that the lineup’s had a few years to synch what’s it’s like working together? Silje Wergeland: It’s great and inspiring! We…

LIVE REVIEW: Melvins Lite Freak Puke All Over Victoria

July 17, 2012

Melvins Lite w/Retox, Club 9One9, Victoria, BC, July 16Who can really keep up with just exactly what the Melvins are up to at any given moment? There are new releases like clockwork. They have always been a prolific band and we suspect they always will be. If nothing else, they’ll have a discography that stretches…

“Something wicked this way comes…” Black Sun Drum Korps bring industrial doom to Shakespeare’s “Macbeth”

July 16, 2012

On 21 September, Scotland’s most enthusiastical audio bloodletters Black Sun will reimagine Shakespeare’s most brutal play as a theatrical work of avant-garde metal. The Glaswegian industrial/doom trio, operating under their extra-war-and-extra-percussion Black Sun Drums Korps handle, will take the Bard’s text, cut it up and adapt it to their own aesthetic. Given how carnal, martial…

Top 5 Female-Fronted Non-Metal Songs

July 16, 2012

5. Promise And The Monster – Wither Discovered when Myspace mattered to music, Promise And The Monster’s dark, sparse yet wildly imaginative goth-folk—yeah, terrible genre concatenation, but I concede defeat—was an instant hit in my not-so-thick music book. “Wither” has this fairytale quality to it. A little girl in the woods meets a terrifying creature….

Interview – Italy’s ORBE

July 13, 2012

Last year, Italian mostly-instrumental quartet Orbe created one of those albums that I listened to with half an ear and then didn’t get back to for a while.  Sometimes that’s an indicator of an album without a whole lot of immediacy, and sometimes it simply indicates the laziness of the audience.  In the case of…

Dive Bombs and Dive Bars #4 – Ramming Speed’s Guide to America’s Rock n’ Roll Venues

July 13, 2012

For the love of speed trials: another dose of Dive Bombs and Dive Bars – heavy metal venue reviews from everywhere across this blasted country. In this installment, Jonah Livingston, Ramming Speed’s blastbeat stopwatch, takes us to Boston, for a review of a venue in his home town. Great Scott Venue Allston, MA I must…

Exclusive Preview: If You Already Didn’t Know…

July 12, 2012

…Gaza fucking rule. The Salt Lake City ragers have a new album, entitled No Absolutes in Human Suffering, in the starting blocks and set to explode all over your faces on July 31st, courtesy Black Market Activities. Having just returned home last week from the opening slot on the Corrosion of Conformity/Torche/Black Cobra tour, the…

INTERVIEW: Shelsmusic’s Mehdi Safa (Part 1)

July 12, 2012

We spend a lot of time talking to artists—whether in blog posts or in each month’s issue—and rightfully so. After all, they put their blood, sweat and tears into making the music that brings us together. We haven’t necessarily dedicated a lot of space to the people actually putting out those releases, however, so we…

Vitamin X: Streaming New Track, Showcasing Sweet Cover Art

July 11, 2012

The Dutch hardcore band Vitamin X has been at it for fifteen years. While that might not seem like a huge stretch compared to, say, Sick Of It All it’s still a nice run in a time of short lived bands and one-man projects started in your neighbor’s basement. Their fifth album About To Crack…