Year: 2012

“He was the exact type of person that grindcore is meant for — a true maniac.” So says Agent of Satan’s Lord Balsakk of his longtime friend, bandmate, and Bay Area grind/powerviolence standard-bearer Kindred (aka Stinkweed), a main player in Plutocracy and Agents Of Satan who passed away recently under mysterious circumstances. (“He was afflicted…

Even if you’re not a red-hot Cancer Bats fan you’ve got to admire a spectacular set-piece like this. In part to launch new album Dead Set on Living but totally to rise to a challenge from their booking agent, the Toronto punk-metal road hounds scheduled a one-day tour of London, with six shows routed in…

OK, we’ve just unveiled our first ever Paradise Lost cover story [Decibel #92] and exclusive Paradise Lost B-side flexi disc—which we’re super-chuffed about—but to say that we’ve been sleeping on one of the UK’s most important heavy acts of all time is all kinds of hyperbole. See, at Camp Decibel, Paradise Lost is given “special…

Cough, cough, happy 4/20. Hopefully you’re not smoking seeds like I am. Let’s get into it so you can get into other “recreational activities.” TORCHE release Harmonicraft, and this thing pecking kicks ass! Heavy rock riffage, with (gasp) a healthy dose of melody. This record should beaking turn the rock world on its boring tin…

Beelzebub’s Cave Miami, FL DIY Space (all ages) Having just wrapped up recording for our new record and with less then two weeks before the start of our run opening for Revocation and Cannabis Corpse (Dates here: http://www.metalsucks.net/2012/04/10/less-than-ten-days-til-the-awesome-revocationcannabis-corpseramming-speed-tour-begins/) I figured it was as good a time as any to haul out another DIVE BARS AND…

Witchsorrow’s sophomore album will be ripe for picking come the end of May. This is exciting news for doom heads. But what’s that you say, the timing could be better? The British trio’s Sabbath/Vitus morbido-doom doesn’t really make for a summer record, right? Those who think that crestfallen pessimism and slo-mo riff ‘n’ dirge was…

The last time we had direct contact with Brazilian death metallers Krisiun was way back in October 2011, where the terrible trio blogged a killer (literally!) Top 5 for us. Not that we don’t like a daily dose of Krisiun — new album The Great Execution is quality when not compared to, say, Apocalyptic Revelation…

British legends Paradise Lost will release their thirteenth album on Tuesday, the latest entry in a discography that is quickly approaching a quarter-century worth of releases. To celebrate this achievement, we asked guitarist Greg Mackintosh to a pick a non-PL record that related in some way to each of the thirteen full-length PL records that…

Justin Bartlett, eternal metal art badass, is going through some trying times. His 28-year-old sister Ashley was diagnosed with Stage 3 ovarian cancer on March 3rd and: On March 5th, she underwent emergency grueling surgery which seemed to last a day. Not only did the surgeons remove a 6″ and an 8″ tumor removed, they…

Last week, I interviewed one half of Calgary’s Mares of Thrace – the singing/guitar playing half, Therese Lanz – about a bunch of stuff that didn’t really have anything to do with the band or their upcoming release (next week!) on Sonic Unyon Metal, The Pilgrimage. This week, I offer this chat with drummer Stefani…

The same folks, Handshake, Inc., who had the good sense to bring you Managing Editor Andrew Bonazelli’s latest mixed-media masterpiece, DTV, have provided us with two exclusive like Rwake tracks from a very special upcoming 7″. The two savage tunes, “Forge” and “Imbedded”—both from If You Walk Before You Crawl You Crawl Before You Die—were…

Unless you live in Sweden and can subscribe to Sweden Rock Magazine for less than $132.77 per year (that’s the rate to America), chances of owning a physical CD slice of Marduk’s new “Souls for Belial” single are slim at best — pretty much up to eBay and/or those of you lucky enough to have…

As someone who grew up on shitty Midwestern boner rock radio, I get a little more excited than most of our staff (most of whom were making corpsepaint rorschachs in their diapers) when a clever, no-bullshit hard rock band graces our pages. ÆGES have already got some Upfront and reviews section love (well, they will…

Orange Goblin’s appetite for ale is the stuff of legend. When the Deciblog caught up with them prior to the long-awaited release of Eulogy for the Damned, frontman Ben Ward, bassist Martyn Millard, drummer Christ Turner and guitarist Joe Hoare were piecing together the making of an album that was recorded over nine weekend sessions….

Look, as regular viewers of Project Runway and The Rachel Zoe Project already well and truly understand, there is a fine line between embodying haute couture and becoming, in the immortal words of Tim Gunn, “a pterodactyl out of a gay Jurassic Park.” In Varg Vikernes’ promo shoot for the upcoming (actually quite excellent!) third…

After very regrettably missing the first four dates of the inaugural Decibel Magazine Tour due to visa delays, black metal miscreants Watain officially enter the fold at tonight’s show in Lawrence, KS. We’re all beyond thrilled to finally see the completion of this diabolical puzzlebox, and you should be too. Let’s all go off to…

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 have another Dis- band, although…

Speaking to Terrorizer frontman Anthony “Wolf” Rezhawk just before comeback LP Hordes of Zombies dropped, there was a lot that needed thrashing out. Firstly, there was the prospect of the Californian grind crew getting back together again after founding member Jesse Pintado’s death in 2006. Also, drummer Pete “Commando” Sandoval’s well-publicized back trouble, which has…

If you root around the internet for about three-and-a-half seconds, you can find all sorts of info on Calgary’s doom-y, sludge-y, math-y metallic duo, Mares of Thrace. Most of that will pertain to the band being comprised of two women – drummer Stefani MacKichan and guitarist/vocalist Thérèse Lanz – and all that clappity-clap about hot(test)…

The uncharacteristically warm winter that we just witnessed on the East Coast may have masked it, but summer is only weeks away from another triumphant return. And accompanying that inevitable reappearance, of course, will be staples like baseball, grilling and the beach. While the upcoming Torche album could serve as a perfect complement to any…

It’s possible Scott Kelly doesn’t sleep. Between his solo work, projects like Shrinebuilder and the untouchable legacy of Neurosis, you could rest a battleship on his laurels. But the man seems to never tire, with something new always around the bend. And to keep his fans in the loop with tours, releases and whatever else…

What is the Deathhammer? Bob Bagchus: Deathhammer represents the book of death metal. Our view on real death metal. It’s like the rules of what real death metal was supposed to be. Death metal was supposed to be hard, raw, dirty, creepy, dark and brutal to the bone. Music to be scared of. Just listen…

Following our previous couple of rants, both in print and on the Deciblog, about AC/DC’s line of Aussie wines, we started to notice that there are a hell of a lot of craft beers with AC/DC-inspired names. So, even though the band may not see the connection, craft brewers clearly do. Here are some that…

Swedish black metal horde Watain have been forced to pull out of the first four shows of their previously announced Decibel Magazine Tour—scheduled to begin tomorrow (April 11) in Columbus, Ohio—due to delays in the visa process. They will join Behemoth, the Devil’s Blood and In Solitude as part of the tour on April 16…

Meet Sandrider, the excellent new stoner rock/metal band of Nat Damm and John Weisnewski of Seattle noisecore heroes Akimbo. By way of introduction, we are streaming “The Corpse,” a standout track from the band’s epic self-titled slayfest available now from Good to Die Records. Though a very different beast musically, Sandrider’s debut, hypnotic and pummeling…

In what should be received as manna from heaven to all those waiting for new Godflesh material, Justin K. Broadrick has released another promo edit from the forthcoming JK Flesh LP, Posthuman. Released through UK label 3by3 on 30 April, Posthuman sees Broadrick resurrect his Techno Animal nom de guerre for another harsh excursion into…

Extreme music from Italy is usually coifed with keyboards, frilly shirts or over-songwriting. Sure, there are exceptions–as always–but few truly brutal Italian bands take it to the listener direct-like. Of course, Cripple Bastards, arguably the country’s most infamous (all the adjectives that go with infamous like “controversial,” “disgusting,” “revolting,” “uncouth,” etc.) grindcore outfit, have been…

What the squawk? This spring looks pretty barren. Not a whole lot going on at this time. But we’ll plow through it anyway. Fuck the Easter Bunny; let’s make it the Easter Parrot. We’ll start off with The Fatal Feast by Richmond thrash stalwarts MUNICIPAL WASTE. This is vaguely some sort of concept record of…

Just rocking up at ANTHRAX‘s recent London show to talk about comic book movies and assorted off-topic horseshit, we didn’t expect to have a video camera following us downstairs, backstage, our every move as we squeezed our wheasing, bloated selves onto a sofa to catch 20 minutes with the band’s commanding officer, Scott Ian. But…

This particular blog post was originally designed to be a congratulatory stamp for Winnipeg “elitist-asshole metallic noise rock with touches of post-metal, hardcore, sludge and doom” band, KEN Mode as they very deservedly came out on top in the category of Best Metal Album of the Year at last weekend’s Juno awards. To the most…