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By Mike McGinnis Positive and negative. Quiet and loud. Angst and ease. Can’t have one without the other. This is a primary concept we’ve been working with on our new record and trying to incorporate as much contrast as possible in both the sound and the themes without steering too far from the sound we’ve…

Two years ago, Aussie weirdos King Parrot’s debut full-length, Bite Your Head Off, unloaded itself on that continent.  Candlelight Records then released the album Stateside late last year, and the band of screwy-grindy-thrash-loving dudes have been flapping back and forth between land masses to support their renewed new-act status. We had a chance to ask King…

Starting tomorrow, rejuvenated NWOBHM heroes, Satan make a return to North America for a series of tour dates that haphazardly criss-crosses the continent over the course of the next couple of weeks in support of their new live album, Live Sentence. Recorded on their first and only tour of the colonies last year in support…

The weird guy in the GOTHAM commercials: Who is he? I don’t want to watch the show. I just want to know who he is. The Joker? Eagles of Death Metal So, we are six weeks into the season. I think it’s safe to say the Broncos are the toast of the AFC, even though…

When Obituary returned in 2005 with Frozen In Time–at that point, its first album in eight years–Decibel was still in its infancy. Fast forward to today, and we’re about to throw two tenth anniversary shows on Saturday night while the death metal legends are about to drop their ninth studio effort, the long-time coming Inked…

Here at the shredder’s studio we usually have one chair in the virtual office. Today, we need to pull up two. Nate Garnette and Scott Hedrick agreed to spend some time with us and walk us through their many influences. Please welcome the dual shredders of Skeletonwitch to the shredder’s studio, our 14th episode! Even…

After parting ways with vocalist Steve “Zetro” Souza in 2004, Exodus took a huge risk in hiring the unknown Rob Dukes as the band’s new frontman, but it was a risk that paid off well. The confrontational, provocative Dukes injected the band with a level of manic energy not seen since the classic Paul Baloff…

Sometimes you just want to play some damn heavy metal. Members of October 31 play in Deceased, Overlord, and Twisted Tower Dire, but this is a much more primal proposition, a chance to bang out some straightforward, satisfying jams in the vein of Iced Earth.  I mean, look at those guys above. What ELSE are…

Originally slated for a 2012 release, Necrophagia’s new album, WhiteWorm Cathedral, is finally seeing the light of day through Season of Mist. Main maggot Killjoy (aka Frank Pucci) isn’t one to let the products of his darkest and bloodiest desires get the best of him, so he let WhiteWorm Cathedral stew in a pot of…

Even those who don’t find the exquisite cacophony of Skinny Puppy all that alluring would be hard pressed to deny frontman Nivek Ogre is a singular artist and consummate performer. We’re talking about a man who on a trio of instant-classic albums a couple decades back — Rabies (1989), Too Dark Park (1990) and Last…

Florida and death metal are practically synonymous. Most of that has to do with the legendary albums cranked out of Morrisound in the 90s by Obituary, Death, Cannibal Corpse and other luminaries. But don’t forget Miami, which is the home of Decibel favorite grinders Maruta and birthed Hall Of Fame inductees Cynic. Let’s showcase a…

Finland’s Ghost Brigade might be the best band you’ve never heard of. True, they’ve been around since 2005 (debut album, Guided by Fire, received rave reviews in 2007), but Jyväskylä-based sextet haven’t toured much and most of their respective catalog has resided on import status here in the US. And true import status means jack…

No Child Left Behind, the latest record from guitarist Mitch Roemer’s post Pulling Teeth/Ruiner crusty hardcore behemoth Old Lines, is out tomorrow and we’re streaming the whole damn thing below for our class-cutter readership. Which is okay, apparently, ’cause the press materials here tell me Old Lines uses its music as “a device to speak…

Here we go. Let’s just peck it right up. All positive reviews. Hmmm… HORRENDOUS releases Ecdysis. The title refers to the process of molting, and you know I don’t know ANYTHING about that.  Having made some waves in the underground typically makes me more judgmental on a release, and I definitely was, but you know…

Next week, Magic Bullet Records will force-feed us new bone-scraping sludge from Wormwood, a project dredged from the minds of Doomriders vets Chris Pupecki and Chris Bevilacqua.  Born out of a need for yet-unexplored heaviness, Wormwood have retched out 20 minutes of crusty crush that are sure to nod some heads. Check out third track “I’d…

Around this time last year, we spoke to Godhunter guitarist/vocalist David Rodgers as he was in the process of putting together the second edition of Tucson, AZ’s Southwest Terrorfest (go here to read all about it). At the time, under the Deciblog’s interrogation hot lamps, Rodgers mentioned that one of the bands on his “booking…

Mulaney Death Watch, 2014. KC at the Bat, Chiefs on the Back Burner I’ll admit, if there’s ever a lag in me watching the NFL, it’s during October. I usually drop from watching 30 hours of football a week to about 25. I’m an MLB fan, and I love spending hours watching great, hard-nosed baseball…

When Revocation‘s David Davidson told me about his band’s upcoming album Chaos of Forms back in 2011, the guitarist/vocalist was pretty excited about using his past experience with horn and big band arrangements to compose a horn section for “The Watchers”. Between that and his focus on jazz while at the Berklee College of Music,…

For more than half of Decibel’s decade-long history Mark Rudolph has been a key component of what makes the magazine special. He illustrates the lead review in each issue and has designed covers for all of Decibel’s annual specials dating back to our 100 best death metal albums special. When he isn’t busy with the…

It’s got to be a surreal adjustment for certain popular metal bands who headline huge festivals in Europe and come over to North America to play venues the tiniest fraction of the size. For some bands, you can tell they’d rather be egotistically drinking in the adulation of 75,000 people in a field in Germany…

Look out, people — Hang the Bastard dragged this lumbering, oppressive beast of a song up from the sludgy pits of its upcoming self-titled album to wreak exclusive havoc on the Deciblog…and it is way nastier than we were warned. Record is oct October 14 via Century Media. Another track/trippy video after the jump.

Ask writer/director/provocateur extraordinaire Adam Ahlbrandt for his job description and here is what he’ll tell you: “I make audio/visual filth, gore, death and sleaze.” This is no idle boast as anyone who has seen either Ahlbrandt’s uncompromising, viscera-festooned feature-length films — Cross Bearer (2012); The Cemetery (2013) — or his nightmarish music videos for band…

When you write a song, by default you become that song’s music publisher – the entity that decides how it’s used, and gets paid when it is. Ideally, every time someone buys your album, streams your song on Spotify or hears it in a TV show or movie, you get paid as that song’s publisher. Managing…

** Texas-based thrashers Rigor Mortis have returned. Sadly, minus guitarist Mike Scaccia, who died with his boots on while performing on stage in 2012. The Mortis aren’t letting their legacy (their self-titled debut is in the Hall of Fame) die lightly. They’re about to issue new album, Slaves to the Grave, through crowd-funded IndieGoGo and…

Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia. Say that once. Hell, don’t even say it once. The tongue-twister simply means the fear of the number 666. U.S. presidents have feared the number 666, so it’s fair to say some others will as well. The Number of the Beast has affected untold millions since it was written in some stupid book ages…

Earlier this week, we suggested that you nod out to the power-pretty sounds of New Zealanders Jakob.  Maybe you were into it.  Maybe that wasn’t angry enough or sludgy enough or vocalized enough for you (there were, in fact, no vocals). Fine.  Let’s throw the malcontents a bone now with a full stream of the…

The 7th, 8th and 9th of next month sees the ninth edition of FunFunFunFest, a ginormous three-day mixture of all sorts of extreme music, indie rock, electronica, hip-hop, comedians, extreme sports and air cannons that fire tacos into a crowd of thousands, take over the city of Austin, TX. Last year, I introduced you to…

Here’s 10 bucks. Bring me the hair of Ariana Grande. Three Gigs, a Gaze and a Cheese Place This past weekend, Jar’d Loose did a string of shows with Oakland, CA’s Lecherous Gaze, an amazing, sleazy, ’70s-influenced rock ‘n’ roll juggernaut featuring former members of west coast thrash rockers Annihilation Time. Now, I knew these…

Last week, we brought you the first part of Chris Naughton’s landscape themed playlist. While his first six picks covered some well traveled territory–Drudkh, Bathory and Ulver to name a few–the rest dive a little deeper underground. According to Winterfylleth‘s guitarist/vocalist, however, all “capture the very essence of their environment and their history through the…

Back in the day there were shiny things called songs. Albums were filled with good songs rather than two or three wankfests. Now, in the hands of the right band long songs can be potent (see: Sleep and YOB). But heavy songs that are infectious with less real estate are also a very good thing….