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Sucker For Punishment: Fight Like It’s 1985

October 15, 2014

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…

STREAMING: October 31’s “Bury the Hatchet”

October 14, 2014

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…

STREAMING: Necrophagia “WhiteWorm Cathedral”

October 14, 2014

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…

A Very Heavy Metal Halloween: Nivek Ogre

October 14, 2014

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…

Full Album Stream: Inferion’s This Will Decay

October 13, 2014

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…

STREAMING: Ghost Brigade “The Knife”

October 13, 2014

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…

New Violence From Old Lines

October 13, 2014

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…

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

October 10, 2014

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…

Ride Wormwood’s Doom Trip: “I’d Rather Die”

October 10, 2014

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…

It’s Good to Have Goals and Dreams Can Come True – An Interview with David Rodgers of Southwest Terrorfest

October 9, 2014

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…

Encrotchment With Eddie Gobbo From Jar’d Loose: Week 5

October 9, 2014

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…

Decibrity Playlist: Revocation

October 9, 2014

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,…

Interview and Exclusive Book Excerpt: Mark Rudolph

October 8, 2014

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…

Sucker For Punishment: Burning Like a Flame

October 8, 2014

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…

Hang With Hang the Bastard (If You Can…)

October 8, 2014

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.

A Very Heavy Metal Halloween: Adam Ahlbrandt

October 7, 2014

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…

KILLING IS MY BUSINESS: Music Publishing 101 with Century Media & BMG Chrysalis

October 6, 2014

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…

Casey Orr (Rigor Mortis) interviewed

October 6, 2014

** 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…

STREAMING: Bethlehem “Verbracht in Plastiknacht”

October 3, 2014

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…

Old Blood Pours From Cold Blue Mountain

October 3, 2014

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…

King Diamond Likes to have FunFunFun: An Interview with FunFunFunFest’s Graham Williams (Part I)

October 2, 2014

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…

Encrotchment With Eddie Gobbo From Jar’d Loose: Week 4

October 2, 2014

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…

Decibrity Playlist: Winterfylleth (Part 2)

October 2, 2014

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…

The Proselyte: The Deciblog Interview and Full Album Stream

October 1, 2014

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….

Sucker For Punishment: Needle Groper, Pinkeye Poker

October 1, 2014

The situation surrounding the release of Witch Mountain’s latest album is not one you see very often. It’s one thing for a metal band to lose a singer – a real test of a metal band’s greatness is how difficult it is to replace the singer – but to see a band whose career was…

Nader Sadek and Decibel Join Forces for “Malefic”

October 1, 2014

Is there any heavy metal story more heroic and heartening than that of Nader Sadek? Seriously. Here is a serious connoisseur of extreme music and culture — not to mention an extraordinary visual artist — who came up in a time and place — that would be Egypt in the eighties — where his interests…

Watch A New Video From Instrumentalists Jakob

October 1, 2014

New Zealand trio Jakob have a strong release history behind them, but they have been largely absent over the past several years due to injuries that have kept them from playing and recording.  All that is done now, and the band unveils the video for “Blind Them With Science”, the lead-off track from their forthcoming…

STREAMING: Bludded Head’s “Reign in Bludd”

September 30, 2014

So there’s a lot of depressing music out there, much of which we cover in this magazine, but very little of it was made by someone who had stage IV melanoma. Nevada Hill did, and along with Ryan Williams, John Teague, and David Saylor, created some pretty fucked up Harvey Milk-style noise rock inspired by…

Die in Hell!: Author Lewis Dimmick Uncovers Hardcore Hero Tom Capone’s Mutilated Metal Roots

September 30, 2014

Last year we excerpted a couple selections from Lewis Dimmick’s excellent book This Music over at the Metalnomicon. He came back not long ago to take us behind the scenes of hardcore megaliths Sheer Terror. Today he returns with another great guest essay on Beyond/Quicksand guitarist Tom Capone’s metal roots and his uber-brutal Mutilator fanzine……

Full Album Stream: Stench – Venture

September 29, 2014

It might not be “pungent” stench but plain Stench will do just fine, too. Decibel backed the initial offering from this Swedish death metal trio and we’re streaming their second album Venture, available October 7 in the United States. Venture is the follow up to the debut In Putrescence, but it’s been about four years…