Candlelight Records much-beloved Cult Series returns early next month with an unholy trinity of relentlessly brutal, crazy diverse offerings from Nine Covens, Zatokrev, and Kontinuum. All three records are available for preorder now, but for those frugal readers who would prefer a sample of the aural violence before they bring their daughters to this particular slaughter, Decibel presents a ...

It ain't often the City of Brotherly Hate produces music that isn't A) learning disabled hip-hop B) pretentious art rock or C) hipster/horned rim glasses acoustic "singer"/"songwriter" drivel. So, when extremely extreme (r) stuff like Swarm of Arrows arrives on the barely-there scene, there's reason to take notice. The Great Seekers Of Lesser Life, Swarm of Arrows' newest ruling platter, has been ...

Because every day another band records another song.  Because 83% of those songs are unlistenable and you can’t be bothered to sift through the dreck.  Because metal is about not giving a shit and waking your own personal storm.  Because music is universal, expression is boundless, and even indie labels (whatever that means these days) don’t know everything, Decibel brings you Throw Me a ...

Back in October, we provided a glimpse into the making of the new Kowloon Walled City record Container Ships (check out part 1 and part 2). Now, to celebrate both its Tuesday release and the fact that it's REALLY fucking good, the band was kind enough to send along a tour van mixtape full of tuneage. And in keeping with the days when high speed dubbing was a real time saver (especially for ...

It's been a shitty year for literacy in the world of extreme music. First there was Pig Destroyer's worth-waiting-for Book Burner. Despite the title there were plenty of words to go around with a J.R Hayes story short tucked into special editions. Now, we have the upcoming At A Loss debut from South Carolina-based experimental punks Burnt Books. Fortunately, you can tell the bands apart, even ...

Because man can’t survive on metal alone, but indie rock is super boring and autotuned pop makes me want to kill myself, here’s a rundown of some recent/upcoming, Decibel-friendly metal-adjacent releases. Tusmørke - Underjordisk Tusmørke (Termo) A lot of the press releases and reviews of Underjordisk Tusmørke toss out terms like Krautrock and name check Can and Amon Duul II, and ...

While hordes of old people who still use dial-up are swarming to super-sized retail outlets this season to buy their loved ones' affection, the more tech-savvy among us simply point and click our money away into the bitwise abyss.  Similarly, while the plebes will rely on radio and opinionated journalists to decide which tunes may be allowed to kick their asses, you and I will while away untold ...

Since it's getting near the end of the year, I figured I'd mix things up a little bit and fill a couple of these posts with some bands that I've been lucky enough to discover over the past 11 months or so. And since this quartet made one of the biggest impressions on me, with the caveat that I'm a complete sucker for anything in the neighborhood of "post-rock", I'm going to start with TotorRo. ...

Fall has been kind to the mighty Incantation. They released their boss new album Vanquish In Vengeance (read more about the creation of the album in our new issue). And they charted like a Britney Spears single in our top 100 death metal albums of all time. One of the reasons they are shredding so hard of late is the work of second guitarist Alex Bouks, formerly of Goreaphobia. The dude shreds ...

Rock and metal's history is filled with super-success stories. The likes of which have landed Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, KISS, and countless more into the memory banks and culture stream of headbobbers and normal joes everywhere. But there's an opposite side to mountains of cocaine, private jets, and endless pyro fountains. "Un-success" is more prevalent than success, and many a ...