My first exposure to Maserati came when they opened for Mono a few years back. I had no idea who they were or what their deal was, but as soon as they kicked into their post-rock-meets-80s-motorik groove, I was sold. In fact, compared to them, Mono were positively soporific. I’ve made a point to try to catch them whenever they’ve come through since. Their show on March 5 was the second ...

It’s only been a year since Graveyard last came to New York City, and coupled with last week’s sub-freezing temperatures and a second show in Brooklyn two nights later, I was curious to see just how many people would show up to Friday night’s performance. By the time I arrived at the Bowery Ballroom a little before 9pm, the downstairs bar was pretty crowded but upstairs where the bands ...

In case you have been on a spiritual pilgrimage or without an Internet connection in recent months a quick reminder that we had a big party last weekend to celebrate our 100th issue. A bunch of bands that have graced the cover, best of lists or Hall Of Fame (some of them multiple honorees) played. The lineup delivered and then some: Evoken, Tombs, Municipal Waste, Repulsion, Pig Destroyer and ...

There really is no good reason for anyone to be bummed out about missing out on an ATP weekender when the days following the main event habitually throw up bills as awesome as this. A weekend spent emptying your bank account, taking drugs unknown to the over-30s and known only by weird acronyms, enjoying the Hi-De-Hi!-gone-hipster vibe of an off-season holiday resort in Wales where the ...

Toronto rock journalist Brent Jensen's No Sleep 'Til Sudbury is a smart, sweet memoir of the joys and travails of growing up metal in tiny Espanola, Ontario -- ...A Fine Paper Town, as the welcome sign notes -- weaving a portrait of youthful discovery/rebellion into a larger macro story of metal's mid-eighties coming-of-age moment. It's a good time and Jensen was kind enough to offer Decibel ...

This year’s pre-Halloween weekend marked the beginning of (hopefully) a new Baltimore tradition:  the Autumn Screams Doom two-day festival.  As coordinator/originator Dan Petruccelli tells it, he hopes ASD will “bring old school doom and new school doom together.  There’s so much each one brings.”  He noted the periodic fluctuation of the audience’s mean age as newer bands traded ...

“How’s the iPhone pit over there,” Converge vocalist Jacob Bannon says at one point midway through the band’s headlining show last week at Slim’s in San Francisco. Good question. It’s hard to figure out who would want to mind meld with their personal device when a trashcan was lobbed into the pit midway through “Trespasses.” Converge, supported by also dB approved Torche, hit ...

Bands always make such a big deal about playing the Roundhouse because of who played here in the past. It’s a former railway engine room, with a lot of rock ‘n’ roll history. But any similarities between the 1960s Roundhouse and today’s venue begin and end with the building’s foundations and unalterable architecture. It’s hard to imagine any venue hosting The Doors or Hendrix and ...

Having shows in one’s place of residence seems like such a big deal to most people. To an old fart like myself, going to see a band play in a basement or living room is as natural as going to see a band play at some place where overzealous security goons get way too familiar with my family jewels before I’ve even got through the front doors and where I’m expected to hand over money on top ...

The concept of faith might be diametrically opposed to Marduk’s pitch-black worldview but the Swedish fundamentalists are worthy of yours. Of all the Second Wave black metal bands who still consider their iconoclastic craft a full-time concern, Marduk are the ones who always deliver. They could be accused of lacking a sense of adventure when it comes to songwriting but that’s kinda missing ...