Year: 2010

Selected missives from Decibel writers on December 8th, 2010 discussing an upcoming column where we defend our shitty taste in music. J. Bennett – I’d be happy to handle “Body Language” myself when the opportunity arises. Adam Tepedelen- Is that Kylie’s “roundly maligned” album in her “otherwise decent catalog”? Which ones are the decent ones? …

Since we do more interviews than we ever care to admit (transcription is the devil!), we figured we’d open the journalistic kimono to our Facebook and Twitter friends/haters when the opportunity to interview Chicago tech-death specialists Veil of Maya presented itself.  We always ask the same damned questions. “When did you form?”, “Why did Johnny…

Shortly after our trip to the Slave Pit to bring you this month’s GWAR cover story, we sent foul-mouthed front-cretin Oderus Urungus a few follow-up questions via email. Here’s what he told us between long, suffocating hits from his trusty crack pipe: GWAR has been threatening to exterminate the human race for 25 years now,…

If you couldn’t tell by the zombie Santa chilling up top, Mr. Richard Christy himself is hosting a horror fest this Saturday on ReelzChannel, the only TV station that I’m not sure I can correctly pronounce. The heavy metal/horror guru, whose monthly Horrorscope article really ties every Decibel issue together, will be showing films, taking…

The world of marketing and consumerism and why people buy what they buy is a mystery to this simpleton. I understand people want to look cool and feel good about themselves, and marketing exists in part to make those two things happen. I also understand we rely on fancy, flashy corporations to prescribe and sell…

Over the last two weeks we’ve been fortunate enough to open two cans of Sodom tear gas on your sorry asses. Week 1 we premiered an uncompromisingly intense set of tracks in “In War and Pieces” & “Hellfire”. For Week 2, another two cans of Sodom tear gas were ceremoniously launched out of the dB…

Regular Decibel readers have long been aware of the charms, brilliant hot hot chaotic post-hardcore jams, and edifying intellectual aspects of Look What I Did. (Who could not love a band that titles an album Atlas Drugged then plumps it with songs like “My Girlfriend, Leo Strauss,” “Pussy Comitatus,” “Jekyll Island Fiat Scratch”?!) Those who don’t…

Track-by-track commentary by Zafrir Zori (Dukatalon) “Pai’s” [audio:https://www.decibelmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/01-Peis.mp3] A person who holds an arrogant truth, taunts, preaches, and tries proving everyone wrong ends up being the worst of them all. “Run” [audio:https://www.decibelmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/02-Run.mp3] This one deals with a state of mind where you want to run away and dwell in a secluded place, but such place…

There comes a time–mostly mid-to-late teens–when you want your preferences known. Any and all preferences. Musical, religious, movie, food, drink, fuck partner, etc. You broadcast your preferences anywhere there’s retail space. Could be on a folder you bring to class (admittedly, I’ve never seen, “I fuck Amanda” instead of “I love Amanda” scrawled on a…

Even if you’re a grumpy asshole like me who fears and detests Twitter, today’s the day to visit ours. Specifically, 3 to 4 p.m. EST, as 43-billion-year-old Scumdogia expat/January cover star Oderus Urungus will log in to discuss doily mending, cookie icing and Advent calendars with the Decibel faithful. Share your favorite book in the…

Every Friday, Waldo the African Grey Parrot, frontbird of thrash-grind immortals Hatebeak, will get you caught up on the week’s latest “extreme” releases. Waldo here. There’s not really much to “crow” about this week in the way of new releases. In fact, it seems like most labels aren’t really doing much this week, but first…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cd6clppG5bQ An inspirational tale of young extremity, Heavy Metal Jr. documents a band called Hatred (or Hatrid), kids aged 10-13 who are trying to get ready for their first show. Their influences range from Motorhead to AC/DC to Marilyn Manson and they are… well, just start watching. It is a full 24 minutes of kick…

As Jeanne helpfully reminded me a couple days back, it’s damn near time I dress my dogs up in a stupid/humiliating costume, do a little hostage photo shoot, and print up the latest batch of Christmas cards sure to enkindle in my pugs’ hearts a desire to discover the secret of how one becomes a…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51WG7kbKTcw Listen kids, this video is long and weird and doesn’t make a lick of sense. But it involves metal so we can’t exactly ignore it. But to get to the headbanging you have to roll through a bunch of nuttiness that is pretty much intolerable. Consider this an art film version of every symphonic…

When they’re not getting down with the Cinnabon sickness at the Mall of America, Minneapolis BM punks Wolvhammer enjoy decimating faces on tour. Drummer/resident smartass Heath Rave will give us the gory, hopefully idiotic details. Nov 7, NOLA Slept all day in preparation for what will prove to be the most brutal drives of our…

My fellow dbloggers have covered my ass this past year on more than a few (or, like, a few hundred) occasions. In order to thank them, I scoured eBay for some rare vinyl goodies. Because I’m not a cheap turd, I went for the super-expensive super-rare heavy metal stuff because the pricier the album, the…

Last week, we here at the Deciblog unfurled two tank-shredding Sodom tunes, “In War and Pieces” & “Hellfire”, to much fanfare. Rockets were bursting in air, bombs all red glare, we’re here to prove Sodom’s still gallantly streaming. This week, as previously announced, we have two more daisycutter songs in the form of “Through Toxic…

Welcome to the second instalment of Decibel’s Study Hall of Fame. Here, my eight-year-old son, Sam cherry picks albums from our illustrious Hall and delivers opinion untainted by the sort of prejudicial bullshit that forces the majority of us to employ phrases like “guilty pleasure” to justify our enjoyment of stuff that supposedly flies in…

Arrving at the infamous Trocadero later than expected, party Decibel—all one of us—found Holy Grail amping up their final song of the night. Aggressive, competent and young, but replete with every leather pants-ed cliché known to Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and Manowar, the Californians may (some day) evolve into a formidable heavy metal machine. For…

At present writing, acclaimed director Julie Taymor and Bono and the Edge of U2 are putting the finishing touches on a musical version of Spider-Man. Bet you never thought you’d see something like that in your lifetime. But here it comes, along with a host of Broadway adaptations of familiar properties, like crappy movies (Toxic…

In honor of the holiday most associated with one of the seven deadly sins — gluttony — we’re pleased to give you Death Metal Rooster Explained. True, roosters aren’t turkeys, but to date no one has uploaded a video of a turkey roaring for 30 seconds. Or… Since we think we’re funny, here’s Heretic Soul…

After Acrassicauda left Iraq in 2003, there were no reported heavy metal shows for five years before Brutal Impact and Dog Faced Corpse played on the banks of the Tigris at a private dinner party. But that wasn’t exactly the start of metal Mondays in the still scary as all hell country as few have…

To make room for all the food you’re going to cram down your pie-hole in the coming days, consider this post to be your pre-Thanksgiving colon-blow. There’s a Swiss reality show “Kampf der Chöre” (“Clash Of The Choirs”), similar to NBC’s “The Sing-Off,” where famous Swiss musicians coach a choir and compete for international fame…

Every Friday—well, this week Wednesday, cause we’re fuckin’ OUTTA HERE in four hours—Waldo the African Grey Parrot, frontbird of thrash-grind immortals Hatebeak, will get you caught up on the week’s latest “extreme” releases. Waldo here. There are a couple of new releases that really ruffle my feathers this week. The first is the Rhino reissue…

This much is known: though black metal from the kingdom was initially informed by Venom, Bathory and Hellhammer, inventive teenagers and twentysomethings in Oslo, Bergen and various towns all over the country quickly transformed it into something else.

German thrash beasts Sodom released their debut demo, Witching Metal, in 1982. Holy shit! That was 28 years ago. Few of us can remember what we were doing in 1982* — probably watching Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan or wondering, “Who is Ozzy Osbourne? And why does he like bats so much?”, but…

Alright, so maybe the title of Cee Lo Green’s solo album The Lady Killer has a certain death-metal-circa-1991 throwback feel to it and, sure, the first single “Fuck You” likewise encapsulates some cross-genre sentiments, but I can’t be the only one surprised to learn the Gnarls Barkley frontman is not only not actually named Gnarls…

It’s no fucking time to start a record label. Physical sales have been hit by multiple (and surgical) airstrikes, digital downloads have flatlined, and record stores (not the big box crap either) ain’t having it easy. So, what does Scion A/V do? Of all the crazy things to finance, even angelically, Scion A/V have started…

Chicago, Brooklyn and Cleveland, don’t you have something to do this weekend—other than refreshing Pitchfork for Cosmo reviews, ascot-fitting and accosting eight-year-old football fans?

An Australian black metal festival has been cancelled technically by an act of God. A Sydney club stopped the Black Mass Festival two weeks before bands such as Naxzul, Erebus Enthroned and Wardaemonic were to form a “diabolical union of Australia’s black metal elite” and participate in a “once in a lifetime live ritual and…