Year: 2012

First off, Michigan City is not in Michigan. It’s actually in Indiana, has views of the Chicago cityline, is closer to Gary, Indiana than anyone—even Michael Jackson—would ever want to be. Second off, Michigan City houses newly—as of 2008 at least—spawned sludge-doom outfit Yellowtooth. If you have yet to hear of Yellowtooth and their brand…

We’re chuffed to have a dB album of the year award winner take over the shredder’s studio this Wednesday. In this second installment, Tombs guitarist and vocalist Mike Hill tells us about the riffs that led him on a musical path of totality. While you are at it make sure to check out the new…

The last we had heard of Swedish black metal terrorists Ofermod, they were busy promoting their 2008 debut Tiamtü full-length and acting all anti-cosmic gangster—rumor has it headcheese Michayah Belfagor (aka Mika Hakola) has been involved in all sorts of untoward activity—while the rest of the world spun and burned like Belfagor and his unmerry…

We’re sorry to do this to you, but this little premiere we’re going to bust out today, is going to make the next several weeks drag on as you anxiously await the release of Family’s debut album for Pelagic, Portrait, on October 30. We can guarandamntee you we will be spinning our advance copy incessantly….

The Mayans were off by a month: The world will officially end on Saturday, January 19 at Union Transfer in Philadelphia, PA, when Decibel Magazine proudly brings you our truly apocalyptic 100th Issue Celebration Show! Faces will be decimated not only by Pig Destroyer Repulsion Municipal Waste Tombs and Evoken but a special surprise headliner…

Yeah, it seems kind of corny to talk of a “dream team” existing in doom’s dark, colorless realm but, shit, just consider Serpentine Path’s personnel. You’ve got Tim Bagshaw, guitarist for saturnine UK doom crew Ramesses and a founding member of Electric Wizard, jamming with entire crew of the now (sadly) defunct Unearthly Trance, Jay…

What do goat heads, goat head masks, inverted crosses, bullet belts and improperly held axes have in common? Normally, we’d say Sadistik Exekution or Impaled Nazarene during their sado-battle-goat phase, but the answer is neither. It’s actually Greek duo Satan’s Wrath, who, if we’re being kind, are a bit of throwback to times when posing…

Welcome to The Lazarus Pit, a biweekly look at should-be classic metal records that don’t get nearly enough love; stuff that’s essential listening that you’ve probably never heard of; stuff that we’re too lazy to track down the band members to do a Hall Of Fame for.  This week, we dig through the Metal Blade…

We’ve been geeked on Finland’s answer to My Dying Bride since 2003 when the fearless Finns issued debut album, The Morning Never Came. Years and four full-lengths later—the latest of which is the subtle yet stunning Emerald Forest And The Blackbird—, we’re still nuts about Swallow The Sun. So much so, we pre-empted the album…

Bands like Gojira and Godflesh might be major brand names ‘round these parts, but mention them to your average Metallica-loving broseph and you’re likely to get a squinty-eyed, the-fuck-you-say? half-nod. But Decibel just won’t quit. We dig deeper, danker, darker and dirtier (though rarely fitter or happier) to turn up a few otherwise overlooked gems….

The little birdies over at Century Media want us to present a sweet contest where One (1) winner can get tickets to see Decibel cover darlings Paradise Lost [issue #92, HERE], Devin Townsend, and Katatonia in the righteous flesh when the bad-ass tour of late summer kicks off September 4th in Seattle, Washington. But guess…

When we were told that Chicago’s Like Rats featured members of grind provocateurs, Weekend Nachos getting in touch with their inner Tom Warrior (the one who’s written about in the Only Death is Real book, not this one), we got pretty excited. We got even more chuffed when Dom at A389 came a ringin’ with…

To celebrate Tuesday’s release of Dead End Kings, we asked Katatonia guitarist Anders Nyström to a pick a non-Katatonia record that related in some way to each of his band’s nine full-length records. Last week, Anders’ entries took us from 1993′s Dance Of December Souls up through and including 1999′s Tonight’s Decision. Now, starting with…

One of the more intriguing things to have landed in my inbox recently is Finland’s Arkhamin Kirjasto. It might be because music writers are anxious to drop a label on something and it’s damn near impossible to classify. Is it power metal? Hard rock? Or, as the band says on their Facebook page, “Lovecraftian Hard…

Normally, we like to pen a few lines of senseless drivel to entertain before you click that orange button thingie, but today—as August rightfully wanes into oblivion—our digital inkwell is virtually dry. Parched, if you will. That being said, we’re going to let Daylight Dies dash your hopes and weather-make your sunny day outright cloudy….

Four fellow dragon aficionados ensconced in the upper reaches of a Chinatown rehearsal loft they sublet with Henry Rollins (and a particularly stouthearted mouse) summoned into being the 1994 hardcore magnum opus Scratch the Surface.

You may have noticed that Decibel has a bit of a Deciboner for Gaza. Witness the recent Deciblog posts where we premiered a new track and had a fucking parrot review the new album, No Absolutes in Human Suffering. Well, we’re not done yet. No sir. To celebrate the release of the new album today…

The latest rhythmic noise rock opus from Hex Machine, Fixator, is out today and, boy, it sure is a careening, seething monster of a record — squalls, hooks, and powerhouse riffs galore. You needn’t take our word for it, though: The band has graciously offered the Deciblog a full stream below. Hex Machine’s upcoming fall…

We’ve only had the pleasure of hearing Neurosis’ forthcoming album, Honor Found in Decay, once. All the lights were out save for two candles and the peak meters on the mixing desk. And while the darkness made for a totally immersive listening experience, it reduced note-taking to scoring crude approximations of words onto the one-sheet,…

** The original Decibel interview appeared in issue #88 (HERE), but it seems as if the death metal community blew right past one of the better efforts of late 2011 to focus exclusively on Pestilence’s super-lauded Doctrine long-player (just kidding). Seriously, dudes, go back and give Metamorphosis a spin. It might end up on your…

What the squawk? Let’s get into it. We’re going to pecking start off with MURDER CONSTRUCT and their first full-length on Relapse, Results. This is a grind supergroup so to speak, with members of Phobia, Exhumed, Cattle Decapitation, Bad Acid Trip and more. This is grindcore to a T, with a healthy dose of death…

Bands like Gojira and Godflesh might be major brand names ‘round these parts, but mention them to your average Metallica-loving broseph and you’re likely to get a squinty-eyed, the-fuck-you-say? half-nod. But Decibel just won’t quit. We dig deeper, danker, darker and dirtier (though rarely fitter or happier) to turn up a few otherwise overlooked gems….

We here at Decibel are all over Chicago’s Encrust.

We’ve been running these playlists for about six months or so, and our favorite ones by far involve well-established artists telling us about records that related in some way to each of their studio albums (we’re looking at you Shane Embury and Greg Mackintosh). So when we recently had an early morning chat with Katatonia…

We’re always stoked to get new material from one of the members of our storied Hall Of Fame. Decibel has received an exclusive sneak peek at the new Cryptopsy song “The Golden Square Mile,” from their forthcoming self-titled, self-released LP (due September 14). Cryptopsy also gave us a little more information about the song, which…

Not sure if you’ve missed out on “industrial doom metal” one-man outfit Author & Punisher, but if you own a Godflesh record, maybe a pre-suck Pitch Shifter 12″, or think Scorn’s Vae Solis is the only Scorn LP worth playing in the solitary confines of your treasured abode, then we think you need to stand…

We’re pretty sure that there’s an old cliché that goes, “Your Youtube channel is a mirror to the soul.” You wanna see what’s inside a person, really get a sense of who they are and what they are about? Check out the weird shit they post on Youtube. And—watch this brilliant fucking segue—who at Decibel…

This morning Decibel has the honor of premiering “Beyond the Realms,” a truly epic slab of whip-smart death metal from Chicago’s Black September. The track is drawn from the upcoming release Into the Darkness Into the Void available for pre-order here. If you like what you hear, check out more tracks over at Black September’s…

Breaking Shit by Decibel Magazine It’s strange to be premiering a song off Leave Your Leather On because I’ve been blasting the album for weeks. (It pays to be a big-time journalist.) And yes, I know – I guess these guys forgot about that Limp Biscuit song. Who cares? Stuff still has to get broken…

Seeing as Florida’s output of death metal has slowed to a trickle as scene veterans spend more time on the road, less time in the studio, or just sweat it out in semi-retirement, you could do worse than check in on Finland’s Gorephilia. Gorephilia’s long-awaited debut LP Embodiment of Death is old-school all right, and…