Month: March 2013

Live Review: Maserati/Beware of Safety

March 12, 2013

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…

Exclusive Stream: Terminator 2

March 12, 2013

This morning Decibel is pleased to bring you an exclusive stream of the latest slab of uber-brutal, raw-as-fuck experimental noise metal from the true (and truly bizarre) power trio Terminator 2. It’s drawn from the Handmade Birds cassette series and it is nuts. Here’s what the label has to say about the release: We know…

Altar of Plagues: James Kelly on his top five influences outside of metal

March 11, 2013

“RICHIE HAWTIN is someone that I got exposed to when I was maybe seventeen or eighteen, at an age when I was most into the metal scene, and something just clicked with me. He had these records that were so trancey but trance in the sense of trance-inducing not trance dance music. You just get…

STREAMING: Cauldron “End of Time”

March 11, 2013

Now, you might be thinking, “Oy, what’s this Cauldron song doing as a Deciblog premiere?!” We realize Cauldron’s new long-player hit the streets—in the UK and Europe at least—last autumn, but this is the first time the Canucks have Tomorrow’s Lost available to North American hesher fiends without the import price on new Earache venture…

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

March 8, 2013

ANTHRAX are back at it and because Worship Music wasn’t that bad, this bird brain had high hopes for the EP Anthems. Then I saw it was a covers EP. Oof. This thing stinks more than a pile of homeless people fighting over a bag of buttholes. You really want to hear a bunch of…

Out-of-Print Decibel Back Issues Now Available in iTunes Store!

March 8, 2013

So, you’ve been hunting for a specific Decibel back issue, but the webstore says it’s sold out. Short of the advent of time travel, we can’t help you with procuring a print edition, but now that Decibel is available in the iTunes Store, you can revisit your favorite extremely extreme magazine in digital form. Away…

October Falls: Exclusive Full Album Stream of The Plague of a Coming Age

March 8, 2013

I like the new October Falls record.  How much do I like it?  You’ll have to wait for the next issue of Decibel to find out exactly, or you could completely ignore me (I would) and just listen to the album right here before you can buy it.  If you’re familiar with Mr. Lehto’s expressions…

Regional Decibel Magazine Tour Openers Announced!

March 7, 2013

As if you needed any more incentive to attend this year’s second annual Decibel Magazine Tour—featuring not only headliners Cannibal Corpse, Napalm Death and Immolation, but rotating openers Beyond Creation, Cretin and Magrudergrind—it gives us great pleasure to announce eight one-off openers for select locations. Blast beats, please: MAMMOTH GRINDER May 10 / Houston, TX…

Decibrity Playlist: Inter Arma

March 7, 2013

Last year, Torche was so stoked about the coming of summer that it passed along a “summer fun” mix. To help get ready for the warmer weather this year, we enlisted the assistance of Inter Arma guitarist Trey Dalton to tell us about some albums to spin once “spring has come and it’s time to…

Blues Into Metal #2: Up Jumped The Devil

March 6, 2013

Quick test: go check your music shelf or your iTunes. How many metal albums have some kind of mention of the Devil? A third? How did that symbolism get there in the first place? Why is it so powerful, and so enduring? In the second installment of blues into metal, we’re honored to have bluesman…

STREAMING: HOD “When the Ghouls Feed”

March 6, 2013

The last time HOD made album-related headlines was with 2009’s Serpent on the Ibex Moon label. Well, denizens of death, destruction, and ophidian-related apocalypse scenarios, San Antonio-based HOD have prepared the The Uncreated Demo, as a stop-gap EP between Serpent and as-yet-label-signed long-player, Book of the Worm. Self-described as “real fucking metal,” HOD—not to be…

Reminiscences from the Fire: Cliff Burton’s First Show with Metallica, 30 Years on

March 5, 2013

As much as I swore I was never going to do a blog post about goddamn Metallica, when Bazillion Point Books contacted me about doing a spread celebrating the 30th anniversary of Cliff Burton’s first show with Metallica (March 5, 1983, for those of you who aren’t so good with math) – featuring actual photographs…

Shiva-Approved Metal Tourism: All Hail Bhayanak Maut!

March 5, 2013

Bombay metal stalwarts Bhayanak Maut — “terrible death” in Hindi — are a groove n’ grind powerhouse. That much is beyond dispute. But listening to the band’s latest EP Metastasis, one nagging question did arise: Say Decibel gets all fired up and flies halfway around the world to see a Bhayanak Maut home country performance…

STREAMING: IMPALERS “Power Behind the Throne”

March 4, 2013

When Horror Pain Gore Death’s commander-in-chief sent through IMPALERS‘ debut LP Power Behind the Throne it really looked like the email concerned some band called Impalas. Swear to God. And how cool a band name would that be? Okay, when they’re leaping around the savanna Impalas come across too cutesy for old-school thrash metal, but…

Decibel’s Top 5 Black Metal Logos

March 4, 2013

5. Thou Art Lord – Thou Art Lord’s first logo was sort of a cross between the Mysticum and Mayhem’s logos. Not sure why they changed it—several times, in fact—to a dumb font or a hand-scrawled atrocity, but the Greek supagroup got it right. Just look at it! It’s Christ’s greatest foe. The symmetry and…

Tales From the Metalnomicon: Dark Discoveries

March 1, 2013

Welcome to Tales From the Metalnomicon, a twice-monthly column delving into the surprisingly vast world of heavy metal-tinged/inspired literature and metalhead authors… Though the teeming masses may not have caught on quite yet, Dark Discoveries has long been one of the absolute best magazines for lovers of horror fiction/culture, casting an aesthetic net wide enough…

Finland’s W.A.I.L. Was Absolutely Interviewed, Literally

March 1, 2013

Early in 2011, I was floored by a band I had never heard before making noise I never knew I always wanted to hear.  They’re from Finland, so, yeah.  Duh.  At this point I expect sweet Finnish lullabies to kick my ass and melt my face. The phrase “Wisdom through Agony into Illumination and Lunacy”…