Month: December 2013

The last time Portugal’s Malevolence released a full-length President Bill Clinton was still basking in acquittal glow for semenizing Monica Lewinsky. If Lewinsky (or the scandal name “Tailgate”) don’t ring a bell, well, you’re probably too young. Of course, we don’t expect you to recall Malevolence, whose Martyrialized full-length ultimately got lost in the melodic…

Well, we all know that as the year winds down, so do the releases. This is the time of year when most labels put out compilations or package DVDs to try to grab that last dollar from the consumer.  So, without further ado, here we go. Slams, slams and more slams. Disfiguring the Goddess release Deprive…

OK, I’ll admit up front that this is a total asshole post. It was my intention when I started doing these weekly Brewtal Truth posts to specifically write about beers that are fairly widely distributed in the U.S. and available now. I have made an exception on a couple of occasions, but this one is…

It’s always nice to hear bands that not only rip shit up but can also find the time and talent to compose some serious songage.  Last week, French-Canadians Incandescence dropped their debut album of rollicking black metal full of actual chops and interesting structures.  After releasing a few songs on their La Valse des Ombres EP…

With two triumphant star-studded national tours under our bullet belt, Decibel Magazine is raising the (bloody) stakes on our hotly anticipated third cross-country domination. This spring, we’re proud to bring you the reanimation of death metal demigods Carcass alongside melodeath powerhouse the Black Dahlia Murder, technical death metal heroes Gorguts and emerging death/thrash squad Noisem….

When I was a kid, of course I loved Christmas. Gifts, food, candy, chocolate, family and friends dropping by and bringing more gifts, food, candy and chocolate, a fat man breaking into your house and not stealing shit…what’s not to like? Then, during my angsty teenage-and-early-20s, I really developed a rock-solid hate-on for the holiday…

We presume they had some turkey and stuffing, but Drugs of Faith also celebrated Thanksgiving week by releasing the four-track EP Architectural Failures. The effort–the trio’s first since 2011’s Corroded full-length–is hopefully just a taste of what’s to come as the Virginians are set to drop their next LP in 2014. In the meantime, vocalist/guitarist…

Grand Magus grand magister JB Christoffersson said to us recently: “Well, in heavy metal the drums are extremely important, maybe more important than many people realize. There has been a tendency in “modern” metal to focus too much on a fat guitar sound, resulting in really weak sounding or fake sounding drums. In my experience,…

So, maybe your metal band ain’t destined for a multi-million dollar CGI family film. There are still opportunities to license your music for movies, TV and other audiovisual media. If you’re serious about it, you’ll need to cozy up to music supervisors (they’re paid to find the perfect music for a project) and licensing specialists (who pitch music…

This summer, Neill Jameson wrote an article for us that more or less took over part of the Internet for a day and even got some love from the late Roger Ebert’s website. Neill — also the creator of one of our 100 best black metal records (for Krieg’s The Black House) has an open…

If you haven’t noticed yet, the beginning of December has given way to the annual deluge of year-end lists, publication after publication, writer after writer offering their choices of the best albums of 2013. It’s completely overdone, but still something I relish to this day, as that perpetual desire to discover great new music never…

Austin, Texas purveyors of kinetic riffage and uber-burly grooves American Sharks dropped a sick self-titled debut back in September — check out a stream here — and just finished up a tour with Clutch and The Sword. Bassist/vocalist Mike Hardin checks in with this report… Fri. Nov. 1st Memphis, TN We arrive at Minglewood Hall…

As an avowed rodent partisan, I must confess to a certain dislike of our fine feathered friends – or, as I like to call them, sky vermin. And one that lives forever? Parrots already live for over a century; that’s quite long enough already (sorry, Waldo). Despite their questionable name, though, Immortal Bird – the…

A few months ago we had the pleasure of hosting the online premiere of Craven Idol’s awesome debut LP, Towards Eschaton. And it really was a pleasure, ‘cos this slab of apocalyptica is a total 100 per cent doozy. Released through Dark Descent in October, Towards Eschaton is a record that marks the Londoners’ evolution…

If you’re reading this, you’re a metal fan, which means you rarely leave the house except to terrify neighbors and co-workers. Hence, this special Cyber Monday promotion is for you, fellow misanthropic recluse. Today only, if you sign up for a 12-month or 24-month subscription  to Decibel, you’ll receive one extra issue for FREE. That’s right, one extra installment of North…

by Etan Rosenbloom 500 words an issue is barely enough to spell my name, let alone introduce an entire sector of the music industry in the monthly Killing Is My Business column we introduced in Decibel issue 110. That’s why we’ll be posting occasional interviews and supplementary materials right here on the Deciblog. The idea is to explain…

** Alexander von Meilenwald, unlike almost every other solo act in metaldom, is intensely interesting, engaging, and deep with musical prowess. Decibel interviewed von Meilenwald in our December 2013 issue (available HERE), but we figured the German had a lot more to say regarding new album, Blood Vaults, and the creation process of said full-length….