Year: 2013

** Decibel caught up with Anathema guitarist/vocalist Vincent Cavanagh on the group’s first headline tour of North America. Since we’ve been into the Liverpudlians before they had a full-length [many thanks to tape-traders and Witchhunt Records], we jumped at the chance to talk to Cavanagh, who was clearly having moments of his life while on…

Sorry I’ve been away for a little bit, but your old boy Waldo took a little trip to his roots and hit the Amazon. I’m back now. Let’s dive right into it, shall we? The term “supergroup”: well, what else would you call a band comprised of Scott Kelly, Mike Williams, Sanford Parker and Bruce…

Great American Beer Festival, Denver, ColoradoOct. 10-12, 2013 It would be an overstatement to say that this was the Year of Metal at the Great American Beer Festival in Denver, but the handful of extreme music diehards—from TRVE, Surly, Real Ale and Three Floyds pictured above—among the 600-plus breweries present at the festival, definitely made…

Okay kids, I’ve seen a LOT of horror movies. It’s hard to freak me out. But this video FREAKS ME THE HELL OUT. That’s a real woman and that’s real steel through her flesh and that’s her real skin stretching like that and urgh. It’s way too early in the morning for Hellraiser shit. That…

Too many approval-stampers are content to shovel anything slow, synth-shrouded and packed with molasses-dark death growls into a funeral doom-shaped hole in the earth.  One self-important windbag (the one in charge of this Deciblog post) would suggest that “funeral doom” must actually beckon from the grave and whisper oh-so-reasonably that bathing with sharp objects is…

The upcoming Crusades record Perhaps You Deliver This Judgment With Greater Fear Than I Receive It is now available for pre-order, and we’ve got a sneak peek at what these Canadian anti-theists have been up to with the exclusive stream of a heretical rager entitled “The Torchbearer” below: Follow the band on Tumblr and Twitter….

Dear Brent Burton or Scott Seward (I honestly can’t remember which one of you it was): Thank you for introducing me to Earthless all those years ago, back when our magazine still had its original logo. Not only have I been able to spend the intervening time enjoying the trio’s first two full-lengths and various…

Stick around long enough and you might get the things you always wanted. For some kids that’s a medical degree or a wedding fit for Disney. What I wanted was to hang out with Tesco Vee, the imposing frontman of The Meatmen who made me laugh on a daily basis with juvenile sexual ripostes on…

Okay, this week was officially insane, with a wealth of good new music to investigate. Isn’t the fall release time the best? This week’s essential albums: Oranssi Pazuzu, Velonielu (20 Buck Spin): The Finnish band who unapologetically loves psychedelia (oranssi, or “orange”, a clear reference to Tangerine Dream) and The Exorcist (“Pazuzu”) has been on…

Back at the end of July, the Canadian government quietly enacted a piece of legislative shit that, essentially overnight, made it exponentially (and in most cases, prohibitively) more expensive for bands to tour our country. Basically, where once a band consisting of anywhere between three and fourteen members would have had to collectively pay $450…

This morning Decibel is proud to premiere an exquisite slab of blackened death metal off Verses of Fire, the barn burning fourth album from long-running French brutality merchants Temple of Baal. Another track from the album can be streamed after the jump.

It’s been more than 22 years since the UK hardcore act Satanic Malfunctions has released any music (Disgrace To Humanity, 1990). Decibel is proud to present a full album stream of the comeback Them, released by Selfmadegod and available for purchase here. After the stream check a quick q and a with drummer Ade. It’s…

Relapse could probably have found a stronger name for their 2013 autumn/winter sampler than, uhh, Relapse Sampler 2013. Cast your mind back when Earache were releasing their Grindcrusher sampler series, and Peaceville had the enigmatically titled Under the Sign of the Sacred Star; that was how you named a sampler. But that was back then,…

** The following five questions with the legendary King Diamond were part of a series of interviews I set up for the XXX: Three Decades of Roadrunner Records [click HERE for more info] boxset, for which I wrote the liner notes. Former Roadrunner Records Senior VP A&R Monte Conner facilitated the initial exchange with King…

** Back in August, Decibel premiered new Twilight of the Gods tune, “Destiny Forged in Blood.” Click HERE to listen. Since then, we’ve imbibed heavily on debut album, Fire on the Mountain, which is the product of guys and ex-guys from Dimmu Borgir, Einherjer, Thyrfing, and, of course, Primordial saluting age-old heavy metal with a…

As a music writer who’s supposed to help guide people to the most worthy holes to shove their money, time and psyches into (because spending any of those things on your own children is simply preposterous), I always worry a little bit that I’ve tumbled way too far down the rabbit hole of my own…

The latest closet metalhead, Jessica Pimentel, is not exactly a closet metalhead. Currently appearing in the hit Netflix series Orange Is the New Black, she refers to herself as a “closet actress.” That’s because Pimentel is well known in her native New York City for holding it down in local hardcore and metal bands, including…

Given the opportunity to write about craft beer every month in Decibel has been eye-opening. The idea that our “Brewtal Truth” column would have lasted more than four years (and counting) and even spawn a book—The Brewtal Truth Guide to Extreme Beers, out in November—is pretty amazing. Now it’s time to bring a little “Brewtal…

“The Unwound path crossed a lot of different scenes.” – Justin Trosper “We took our music in a lot of different directions, though always staying very Unwound.” Sara Lund The above quotes from Unwound guitarist/vocalist Trosper and drummer Lund basically explain and justify the appearance of the not-metal band this week on the ol’ Deciblog….

Paradise Lost have done a retrospective compilations before—The Singles Collection, Reflection, and more recently 2012’s Lost in Time—but none of them are as special as Tragic Illusion 25, a collection of old and re-worked tunes celebrating the Brits’ 25th year as a functioning, productive outfit. And by re-worked, we’re not talking something stupid like an…

The fact that I know anything about The Golden Grass happened by accident. Last month, I went to see Windhand with every intention of missing both opening bands. Unfortunately, my ability to time arrivals at shows–even when the venue announces set times in advance–is on par with Andy Reid’s clock management skills. So, not surprisingly,…

When I took over the Headbang blog at MSN Music in August 2011, I was thinking of ways I could set it apart from the rest of the metal blogs out there. Everyone seems to only list the new releases every week, so why don’t I review as many as I can? It seemed easy…

Leah Sottile already made the obvious Smiths joke in her post on these guys back in 2011, which totally ruins my planned lazy intro. So fine. Meek Is Murder are super into Botch and other music that makes your ears hurt, which is always a good thing. Of course, that’s only appropriate, considering that, in…

Professor Pizza of AXESLASHER fame stops in this morning to give us four reasons why attending Denver Black Sky is a moral imperative… By Metalheads, For Metalheads Denver Black Sky was masterminded by Skinless vocalist Sherwood Webber. From the start, his goal was to give a collection of hand-selected bands a full professional production and…

Longtime readers are well aware that the editor in chief of this magazine is a Phillies lifer, whereas the managing editor (yours truly) is a Mets masochist. This year, both our beloved clubs gobbled bags of dicks, so we’re 100% backing the (yet again) ingeniously assembled Oakland A’s through October. For our annual baseball preview…

Okay, so this week’s big metal in the movies news has been dominated by former thrashers turned FM rock-metal conglomerate Metallica, who have roped in the wee creepy guy from Chronicle to star as a citizen roadie on a mission across town during a miscellaneously apocalyptic event. Taking its title from one of the many…

** My interview with Dan Swanö appeared in Decibel, but decided the long-form version of my chat with the omnipresent Swanö would best read out in its entirety. Why am I talking to Swanö? He’s the lead man (well, half) of new project Witherscape. The group’s new album is The Inheritance, which is available now…

Muscular, mournful prog metal, anyone? In the Silence are a pretty new find for me, but they don’t fit the Frickin’ Label Hack pattern because they’re sittin’ pretty with a label already.  Initially self-released, the band’s A Fair Dream Gone Mad saw a release through Sensory Records a few months back.  That’s cool, though.  I…

Given the opportunity to write about craft beer every month in Decibel has been eye-opening. The idea that our “Brewtal Truth” column would have lasted more than four years (and counting) and even spawn a book—The Brewtal Truth Guide to Extreme Beers, out in November—is pretty amazing. Now it’s time to bring a little “Brewtal…

It would appear that amongst the many names I get lovingly and not-so-lovingly referred to as, the ether has added “fest guy” to the list. Have a fest to promote or chat up and I’ve become yer go-to-man. Not that I have a problem with this, jus’ sayin’ is all so you’re not surprised and/or…