I get sent a lot of shit* to review; more than I can fit in any one place at one time. But because folks out there take the time to send me their wares, I usually feel obligated to give some sort of mention, nod, kudo or deliver a full-on scathing, hatchet job to those…
Pre-order the massive, 400-page official biography of death metal legends Immolation from Decibel Books and read an excerpt now!
Decibel‘s first-ever 10-out-of-10 rated album, The Red Chord‘s Clients, lands a Hall of Fame induction 17 years later.
Members of Eyehategod, Darkest Hour, KEN mode, Possessed and more discuss the humble beginnings of their first high school bands.
Knut‘s noisy metallic hardcore “leftovers” are tastier than most extreme music main courses.
We’ve got suggestions on releases to help you headbang brain cells away and support bands/labels at time when they profit from it most.
Bandcamp is waiving their cut of all purchases made on Friday, March 20 to support creatives affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Decibel staff provides a few suggestions for your purchasing pleasure.
Nashville sludge, black metal, death metal, doom and hardcore predators stream their latest for Acteon Records right here, right now.
In the latest installment of his Heavy Meta series, Forrest Pitts discusses the mechanics of the heavy metal record review with Decibel contributors Joseph Schafer, Daniel Lake and Adem Tepedelen.
Hellrad pull out all the stops in this NSFW video.
After a decade of attempts Kreator are inducted into the Decibel Hall of Fame.
Tom Gabriel Fischer, Ian Christe, Dayal Patterson and a host of authors and publisher discuss the rise of authoritative books in extreme metal.
Music journalism’s relationship to economic reality has always been shaky. Here are some ideas of where that relationship might need to go.
If any band has endured and persevered through extreme music’s potential for divisive conservatism and pedantic nit-picking, it’s the Locust.
Here are the songs on Mastodon‘s Hall of Fame nominated album Leviathan ranked from least-rad to fully-rad.
Heads up, Charm City: Decibel will infiltrate Maryland Deathfest like a leprous plague from May 26th to May 29th. Come visit Decibel’s booth Friday through Sunday, within screaming distance of the Edison Lot.
I Love the Mid-’90s. If you have a similar soft spot for “metallic hardcore” don’t sleep on Eternal Sleep.
In this month’s issue of Decibel, we bring you a flexi so close to our hearts that it’s practically a third ventricle. We got Asphyx mouthpiece Martin Van Drunen to talk about his relationship to the magazine and its editor, as well as the way the band put together our most recent edition of the flexi series.
Recently, I stumbled across a graffiti mural that read, “Every winner was once a beginner.” This got the gears turning, thinking about how long it’s been since Mastodon was considered an unknown, underground entity.
By the time 1983 rolled around, those bands participating within the loose construct known as the New Wave of British Heavy Metal had become well aware that there was more to their scene and sound than playing time-tested and amped-up blues-based riffs in the back rooms of pubs or moldy rehearsal rooms.
With three rock-solid releases preceding it (one of which is an undeniable first-ballot classic) and two, shall we say, polarizing releases following it, Arise is the sound of Sepultura finding their sweet spot. Ranking the songs from “worst to best” is borderline insane as they all completely rip, but we did it anyway.
“Arise was the seed that exploded on Roots,” Sepultura guitarist Andreas Kisser thoughtfully notes. Those of you keeping score will note that this is Sepultura’s third dance with our Hall of Fame, a dB first.
I’m no more or less happy to drink my way across tonight’s hallowed boundary between old and soon-to-be-old than I have been any other year. I’m certainly more than willing to present you with five of this year’s best blog posts.
Don’t sleep on these Canadian HOFers, who have already gotten much-deserved Flexi Series love!
The story of the emergent popularity of Sacrifice’s second album, Forward to Termination, is a shining example of how media used to work and things “went viral” in the days before the internet gave power to trending tweets and twats.
The intro is long. Nearly 50 seconds without tipping its hand. A new band should be terrified to open a record like this, worried that potential listeners will get bored with a lone ride cymbal and high, jangly guitar chord. And it’s certainly not something a discerning producer is going to throw on the radio. But then comes that growl—Are you reeeeeaaaady?!—and you hear a musical revolution being born… Which then died, less than a decade later.
Slaughter’s Strappado hits closer to home for this particular hack than any of our previous entries. That’s because Slaughter hailed from the Toronto suburb of Scarborough, home to a ridiculously disproportionate number of metalheads in the ’80s.
Grindcore
dB Rating: 9/10
So Decibel assumes at this point you’ve got your dozen roses, the perfect card, maybe some wine. All these have been easily attainable and, really, almost unavoidable for the last four to six weeks. Valentine’s Day mood music, on the other hand, has remained maddeningly elusive for those inclined towards the extremely extreme. Until now….
For the next few weeks, the Western world will devote much of its time, energy and money to buying stuff. Mostly for other people. And all in the name of a Christian holiday. Or maybe a Jewish one. I don’t think there are any Satanic holidays this time of year and if there are, I’m…