Andrew Bonazelli

How awesome was 1991? It took your intrepid Decibel staff more than a couple hours on the chopping block to hack this list down to 30. 

Madison stoner trio Droids Attack have been power-riffin’ since 2001, and fourth album Sci-Fi or Die is their most effective strand of heaviosity yet.

L.A. sludge quintet Seven Sisters of Sleep are poised to drop their third opus, Ezekiel’s Hags, February 5 on Relapse.

From February 1 until February 12, we’ll be announcing regional openers for select dates of the 2016 Decibel Magazine Tour every day at noon EST.

The plague keeps spreading.

Swedish blackened thrashers Gehennah have given a fuck about one thing and one thing only since 1992: not posing.

From February 1 until February 12, we’ll be announcing regional openers for select dates of the 2016 Decibel Magazine Tour every day at noon EST.

Keep your lighters in your pockets; get those candles out!

From February 1 until February 12, we’ll be announcing regional openers for select dates of the 2016 Decibel Magazine Tour every day at noon EST.

Getting caught in a mosh is one thing… 

Fearsome Pasadena foursome Anger as Art have been churning out thrash ragers at a steady one-every-three-years clip since 2006.

The world goes to hell, Draconian fiddles like Nero

Japanese death/doom dealers Coffins make their eight zillionth release count on this split with crusty D.C. counterparts Ilsa. 

In honor of bandleader Trondr Nefas (who passed away in 2012), the new Urgehal album, Aeons in Sodom, features guest vocals from an all-star squad of black metal luminaries.

War-fueled OSDM courtesy of Canadian crushers.

Waldo is not in here. You can find him in a Van Halen video seven years earlier. But everyone else is pretty cool!

Your WTF Meter is probably redlining. Just press play. 

Oh my, it’s been a little bit, hasn’t it? Well, it’s me, your boy Waldo, pecking up right where I left off, spouting all the stuff about new releases that are fit to line the bottom of my cage.

Finnish grind veterans Rotten Sound have been doing the damn thing for over 20 years, and do it well on new album Abuse to Suffer.

Prepare for maximum discomfort, courtesy of Dutch BM crew’s “Wille Zur Macht”

Veteran Dutch devil worshippers Cirith Gorgor are back to wreak blackened havoc.

Decibel is fueled by love for metal’s storied history, and we’re taking our responsibility as historians to the next level with the inaugural Decibel Yearbook, celebrating all things 1991. 

Get into this bunch of (young) battle axes.

Bend your back for the climax of this crushing epic.

Vancouver does heavy metal right. Drink up.

Black metal perennials Rotting Christ are set to drop their latest slab of malevolence.

Are you in an unsigned band? We’ve got a deal that’ll help get your name out there.

Disgustingly old-school death metal, you say? Count us in!

Nobody in their right mind would line up to tell these dudes that punk’s dead

Japanese doom vets Church of Misery have been holed up in their safehouse for the last three years, but they’re ready to resume their (serial) criminal career with a super cool new accomplice.