Chris Dick

Normally when we do a giveaway in conjunction with streaming media we talk all kinds of rubbish to get you to a link where, inevitably, you’ll email us and then wait an eternity to see if you’re a winner or a loser. Well, since we’re metalheads we’re all winners. Just some get free rad stuff…

It’s no secret, the audio/vision division of Scion, henceforth known as Scion A/V, has given some amazing opportunities to bands with limited means. Arsis, Revocation, Enslaved, Immolation, Meshuggah, and so on have all benefited from the niche-market, passion-fueled benefactors at Scion A/V. Whether it’s a CD or a 12″, a car used as tour support…

If we didn’t know otherwise, Imperium Dekadenz could be some new nu-black’n’djent band from California. The word “imperium” invokes something grandiose or powerful. The, uh, word “dekadenz” recalls band meetings where kids with improbable instrumental skill and unfortunate spelling capabilities meet. But that’s not the case at all. Actually, both cases are incorrect, as Imperium…

If Decibel was worth its weight in ink, paper, and stress—mostly on the shoulders of our beloved EIC Mr. Mudrian—then we’d have some staffers who were there when Thergothon dropped its only long-player Stream from the Heavens like a Cthulhu tentacle on wee Italy-based indie Avantgarde Music. We do have staffers who were there, bought…

February 19th, 2013 is no different from February 18th, 1995. Sure, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was at 4,003.33—its highest ever up to that point—and the NHL was in a lock-out shortened season. But black metal? Not much has changed. There have been off-shoot genres, more commercialization, DIY “bands” bunkered in limited edition cassette releases,…

If you’re wondering what “Blodsvept” means, it’s Swedish for “Blood Wrapped” or “Enveloped in Blood.” At least that’s what my rudimentary Swedish tells me. But it sounds pretty brutal coming from Finnish folk metal outfit Finntroll, who have heretofore not dabbled in the art of blood titled songs. Unless you count “Det iskalla trollblodet,” “Slaget…

Belgian gore-lords Aborted have been kickin’ corpses and plenty of detal metal ass since the mid-’90s. But they’ve only reached their true potential—that’s a personal opinion—in recent years, where they’ve added more meat, guts, and other musical offal to their boiling cauldron. Although I’m partial to Goremageddon: The Saw and the Carnage Done, I think…

If you’ve had enough Municipal Waste to last a lifetime—hey, those landfills keep getting higher and higher, right?—it’s the right time to bring things to Washington, DC. Iron Reagan, the best new band name if there ever was one, was formed by Municipal Waste throat-ripper Tony Foresta and skin-basher Landphil Hall, with ex-Darkest Hour pacemaker…

5. Dark Suns – Grave Human Genuine 2008 (Sensory)Progressive metal bands don’t make sense. Especially the foreign ones. What the fuck does Grave Human Genuine mean anyway? German outfit Dark Suns paints, expertly on tracks like “Amphibian Halo” and “Free of You,” quite a vista. Similar in parts to Pain of Salvation’s The Perfect Element,…

Everything is cyclical. Especially in music. Go far enough in the future and Crabcore will be the next wave of cool and innovative (god, let’s hope not). For hardcore, it hasn’t been an easy decade since its popular upswing in the mid to late ’90s and eventual zenith in the early ’00s, but that’s about…

Before bastard sons begat cunting daughters, flyswatter stakes were driven through chests and pleasures thought unobtained fully experienced, California thrashers Slayer were hell-bent on leveling not just previous milestones, but any band with an inkling of heaviness.

There’s a time when two Dicks are better than one. But we’re not talking about porn here. Or, some swinger party in Urals. No, sirs. When the universe conspires to bring Chris Dick (me) and Chris Dyck (Anciient guitarist/vocalist) together, it means something. What exactly? Let’s leave it up to the cast of Ancient Aliens…

Back in the old days—1988-1991—you didn’t need to sound “retro” to be cool. Even if you sucked you were cool because you were death metal. Black and white band photo, a group of scowling dudes, the obligatory cemetery backdrop (or rubble heap), and a kick-ass logo were all you needed to convince worldwide throngs you…

How will the new album, Circle, differ from Beginning of Times?Esa Holopainen: Our producer Peter Tägtgren has brought lot of old school ideology back to band. I guess that we have needed sort of encouragement to go for slightly more extreme sound world. It is more low bass-ed, guitar-oriented and there’s shit load of varieties…

Guitarist Jesper Strömblad has dusted more bands than any prominent guitarist from Sweden. From In Flames and HammerFall to All Ends and recently resurrected Ceremonial Oath, Mr. Strömblad’s hasn’t had it easy. Same goes for his co-axeman Glenn Ljungström. First he bolted from In Flames and then Dimension Zero. But if any two guitarists command…

It’s been ages since we hosted a contest where a band donned warpaint and rampaged heshers from sea to shining sea. In fact, we can’t recall if we’ve ever hosted a contest by a band as visually unique as Turisas. Sure, those old Darkthrone or Khold photos were cool, but Turisas take the “corpse” out…

What prompted you to return to Convulse? It’s been a very long time.Rami Jämsä: My old pal from Nokia asked [us] to play in his Heavy Metal festival 2012. At first I refused. Then original bass player Juha took contact and showed his interest. Pretty soon it was clear that there was no chance to…

Few metal bands of the world truly frighten. Whether it’s songs of Satan, ancient fjords, circumcised babies, or dismembered women (far more common than dismembered men, mind you), metal bands have covered it all ad nauseam. And we, as metal acolytes, have become accustomed to that which would normally repulse or scare. But, there are…

If you’re well-heeled in the arts of underground death metal—is there another kind, actually?—the name Mike Hrubovcak should ring a bell. Right. Hrubovcak, not to be confused with his brother J.J., is sort of a Renaissance Man. The frontman’s throated for Vile and Monstrosity, as well as his own weighty projects in Divine Rapture and…

Before there was death-thrash or thrashy death, there was Sepultura, lovingly pronounced either Seh-poll-tour-a or Sep-ull-trah by many a hesher. Contrary to popular opinion at the time, Sepultura were not from the deepest parts of the Amazon or Brazil’s most violent of favelas.

Often, there is a lot of left over content that doesn’t quite fit the narrative or direction of a story. Case in point #1: Converge for dB #96. Case in point #2: Throughout the interview process, the members of Converge had rad stories to tell, but somehow the quotes never quite made the cut. So,…

It is time to celebrate the death of 2012 with the Top 5 Funeral Doom Songs (of all time, perhaps). There is no rhyme or reason to this list, actually. Just five songs that always find their way home during the long cold nights of winter. If it’s not snowing or cold as a medieval…

Deep in the heart of east central California—that’d be Mono County or to be more specific Mammoth Lakes—lies one of the most enigmatic black metal outfits this side of France. Although Valdur aren’t particularly coy about revealing where they’re from, they’re pretty tight on who they are. Formed in ’03 but fiercely independent—their close affiliation…

You’re on your 25th year, your tenth album and your fourth record label, at this point. What keeps Tiamat humming?Johan Edlund: That’s never been a problem. We’ve decided to allow ourselves complete artistic freedom. We don’t do this for the money nor for pleasing anybody else. We still love doing it because it still excites…

It ain’t often the City of Brotherly Hate produces music that isn’t A) learning disabled hip-hop B) pretentious art rock or C) hipster/horned rim glasses acoustic “singer”/”songwriter” drivel. So, when extremely extreme (r) stuff like Swarm of Arrows arrives on the barely-there scene, there’s reason to take notice. The Great Seekers Of Lesser Life, Swarm…

What distinguishes Silverthorn from Poetry?Oliver Palotai: My intention behind Silverthorn was to bring more melodic elements back into our music. Poetry for the Poisoned is a good album, but at certain parts too dark and monotonous. I always ask myself how often I would listen myself to a CD I create or co-create. While Poetry…

By Greg Peterson You’re probably wondering which records I bought on the morning that Batillus began recording our second full-length album… some Purcell, some Machault, Schiff playing Schubert impromptus, Debussy/Ravel string quartets, some Hindemith, some Schoenberg, some Strauss, Souzay singing Faure and Schubert, and some late Shostakovich quartets. You see, Willi and I have been…

When Sarcófago sacrilegiously congealed in a plastic bowl of hate, frustration, rebellion, fermented sugarcane juice and fuck fluid, Phil Collins’ “Sussudio” and Tears for Fears’ “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” were number one hits on the Billboard chart.

Rock and metal’s history is filled with super-success stories. The likes of which have landed Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, KISS, and countless more into the memory banks and culture stream of headbobbers and normal joes everywhere. But there’s an opposite side to mountains of cocaine, private jets, and endless pyro fountains. “Un-success” is…

We at Decibel get a lot of chances at firsts. We were the first metal magazine to put flexi discs in the Common Era. We were the first magazine to introduce the Hall of Fame. 95 and counting, to be awesomely sure. We were also the first magazine to premiere new Evocation album—in its entirety—Illusions…