Daniel Lake

Now that Venom Inc.’s current trio is about to release this year’s Avé (August 11th on Nuclear Blast), we had the opportunity to celebrate (and anticipate) the upcoming full-length with our Flexi Series. This month (Issue #154, August 2017, Suffocation cover), Decibel brings you a demo version of “Dein Fleisch,” a song that will appear in album form on Avé. While you cruise through the song’s effortless evil, check out bassist/vocalist “Demolition Man” Tony Dolan’s responses to our inquiries about the song’s origins and creation.

1995’s Destroy Erase Improve was Meshuggah’s first complete statement.  It ushered in a new kind of technicality, one that is still being celebrated two decades later (not always in the most listenable ways).   Today, let’s breakdown the band’s breakthrough by counting down the songs on this Hall of Fame entry.

Tired of Khemmis yet?  Neither are we.  Find out more about Flexi addition “Empty Throne,” this latest addition to the string of Khemmis successes.

We asked Bjørnson some questions about his newest baby, and we shared some of his thoughts with you in Issue #153 (July 2017, Integrity cover).  Catch the rest of the interview right here, alongside a few videos that exemplify what BardSpec is really all about.

Exist are your favorite new progressive metal band. 

Come for the Xasthur, stay for everything but.

If you’re not familiar with the MD/PA soundfuckers Full of Hell, we’re not really sure what you’re waiting for.  They’re restless, they’re fearless and they’re pissed as hell.  Earlier this month, they unleashed their latest mind-mauler, Trumpeting Ecstasy, on Profound Lore Records.  Decibel got vocalist Dylan Walker on the phone a couple months ago.  Find out what he said.

We asked doom-mentor Dorrian about how their contribution came about.  Here’s what he said.

California’s Mountaineer consists of current members of Lament Cityscape and former members of Secrets of the Sky and Ashes of American Flags. Their album, Sirens and Slumber, will drop on May 19th, but you can check out the video for the album’s final track, “Goodnight,” right here.

Next month, Khemmis and Spirit Adrift will share their own approach to Southern folk music with a split that explores new ideas that come out of old music.  This week, we share with you “A Conversation with Death,” the Khemmis half of the split, due out on June 16th from War Crime Recordings.

Were you worried that Decibel wasn’t goth enough?  Get in here and let us prove you wrong! (?)

The four tracks of rumbly darkness from Poland’s Loathfinder’s slyly titled EP, The Great Tired Ones, sound exactly the way you want them to, if you’re a doom hound. 

Before their Decibel Metal and Beer Fest performance – and before Panopticon drop their much-anticipated next album – we got to hear “Sheep in Wolves’ Clothing” in the ongoing Decibel Flexi Series.  After dozens of listens, we wanted to get mastermind Austin Lunn’s perspective on the song and its creation.

On its own merits, entirely outside the context of the five masterworks to come, Calculating Infinity spits its own impressive fire and has most certainly made its own tempestuous mark on the heavy music of the past seventeen years.

It’s no surprise we love Crypt Sermon‘s rendition of Mayhem’s “De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas.”

Hope Attrition
Answer the unending call (won’t go to voicemail)
dB rating: 8/10

In this week’s Demo:Listen, let Washington D.C. plague Sickdeer tear your head off and replace it with something even more hideous.

I sincerely hope that everybody reading this piece takes an hour out of their Friday (then several more hours out of their weekend) to soak up the majesty of Pallbearer‘s newest album, Heartless.

Happy Pi Day, nerds!  If you’re looking for some top shelf circumnavigation music, get in here for a listen of a new song by Montreal post-metal powerhouses Black Sails for Red Seas

Next week we get Dodecahedron’s brand new exercise in high-concept dissonance via Kwintessens, due out March 17 on Season of Mist.  We conducted a little Q&A with guitarist/songwriter Michel Nienhuis and vocalist Michiel Eikenaar, much of which can be found in issue #150 (Decibel Tour cover), but you can read the remainder of the interview here.

Early last year, Quebec’s progressive blackened death crew Hands of Despair revealed their stand-out sophomore record, Bereft, and successfully extended the sound and strengths that had made the debut, Hereafter, such an enjoyable listen.  Today we bring you their latest video single for Bereft‘s penultimate track, “Étoc,” along with the band’s explanation of the video’s origins and execution.

Hope
Black metal change you can believe in
dB rating: 8/10

We spoke with Behemoth’s prime abominator Nergal about what it meant to return to the stage after his devastating illness, and what he could recall about his tourmates during that time.  Some of his remarks are exclusive to the Special Issue, but the remainder of that interview is here for you to check out right now.

Nearly ten years since its inception, high-concept Belgian brutalizers Saille bring down the fire with their fourth album, Gnosis, to be released through Code666 Records on March 13th.  Today we bring you a lyric video for the record’s opening track, “Benei ha’Elohim.”

Vidian have recorded a video for “Pole Shift,” one of the solid-as-hell tracks from the A Piece of the End EP.  Check it out in full here and start your Tuesday right.

This year, Tuomas Saukkonen and Wolfheart return on Tyhjyys, to be released on March 3rd through Spinefarm Records.  Today we bring you the fourth track from the new record, called “The Flood.”

We checked in with two guitarists (Hamish Glencross and Andrew Craighan) and let them gush praise about one of their favorite bands.

Before Atonement Fever took hold, we received this, a re-recording of Immolation‘s first song ever, “Immolation,” in Issue #146 (December 2016, Phil Anselmo cover).  The song was special for the band back when it was first recorded, and its new rendition is significant for its own reasons…  See the included interview for details.

These days, dozens of online tastemakers can each have their own Top 10 list without overlapping any other list.  It’s a testament to the affordability of recording technology, to the direct connections artists forge with their fans, and to ever more insulated channels of musical taste.  Here are a few albums you might have missed but should probably check out before you lose yourself to all the glorious promises of 2017.

Zao dish the dirt on the making of their limited edition Decibel Flexi Series track.