Daniel Lake

Every week, Decibel will premiere new material by bands of a heavy nature.  There’s no boundaries here, either.  Death, black, doom, sludge, progressive, stoner, retro, whatever!  It’s all fair game.  What’s this section called?  DEMO:LISTEN, naturally.  This week we take a look at El Topo, an instrumental oddity hailing from Istanbul, Turkey.

This month, we talked to Tatsuhito Mikami of Japan’s Church of Misery (and to vocalist Scott Carlson) about their contribution,  a special mix of “Confessions of an Embittered Soul” from COM’s forthcoming And Then There Were None record.

Upon learning that Tom and Jim Morris have been in the process of downsizing their operation, we at Decibel had to get all the dirt straight from the Morrisource.  We tracked down Tom Morris for his thoughts on the move and his studio’s past and future in the industry.

Every week, Decibel will premiere new material by bands of a heavy nature.  There’s no boundaries here, either.  Death, black, doom, sludge, progressive, stoner, retro, whatever!  It’s all fair game.  What’s this section called?  DEMO:LITION, naturally.  This week we take a look at three deserving European devastators: Belgium’s Humanity Defiled, Italy’s Dawn of a Dark Age and the Ukraine’s Nonsun.

During a recent tour with Thou, The Body and friends Heat Dust, Thou bassist Mitch Wells shot some interview footage and other moments, then cut them together to memorialize the time the bands spent together.

This March, Wolvserpent release their next dark expedition in the form of a single-track 40-minute EP called Aporia:Kāla:Ananta.  This morning we get to bring you a sample of the new material, so kick back, dig in, or do whatever you do when it’s time to hear idiosyncratic new doom.

This week, restless doom lords Lycus will release their mesmerizing second full-length, Chasms, and to celebrate, we wanted to give the band a chance to sound off about their year in the run-up to the new album.

Since the release of Aluk Todolo’s 2012 album (Occult Rock, natch), the band have been burrowing further into their sound, and now, on the eve of the release of fourth full-length Voix, they treat us to a preview of their rhythmic, dissonant approach.

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.

This year, French label Les Acteurs de L’Ombre launched Emanations, a division meant to spotlight emerging local talent with limited cassette and CD releases, and several interesting recordings have surfaced as a result.

This Decibel scribe has always fallen horned-head-over-cloven-heels for the frozen-horror lullabies crafted under the Lustre moniker.  In about three weeks, Nachtzeit will release an EP of self-proclaimed regressive black metal that strips any conceit of beauty or complexity from his other work and rages bleakly in the northern darkness.

Chicago prog metal unit Dissona will soon release their second full-length scorcher Paleopneumatic.  The album wormhole-hops through myriad styles and instrument combinatorial choices; the overall effect is a twisted journey through a musical landscape molded by dudes who really know their shit.

We spoke with Mark Kloeppel of Baltimore’s Misery Index about his band’s contribution to the Flexi Series.  Misery Index’s song – a cover of Sepultura’s “Primitive Future” – can be found in our current issue (#135, January 2016, Lamb of God cover), but you can also check it out right here while you read Kloeppel’s comments on the recording’s origins and execution.

Among 2015’s other contenders, five curried nearly enough votes to make it onto our list… but only nearly.  Does that mean we shouldn’t spill some love-ink for them?  Hell no!  Here’s the five records that tied for #41 on our Top 40 Albums of 2015.

In 1996, Cryptopsy bled out None So Vile, an album brimming with technical ability that nevertheless always feels a half-second away from fraying, fragmenting and falling apart.  That energy, along with all the musical acumen on display, made sure that None So Vile wound up in our Hall of Fame four years ago.

The Mantle is a superb front-to-back mood piece, a turn-of-the-millennium meditation on thoroughly American frontier sensibilities with a metallic foil.

The quartet blend crusty tone, thick hum and lingering melancholy melodies perfect for a midnight stroll through a personal cosmic abyss, while also answering the perennial question: “What is Monte McCleery, the bassist from Samothrace, up to these days?”  He’s up to Un, but on guitars and vocals here.

At Decibel, we’re always on the lookout for hot new blood or more Iron Maiden, and Indian black metal blasphemers Heathen Beast sate our desire for the former quite well.

This week, get a sneak peek (okay, a nine-minute stare) at one of the crushing hymns from Songs III, “Abandoned by the Light.”

Sure, the more populous mid-Atlantic cities are a safer bet for metal acts looking to earn a decent night’s pay, but Frederick, MD has been starved long enough for our underground metal love to get passionate and sloppy.  Look at what happens when Napalm Death and friends drop by.

Settle in for a completely unsatisfactory arrangement of Prowler’s tracks that is based entirely on my compulsive need for complete strangers to agree with my opinions.

Apotheosynthesis is an atmospheric tech death monstrosity that batters ears and uplifts the soul… or is it the other way ’round?

Mine is a Black Mouth’s music is pure crunch ‘n’ snarl, a harrowing and inspired avalanche of bassy blasting that is well worth the 20-minute run time.

Humanity Defiled has been on our radar since 2013.  The music satisfied our need for death metal with doom inflections and an idiosyncratic style.  This summer saw the release of sophomore bruiser The Demise of the Sane, and it fulfills all the promises of the elder record.  In this month’s issue of the magazine, you can read more about Denayer and his dedication and musical direction.  He had more to say than we could fit onto the page, though, so here are a few more of his thoughts.

Deftones is the sound of a rock band making a rock record. Deftones were never an art rock band. Parts of White Pony might have misled you, but the band’s 2003 album should remind you to pump your fucking fist.

Two weeks ago, you had a chance to listen to Lychgate’s new album, An Antidote for the Glass Pill.  Now hear from the music’s creator about how philosophy and dystopian literature contributed to the organ-saturated black/doom album.

Said Gino Filicetti, founder of the magazine, on their decision, “It is with a heavy heart that we came to this decision, but the timing seemed right given the changing face of metal journalism. Chronicles of Chaos was always dedicated to thoughtful, long form articles that put more emphasis on quality and insight than on scooping everyone else.

Hell’s Headbangers is regifting us with Cianide’s 1997 album Death, Doom and Destruction.  The album was already a threatening slab of primitive extremity, and the reissue has extended the dread by appending a set of five demos (Rage War) and a 7″ (The Truth) that includes a Master cover of the same name.

These metal mercenaries are coming back with new material, some of which you can hear below in the video they’ve put together, excerpting the new song “CroMagñon” from their forthcoming album Obelisk, and we wanted to hear about where this music was coming from and what the members of Black Table have been up to since we last spoke.

The strange, aqueous nature of the music that Stern offers on its new record (Bone Turquoise, to be released on August 7 by New Atlantis Records) becomes a lot less unexpected when you realize that  the band includes Toby Driver, the scary genius behind Maudlin of the Well and Kayo Dot, as well as Kayo Dot co-conspirators Keith Abrams and Tim Byrnes.