Jeff Treppel

As you can tell from the giant picture there, our very own J Bennett has a band (he’s the one that isn’t wearing a dress)– along with drummer Kelly Johnston and Black Math Horseman’s Sera Timms – and they’re pretty awesome. Hell, Ghost picked them to be their sole opener on their current North American…

Black metal has seen more than its share of weirdos. It’s a genre that seems to attract idiosyncratic loners, especially since Varg proved back in the 90s that you really don’t need more than one person in the band.  The French cabaret black metal act Pensées Nocturnes consists entirely of the single-monitored Vaerohn. And to…

Three years after they instructed you to starve before the devil, tech death masters Arsis are back to make you feel unwelcome. Their previous album started with the most accessible thing they’d written to date. The title track from Unwelcome lives up to its name by repelling the casual listener right from the start with…

Fountains of blood, hordes of locusts, the Angel of Death cutting a swath through the male population: Passover is definitely the most metal of the Jewish holidays. In celebration of the religious observance that inspired “Creeping Death,” I’m pleased to offer some pretty rad Bandcamp downloads that are either completely free or “name your price”…

I have a pet hamster. His name is Ozzy. He is adorable but terrified of everything. However, over the course of his cohabitation with me, he’s become acclimated to the sounds of heavy metal, probably due to the fact that I play it for 16 hours a day. I’ve discovered that he actually has quite…

My first exposure to Maserati came when they opened for Mono a few years back. I had no idea who they were or what their deal was, but as soon as they kicked into their post-rock-meets-80s-motorik groove, I was sold. In fact, compared to them, Mono were positively soporific. I’ve made a point to try…

As much as I swore I was never going to do a blog post about goddamn Metallica, when Bazillion Point Books contacted me about doing a spread celebrating the 30th anniversary of Cliff Burton’s first show with Metallica (March 5, 1983, for those of you who aren’t so good with math) – featuring actual photographs…

***Rocked out by Sister Sin singer Liv Jagrell during their recently completed tour opening for the metal queen, Doro. Check out their video for “Heart of Cold” HERE, or even better, catch them on their current headlining trek, tour dates HERE. February 2, 2013 – Atlanta, Georgia @ The Masquerade Trying to stay in good…

Apparently 2012 was a pretty shitty year for Pristina vocalist/bassist Brendan K Duff, which would be pretty apparent even if it wasn’t in the press materials – you don’t name your album Hopeless•Godless when you’re pleased with life’s plentiful bounty. It’s not like his band was ever chipper, but their second album takes a particularly…

A few months back (I’m too lazy to look up the actual issue), I did a Black Label Debutante Ball on Elektrohasch Schallplatten, a German psych/Stoner label. Since then, they’ve been sending me awesome stuff via priority mail from Europe, and since they’re putting all that money into postage, I figured I’d return the favor…

Massive, hirsute man mountains, the members of The Gates of Slumber are the living avatars of the music that they play. Their behemoth doom strides powerfully back through the mists of time, crushing all in its path. In the likely event that you’ve never heard them, the kind folks at Scion AV have given you…

Right now, television networks are picking up a bunch of pilots to shove into our eyesockets come September. This year, though, there is a difference – a weirdly large number of metal-themed reality shows. I feel it is my duty to report on some of the more promising entries. Storage War Ensemble In this spinoff…

I have a pet hamster. His name is Ozzy. He is adorable but terrified of everything. However, over the course of his cohabitation with me, he’s become acclimated to the sounds of heavy metal, probably due to the fact that I play it for 16 hours a day. I’ve discovered that he actually has quite…

Do you guys like totally ripping heavy metal? No? Well, okay, guess I’ll go away… Haha, just kidding! You nerds will never be rid of me. As a special Tuesday treat, here’s the new Holy Grail record, in its entirety. Our own Adrien Begrand has been losing his shit over this since he heard it,…

The world of hard rock and heavy metal is filled with brilliant artists, and sometimes that thin line between genius and insanity gets erased. Usually in public. In very embarrassing ways. And there have been a lot of notable crazies in the music industry, but right now, Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine and The Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy…

It’s the holiday season, which means it’s time to celebrate the thinly veiled pagan tradition of your choosing! In the spirit of giving without having to actually give anything ourselves (other than some links on the Internet), here are some of the finest recent metal albums available for free download on Bandcamp (a few of…

Man, I love Hells Headbangers. They’re one of my favorite labels. Even when I don’t like the stuff they put out, I appreciate that someone is dedicating their time to dredging up the absolute scummiest acts from metal’s deepest cesspools. They’ve been cranking out a bunch of 7″ singles lately, and while we don’t have…

Because man can’t survive on metal alone, but indie rock is super boring and autotuned pop makes me want to kill myself, here’s a rundown of some recent/upcoming, Decibel-friendly metal-adjacent releases. Tusmørke – Underjordisk Tusmørke (Termo) A lot of the press releases and reviews of Underjordisk Tusmørke toss out terms like Krautrock and name check…

Welcome to The Lazarus Pit, a biweekly look at should-be classic metal records that don’t get nearly enough love; stuff that’s essential listening that you’ve probably never heard of; stuff that we’re too lazy to track down the band members to do a Hall Of Fame for. This week, we have, by special request of…

Welcome to The Lazarus Pit, a biweekly look at should-be classic metal records that don’t get nearly enough love; stuff that’s essential listening that you’ve probably never heard of; stuff that we’re too lazy to track down the band members to do a Hall Of Fame for. This week, we have a special treat (or…

Welcome to The Lazarus Pit, a biweekly look at should-be classic metal records that don’t get nearly enough love; stuff that’s essential listening that you’ve probably never heard of; stuff that we’re too lazy to track down the band members to do a Hall Of Fame for.  This week, we go overseas for some seminal…

Welcome to The Lazarus Pit, a biweekly look at should-be classic metal records that don’t get nearly enough love; stuff that’s essential listening that you’ve probably never heard of; stuff that we’re too lazy to track down the band members to do a Hall Of Fame for.  This week, we’re going on a 50 million…

Welcome to The Lazarus Pit, a biweekly look at should-be classic metal records that don’t get nearly enough love; stuff that’s essential listening that you’ve probably never heard of; stuff that we’re too lazy to track down the band members to do a Hall Of Fame for.  This week, we dig through the Metal Blade…

Welcome to The Lazarus Pit, a biweekly look at should-be classic metal records that don’t get nearly enough love; stuff that’s essential listening that you’ve probably never heard of; stuff that we’re too lazy to track down the band members to do a Hall Of Fame for.  This week’s entry is from 1969, opens with…

Welcome to The Lazarus Pit, a biweekly look at should-be classic metal records that don’t get nearly enough love; stuff that’s essential listening that you’ve probably never heard of; stuff that we’re too lazy to track down the band members to do a Hall Of Fame for.  This week, Girlschool gets sent to the principal’s…

Welcome to The Lazarus Pit, a biweekly look at should-be classic metal records that don’t get nearly enough love; stuff that’s essential listening that you’ve probably never heard of; stuff that we’re too lazy to track down the band members to do a Hall Of Fame for.  This week, we go skinny dipping in the…

Welcome to The Lazarus Pit, a biweekly look at should-be classic metal records that don’t get nearly enough love; stuff that’s essential listening that you’ve probably never heard of; stuff that we’re too lazy to track down the band members to do a Hall Of Fame for.  In celebration of our nation’s birthday (if you…

Welcome to The Lazarus Pit, a biweekly look at should-be classic metal records that don’t get nearly enough love; stuff that’s essential listening that you’ve probably never heard of; stuff that we’re too lazy to track down the band members to do a Hall Of Fame for.  This week’s joint proves the superiority of crossbred…

Welcome to The Lazarus Pit, a biweekly look at should-be classic metal records that don’t get nearly enough love; stuff that’s essential listening that you’ve probably never heard of; stuff that we’re too lazy to track down the band members to do a Hall Of Fame for.  This week, we discover what it’s like to…

Welcome to The Lazarus Pit, a biweekly look at should-be classic metal records that don’t get nearly enough love; stuff that’s essential listening that you’ve probably never heard of; stuff that we’re too lazy to track down the band members to do a Hall Of Fame for.  This week, we contract a severe case of…