Jonathan Horsley

STREAMING || Hour of Penance “Decimate the Ancestry of the Only God”

March 12, 2012

Those of you who instinctively sniff the wind for the freshest über-brutal death metal should be familiar with Hour of Penance by now. Maybe you’ve been feeling a weird kinda tingle through your core mosh-muscle groups in anticipation of the imminent release of the Italians’ fifth album, Sedition. Hour of Penance have got themselves a…

PREVIEW || Check out a couple of tracks from Alarich/Atriarch split LP

March 9, 2012

We are well aware that it’s Friday but press pause on the celebratory Van Halen for like 10 minutes or something (some unfortunates have to work the weekend, y’know) because we’ve got some crucial FYI for fans of the noir melancholia of doom, death rock. Atriarch and Alaric have a split out in April 17th…

STREAMING | Cannibal Corpse “Encased in Concrete”

March 5, 2012

It’s pretty hard to to determine Cannibal Corpse’s most endearing personality trait. Oh, what’s that: they’re all real nice guys? Oh come on, surely it can’t be that surprising that guys who have made a 24-year career out of writing death metal songs about extreme (and fairly esoteric) murder scenarios could be normal dudes/responsible dads….

Real Live Stories || How Anaal Nathrakh broke out of Necrodeath and wound up on a stage

March 2, 2012

OK, so there is a cynical body of thought that might consider black metal as a live performance artform and argue that the genre is best served by careful cellaring. Like it’s a take-home experience, one to be kept in the studio/bedroom, only ever to be enjoyed on record. Of course when we say “enjoyed”…

INTERVIEW || ex-Napalm Death drummer Mick Harris on Scum, Scorn and the hell of urban living

February 27, 2012

Before getting round to talking about the imminent reissue of Napalm Death’s now 25-year-old [iconic/seminal/etc.] debut Scum, the Deciblog is engaging Mick Harris in a discussion about his favorite fish—the barbel. You see, Napalm Death’s drummer from the years between ’85 and ’91 has long since put his sticks down, and—in his words—has dropped out…

LIVE REVIEW | Kylesa w/Circle Takes The Square & Ken Mode – 23rd Feb 2012

February 24, 2012

Tearing half-empty venues apart with earnest vigor is all just part of the job when you’re KEN mode and opening a three-band bill on schoolnight. But y’know there are worse ways to working your ticket across Europe, spreading at-once fierce and reflective metal/hardcore/noise jams to crowds that might lack the numbers but not the appreciation….

COMMERCIAL BREAKDOWN: When metal dudes go sell your shit

February 20, 2012

Yeah, the real world sure does suck. The bottom line is forever letting the wolves off the leash and if they don’t end up clawing at your door they’ll sure as hell shit on your lawn. The only way out is money. And in this business, the uncomfortable truth is that, ultimately, in a roundabout…

LIVE REVIEW: Krisiun, Malevolent Creation, Vital Remains | London Underworld, Feb 15th 2012

February 17, 2012

Promoters worldwide would be doing us all a favor if they were to roll out five-band death metal mini-fests every Wednesday. Given that the middle of the working week is the calendar equivalent of dead air, a tour toploaded with a bill that has Krisiun, Malevolent Creation and Vital Remains as a headlining trifecta is…

Extras needed: Appear in HBO’S Treme with EYEHATEGOD

February 13, 2012

EyeHateGod fans harboring aspirations of appearing on an Emmy-nominated TV show should put on their best fucked-up face, get a photo taken and send it to Caballero Casting quicksmart. The Louisiana casting agency are looking for extras for this week’s Treme shoot, on in which the show’s creators will be dispensing with the trumpets and…

Q&A: Scott “Wino” Weinrich | Decommissioning the fuzz pedal and playing acoustic

February 10, 2012

For a dude who has built a revered legacy on the back of playing big biker doom riffs and wailing with Saint Vitus, Scott “Wino” Weinrich’s recent output has been super-mellow. There was 2010 acoustic solo record, Adrift, then a Latitudes session recorded in London with German singer/songwriter Conny Ochs, before the pair got together…

Q&A: Municipal Waste frontman Tony Foresta on new crossover project Iron Reagan

February 6, 2012

The phone just kept ringing out and going to Tony Foresta’s voicemail. We tried a few times, on each occasion considering leaving a “horny message” at the beep, as requested by the Municipal Waste frontman. It feels now like an opportunity missed. Ach, no matter, it was all cool. Foresta wasn’t dogging the call, obviously,…

Q&A: Testament’s Chuck Billy checks in from the road and talks about forthcoming album

February 3, 2012

Currently tearing across the States with fellow thrash vets Anthrax and Death Angel, Testament will be releasing their tenth album in spring. Entitled The Dark Roots of Earth, Testament frontman Chuck Billy has intimated that it’ll go atomic in the pit much in the same fashion as 2008’s The Formation of Damnation did. Hmm… Good…

HYSTERICAL: Hysteria – The Def Leppard Story, awful biopic, comedy gold

January 30, 2012

Firstly, kudos to Ben Ward of Orange Goblin for posting this on Facebook today and reminding us that This is Spinal Tap doesn’t have a monopoly on eliciting belly laughs at the expense of rock and metal’s superstars. You may like Def Leppard, and even those who don’t may still appreciate “Rocks Off” from On…

Say hello to the weekend with RED FANG’s “Hank is Dead” video

January 27, 2012

Oh praise be! The most miserable month of the year is all but over and it’s the weekend. This has been such a dry-mouthed hump of a month, but when Red Fang released their video for their super-catchy loose-minded stoner jam “Hank is Dead” the Deciblog made like Barney Gumble with the non-alcoholic champagne and…

STREAM/DOWNLOAD: Ferocious Fucking Teeth “Hinkley”, Albini-produced downcast noise-rock.

January 24, 2012

We’ve never been over to visit and the tourist information website was fucking useless, but we’d like to think that New London, Connecticut is just the sort of place where parents just vacate their family homes en masse for months at a time, and leave their surly offspring to mulch around in unwashed jeans and…

IRON REAGAN: Hardcore/crossover crew feat. Municipal Waste/Darkest Hour

January 20, 2012

All of you long-haired wastoids presently staring at the fridge, beer bong ready, weed order placed, Cheetos-in-bowl, etc… impatiently waiting for the new Municipal Waste record to drop, you might want to wrap your headbang around the new demo from Iron Reagan. Featuring Waste singer/party enabler Tony Foresta and bassist Phil “LandPhil” Hall, the line-up…

Unsigned Bands: Jump aboard The Blast Beat Network’s Promopalooza for 100 bucks

January 16, 2012

Being in an unsigned band can be a slog. Flip through that Rolodex and there is no record company honcho to get you press, to hustle embattled magazine staffers to review your record and maybe get some broke freelance guy to call you up and write a feature. There’s no one leaning on promoters and…

WIN STUFF: Celebrate 25 years of Earache by winning a bunch of swag!

January 13, 2012

Earache records is officially 25 years young this year. While it was the vinyl-only release of The Accüsed’s The Return of Martha Splatterhead that marked the label’s debut, it was the release of Napalm Death’s inconic/incendiary/etc debut, ‘87’s Scum, that started an uncanny hot-streak for the label, one which saw them go on to bogart…

STREAMING: Corrosion of Conformity – “The Doom,” brand new track from forthcoming LP

January 11, 2012

Having not released an album since 2005’s Southern riff compendium In the Arms of God, and since reformed as of summer 2010 with the much-loved Animosity-era lineup, anticipation for Corrosion of Conformity’s new studio album is such that we’d like to think that this stream of “The Doom” will be greeted by fainting fits, impulsive…

UK extremists The Atrocity Exhibit on fierce riffs and one-take grind

January 9, 2012

You’ve got to love and admire the optimism of people in the UK. While limited releases are a staple practice in underground music, adding both that exclusivity/collector appeal and some fiscal security, British grind champs The Atrocity Exhibit took it to, uh, extremes and limited the supply of 2011 faceripper Grind Over Matter to a…

IN SOLITUDE INTERVIEW: Frontman Hornper on The World. The Flesh. The Devil.

January 6, 2012

According to the wholly democratic, incorruptible and failsafe Decibel End of Year Poll, In Solitude’s superlative The World. The Flesh. The Devil. was officially the fourth-best album of 2011. (Yeah, in reality it was probably like the third best, but that doesn’t matter, not really. The thing is not to sleep on it.) The coltish…

Late Christmas gift to self? Buy Mitch Harris’ guitars

December 30, 2011

OK, some of you won’t be reading this. No, you’ll be too busy trying out all that gnarly shit that fat Santa and his team of Jawa slaves brought you, right, cross-legged in front of a screen eviscerating pixellated alien invasions, or maybe, if you reside in the boondocks of the Southern states you’ll be…

NUNFUCKRITUAL: Brief interview with hideous(-ish) mainman Teloch

December 23, 2011

Jeez, you do tend to reproach yourself when the wheels are set in motion and you’ve gone and booked Sunday evening interview time with a dude who shares his working hours between black metal kingpins Mayhem and the evocatively titled NunFuckRitual. Teloch came with the disclaimer that he has some pretty gritty stories to share….

Live Review: Napalm Death, London Underworld, 16th December

December 19, 2011

Just around the corner from the Camden Underworld, the BrewDog bar is exhibiting all the signs that tonight’s show is going to be over-subscribed despite Napalm Death’s much-anticipated and completed new album, Utilitarian, in cold storage until the New Year. The Scottish independent brewery’s own titular tribute to the Dead Kennedys’ anti-fascist anthem, the 7.8%…

Remixing metal: What’s the worst that could happen?

December 16, 2011

Maybe it’s the straight-to-video action movie genre or the rising popularity of MMA that’s to blame, seeing that both seem to love setting action to metal guitars and electronic beats, but despite metal remix albums almost always sucking they’re not disappearing any time soon. On February 24th, Morbid Angel will release Illud Divinum Insanus—the Remixes,…

INTERVIEW: Encoffination’s Ghoat on ritualism, working with death for real and “O’ Hell, Shine in thy Whited Sepulchres”

December 12, 2011

Encoffination do well to sound like they’ve been in the ground long before recording. A two-piece, drummer/duo located on opposite sides of the coast in Atlanta and San Diego respectively, their interpretation of death metal is begrudging of tempo and chokes the throat and nostrils with a real cloying miasmatic aesthetic. Guitarist/vocalist Ghoat insists it’s…

Gojira’s Joe Duplantier on their long-awaited fifth album

December 9, 2011

Just when Gojira were about to hunker down astride the globe and chew through metal’s leather hide, spitting out those esoteric yet moshable Meshuggah-esque rhythms, riffs and that crazy squawk guitar-noise their guitars make they just disappeared. It was a bit like the dinosaurs, posing the same question: how can something so gnarly and rad…

INTERVIEW: Retox’s Justin Pearson on punk sincerity, Ugly Animals, extremity and running for office

December 5, 2011

Clocking in at 13 minutes or so, Retox’s debut rager Ugly Animals only just falls into the LP category. But, shit, it packs enough aggression, energy and compositional cordite to compensate anybody who is bummed out from holding out for a longer running time. The San Diego quartet don’t fuck around—at least not with the…

Now stream this: AELTER “Dusk-Dawn/Follow You Beloved”, beat-relieved doom/drone from Wolvserpent’s Blake Green

December 2, 2011

Aelter is a solo project of Blake Green, guitarist/vocalist for Idaho drone/doom duo Wolvserpent. When joined by partner-in-crime, drummer/violinist Brittany McConnell, Green’s work with Wolvserpent (formerly known as PussyGutt) marks its territory across the dividing range that separates riff-orientated doom rock/metal with its abstract spiritual kin, drone. Anyone who has been lucky enough to catch…

MORBID ANGEL: Live in London, November 22nd

November 28, 2011

Morbid Angel are playing a shopping mall tonight. It’s OK, though, ‘cos it’s not like they are opening it, or performing exclusively for the switching on of the festive lights. That sorta shit’s demeaning and they’ve already had a tough year of it. There weren’t too many organs of record with their ass in the…