Justin Norton

And so begins the relentless stream of new metal releases of 2013. First out of the gate is some tried and true death metal courtesy of Germany’s Defeated Sanity. dB is streaming the second track “Naraka” off upcoming album Passages Into Deformity, due Feb. 5 and available for preorder from Willowtip. The band describes the…

Since the New Year is the time of self-reimagination (or big promises that aren’t kept) it’s a good day to look back into the storied skeleton closet. While metal took over the planet in the 1980s via Metallica and Iron Maiden (after Black Sabbath set the stage for a decade) pop ruled the charts. You…

Ah, to be a metalhead on the biggest holiday of the year. We’re imagining that you got a new fleece from Eddie Bauer instead of the rare Xasthur LP you hoped would end up under the tree. Your incontinent grandpa is still asleep on the couch. You are now hiding in your room scanning metal…

This is not Christmas music. Here at Decibel we’re always on the lookout for weird and unexpected shit for your listening pleasure. And the self-titled release from French/Norwegian outfit Stagnant Waters fits the bill. This band looks at the 12-bar structure like highly evolved aliens look at a toaster oven. We’re at a loss to…

It looks like “occult rock” (i.e. heavier music with discernible song structures and radio potential) isn’t going away in 2013. We’re not sure if we were swayed by necromancy or the fact that there’s a naked lady on the cover (likely the latter) but we’re streaming an exclusive premiere of the track “Black Magic” by…

It’s been a shitty year for literacy in the world of extreme music. First there was Pig Destroyer’s worth-waiting-for Book Burner. Despite the title there were plenty of words to go around with a J.R Hayes story short tucked into special editions. Now, we have the upcoming At A Loss debut from South Carolina-based experimental…

Fall has been kind to the mighty Incantation. They released their boss new album Vanquish In Vengeance (read more about the creation of the album in our new issue). And they charted like a Britney Spears single in our top 100 death metal albums of all time. One of the reasons they are shredding so…

Since the Decibel faithful are about to enter a restful trance of their own thanks to pounds of turkey, pumpkin pie and stuffing (or tofurkey for all our vegan readers) we thought it was the right time to introduce a new track from Bastard Sapling’s Dragged From Our Restless Trance. Streaming below is “Cold Winds…

The phrases “Van Drunen” and “side project” will cause more than a little excitement in these parts. The death metal frontman handled vocals on two prestigious entries in Decibel’s Top 100 Death Metal Albums (available here). He also toured with the mighty Bolt Thrower and fronts war-themed badasses Hail Of Bullets. The dude is like…

Suicide Silence seemingly started playing shows out of the blue, and quickly ascended to headliner status and gigantic tours. In 2007, I saw them lugging gear outside of a small club as they prepared to open early in the evening for Nile. In 2009, they had moved up the ladder and were second on the…

“How’s the iPhone pit over there,” Converge vocalist Jacob Bannon says at one point midway through the band’s headlining show last week at Slim’s in San Francisco. Good question. It’s hard to figure out who would want to mind meld with their personal device when a trashcan was lobbed into the pit midway through “Trespasses.”…

Venomous Maximus isn’t a cover band that does a cool version of “Witching Hour.” This Houston band likes riffs, penned a song that’s an indirect ode to King Diamond (see below) and has earned comparisons to Pentagram and Electric Wizard. We’ll gladly take that over a Cronos impersonation. For your exclusive streaming pleasure, Venomous Maximus…

“Madness is like gravity. All it takes is a little push.” So said Heath Ledger’s eminently quotable Joker in The Dark Knight. And there is perhaps no better push than new material from the two maniacs behind Anaal Nathrakh. Decibel is happy to give you a sneak peak of “Todos Somos Humanos,” off the upcoming…

I don’t know about you but a “climax community” sounds like a hell of a nice place. It definitely beats what we usually see in America: retirement communities, gated communities and segregated communities. Who doesn’t want to get down? A climax community is actually a term involving heady ecological ideas that hurt our feeble brain….

Of all the bands to crawl back from the metal abyss here’s something we never expected. VON is releasing a new album at the end of October and dB got an exclusive stream of “Jesus Stain” from Satanic Blood. The band expects to play a limited run of shows. Take a listen below and then…

Pentagram frontman Bobby Liebling has received much deserved attention for his comeback from a harrowing addiction and the revival of his musical career, not to mention late in life fatherhood. A few of his former bandmates might not have dealt with the same demons but they’ve had their share of tough times seeing their musical…

Only a short introduction is needed here. This gentleman played on Hall Of Fame certified None So Vile, not to mention the inimitiable Blasphemy Made Flesh. He’s back in Cryptopsy and a big reason their eponymous new album rules. Ladies and gentlemen, we’re proud to welcome Jon Levasseur to the shredder’s studio this week. Hey…

We get a lot of music in these parts that doesn’t make you feel good. So dB will gladly accept sweet party anthems secure in the knowledge that many readers give ample spins to Appetite for Destruction when they are claiming to dissect some obscure 80-minute black metal opus. “War Woman” comes from Oakland’s Lecherous…

We’re chuffed to have a dB album of the year award winner take over the shredder’s studio this Wednesday. In this second installment, Tombs guitarist and vocalist Mike Hill tells us about the riffs that led him on a musical path of totality. While you are at it make sure to check out the new…

One of the more intriguing things to have landed in my inbox recently is Finland’s Arkhamin Kirjasto. It might be because music writers are anxious to drop a label on something and it’s damn near impossible to classify. Is it power metal? Hard rock? Or, as the band says on their Facebook page, “Lovecraftian Hard…

We’re always stoked to get new material from one of the members of our storied Hall Of Fame. Decibel has received an exclusive sneak peek at the new Cryptopsy song “The Golden Square Mile,” from their forthcoming self-titled, self-released LP (due September 14). Cryptopsy also gave us a little more information about the song, which…

Working alone from home is often viewed poorly in metal thanks to about 10,000 too many shitty low-fi pornogrind and black metal bands. But sometimes doing your own thing and calling the shots on all aspects of your music is a very good thing. Case in point: Sophicide’s new album Perdition Of The Sublime, streaming…

Despite the exhortations of much extreme metal that life isn’t worth living there are things left to get excited about. One of them is the upcoming album from Pig Destroyer, their first since dB’s 2007 album of the year Phantom Limb. News flash: the new album from Relapse is called Book Burner and we’ve secured…

Welcome to the opening installment of Inside The Shredder’s Studio, where we talk to accomplished players and guitar nerds about the riffs that make them warm and fuzzy. It would be easy to call this another “Women In Metal” bonus feature but I’m not going to do that. You see, chances are Elizabeth Schall can…

If this sounds like the rambling of an old fart, so be it: kids have it too easy these days when it comes to underground music. If you have a laptop and spare time you have unfettered access to pretty much every rare treasure recorded during the past four decades of metal and punk. That…

The Dutch hardcore band Vitamin X has been at it for fifteen years. While that might not seem like a huge stretch compared to, say, Sick Of It All it’s still a nice run in a time of short lived bands and one-man projects started in your neighbor’s basement. Their fifth album About To Crack…

“Sit back and hold your breath/Just let nature take effect.” So said death metal OG Chris Barnes in his Six Feet Under ode to marijuana “4:20.” In addition to death and murder tales, Barnes has been an unapologetic advocate for legalizing marijuana since the early days of his metal career. Barnes has been riding high…

Decibel published its first ever “Women In Metal,” issue this month, which offers an exhaustive look at the enormous contributions women have made to metal music (and the metal industry). If for some inexplicable reason you don’t subscribe then you can snag a copy from our store . If you are wise, you might have…

Getting compared to Black Sabbath’s legendary debut is a mixed blessing. Of course, it’s going to stoke interest in your band but is there anyone that can measure up to the album that’s quite literally responsible for everything on this blog and magazine? Berlin, Germany’s Kadavar have elicited those comparisons, at least from the folks…

We don’t hear about nearly enough good death metal from the U.K lately. Grind or doom? There are bands aplenty. Death metal? Not nearly enough, although our savvy readers will list every band I’ve forgotten in the comment section. While you are doing that take a minute to stream “Dissolution” from Binah’s Hallucinating in Resurrecture,…