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If you thought the fourth annual Decibel Magazine Tour lineup was already unbearably intense, you may not be able to cope with this news. Joining the likes of living legends At the Gates and Converge and death/doom supergroup Vallenfyre are none other than our 2014 Album of the Year honorees, Pallbearer! The Little Rock quartet expanded the…

In December of 2010, Decibel brought flexi back. Four years later, the obscure-yet-awesome medium is obviously here to stay. Our vaunted Flexi Series is going to be a whopping 50 deep as of the February 2015 issue, and there’s no better place to store and preserve these highly collectible, exclusive items than the Deluxe Edition…

We are but a month away from J.C.’s birthday bash. Time to crash the party, Decibel-style. Treat either yourself or the misanthropic metalhead in your life to a killer deal sure to sour the Christmas spirit. It’s Cyber Monday once again, and today only, if you sign up for a 12-month or 24-month subscription to Decibel, you’ll receive one extra issue…

At this time, I feel it is necessary to release an official statement of the facts in regard to my recent deportation from the country of Norway. First, I want to apologize to all Saint Vitus fans, and to my band members and crew for my lapse in judgment that ultimately resulted in me missing…

Feeling depressed? Antisocial? Apathetic? We’ve got just the thing: The Top 100 Doom Metal Albums of All Time special issue! Hey, we never said we’d be good therapists. But let’s keep it real: all the counseling you need is in these pages. Our staff navigated six decades (!) of proto-doom, funeral doom, gothic doom, stoner doom melodic…

The Decibel Magazine Tour has established itself as the extreme music destination of the spring, bringing metalheads a thoughtfully curated lineup that celebrates the genre’s proud and diverse global legacy. The fourth installment is no different, as Swedish melodeath legends At the Gates join forces with U.S. hardcore heroes Converge and U.K. death/doom supergroup Vallenfyre,…

It’s like eight zillion degrees in Philly today, so in the spirit of delusional wishful thinking, we’re telling ourselves that October 18 is riiiiiiiiight around the corner. October 18, of course, being the date of our “Decibel Takes Manhattan (and Brooklyn)” 10th anniversary shows, in which we’ll be wearing light jackets and merrily thrashing our…

Yesterday U.K. death/doom progenitors My Dying Bride announced the departure of longtime guitarist (and current Vallenfyre axeman) Hamish Glencross due to “irreconcilable differences.” Replacing Glencross is the man he originally supplanted back in 1999—founding guitarist Calvin Robertshaw. In his first interview since rejoining band, the author of rifftastic MDB classics like “Your River” and “The…

America’s only monthly extreme music magazine is turning 10, and we’re too pumped up to settle for just one birthday party. On October 18, Decibel is taking Manhattan (and Brooklyn) with two exclusive, blowout concerts. First up at Best Buy Theater in Times Square: the globally renowned axework of Amon Amarth, Sabaton and Vallenfyre (the…

Almost exactly a year after founding guitarist Jeff Hanneman’s untimely passing at age 49, Slayer have reemerged with not only their first new studio recording in five years, but a surprising departure from their longtime label. The Big Four’s most consistent horseman — already recognized twice in the Decibel Hall of Fame — had been a mainstay…

Attention, Canadians — and/or anybody crossing the border to catch the 2014 Decibel Magazine Tour in Toronto next Tuesday, April 8: We’ve got a venue change. The show will now be going down at the Opera House. The ticket link is still the same, so buy ’em while you can right here. Got it? Okay,…

There have been many proposed Hall of Fame features that have been derailed by inner-band animosity and grudges, but our recent spotlight on Agnostic Front’s groundbreaking NYC crossover masterpiece, Cause for Alarm, in the March issue, actually brought the five musicians that played on the album back together. Guitarists Vinnie Stigma and Alex Kinon, bassist…

Late-breaking news for the just-around-the-corner 2014 Decibel Magazine Tour. We’ve added another regional opener that should get you lucky SoCal metalheads good and stoked. L.A.’s mighty deathgrind institution Nausea will be added to the Santa Ana show on Tuesday, March 25, at the Observatory. Gotta appreciate how we’re sticking to the theme of bands who take…

Live in California or fancy travel? The second Brainsqueeze Fest is coming to Oakland in April via our friends at Tankcrimes. Get your super passes now and check out the sick running order below. Decibel is happy to premiere the new ad as well. Friday 4/18 – Oakland Metro – all ages, bar w/ ID…

The weather may be brutally cold when Amon Amarth, Enslaved and Skeletonwitch roll into Minneapolis on Saturday, February 8, but there will be a special strong beer, brewed specifically for this event by Surly Brewing, waiting for them. Surly is sponsoring the show at Mill City Nights and head brewer Todd Haug decided to provide…

What’s the connection between craft beer and metal? We hear this question a lot. Well, specifically, we are asked this question a lot since our craft beer book, The Brewtal Truth Guide to Extreme Beers, was published last November. For people who aren’t necessarily into both things, it’s hard to see the commonalities. On the…

We weren’t surprised to find out that one of the people involved with efforts to place a gigantic Baphomet statue on the Oklahoma Capitol grounds is connected with extreme metal. I guess we’re just happy that they are pursuing their goals through civil discourse rather than pulling a Burzum. Brian Werner is a High Priest…

Since our Brewtal Truth column first appeared in Decibel nearly five years ago, it was inevitable that this day would one day come. All we needed was to find the perfect partner, and when we learned about Denver’s TRVE Brewing Co. in 2012, we knew that they were it. So, after many bestial sacrifices, summonings,…

The day Christians have long feared, the day that would part the Heavens and kick-start the apocalypse, is upon us. In the unsuspecting locale of Oklahoma City, a group of enterprising Satanists is working (not via hex or spell, mind you, but the legitimate channels of public policy) to place a gigantic statue of Baphomet…

Well folks, it is the holiday season; what with the temperatures falling and nights closing in, and even the walls closing in, too, it’s officially the most miserable time of the year. Respite is in short supply. Hard liquor and pharmaceuticals can only do so much. But, step away from the shotgun, there’s a hefty…

The Internet is the darnest thing. One minute you could be sifting YouTube to harvest bootlegged footage of metal dudes on cooking shows, the next you could be jamming a new track from band whose oeuvre is every bit as esoteric an experience as seeing Marty Friedman on a Japanese cookery show. Maybe there is…

Back in the fall of 2010, we gave you an early double dose of Halloween and winter, courtesy of the Black Metal Hall of Fame special issue. Three years later, we’re taking our corpsepaint craving to the next demented level and unveiling the Top 100 Black Metal Albums of All Time. We corralled our staff…

Stick around long enough and you might get the things you always wanted. For some kids that’s a medical degree or a wedding fit for Disney. What I wanted was to hang out with Tesco Vee, the imposing frontman of The Meatmen who made me laugh on a daily basis with juvenile sexual ripostes on…

Okay, so this week’s big metal in the movies news has been dominated by former thrashers turned FM rock-metal conglomerate Metallica, who have roped in the wee creepy guy from Chronicle to star as a citizen roadie on a mission across town during a miscellaneously apocalyptic event. Taking its title from one of the many…

The folks who work hard to bring you the extremely extreme each week might be cantankerous but that doesn’t mean we don’t look out for our fellow man. Case in point: the gifted guitarist Jason Becker, who was struck with with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), which most readers know as Lou Gehrig’s disease. The disease…

A member of our extended family needs your help. Joe Wickstrom is the bassist of Atriarch and has played with numerous Portland bands. He was diagnosed with peripheral arterial disease in 2011 and has had a tough go. The disease narrows the arteries and makes it tough for blood to reach the limbs and extermities….

Dark Descent Records have announced a two-day showcase festival at the Ash Street Saloon, Portland OR for October 4th and 5th. And the lineup (below), presented by Dark Descent in association with Parasitic Records and Ash St PDX is the exactly sort of super-necrotic death/doom/black bill of extremity that’s guaranteed to help you shake out…

Do you love Decibel‘s most favoritest non-metal-but-kinda-pretty-metal band? Live near Charleston, South Carolina? Or just happen to be passing through the area this coming Monday, May 27th? If so, make sure you roll on over to Monster Music & Movies for a special in-store performance and signing session with Baroness, scheduled for 4:00 pm on…

Black Metal: Evolution of the Cult is a 600-page book by UK author Dayal Patterson that delves deep into the history and development of black metal as an art form and a culture. It is released on November 13th, but is now available to pre-order from Amazon at a discounted price. Published via Feral House,…

Nader Sadek has penetrated the Decibel psyche in various, um, incarnations over the past few months, and the invasion has been most welcome.  In February, we teamed up with Metal Injection to bring you live performance clips from the Living Flesh DVD before you could buy it.  Now we drop some most righteous news upon…