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STREAMING: Liberteer “Build No System”

December 12, 2011

Formed by Cretin/Citizen mastermind Matthew Widener, Liberteer is the grindcore equivalent to the folk-Viking metal movement in Europe. Right. He’s taking back what’s his/ours. Amidst uncompromising blasts of anarcho-crust-punk-pissedasfuck whatever (a Napalm Death-Discharge Molotov cocktail birthed in nastiest defiles of Every City, USA), Liberteer throws down like it’s 1776. By using/integrating military march music and…

The Lazarus Pit: Gonin-ish’s Naishikyo-Sekai

December 9, 2011

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 are tackling a band that…

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…

Brother, Can You Lend Me an Ear?

December 8, 2011

One of the great things about going on tour is meeting and seeing bands you’d never previously heard of and experiencing what those bands, usually local openers often still in their infancies, have to offer, then bringing home a pile of demos that have been distributed to the members of the travelling road show and…

Ancient VVisdom – “The Opposition” Video Premiere

December 8, 2011

Wow. Anyone who’s ever had a Satanic ritual knows that this is exactly what it’s like. A few dudes in a room full of spray paint fumes, with some instruments and a fire going. Depending on how drunk you get and what drugs you’re on, some pretty weird shit can go down. Lamentably, I’ve never…

When Black Metal Was Cool

December 7, 2011

Nowadays you can pick up an inverted cross stained with the blood from a virgin sacrifice in a mall kiosk, but back in 1994 people were still shitting their knickers over religious desecrations and swore Satan himself was tremolo picking a pawn shop Jackson reverse headstock. Via The Gauntlet: Everyone knows the stories of the…

Top 5 Most Unfortunate Extreme Metal Band Names

December 7, 2011

5. CarnifexThere’s nothing wrong with Carnifex per se, but whenever I hear the band’s name—which is rare—I immediately think Carfax. Sure, word ‘carnifex’ has a brutal origin—meaning ‘executioner’—, but the omnipresence of the Carfax Fox on television has potentially altered my reality. And who says carpet bomb advertising doesn’t work. Oh, random factoid. Salad Works,…

Morbid Angel “Existo Vulgore” Set Visit

December 6, 2011

Morbid Angel recently invited Decibel to the set of the band’s upcoming video for “Existo Vulgore.” We didn’t spot any strange winged demonic creatures skulking about, alas, but it was a good time nonetheless and during the drive from Morbid HQ in Tampa to Seminole’s Studio 75 David Vincent graciously answered our questions, riffing on…

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…

STREAMING: Alcest “Autre Temps”

December 5, 2011

By now, Alcest’s “Autre Temps” isn’t necessarily a Deciblog premiere, but instead of streaming it on YouTube in-between clips of ninja squirrels and keyboard baby Amur tigers you can listen here where you belong. “Autre Temps” is the lead-off track to Alcest’s upcoming, much-anticipated full-length Les Voyages De L’Âme, and true to form it features…

For Those About to Squawk: Waldo’s Pecks of the Week

December 2, 2011

Every other Friday, Waldo the African Grey Parrot, frontbird of thrash-grind immortals Hatebeak, will get you caught up on the week’s latest “extreme” releases. Hey. As the year winds up, so do the releases; not many labels are pushing too much now. And as the releases wear thin, so do my ironic puns, and all…

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…

More Proof That Cats Are Our Overlords

December 2, 2011

File this one under, “How the shit did we not realize this sooner?!?!?” When your precious Floofy goes to clean his/her junk, Floofy is actually HAILING SATAN. Cats can’t throw the horns because they don’t have hands, but they are surely committed to darkness and have devised an evil substitute for the human race’s weak-ass…

And The Headlines Scream…Part II

December 1, 2011

While it may not be a slow day in the world of news as it pertains to extreme music – Pennsylvania “fuckrock” band Gods & Queens are still fuck rocked in Europe; Mexican gore grinders Rottenness are, last I heard, still stranded in Texas on tour after spending the money they allotted to get home…

Red Fang, DEP, Mastodon – Terminal 5, NYC – 11/19/11

December 1, 2011

Sold Out. What a killer tour, at a venue I am starting to like more and more. This was the Relapse-makes-good showcase, no filler or bullshit.

Gods and Queens Seriously Need Your Help

November 30, 2011

Philadelphia Fuckrock band Gods and Queens had a serious mishap in Europe. Here’s Guitarist/Vocalist Jamie Getz: “I’m going to try and make this as short as I can. After all these years of touring in unsafe vans, and doing stupid things, I guess I was over due for this… We had a serious van accident…

STREAMING: Whores “Straight Down”

November 30, 2011

The swamp black water from Georgia’s Okefenokee must have some kind of primordial quality to it. The bubbling earth’s been seeping into the state’s water supply (from the southeast, natch) for longer than history can record. Of course, dudes with beards, flannel button-ups, and guitars (possibly drums) drink said black water and what comes out…

I Drink Your Band’s Signature Coffee Blend!

November 29, 2011

Now that sales of their actual music have gone in the crapper, bands are continuing to find new and bizarre ways to help fans squander their hard-earned cash. KISS were onto this like three decades ago, but it’s taken awhile for some of their contemporaries (and even newer bands) to cotton on to the fact…

This is Not a Hardcore Headline

November 29, 2011

Sure, Twitter has more than its share of detractors. And it isn’t as if the revulsion to 140 characters or less is completely baseless — though Christ knows you all could be a little less self-righteous about it! (Pro tip: approach it like Sudoku.) Nevertheless, ye holdouts amongst the Decibel readership are depriving yourselves of…

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…

Who Owns The Blastbeat?

November 28, 2011

We know who coined the term ‘blast beat’ or ‘blastbeat’, but which group was the first to employ the technique now synonymous with extreme metal drumming? Now that is a question I bet even a TakeLessons drum teacher wouldn’t be able to answer. Was it grindcore legends Napalm Death? Was it crossover heroes D.R.I.? Or…

Seriously Killer Giveaway: ‘Give Them Rope’ Test Press

November 23, 2011

There are many different kinds of giveaways but in my opinion it doesn’t get much better than this. In fact I’m hoping no one wins and I get this by default. The new remixed, remastered, definitely definitive way you are supposed to hear Coalesce’s masterpiece Give Them Rope is coming out one final time (probably)…

Cover Art Coincidence: Farsot vs. Desalmado

November 23, 2011

Depending on your outlook on album art, it’s either an outmoded concept destined for the trash heap or a mandatory connection between the visual and audial. There have been some creative examples of album art in years past, but it’s a bit of a head-scratcher when two bands of underground stature end up with very…

The [Future] Cutest Kitties in Metal Live at Clover Cat Rescue

November 22, 2011

As evidenced by our “Cutest Kitties in Metal” article back in the December 2009 issue, we here at Decibel are staunch friends of the feline. Sure, goats are semi-regularly sacrificed at Decibel HQ whenever we need a little bump in subscription numbers, but no cats are ever harmed in the making of our hallowed mag….

Haemoth: Not Fans of the Americans with Disabilities Act, Apparently

November 22, 2011

Seven psalms of uncompromising Satanik supplication. That is how the press release accompanying In Nomine Odium describes the long-awaited new album from French black metallers Haemoth. Well…here’s hoping Old Split-Foot is prepared for a cacophonous cauldron of churning fuzz, pitch-black ambience, and way-more-than-two-minutes-hate. Hoo boy. Stellar stuff, but not exactly easy listening — check out…

ANAAL NATHRAKH—A night at the movies with Dave Hunt.

November 21, 2011

It was the other week at Candlefest in London that reminded the Deciblog that Dave Hunt, vocalist and master of ceremonies for Birmingham/Orange County(!) duo Anaal Nathrakh, had dutifully filled an optional extra on an email interview. It was right around the time when Hunt was mooting the idea that the Deciblog had imbibed amphetamines—which…

Niilo Sevänen & Ville Friman (Insomnium) interviewed

November 21, 2011

What do you think separates One for Sorrow from Across the Dark?Niilo Sevänen: The core of the music is still the same, but we don’t want to repeat ourselves and make the same album again and again. I think we’ve always managed to evolve and bring some new twists to our music. This time the…

For Those About to Squawk: Waldo’s Pecks of the Week

November 18, 2011

Every other Friday, Waldo the African Grey Parrot, frontbird of thrash-grind immortals Hatebeak, will get you caught up on the week’s latest “extreme” releases. Your boy Waldo here, getting primed to fall into a tryptophan coma. Looks like there’s some–not a lot, mind you–new releases coming out to help me stay awake. Hot on the…

MELVINS Q&A: Buzz Osborne and Dale Crover talk vinyl splits, punk and Groucho Marxism

November 18, 2011

A couple of weeks ago we caught up with Melvins just before they played a sold-out show at the Electric Ballroom, London. They were traveling light, back to a three-piece for the night after auxiliary drummer Coady Willis called in sick (it was the runs, no one can play through the runs), but nevertheless in…

And We Have Our Skeletonwitch Winners

November 17, 2011

Alright, you sick fucks, your pile of brutal album titles has been logged and your posters will be sent out anytime between tomorrow and the rapture. Thanks for your participation and, just for kicks, keep sending in titles cause why not. Thanks. —————————– Okay, so we’re gonna make this quick and easy, folks. There are…