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Anticipation is a strange thing, man. Since frontman David Vincent re-joined longstanding death metallers Morbid Angel in 2004, fans from Chicago to the outermost regions of space have looked forward to the follow-up to non-David Vincent fronted Heretic. Actually, not just looked forwarded to, but debated endlessly and heatedly on Internet forums, in livingrooms, and…

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. Okay, guys—I’d say ladies, too, but we ALL know squawking well that no women read this: Here’s some new birdshit for you for this bi-week, “bi” being the operative word on…

Yeah, even though we got Osama, there’s plenty of turmoil in the world to go around. Libya’s still a war-ravaged cesspool, the Midwest is experiencing Biblical-style flooding, Japan’s coping with the tsunami-related woes, the Ivory Coast has seen better days, and… and… I could go on forever. Well, there are two ways to handle the…

Danny Lilker’s extreme metal résumé speaks for itself. Seriously, dude’s already had a pair of records inducted into Decibel’s Hall of Fame. So, when our man is involved in a new project, we know to pay attention. With that in mind, Decibel is proud to present the world premiere of “Naan Kadavul,” a new track…

So, listening to the new Morbid Angel album got me thinking of Florida shock rock outfit Marilyn Manson. Don’t ask me why. You’ll understand on June 7th, 2011. Anyway, it was the first time I thought of Brian Hugh Warner and his band of post-apocalyptic gothic-industrial goons since, well, Mechanical Animals was the highest selling…

After seeing this post on the Shreddit section of Reddit (where I steal much of my material), I wanted to ask the very few people who comment on here to offer their own opinions. Where do you draw the line when it comes to working for the man and maintaining your heavy metal lifestyle? Starting…

Almost every band has that album: you know, the critically and/or commercially reviled dud in an otherwise passable-to-radical back catalog. Well, every Wednesday morning, a Decibel staffer or special guest will take to the Deciblog to bitch and moan at length as to why everybody’s full of shit and said dud is, in fact, The…

We often like to toot our own horn of death. Our horn of death is similar to the long horns Tibetans use to signal it’s time for morning meditation. Except our horns are made of flesh (goat, preferably) and bone (human, preferably) and when they resound down the vile streets of Philadelphia, the grotesque sound…

Friday, March 11, 2011: Philadelphia, PA (Kung Fu Necktie)After hastily packaging our new Viking Funeral LPs, meeting up with our most excellent roadie and merch extraordinaire, Jeffrey Hollis, bidding farewell to our friends at The Acheron and The Anchored Inn (best new bar in town! 59 Waterbury Street 11206), and packing all our gear into…

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 for students of extreme metal that you may not have ever heard of.  Stuff that we’re too lazy to track down the band members to do a Hall Of Fame for.  This…

There’s nothing like regurgitated giblets in the morning. Using tools of the trade (i.e., fork and knife), we consume the gross, the unsightly, and the wrong to get us ready for traffic, silly ridiculous Excel spreadsheets, and reading press releases about odd bands signing to mainstream indie labels (uh, Jungle Rot signed to Victory). It’s…

Tracklist:1. “A Grand Declaration of War”
2. “In the Lies Where Upon You Lay”
3. “A Time to Die”
4. “View from Nihil (Part I of II)”
5. “View from Nihil (Part II of II)”
6. “A Bloodsword and a Colder Sun (Part I of II)”
7. “A Bloodsword and a Colder Sun (Part II of II)”
8. “Crystalized Pain in Deconstruction”
9. “Completion in Science of Agony (Part I of II)”
10. “To Daimonion (Part I of III)”
11. “To Daimonion (Part II of III)”
12. “To Daimonion (Part III of III)”
13. “Completion in Science of Agony (Part II of II)”

At what point to you feel a song has been completed? I typically ask this question of bands who write long songs to see if there’s a threshold and if there is when to they feel it’s been reached.James Kelly: For us, it is when it has climaxed in terms of the energy we intend…

I’m not a big proponent of hyping a band based upon how few members they have. What I mean is I don’t love descriptors like “power trio” because so what if three guys can make as much noise as four or five. That doesn’t make a song inherently better. But with all of that said,…

Discovery Channel has Shark Week. Decibel Magazine has Stream Week. We’ve ‘streamiered’ (copyright, please) Septicflesh’s “A Great Mass of Death” (Season of Mist), In Solitude’s “Serpents Are Rising” (Metal Blade), and now we’re saving the best — Decibel Editor-in-Chief Albert Mudrian has officially screamed the following platitude while standing on his desk both hands outstretched…

Almost every band has that album: you know, the critically and/or commercially reviled dud in an otherwise passable-to-radical back catalog. Well, every Wednesday morning, a Decibel staffer or special guest will take to the Deciblog to bitch and moan at length as to why everybody’s full of shit and said dud is, in fact, The…

You know, it wasn’t just me that went apeshit over Septicflesh’s previous album, Communion. Yes, I thought Sumerian Demons sucked, so going from suck-a-puck (it’s hockey playoff time) to rule-the-school (it’s exam time) is quite an accomplishment for the longstanding Greeks. Decibel contributor, The Mountain Goats mainman, and Stephen Colbert-approved John Darnielle also felt the…

The retro metal thing hasn’t played itself out quite yet. Sweden’s In Solitude (interviewed in the upcoming dB #80) are, perhaps like countrymen Ghost and Enforcer, on the forefront of the throwback-yet-modern sound emanating from the greatest metal country on planet Earth (my determination; feel free to dispute). Sure, the name In Solitude sounds like…

OK, I’ve never owned a vest. Not sure why. When I was young, I remember older kids around the neighborhood (we’re talking Flint, Michigan here) would sport denim vests proudly over the top of name-a-‘80s-metal-band-or-cola-here t-shirt. It was their uniform. Even in mid-August, they’d walk around in their denim vests (hair picks in the back…

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 for students of extreme metal that you may not have ever heard of.  Stuff that we’re too lazy to track down the band members to do a Hall Of Fame for.  This…

Recently retired closer Trevor Hoffman has a clear shot at the Baseball Hall of Fame, courtesy of his gaudy career saves total. He also had one of the greatest intro songs ever as a member of the San Diego Padres and Milwaukee Brewers bullpens—AC/DC’s “Hell’s Bells.” As Andrew Bonazelli’s Q&A with former Minnesota Twins/current Padres…

Almost every band has that album: you know, the critically and/or commercially reviled dud in an otherwise passable-to-radical back catalog. Well, every Wednesday morning, a Decibel staffer or special guest will take to the Deciblog to bitch and moan at length as to why everybody’s full of shit and said dud is, in fact, The…

No secret to anyone familiar with Decibel, its fearless editor-in-chief Albert Mudrian, or the magazine’s highly-trained metal taskforce that “seminal” (their words not ours) Florida outfit Morbid Angel are crucial the existence of proficiently extreme, Lovecraft-informed death metal. Countless—as a quick test of our quantitative use of “countless”, ask your fav band if Morbid Angel…

5. DawnSlaughtersun (Crown of the Triarchy) (1998) A barely known album. This time not via No Fashion Records. Necropolis Records from the U.S. took care to bring this release to life. Unfortunately, no tour, proper promotion or distribution supported this third album of the band, so maybe a few diehard fans will remember the group….

I’m not going to add much to this incredible, truly incredible, Vice article on Botswana’s “Metalhead Cowboys” but I will implore you to read it and check out the wealth of photos. I mean this… this is some fucking shit. A country you couldn’t find on a map for a thousand dollars has an oddly…

Almost every band has that album: you know, the critically and/or commercially reviled dud in an otherwise passable-to-radical back catalog. Well, every Wednesday morning, a Decibel staffer or special guest will take to the Deciblog to bitch and moan at length as to why everybody’s full of shit and said dud is, in fact, The…

Greek grape-leaf dolmas rule. So too does Greek black metal. Stretching as far back as Rotting Christ, Varathron, Necromantia, Zemial, Thou Art Lord, Greece’s storied black metal history rivals the Norwegians. In fact, the Norwegians were heavily informed by the extreme sounds of the Mediterranean. Not to dwell on the past too much, we’ve brought…

Ominous Doctrines of the Perpetual Mystical Macrocosm is your fifth record. How do you feel it compares, artistically speaking, to its predecessors?Dagon: Artistically and technically, it’s the best album Inquisition has done in every sense. The performance is tight, the production is clear and very organic, the riffs are rich and more on the attack…

On March 1st, we streamed new Vicious Rumors tune, “Razorback Blade”. It ruled. Yeah, we’re sure you said, “Vicious Who”? They’re ’80s. Not as in nu-’80s, but ’80s. They were there when riffs were fast (as a shark, possibly?), aggression was the primary emotion, and white Reebok hightops (the ones with the big, floppy tongues)…

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 for students of extreme metal that you may not have ever heard of.  Stuff that we’re too lazy to track down the band members to do a Hall Of Fame for.  This…