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Almost every band has that album: you know, the critically and/or commercially reviled dud in an otherwise passable-to-radical back catalog. Well, once in a while, 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 Shit. Let’s keep the death spiral going with Jeff Wagner “circle”-jerking Pestilence’s Spheres. 

Lifelover guitarist Jonas Bergqvist (aka ‘B’ and ‘Nattdal’) passed away on September 9th, 2011. Although Bergqvist’s death was unforeseen and unfortunate—rumors suggest he had a bad ticker—the members of Lifelover, who have now officially disbanded as a result and in honor of Bergqvist, vow to keep the band’s various Internet websites alive. Lifelover issued a…

It’s big news in the metal world when an album (or EP, or whatever) arrives with John Arch’s vocals on it. His Bruce Dickinson-like tenor was a beacon in the mid-’80s U.S. metal scene when he fronted Fates Warning on their now-classic first three albums. After he left the band, however, he basically put music…

In the current issue of Decibel Nick Green deftly bores his way down to the heart and soul of the self-titled debut from MonstrO, the band featuring ex-Torche shredder Juan Montoya alongside former members of Bloodsimple and Danzig: “an unironic synthesis of 1970s-era blues and psych-inflected guitar rock that is so unabashadly retro it vaults…

Singapore grind trio Wormrot’s sophomore UK tour Evisorax was the sort of faceripper that had the usual confederacy of punk and metal extremists out in force, complete with dogs on strings, and the usual anarcho-patched collective. The Deciblog could only witness first-hand the fireworks-indoors intensity of tour finale in London, but enlisted band manager Azean…

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 old pal Waldo here, and I’m going to give you a sneak beak into the upcoming releases in the next few weeks that are definitely fit to line your cage…

When Bastard Priest dropped the five-track Merciless Insane Death demo through Zombie Ritual Tapes in 2008, the duo left an almighty crater for all crusty death-heads to fall into and over each other. Genre veterans spent days nursing the shell-shock associated when detonating explosive underground death metal finds. It was a bitch, for a week…

Some of you are familiar with my now-eight-year-old son, Sam via the occasional Study Hall of Fame series here, here and here (the title of which is pretty ironic, because if you asked him what a study hall was, he’d have no clue as Sam is homeschooled). Those of you who follow Canada’s Hellbound.ca may…

If you haven’t listened to Death’s Procession yet, then let this be your wake-up call: you’re fucking up, buddy. Without further bullshit, I think this video makes my point. And this tour is outrageously heavy. I will talk about the time I saw Saviours with Weedeater for years, unless I black it out.  Since I…

Rye Wolves: “Tearing at the Shapes” by Decibel Magazine Eugene, OR is known mostly as the homebase of Yob, but amongst its sleepy streets and vegan breakfast nooks, another vicious trio has been around for years, creating small slabs of apocalypse. A combination of noise, drone, blackened doom and space rock, Rye Wolves have finished…

Almost every band has that album: the critically and/or commercially reviled dud in an otherwise radical back catalog. Formerly, every other Wednesday morning (more or less), a Decibel staffer or special guest would 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 Shit. Let’s get started with Frank Lemke’s vigorously deranged defense of Rebel Meets Rebel’s self-titled bow. 

Take a listen to our premiere of the new song, “Altar of Lies,” from The Fucking Wrath’s new album, Valley of the Serpent’s Soul. The Fucking Wrath “Altar of Lies” by Decibel Magazine Heavy, huh? Well, this aural onslaught is nothing compared to the brutality one occasionally suffers at the hands of one’s offspring. The…

Via Revelation Records comes this priceless video of Porcell of Youth of Today/Shelter/Judge fame being called a psychotic by Pat Sajack back in ’89.

There have been few bands who have had more influence over so many different scenes than Discharge. There was the whole first generation thrash bands, the likes of Metallica, who took time to broadcast their love for Discharge from metal’s commercial apex, and despite housetraining and declawing Discharge‘s furious, rough, on-take urgency, still nonetheless would…

We, the working class, salute the fine young individuals who are bidding farewell to another summer and returning to academia. To help you get through another grueling year of homework, idiotic teachers, standardized tests, and the realization that there are no jobs out here once you graduate, the Deciblog has carefully constructed a series of…

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’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’s entry…

We’re just a few weeks away from the return of the NFL, thank god. So, as usual, we contacted some of our favorite extreme musicians to pump up the underachieving fuck-ups they call their favorite teams. This Friday, Gates of Slumber bassist Jason McCash refuses to sleep on the finally in-decline (fingers crossed) Colts. So,…

You might have heard this but F.Y.I. Biohazard are hosting an open audition in the search for a replacement for vocalist/bassist Evan Seinfeld. This is great news. Seriously, folks, if you’ve ever apportioned serious mirror time to bicep curls while reeling off how many blocks there are to get to the subway, you should be…

In the next issue of Decibel – at least, I think it’s the next issue. I’ve been one of Mudrian’s ink-spilling bitches since day one and I still haven’t figured out when an issue comes out in relation to when I submit copy – I reviewed the soundtrack to the horror/gore flick, Afterparty Massacre. To…

We’re just a few weeks away from the return of the NFL, thank god. So, as usual, we contacted some of our favorite extreme musicians to pump up the underachieving fuck-ups they call their favorite teams. This Thursday, Muni Waste mouthpiece Tony Foresta is feeling good about the out-of-nowhere/on-the-rise Bucs. I didn’t even bother writing…

What else can I say about The Black Dahlia Murder? I like them more than Carcass. There. I said it. Oh, and one more thing: this week we’re giving away an awesome fucking TBDM prize. Enter this contest and you can win the Ritual deluxe box or the limited pressing gatefold vinyl, or maybe both,…

We’re just a few weeks away from the return of the NFL, thank god. So, as usual, we contacted some of our favorite extreme musicians to pump up the underachieving fuck-ups they call their favorite teams. This Thursday, Helmet heavy-hitter Page Hamilton hopes that new 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh doesn’t “drop D” (sue me, it’s…

We’re just a few weeks away from the return of the NFL, thank god. So, as usual, we contacted some of our favorite extreme musicians to pump up the underachieving fuck-ups they call their favorite teams. This Wednesday, two of the Bay Area’s finest, Scott Kelly of Neurosis and Chris Brock of Early Graves, try…

There’s little more annoying on this planet than the immoral majority telling you how essential, transcendent and (huh-huh) seminal a particular extreme album is, when you know that it’s overrated as fuck. Hence, our new Wednesday morning column, “Disposable Heroes,” in which one brave soul sails against the current to inform all you clones why…

Victoria, British Columbia, is on an island, and as a result gets skipped by 9 out of 10 touring bands. Other than, say, Anchorage, Alaska, this is probably the most inconvenient city of any size on the West Coast to get to. It’s the capital of BC, but it’s distinctly removed from the rest of…

We’re just a few weeks away from the return of the NFL, thank god. So, as usual, we contacted some of our favorite extreme musicians to pump up the underachieving fuck-ups they call their favorite teams. This Tuesday, Red Chord bassist and still-reigning Hottest Dood in Metal Greg Weeks has typically high hopes for his…

Broken Hope lyrics always seemed like mini-synopses of potential horror sagas, so perhaps guitarist/wordsmith Jeremy Wagner’s the burgeoning second career as a dark fiction author should not come as a huge surprise. In his debut novel The Armageddon Chord — ably reviewed in the current issue of Decibel by Lucas Hardison — Wagner intertwines the…

It took a lot of guitar amplification to put together Pombagira’s fourth album, Iconoclast Dream. We’re talking some 19, 20 vintage amps and cabs in the arsenal; that’s overkill for most bands, even those more mob-handed in personnel would struggle to justify having such an inventory. But with extreme doom, where tempos are slow and…

We’re just a few weeks away from the return of the NFL, thank god. So, as usual, we contacted some of our favorite extreme musicians to pump up the underachieving fuck-ups they call their favorite teams. To kick the week off, Hate Eternal kingpin Erik Rutan can’t wait for Ron Mexico and the Rape Stands…

Mazzy the kitten as Britney Spears, complete with fake albino python. The epic shit-show of the year happened last night. MTV is a pathetic punchline at this point in history, but there’s one thing the VMAs were good for: an animal reenactment photoshoot, starring Mazzy, Muncie, and Mona the kittens and Moxie and Sugar the…