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.neon has been ready for more than a year now. What took so long?Herbst: There were some problems between Prophecy and my old label. But fortunately all turned out to be cool in the end. You know, it’s very frustrating, when you work so hard on something and you simply won’t get anything back. I…

Let’s get it out of the way: Headbangers Ball is never going to be what we want it to be. I mean, come on, Decibel is never fully going to be what you want it to be, and we fucking rule. (Help is available for that.) As for this show, MTV’s had 23 years to…

Until 2009’s What We All Come to Need, Decibel has had a long honeymoon with Chicago instru-metallists Pelican.

Hello fellow Deci-punters. Typically, we don’t toot our own Viking horns—well, we’ve done it before when Decibel Managing Editor Andrew Bonazelli released his acclaimed A Regular book and when Decibel Editor-in-Chief Albert Mudrian clashed swords with Da Capo Press to bring the Precious Metal book to life—but on this occasion, which is near Christmas, originally…

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…

Over the last three weeks we’ve been fortunate enough to open three cans of Sodom agent orange on your sorry fiveheads. Week 1 we premiered an uncompromisingly intense set of tracks in “In War and Pieces” & “Hellfire”. For Week 2, another two cans (“Through Toxic Veins” & “Nothing Counts More Than Blood”) of Sodom…

5. Black Sabbath “Paranoid” intro riff Tony Iommi is the fuckin’ man. The way his guitar sounded back in the ’70s was just evil compared to everyone else. Whether it had something to do with the way he layered distorted guitars on the recordings, or whether it was due to his playing style or missing…

By Nate Hall (U.S. Christmas) #5. Dixie Collins – Weedeater It takes a special kind of person to create a sonic mirror, a tone that reflects the individual hitting the strings. When Dixie straps on his cheap Squier P-Bass, slugs back some of Kentucky’s worst and switches on his amps, the ungodly wails that erupt…

Every Friday, Waldo the African Grey Parrot, frontbird of thrash-grind immortals Hatebeak, will get you caught up on the week’s latest “extreme” releases. As the end of the year swiftly approaches, record labels tend to slow down the releases. The rest of this year looks blanker than my body after a good molt. Good time…

Since we do more interviews than we ever care to admit (transcription is the devil!), we figured we’d open the journalistic kimono to our Facebook and Twitter friends/haters when the opportunity to interview Chicago tech-death specialists Veil of Maya presented itself.  We always ask the same damned questions. “When did you form?”, “Why did Johnny…

Shortly after our trip to the Slave Pit to bring you this month’s GWAR cover story, we sent foul-mouthed front-cretin Oderus Urungus a few follow-up questions via email. Here’s what he told us between long, suffocating hits from his trusty crack pipe: GWAR has been threatening to exterminate the human race for 25 years now,…

Over the last two weeks we’ve been fortunate enough to open two cans of Sodom tear gas on your sorry asses. Week 1 we premiered an uncompromisingly intense set of tracks in “In War and Pieces” & “Hellfire”. For Week 2, another two cans of Sodom tear gas were ceremoniously launched out of the dB…

Track-by-track commentary by Zafrir Zori (Dukatalon) “Pai’s” [audio:https://www.decibelmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/01-Peis.mp3] A person who holds an arrogant truth, taunts, preaches, and tries proving everyone wrong ends up being the worst of them all. “Run” [audio:https://www.decibelmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/02-Run.mp3] This one deals with a state of mind where you want to run away and dwell in a secluded place, but such place…

Even if you’re a grumpy asshole like me who fears and detests Twitter, today’s the day to visit ours. Specifically, 3 to 4 p.m. EST, as 43-billion-year-old Scumdogia expat/January cover star Oderus Urungus will log in to discuss doily mending, cookie icing and Advent calendars with the Decibel faithful. Share your favorite book in the…

Every Friday, Waldo the African Grey Parrot, frontbird of thrash-grind immortals Hatebeak, will get you caught up on the week’s latest “extreme” releases. Waldo here. There’s not really much to “crow” about this week in the way of new releases. In fact, it seems like most labels aren’t really doing much this week, but first…

When they’re not getting down with the Cinnabon sickness at the Mall of America, Minneapolis BM punks Wolvhammer enjoy decimating faces on tour. Drummer/resident smartass Heath Rave will give us the gory, hopefully idiotic details. Nov 7, NOLA Slept all day in preparation for what will prove to be the most brutal drives of our…

Last week, we here at the Deciblog unfurled two tank-shredding Sodom tunes, “In War and Pieces” & “Hellfire”, to much fanfare. Rockets were bursting in air, bombs all red glare, we’re here to prove Sodom’s still gallantly streaming. This week, as previously announced, we have two more daisycutter songs in the form of “Through Toxic…

Welcome to the second instalment of Decibel’s Study Hall of Fame. Here, my eight-year-old son, Sam cherry picks albums from our illustrious Hall and delivers opinion untainted by the sort of prejudicial bullshit that forces the majority of us to employ phrases like “guilty pleasure” to justify our enjoyment of stuff that supposedly flies in…

Arrving at the infamous Trocadero later than expected, party Decibel—all one of us—found Holy Grail amping up their final song of the night. Aggressive, competent and young, but replete with every leather pants-ed cliché known to Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and Manowar, the Californians may (some day) evolve into a formidable heavy metal machine. For…

At present writing, acclaimed director Julie Taymor and Bono and the Edge of U2 are putting the finishing touches on a musical version of Spider-Man. Bet you never thought you’d see something like that in your lifetime. But here it comes, along with a host of Broadway adaptations of familiar properties, like crappy movies (Toxic…

Every Friday—well, this week Wednesday, cause we’re fuckin’ OUTTA HERE in four hours—Waldo the African Grey Parrot, frontbird of thrash-grind immortals Hatebeak, will get you caught up on the week’s latest “extreme” releases. Waldo here. There are a couple of new releases that really ruffle my feathers this week. The first is the Rhino reissue…

German thrash beasts Sodom released their debut demo, Witching Metal, in 1982. Holy shit! That was 28 years ago. Few of us can remember what we were doing in 1982* — probably watching Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan or wondering, “Who is Ozzy Osbourne? And why does he like bats so much?”, but…

It’s no fucking time to start a record label. Physical sales have been hit by multiple (and surgical) airstrikes, digital downloads have flatlined, and record stores (not the big box crap either) ain’t having it easy. So, what does Scion A/V do? Of all the crazy things to finance, even angelically, Scion A/V have started…

The heaviest music magazine in North America just got half an ounce heavier — the most vicious, crushing half an ounce you’ve ever experienced. It gives us tremendous pleasure to announce the launch of the Decibel Flexi Series. From now on, Decibel will treat its loyal subscribers to a new, extremely limited vinyl flexi disc…

So, two Norwegians — ex-Emperor/ex-Zyklon guitarist Samoth and Mindgrinder/ex-Scum guitarist Cosmo — and one Swede — ex-Dark Funeral/ex-Aeon drummer Nils Fjellström — team up to form The Wretched End. Now, typically Swedes despise the Norwegians for one reason or another (usually because the Norwegian Kronor has more purchasing power than the Swedish Kronor and the…

OK, when Albert, Scott K., and myself think doom metal we automatically throw horns, put on our ankle length leather jackets, and head out to the moors for an “atmospheric” photo shoot. Actually, we don’t have moors here in Pennsylvania, but a trip to Centralia, PA always sets the right “mood”. Anyway, there’s been far…

#5. The end of the “Morrisound” era. In the late ‘80s Morrisound Studios in Tampa was the place to record, and it provided the first real clear production, in my opinion, of double bass work that was happening in the early days of extreme metal. For the first time you were able to hear things…

When they’re not getting down with the Cinnabon sickness at the Mall of America, Minneapolis BM punks Wolvhammer enjoy decimating faces on tour. Drummer/resident smartass Heath Rave will give us the gory, hopefully idiotic details. Wednesday, Nov. 3, Austin, TX After a brutal overnight drive, including a stop at a clinic (sore throat, not sore…

By Nate Hall (U.S. Christmas) #5 John Ehle: The Land Breakers, The Winter People, Trail of Tears. (Describing the Cherokee) Male and female, they were hospitable but uneffusive. The men appeared to be respectful but remained aloof, were secure within themselves. They would shake a stranger’s hand silently while looking off toward the horizon, securing…

By Tim Goergen (Within The Ruins) It is always good to come back to the East Coast. Today was in Greenville, NC. After a 10-hour drive through the night from Columbus, GA we finally arrived in Greenville around 2:00 p.m. and immediately hit up the first Wal-Mart we could find. I grabbed some chicken strips…