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Deathblow Productions director/writer Ryan Oliver revels in B-movie bliss in Child Bite’s “Vermin Mentality” music video.

Get in here and get savaged!

Gigfly.ca is a recently launched website designed to assist working members of the music community develop and maintain a more hands-on approach to business outside the rehearsal room.

Amid the noise of a dozen gnarly fall tours this year, Gorguts and friends stand out as a must-see bill with zero filler.

Happy Halloween! Get in the spirit with an exhaustive Decibel oral history of The Electric Hellfire Club, the innovative 90s band that blended metal, industrial music, and Satanism. Burn, baby, burn!  

We got lucky when we sought out voices to comment on Meshuggah‘s continued power and relevance – our search led to a conversation with tourmate Wacław “Vogg” Kiełtyka of Decapitated.

I recently discovered Into the Storm the old fashioned way: their PR representative held me hostage at gunpoint in a windowless room for three days…but it didn’t have to be that way.

Refinement?  Bah!  Technical acumen?  Bwaaaahhh!  This is crude, grave-stomping, bone-grinding death metal tuned for pit domination and soul desecration.

Fans of Melechesh, Rotting Christ, Tengger Cavalry and the more extreme moments in the Orphaned Land catalog should absolutely make time for the new album by Singapore “Vedic” metallers Rudra this fall.  The band has been active (and prolific!) since the 90s, and their eighth full-length is due to singe ears and elevate consciousnesses this December.

Another addition to the growing number of festivals exploding out of the Western Canadian woodwork as of late is Edmonton’s Black Mourning Light, set to be held at the Rendezvous Pub in the town that Wayne Gretzky built on October 21-22.

Chicago, Illinois has long been home to some of the harshest, ugliest metal sounds, and Polyptych continue the tradition in splendid form.

A few months after Heavy Metal Parking Lot celebrated its 30th anniversary, we remember the life of Dave Donahue, who made a short appearance in the film but left a lasting impression on his younger brother and friends. 

Romanian black/folk metal pathfinders Negura Bunget prowl through the woods in the hypnotic video for “Stanciu Gruiul.”

To suggest that I’ve been excited for Black Table to release their debut full-length would be something of an understatement. 

Oaken Palace Records teamed up with noise godfather Merzbow for a half-hour drone/noise release whose profits will go to the Kakapo Recovery Trust with the intent of helping this aviary species grow to more robust numbers.

There are few things Innsbruck, Austria has going for it. Bringing up the rear of the “trambahn” are local (with some added Dutch flavour) clown kings of crossover, Insanity Alert.

Very little is funny about Aum and their heady/dirty death offensive, Om Ah Hum Vajra Guru Padma Siddhi Hum, but get your ears on this if you like dense, ugly destruction that also finds time to paint with a little light.

In our final metal teacher installment, we bring you two men who hold down less traditional teaching positions:  Voivod’s Dan Mongrain, who teaches music at the college level; and Rage Nucléaire’s Lord Worm (Dan Greening), who teaches English language skills to business people who have left behind the traditional classroom setting.

And now for something from the farthest reaches of left field, if not outer space.

French soul-threateners Aum will release their highly destructive (and equally esoteric) force, debut record Om Ah Hum Vajra Guru Padma Siddhi Hum, this Friday on Iron Bonehead.  We asked the band some questions, and we got some enthusiastic and thoughtful responses.  Read up on Aum’s focus and vision right here.

Decibel had the opportunity to interview bassist Andreas Vidhall and guitarist/keyboardist (and occasional vocalist) Pär Stille about what makes Stilla tick. 

Justin Pearson (The Locust, Retox) is no stranger to the road. Dude has been staring at blacktop and lane dividers in the name of playing dive bars and assorted shit holes around the world for ‘round about 20 years

now we put you in touch with two more teachers who like to yell and throw elbows even when they’re not surrounded by confused adolescents:  Mike Score of All Out War, and Mike Armine of Rosetta.

Check out the new track “Soft Palates Rasp” from Seputus, off their pending debut Man Does Not Give.

Back to school means it’s time for At the Gates‘ Tomas Lindberg to go back to his other job: teaching. 

For the first time in western Canada in a long-ass time, and for the first time on one stage ever, hoser headbanging heavyweights…

When metal-inspired ideas leave the guitar behind and embrace their ebony/ivory duality, you get Goatcraft.  In this interview, you get more Goatcraft.

Whatever trajectory Heathen Beast were on seems to have led them to self-destruct, and whether that is permanent or simply a momentary lapse is unclear.  Before they broke up, however, they left us with twelve impressive diatribes and responses to the following questions.

A manga-themed progressive metal band that sounds like a cross between Ghost, Faith No More and the Mars Volta pimping an ‘80s/VHS-quality surrealistic, horror-themed video as part of the celebration of the release of their fifth album. Really?

This month, Integrity dig back into the exquisitely obscure by bringing out a righteously energetic cover of “Deathly Fighter” by Japanese (mostly) solo effort, the Randy Uchida Group.  We asked vocalist/mainstay Dwid Hellion about the process of choosing and recording the song, and here’s what he had to say.