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I’d been stoked to hear the new full-length from Ruby the Hatchet ever since I saw them open for Floor in early 2014. Now that it’s dropped, I’ve been jamming Valley of the Snake on a daily basis — it’s one of the more enjoyable “debuts” (it’s the band’s second record but first label release)…

If you like filth, boy do we have a split for you!  New York sludge/hardcore/softball aficionados Mortals and Philadelphia crust scumbags Repellers have teamed up to deliver four tracks of total nastiness straight to your face. You know why this is so fucking good? Groove, and lots of it. Both bands traffic in unpleasantness, but…

While you might hear an awful lot about society’s ills in metal you don’t hear about the plight of rural America too often. But the harsh realities of Appalachia provide much of the inspiration for Byzantine’s take on thrash, particularly on “The Agonies,” the song we’re premiering today. Frontman Chris Ojeda explains: “The Agonies” is…

We interrupt your regularly scheduled headbanging to bring you an exciting revelation. This year, on Saturday, April 18–known to the western world as “Record Store Day”–American thrash metal legends Metallica will reissue their demo, No Life ‘Til Leather. What’s more, the demo will be reissued on its original format, a limited-edition cassette! Metallica’s own label,…

Last week in a rare over-ground win for underground art and authenticity the preconceived notion-smashing At the Gates comeback record At War With Reality won the Swedish Grammy for Best Hard Rock/Metal Album of 2014. We, of course, would like to believe this is at least in part the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry’s…

Tech death. It has lyrics. Generally they are hard to notice underneath the infinite pretzel knots of the instruments, but they are there. This lyric video from Continuum proves it. Of course, said lyrics sound like technobabble from 1970s Marvel cosmic comics, but they exist! Continuum is the brainchild of Chase Fraser (Decrepit Birth, Animosity),…

There is a whole motherfucking lot to recommend Berserker II: The insane line-up (see flyer below), a punk rock “swap meat” hosted by Tesco Vee of the Meatmen, a sweet ass T-shirt designed by Decibel‘s own Mark Rudolph, etcetera… We recently reached out to fest organizer/Child Bite vocalist/guitarist Shawn Knight to get the inside scoop…

It’s hardly a news flash — particularly if you read Neill Jameson’s reports from his time as a record store clerk — but physical music is either in its death throes or experiencing a painful rebirth. Whether it’s A or B depends on who is involved in the conversation. Aqualamb Records is banking on the…

The upcoming self-titled full-length from Tasmanian tech-death wrecking crew Psycroptic really brings the band’s brand of manic, virtuoso brutality to another level. But don’t take our word for it — delve into the entire aural beast below. And then head over to Prosthetic to pre-order yourself a copy of this brain scrambler. Check out the…

Originally released in 2004, Choosing Death: The Improbable History of Death Metal and Grindcore is widely recognized as the definitive history of its titular extreme music subgenres. Eleven years later, author Albert Mudrian, editor-in-chief of Decibel Magazine, has chosen life after death in the form of a revised and expanded Choosing Death, which boasts a…

Eight years have passed since Greek black metallers Devathorn issued debut album, Diadema. Certainly, the trio were too busy channeling “Qliphotic” chaos to focus on music, but sometime in the last year or so they emerged from the abyss to write 11 hymns of hate. On new album, Vritra, Devathorn return! Recorded and mixed at…

**Matt Olivo is the founding guitarist of extreme metal trailblazers Repulsion, whose Horrified LP ranks as Decibel’s #1 grindcore album of all time. Because we know that every reader ever plays guitar, we brought his print column to the Deciblog. In issue #116 Matt spent some time “hammering on Brent Hinds’ bloody, thunderous new pickups”…

We’re your friend! We’re not one of them! Want proof? The latest installment in the Decibel Flexi Series is controversial March cover star Leviathan tackling Black Flag’s legendary “My War.” See? As always, we have your best, most demented interests at heart. The one-man U.S. black metal trailblazer known as Leviathan (a.k.a. Jef Whitehead) has struck…

OK, after about a month I’m back. Don’t worry, you haven’t missed too much. Thanks to my human counterparts at Decibel for letting me slip this long. This winter has been a trial for your tropical friend Waldo — too cold. Anyway, this is about that time of year where the releases actually start picking…

If you like your metal weird, ugly and awesome, please give it up for Odota, an Estonian one-man project that takes black metal and infests it with all sorts of uncomfortable sounds that will make the purists cry, “False!”  The new album Fever Marshal props up raw, blasting riffage against industrial and electronic detritus, offering a bracing…

This year, Relapse Records turns 25 years old. Jesus frickin’ fuck, where has the time gone?! It just seems like yesterday we were combing blurry ads and squinting our way through mail order reprints in fanzines for Suffocation and General Surgery EPs and Amorphis and Deceased full-lengths and here we are in 2015 with the…

There’s going to be a lot of alliteration today, faithful Deciblog readers. Sorcerer formed in Stockholm, Sweden in 1988 and was active until 1992. But, as we’ve seen many times, good metal bands never die — they just reunite. Sorcerer got back together for a one-off show at the Hammer Of Doom festival in Germany…

It’s incredible to think that a band that burst on to the scene with a novel collection of Metallica covers on cello has not only managed to out together a career lasting two decades, but has built itself into an incredibly popular act. Although they’ve been an active touring band, it’s been five years since…

We’ve sang the praises of trailblazing Philadelphia transcendental slayers Hivelords many a time in this space and so when the band offered to document a recent descent into studio madness for its upcoming full-length Anthropic Records release, we of course eagerly agreed. The reality-refracting entries are below… Part I: A Nash-ing of Teeth Spoiler Alert:…

Show me that you are suffering? Game on. People are still talking about The Academy Awards. Purina faces a lawsuit alleging their pet food is filled with toxic ingredients. Your album cover is sort of creepy. And it’s Wednesday. Streaming today: “Show Me That You Are Suffering” from the Colombian black/death metal band Nepente. The…

The upcoming Harm’s Way record Rust — out March 10 via Deathwish Inc — is an industrial-by-way-of-metallic-hardcore-by-way-of-Triptykon multidimensional rager that is going to turn a lot of heads. This afternoon Decibel is pleased to exclusively premiere the video for “Amongst the Rust.” For more information, check out our profile of the band in the current…

“We are obsessed with death metal!” For this month’s Speaker Rumbly, I tracked down one-half of Colorado’s new and incredibly putrescent death/doom outfit, Spectral Voice, for some good ol’ Q&A. Spectral Voice’s demo, Necrotic Doom, is currently available, but is likely not long for this world. I’ve been in contact with the specter herein known…

A full decade after the release of Acid King’s aptly named third album III, the San Francisco trio is set to make a triumphant return with the excellent new full-length Middle of Nowhere, Center of Everywhere. It’s a record that fulfills the band’s promise of a sound they describe so accurately as “like riding a…

Grind it out, bitches! Phil Anselmo has some fresh stuff for you from Fulgora, a new band featuring his buddies in Pig Destroyer, Agoraphobic Nosebleed, and Misery Index (although really, two of the dudes are in three of the bands, so that’s a bit of a cheat, but whatever). Basically, what we have here is…

Men Without Hats were one of the biggest pop bands of the early to mid-80s. And “The Safety Dance” was one of the biggest songs of the decade, and continues to resonate. People never stopped doing “The Safety Dance.” Remixes show up every week, including a metal version (more about that below). The Saturday night…

** Most thought Christopher Amott crazy for leaving Arch Enemy a second time. He was in an internationally recognized metal band. They sold records. They toured the world. He played with his brother, Michael. It was a dream scenario. Well, the younger Amott wasn’t having any of it. He left Arch Enemy, relocated to the…

There’s something to be said for a band to willfully pose in front of an old boogie vans and not be the least ashamed. For Texas’ Father Sky, such objects are the focus of their non-musical affection. They scream back to a time when the sun felt warmer, the riffs fuzzier, the hems wider, and…

If you haven’t heard a good oddball metal record recently… well, then your head’s been under a soundproofed rock and you haven’t been reading enough Decibel reviews.  Get out there and listen, man! And be sure to check out the new Pyramids record when Profound Lore releases it in the middle of next month.  It’s dark,…

As some of you may know, I’ve been sailing on the good ship Decibel since it was christened. I’ve seen (and heard!) a lot of shit and even remember some of it! And yes, I’m the head knucklehead who wrote the oft-referenced-and-made-fun-of Dragonforce cover story. So, you’d think that having bounced 10+ years of deadlines…

Ashmedi is no stranger to this blog, having authored a 17-part “biographical column and chaotic metaphysical thoughts” series that ended in 2011. Now that his band Melechesh has returned with its first album since 2010, we’re happy to welcome his voice back in the form of a playlist. There’s no theme per se, but it’s…