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Welcome to Tales From the Metalnomicon, a new twice-monthly column delving into the surprisingly vast world of heavy metal-tinged/inspired literature and metalhead authors… Blood Bound Books first came to the Metalnomicon’s attention via Rock ‘N’ Roll is Dead: Dark Tales Inspired by Music — an exquisitely depraved, cleverly devised anthology which is not only dedicated…

Because every day another band records another song.  Because 83% of those songs are unlistenable and you can’t be bothered to sift through the dreck.  Because metal is about not giving a shit and waking your own personal storm.  Because music is universal, expression is boundless, and even indie labels (whatever that means these days)…

Houston may well be home to one of the worst teams in Major League Baseball history this year, so we threw them a bone in the form of the first gig of the 2013 Decibel Magazine Tour. You know the score: Cannibal Corpse, Napalm Death and Immolation bring the death and grind thunder, Cretin, Magrudergrind…

As I continue on with part two of the three-part old-school hardcore Thursday feature with the dudes from Sweden’s AC 4 (check out part one here), this week I make the not-so-daring proclamation that hardcore is synonymous with Minor Threat. That’s about all I have to say, or should have to say. With that, we…

When Call of the Void is not on the road (most recently in support of recently released Dragged Down A Dead End Path), guitarist Patrick Alberts returns to work and, as he describes it, deals with PTSD (“Post Tour Super Depression”). Having never been on tour, I can’t identify other than to say that his…

Jaz Coleman is known for tackling big subjects in interviews: climate change; the degradation of the food supply; technological singularity and the Renaissance. Spending some time with him in person — not in a Conga line of press interviews — is a much different proposition, even if he still hints at his scholarly pursuits. Decibel…

5. Saint Vitus. Crosses galore on the second Vitus logo. Three of them. For the Trinity perhaps. The original SVS logo only had one. Three’s a crowd, we say. But this logo is boss. Looks a bit cheap and overdone at first blush, but the barbed letters? Could be heavy metal cliché. Nope. Crown of…

It’s been shitty and raining in Los Angeles the past few days. Obviously you don’t care, since we have beautiful weather 99% of the time, but these are perfect conditions for Set and Setting. Not because Set and Setting are shitty; they aren’t. If you’re going to listen to heavy post-rock like this, it’s best…

We got semi-retired punk/metal atavist Stevo do Caixão, currently of Tombstones and formerly of the legendary Impetigo, as well as Axeslasher guitarist/vocalist Professor Pizza, and metal scribe Andy O’Connor — sadly, that’s his real name — currently of Pitchfork, Metalsucks, and Noisey, among other publications, to break down the upcoming Maryland Deathfest, debunk old myths…

For a long while, Shining (SWE) and Shining (NOR) were swappable entities to the uneducated metal hoi polloi. Thankfully, they’re hardly interchangeable sonically (and visually), as one’s firmly razor-deep in DBM and the other is applying jazz, rock, and black into something rather undefinable—they call it ‘blackjazz’—but altogether Norwegian. Guess which one we have on…

Hey there, beak geeks; it’s been a while. Your boy Waldo has been suffering from a seed allergy.The theme for this week is old-school, so let’s just dig right into it, shall we? The most overlooked “tion,” IMMOLATION hit us with a new record called Kingdom of Conspiracy on Nuclear Blast. Right in time for…

When it comes to creativity and vision, the best of us don’t compromise. It’s easy to shift and jump on a trend to make a buck, or follow blindly when someone promises a path to success. It’s a path many of us would take. Those destined to make a mark never compromise on their vision,…

Admission of personal bias:  I think Max is awesome, because I’ve seen Max do Max’s thing in Max’s band (Exist) and Max’s band is awesome.  I once described Exist’s music as not metal so much as a rad jazz quartet that decided to plug in and rip it up all loud-like.  Those proggy death-flecked jams…

First thing you need to know is that what you’re reading is being written in mid-April. Don’t ask why, unless you come out to the Fear Factory/Hate Eternal tour, MDF or Chaos in Tejas; then you can ask me why. Anyhoo, if all goes the way I’ve planned, I will still be coming off the…

If you live anywhere near NYC and love extreme music, hopefully you’ve had a chance to check out Saint Vitus Bar in Brooklyn. Once you find and step through the black doored entrance, not only does the front bar offer a wide variety of drafts and specials, but the back room hosts some of the…

Jim Van Bebber’s audacious underground masterpiece The Manson Family recently finished its first proper domestic screening run in a decade. The following is the second half of our lengthy interview with the underground director (read the first half here). In this installment: rejection in Hollywood, Philip Anselmo and modern music. ***** When did you decide…

If you didn’t make it out to Philly for our much-ballyhooed (BALLYHOOED, I TELL YOU) 100th Issue Show, you didn’t get a free, limited-edition flexi from that evening’s penultimate performers, the mighty Pig Destroyer. Silver lining: It’s now streaming right here for your listening pleasure. See, even though you were too cheap and lame to…

It’s been a few months, I’ve posted about appropriately metal things – I’ve earned myself a break from the death metal mines. Luckily for you, the three people that don’t close the page when they see my byline, some of the stuff I listen to when I’m giving my ears a break is just close…

We asked Toronto’s premiere purveyors of “true, unadulterated heavy metal” Cauldron to keep tabs on the havoc and devastation left behind in the wake of the band’s epic America’s Lost tour and dudes did not disappoint with the diary below. Remaining tour dates are listed at post’s end. Purchase Cauldron’s excellent Tomorrow’s Lost here. David…

So, this is pretty cool. Decibel has teamed with Scion A/V to offer our fine blog readers the first peek at a new interview and performance video featuring sci-fi metallers Vektor. The footage was shot during the recent Scion A/V Earache Records showcase. Per what you’d expect from Scion A/V the video is immaculately shot…

Black Metal: Evolution of the Cult is a 600-page book by UK author Dayal Patterson that delves deep into the history and development of black metal as an art form and a culture. It is released on November 13th, but is now available to pre-order from Amazon at a discounted price. Published via Feral House,…

The last time we had our balls in the same pool as Boston-based thrashers Ramming Speed was a long time ago. They were guest blogging about dive bars (HERE) and we were tickled florescent green. Since then, Ramming Speed have visited more dive bars, helped jean-jacketed heshers snap a neck or two, signed to Prosthetic…

Welcome to Tales From the Metalnomicon, a new twice-monthly column delving into the surprisingly vast world of heavy metal-tinged/inspired literature and metalhead authors… No fences, no borders. Free movement for all…It’s about fucking time to treat people with respect. So railed Propagandhi on the incendiary Today’s Empires, Tomorrow’s Ashes track “Fuck the Border,” but as…

 Because every day another band records another song.  Because 83% of those songs are unlistenable and you can’t be bothered to sift through the dreck.  Because metal is about not giving a shit and waking your own personal storm.  Because music is universal, expression is boundless, and even indie labels (whatever that means these days)…

The latest entry into the world of scathing, screamy, melodic hardcore is Chicago-centric Multiple Truths. For the most part, the quintet, formed by guitarist Justin Wettstein, did and do things the old-school way: rehearsing regularly together, hanging out like a small gang of record collecting nerds and taking the time to find and refine their…

In case you haven’t heard, the new Coliseum record—which was one of our Top 20 Most Anticipated Records of 2013—comes out on Tuesday. Our May issue not only has Shane Mehling’s review of Sister Faith (spoiler alert: he likes it), but Adrien Begrand’s profile of the Louisville trio. In fact, said interview with Ryan Patterson…

You might remember our friends from specialty vinyl label Last Hurrah. Last year, they pressed an ultra limited vinyl run of 16’s Lost Tracts Of Time. This summer, they will release a full length album from Mike IX project The Guilt Of… Although this will only be released on vinyl Decibel scored an early peak…

Name one British thrash metal act from the Golden Age of Thrash that kicks ass and makes newcomers Evile look like prepubescent chipmunks. Do it. Xentrix? Cerebral Fix? Hellbastard? No, no, and no. OK, we’re way off. The Brits had their share of awesome. Sabbat, Onslaught, Lawnmower Deth, Sacrilege, Seventh Angel, and Acid Reign were…

Guys in metal bands grow old. We know that. It’s natural and can’t be helped. Sometimes they continue to put out good music, sometimes they lose the fire that drove them back in the day. That’s fine. We aren’t here to talk about the music. We are here to take a look at some of…

Swedish retro thrashers F.K.Ü. — i.e., Freddy Krueger’s Underwear — cite “80’s horror flicks and old copies of Metal Forces magazine” as the band’s primary inspiration, and the band has spent over a decade now backing up that claim, encapsulating odes to Maniac Cop, Hellraiser, C.H.U.D., Motel Hell, and a bevy of other seminal horror…