Interviews

You’d be hard-pressed to describe Finland’s Moonsorrow without using some kind of synonym for “epic,” so the fact that their new LP, Jumalten Aika, out-epics anything they’ve done is nothing short of astounding. We caught up with guitarist/vocalist Mitja Harvilahti to discuss the musical, thematic and personal influences that helped bring this beast of an album to life.

Hickory, NC’s Rapheumets Well is a band heavily steeped in science fiction and fantasy. They slam dunk their lushly orchestral and luxurious symphonic melodic blackened death metal into a fantastical and fantastically creative and complex world that I don’t even want to embarrass myself trying to explain.

Oranssi Pazuzu is Finland’s gift to anyone hoping to spliff out with the alien invaders just before their extra-dimensional reality-shuffling machine divides and conquers and sends all our psychic energy back to their home planet as quaint souvenirs.  Värähtelijä rarely sounds familiar or simple, but consistently satisfies the need we have for rock music to truly progress.  Keep reading to find out why, while you could probably continue to exist without hearing Värähtelijä, you really shouldn’t want to.

We catch up with Fallujah vocalist Alex Hofmann for a quick chat.

“Only a handful of bands dare to leave the narrow(minded) frame which dictates what is so-called ‘true’ and what earns a negative connotation as ‘hip’. 95% of these traditionalist bands are the copycats of the copycats of the early 90ies Norwegian scene.”

We had the chance to interview Mr. Owen for an article in Issue #136 (Feb 2016, Abbath cover), but we had to cut down our man’s responses to fit in the space available.  Now you can read the entire interview, and hearing Owen’s freakish tunes is now only a click away.

Unfortunately, that even includes one-of-a-kind bands.

The Decibel Magazine Tour has been in full swing for three weeks now, and for Skeletonwitch, it’s been a perfect vehicle to introduce their new frontman, Adam Clemans. We caught up with Clemans and guitarist Scott Hedrick after a blistering 40-minute set at San Francisco’s Regency Ballroom to talk tour stories, album plans, and Facebook etiquette.

When you take a step back and consider that yellow-and-blue flag waving Swedish death metal as pumped through the (real or imagined) Boss HM-2 pedal is almost a genre onto itself, it’s perplexed me since 2011, when they released their self-titled debut, that Gothenburg’s Miasmal hasn’t been a name on more lips and tongues.

“The diversity of this record is the fundamental concept behind Imperial Triumphant. The band from New York City must sound like New York City. And there’s no place on earth more culturally diverse than here”

This month, we wrangled the prolific East Coast trio Horrendous from their jobs holding down every recent Decibel event to discuss their contribution to the series.

Originally printed in our April 2016 issue, get acquainted with death ahead of the big event (Choosing Death Fest, that is). 

** Neo-classical outfit Amber Asylum have never been an easy sell. From debut Frozen in Amber to new album Sin Eater, the Californians, helmed by instrumentalist Kris Force, have composed and released music for darker minds and uneasy souls. There’s tradition at hand, but there’s also exploration, in tone, in repetition, in atmosphere, in tolerance, in chaos. The result is an undulating set of emotions that conflict and blend to their music. To wit, Amber Asylum is music of dreams and nightmares, spun wistfully and painfully by Force and company to the delight of the other. Music of this quality was never meant for the masses anyway. Read on as Decibel and Kris find our inners.

Earlier this month, Neurosis took up residency at San Francisco’s Regency Ballroom for an epic weekend of shows to commemorate their 30th anniversary. We caught up with vocalists/guitarists Scott Kelly and Steve Von Till to talk about the significance of the event.

Making a Murderfest Part III.

Dublin-based band stabs into the murk with some of the most energized, bleak and ripping blackness we’ve heard in some time.  Hear the album, Heir to Scoria and Ash, here before its April 22 release, and learn more about the band directly in our interview with guitarist L.M.

Sweden’s Livet Som Insats second full-length, Check Your Grind features a take on the iconic Beastie Boys cover. We’d say the similarities end there, but listen and see if you can pick up on the similarities between the bands while we introduce you to them via a getting-to-know you interview.

Napalm Death, the Melvins and Melt Banana will begin their triumphant month-plus trek across the States (and a couple Canadian cities) this Saturday, March 26th in Phoenix, AZ.  When ND’s Shane Embury twisted our ear about a possible oddball interview between himself and the Melvins’ own King Buzzo, there was no question.

Ivar Bjørnson talked to Decibel about his love of electronic music and what metal fans can expect when they hear his other work in Bardspec. 

When it comes to heavy metal collectibles, it doesn’t get much bigger than Blood Music’s Emperor: The Complete Works box set. We caught up with label mastermind J to talk about the logistics of taking this monolith from concept to reality.

English death-mongering quartet Horrified are on the brink of detonating their new album of of melancholic rage (due out March 25 on Stormspell Records), and they want you to hear it here first.

One of the highlights of the upcoming Choosing Death Fest in Philadelphia this April will be the first public screening of Death By Metal, the definitive documentary on Death frontman Chuck Schuldiner. We talked to director Felipe Belalcazar.

This month, we contacted Swedish death miscreants Tribulation, whose 2009 debut, The Horror, perked up ears but whose subsequent efforts, including last year’s The Children of the Night, turned our collective heads all the way around, several times over.

Wipe up your drool in time for Thrill Jockey’s March 18th release of No One Deserves Happiness and read what drummer Lee Buford has to say about touring, pop music and working with other bands.

Lita Ford is the undisputed Queen of Heavy Metal, and after reading her long-awaited autobiography, Living Like a Runaway, I can say one thing’s for certain: Heavy lies the crown.

Jonesing for some cave-galloping, sludgy-toned, fuzzy hate-spittle metal?  Feel like you haven’t gotten your rocks off properly for the past several years?  Then you’re probably already a Black Cobra fan.  If you weren’t already a fan, you can get in on the, eh, fifth floor right now with the Cali band’s forthcoming record, Imperium Sumulacra.

This month, we talked to every last damn member of 2015 eye-wideners Publicist UK about their inspired, curious choice of cover contribution.  We’ll leave the details up to Zack Lipez (vocals), Brett Bamberger (bass) and the Davids (Obuchowski and Witte, guitar and drums respectively), but we were certainly as positively surprised and amazed at their work on Tori Amos’s “Precious Things” as we were about last year’s Forgive Yourself.

Going back to Into the Grave, Sweden’s terribly heavy death metal outfit Grave had few peers. Now, some many moons later, the Stockholmites still have few peers on new album, Out Of Respect For The Dead. Built on solid death metal foundation (no question), Grave’s new album pummels, punishes, and putrefies, with tracks such as “Mass Grave Mass”, “Flesh Before My Eyes”, and “Trail of Ungodly Trades” feeling freshly peeled off the skin of a recently-dead corpse. We tracked down frontman and original member Ola Lindgren to see what makes Grave tick after decades of cemetery work and mausoleum repair.

This month, we talked to Tatsuhito Mikami of Japan’s Church of Misery (and to vocalist Scott Carlson) about their contribution,  a special mix of “Confessions of an Embittered Soul” from COM’s forthcoming And Then There Were None record.

If you didn’t catch Richard Christy’s review in Decibel #136, let me introduce you to the most metal horror film ever: Deathgasm. It’s a Kiwi midnight party flick made for and by metalheads where blackened doom riffs unlock portals to demonic dimensions and “metal up your ass” is less of a threat than a literal promise. We’re talking corpsepaint, monsters, hilarious black metal music video parodies, dildo fights, and enough blood to satiate the most demanding gorehounds.