Interviews

Sometimes, the unhipness of a sound is a pretty good measure of a band’s dedication to their craft.  While some bands chase trends and recording perfection as if precise alignment will translate directly into merch sales and Facebook likes, other artists burrow their own tunnels, regardless of what they think will be hot this afternoon….

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)…

New York-based experimental psychedelic stoner spacerockers White Hills has only been a band since ’round about 2005, yet they’ve already amassed the following discography: They’ve Got Blood Like We’ve Got Blood (Fuck Off And Di/Head Heritage, 2005) Koko (White Hills, 2006) Glitter Glamour Atrocity (White Hills, 2007) Abstractions and Mutations (White Hills, 2007/Thrill Jockey, 2009/Immune,…

Mutilation Rites’ last record, Empyrean, landed on our top 40 records of 2012. To these ears, however, the group’s new LP tops that effort and so we’ve been playing it on a near daily basis since it dropped last week (Daniel Lake also streamed the whole thing here earlier this month). Since the Brooklynites just…

** Hall of Famers Emperor are celebrating the 20th anniversary of black metal classic, In the Nightside Eclipse. As part of our journalistic duties, we couldn’t pass up a chance to talk to icon/good guy Ihsahn about two decades of black fucking metal and why this time Emperor are taking the stage with them to…

It’s been a good month for celebrating the noisier side of the extremely extreme.  All good things must end… though it’s hard to believe that we won’t be revisiting gritty, shadowy, unfettered sound in the future, if only here on the Deciblog. To round out the month of noise, we spoke to Virginia-based Christopher S….

In addition to holding the illustrious (or dubious) honour of being one of my personal favourite bands of all time, Italy’s Raw Power is undoubtedly one of the most enduring and consistent hardcore punk bands to emerge from the world of hardcore punk. They formed in 1981 (with roots going back to the late 70s),…

Misery Index is no stranger to these playlists. In fact, we were in the midst of winter 2013 when bassist/vocalist Jason Netherton regaled us with “bleak tunes that recall those snowbound blizzards from yesteryear.” This time around, guitarist Mark Kloeppel went in a totally different direction to get you in the know about “hard” jams….

Because Tombs frontman Mike Hill loves work and HATES sleep, he recently started his own company, Savage Gold Coffee, in an effort to completely eradicate the latter from everyone’s life. Their inaugural brew, Savage Gold Prime, is available for order here now. While presumably starin’ at the walls, Hill gave us the scoop. I’m guessing…

** Germany’s Dark Fortress have plied black metal’s murky, obsidian-colored waters for the better part of 20 years. In that time, they’ve crafted seven full-length, all of which have gone on to acclaim and recognition. Unlike most bands, Dark Fortress haven’t played it easy across their varied discography. They’ve experimented, tried new ways to mold…

A couple months ago, I introduced you to Winnipeg death metal outfit Psychotic Gardening here. In the search for additional and interesting content for this here spot on this here blog, I was altered to the fact that vocalist Chris “Gillishammer” Gillis’ dayjob was as a gravedigger! As soon as I heard that, I immediately…

For the past decade or so, Goatwhore has been one band that you can count on to put out quality release after quality release. The quartet’s latest LP is yet another um, merciless, entry in its oeuvre. So to celebrate both the recent release of Constricting Rage of the Merciless and the start of the…

To paraphrase the demon that once mauled Albert Brooks in his own car on the side of a darkened road back in ’83: Hey, d’ya you want to hear something really scary? Yeah? You sure? Alright, then, Fangoria Musick — the exquisitely eclectic, ceaselessly unsettling new digital download music label from the legendary flagship magazine…

My ears are ringing like mad. Last night at the Metro Gallery in Baltimore, I caught Mutilation Rites play a ripping set that could be called loud in the same understated way that a Boeing 747 landing on your face could be called loud.  Fuck.  Ing.  Loud.  The performance was enveloping, engulfing, overwhelming, and it…

** The original interview with Theologian’s Lee M. Bartow is featured in our stupendously awesome, but-not-so-metal “noise issue” (HERE). So moved by Bartow’s answers to our questions, we felt compelled to post the entire transcript while, as the saying goes, the iron is hot. Bartow’s not one to joy around and his music–self-admitted as “industrial…

Three years ago, the Portland, OR foursome known as Elitist floored us with a gritty, hateful debut full-length called Fear in a Handful of Dust.  To nix any confusion about whether or not they played sweet-cheeked djent (as another band named Elitist was doing), the band re-antichristened themselves Bastard Feast, and next week marks the release…

As psyched as we were for the last year’s new Pelican album, we were just as excited to see the band in the live setting again after a long six year wait. Now those worlds are set to collide soon when the Chicagoans drop Arktika, a nine song 2013 live set recorded in Russia. The…

** The original interview Cut Hands’ William Bennett is featured in our groundbreakingly awesome “noise issue” (HERE). What follows below is the full transcript. If you’re adventurous enough to you’ll succumb to Bennett’s Afro Noise. What is Afro Noise? William Bennett: This was the name of the debut Cut Hands record, essentially referring to two…

I first read about North via Catherine Yates’ review of What You Were back in 2008, but it wasn’t until I perused our Managing Editor’s writeup of the record in that year’s top 40 that I thankfully got around to listening. Even though it’s been a while since then, once you’ve read last year’s interview…

Woody Weatherman of Corrosion of Conformity has influenced generations of shredders. His career has spanned many phases: the massively influential crossover albums, their unexpected commercial run in the ’90s and the return of the old school lineup in recent years. COC remains as relevant as ever and just released their new record IX. Mr. Weatherman…

Jamie Myers: her voice is the stuff of both fever dreams and Byzantine nightmares. Since getting involved with underground music back in the 90s she has progressed from punk bands to playing bass and singing in Hammer of Misfortune and a guest slot with Wolves in The Throne Room. After returning to Texas to start…

** UK dark rockers Thine have a new full-length out. The Dead City Blueprint is probably an album not on your radar, unless you’ve followed the group since A Town like This back in the late ’90s. Should it be on your radar? Yes, if dark, melodic, melancholic, honest metal-infused rock is in your wheelhouse….

** Anathema’s on the cusp of a breakthrough. Actually, the Liverpudlians have been on said cusp for the better part of 15 years. But that’s neither here nor there. Music is always about right place and right time. That place and time have come for Anathema on, Distant Satellites. Like previous album, Weather Systems, the…

By now, many of you are enjoying Decibel’s August issue, #118.  Perhaps you’re excited because it’s The Godflesh Issue, and the emphatically awesome return of that project is certainly worthy of your enthusiasm.  Maybe you’re psyched about it being The Melvins HOF Issue, a look back on an extraordinary record by an influential band that…

In case you can’t remember that far back, Tombs‘ last record, Path of Totality, was our top album of 2011. Fast forward three years, and the band’s latest release appears to have garnered near-universal acclaim since it dropped earlier this month. So it’s only fitting that guitarist/vocalist Mike Hill’s playlist focuses on something that, in…

None more slaughter, the slaughterest of the slaughter, Nunslaughter have an actual full-length out now after approximately 600 EP’s, singles, and splits. It sounds like Nunslaughter. What more could you ask for? In case you don’t believe me, we have THE ENTIRE ALBUM streaming for you below. Angelic Dread has 31 blasphemous blasts, half of…

No matter how many people think black metal has gone mainstream or become hip because a few dozen bands from Brooklyn have small label deals the reality is that the vast majority of the population doesn’t know a thing about it. They’re listening to .38 Special or Lana Del Rey. If there is a black…

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)…

Godstopper has been a fixture on Toronto’s sludgy/doomy/stoner scene for some time now. Recently, they’ve taken small steps to branch out beyond the city limits. A betting man would wager they’re making that move because they’ve just about had it with Rob Ford’s tarring and feathering of the city’s reputation, the perpetual gridlocked traffic and…

For Fred Grabosky and Evan Void, the dudes behind Philadelphia-based Sadgiqacea, music is only one, albeit rather large, part of their lives. Each is also into art as Grabosky is a freelance illustrator (drawing and inking) while Void, when not also playing in Hivelords and Ominous Black, tattoos at Living Out Loud Tattoo in Lindenwold,…