Interviews

** The original Decibel interview appeared in issue #58 (HERE), but since the Swedes are slower than Candlemass when issuing albums, we felt it was kinda cool to necro-post the full Unanimated interview. Also, Unanimated claims to be working on a new album without drummer Peter Stjärnvind, who left his stool post in February 2012,…

I’m pretty sure the guys in Black Shape of Nexus are fucking with me. I mean, I’ve heard heavy music borne out of positive catharsis and even righteous abandon (Devin Townsend, Cynic, et al come to mind immediately), but B.SON sound like they’re coming from a totally different place – specifically boiling out of a…

Two weeks ago, we ran the first part of our interview with Shelsmusic’s Mehdi Safa in which we discussed, among other things, how he finds bands and his label’s history with vinyl (you can read that here). In the concluding half of our interview, find out about Shelsmusic Studios, Safa’s views on streaming services like…

Twelve albums in on a 22-year-old career and Swedish black metallers Marduk can still be relied upon 100 per cent to stick to the program and deliver a typically iconoclastic tour de force, touching upon all the genre essentials, anti-hymns to send toes curling in the Vatican and throughout Christendom. Serpent Sermon is pound for…

This piece is a long lost companion section to Decibel #92 cover story Paradise Lost. It explores and debunks the myth of the Peaceville Three—Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride, and Anathema—connecting and riffing off one another in the early to mid-’90s. Think of it as an updated version of fellow Decibel contributor Greg Moffitt’s UK…

It’s nice to have friends introduce us to new music, but in this age of ever flowing information and ubiquitous quick links, we often rely on bands’ personnel connections to lead us to our next aural awakening. Dude in our favorite death metal band also plays on this grind record or in that prog collective,…

Obviously, War On Music’s Charley Justice works a lot faster than I do. When his original retail location at 38-44 Albert Street in downtown Winnipeg went up in flames back on April 19th, he ramped up his usual whirlwind of internalised kinetic energy and went to work at opening another location as quickly as possible….

If this sounds like the rambling of an old fart, so be it: kids have it too easy these days when it comes to underground music. If you have a laptop and spare time you have unfettered access to pretty much every rare treasure recorded during the past four decades of metal and punk. That…

Silje interviewed as part of our most excellent Women in Metal issue [dB #94]. How will Disclosure differ from The West Pole? Silje Wergeland: it’s fresher, braver, more confident and honest, deeper, newer. Now that the lineup’s had a few years to synch what’s it’s like working together? Silje Wergeland: It’s great and inspiring! We…

On 21 September, Scotland’s most enthusiastical audio bloodletters Black Sun will reimagine Shakespeare’s most brutal play as a theatrical work of avant-garde metal. The Glaswegian industrial/doom trio, operating under their extra-war-and-extra-percussion Black Sun Drums Korps handle, will take the Bard’s text, cut it up and adapt it to their own aesthetic. Given how carnal, martial…

Last year, Italian mostly-instrumental quartet Orbe created one of those albums that I listened to with half an ear and then didn’t get back to for a while.  Sometimes that’s an indicator of an album without a whole lot of immediacy, and sometimes it simply indicates the laziness of the audience.  In the case of…

We spend a lot of time talking to artists—whether in blog posts or in each month’s issue—and rightfully so. After all, they put their blood, sweat and tears into making the music that brings us together. We haven’t necessarily dedicated a lot of space to the people actually putting out those releases, however, so we…

Italian doom trio Ufomammut have released a video teaser for forthcoming album Opus Alter, out 18 September through Neurot. Opus Alter is the second half of Ufomammut’s ORO series. Its predecessor, Opus Primum, dropped in April, and was a lush dizzying headtrip of psychedelic guitars, space rock ambience all darkened by the unspoken threat of…

In a recent dB article (issue #92), author Jeff Wagner opined that “there are too many death/doom bands out there these days.” Upon reading such a flagrantly deranged statement, I gagged on my mouthful of burrito, my left arm went all limp and tingly, and I blacked out for what might have been hours but…

“Sit back and hold your breath/Just let nature take effect.” So said death metal OG Chris Barnes in his Six Feet Under ode to marijuana “4:20.” In addition to death and murder tales, Barnes has been an unapologetic advocate for legalizing marijuana since the early days of his metal career. Barnes has been riding high…

Nothing unites the metal community quite like a healthy hit of righteous rage.  War, complacency, ignorance, religion, technology, the opposite sex, government subsidies – if something pisses you off, someone’s encoding your disgust into guitar riff magic. Any good New Ager Rager knows that nature is very, um, fertile soil for dark musical themes.  As…

Last week, we brought you Part 1 of our interview with The Day After The Sabbath‘s proprietor Rich. This week not only includes the rest of our interview, but a mini-playlist of five tracks hand-picked by the man himself. And while you’re at it, be sure to check out the latest TDATS compilation (#71), his…

Decibel published its first ever “Women In Metal,” issue this month, which offers an exhaustive look at the enormous contributions women have made to metal music (and the metal industry). If for some inexplicable reason you don’t subscribe then you can snag a copy from our store . If you are wise, you might have…

Human Cull are a gnarly grindcore trio from the United Kingdom who deal largely in 30-second riff-salvos. Guitarist and vocalist Edd Robinson admits as much that the band’s entire canon will be fast and crusty, but dammit he’s a humanitarian, it’ll be memorable too. Brevity in grindcore song structures was hardwired at the genre’s birth…

Funeral doom can be a most divisive subgenre.  Whole groups of well-versed metalheads will split on the merits of a type of music that eschews speed, the associated aggression, and most anything that can be considered technical musical achievement.  Of course, this very division might be part of what defines it – a hallmark of…

Scott Seward’s “Filthy 50” list from our September 2007 issue remains one of my favorite reads in these pages, or any magazine for that matter. While the initial excitement of digging up some of those lost treasures may have passed, I still listen to some of them (Groundhogs, Captain Beyond and High Tide to name…

OK, ICS Vortex had a cameo on “My Domain”. He’s now returned as a full-time co-vocalist. What’s the story there? I gather a lot of old-time Borknagar fans now feel it’s time for Garm to step back into the fold. Universes colliding and all that. Øystein Brun: Well, wish I could reveal an enigmatic story…

It’s a bit unnerving how many descriptions can refer equally to dB-approved beer and music without requiring any rephrasing at all.  Local heroes excite us by infusing familiar styles with their own astonishing personalities.  Indie labels tend to raise the product’s allure.  Unearthed demo versions from the early nineties are always welcome. Mr. Adem Tepedelen,…

To celebrate this week’s release of the 19th Rush album, we asked a host of musicians to help us build a “best of” playlist that spans the Canadian trio’s storied career. Last week’s entries took us from 1976’s double live album All The World’s A Stage to 1980’s Permanent Waves. Now, we present the second…

Today, in honor of the recent release of the sublimely malevolent Serpent Sermon, Decibel presents an in depth interview with Marduk founding guitarist Morgan Håkansson delving into his roots as a musician as well as the past, present, and future of his much-revered black metal war machine. Last month Christ Dick streamed “Souls for Belial.”…

Sitting in on rehearsals when London (-ish) death-grind crew Oblivionized first started it was kind of hard to see where they were going. Powered by former drummer Jonathan Rushforth’s hyper beats, with guitarist Sammy Urwin riffing under the creative direction of vocalist Zac Broughton, it was technical death metal at a time when technical death…

When a few talented dudes out of the American South filter recent faves ASVA, Death Grips,  Arbouretum, Demdike Stare, and Wolves in the Throne Room through their long-burning love of Godflesh, Spacemen 3, Lungfish, Darkthrone, Talk Talk, Neu!, and Carcass, said dudes are destined to MAKE something noteworthy.  In this case, they actually called their…

We may not write about these Canadians very often, but it’s undeniable that Rush has had a profound effect on legions of artists that we do cover. So to celebrate next week’s release of the ubiquitous band’s 19th (!) full-length studio album, we compiled a “best of” Rush playlist that features tracks hand-picked by some…

It’s been a good year for 16, a band known for writing about bad times. They finally have a steady lineup (for now) and their new album Deep Cuts From Dark Clouds was praised in the July issue of this magazine. So it seems like the right time for 16 to dig into their vaults…

Tankard were living the Brewtal Truth life, long before we ever had our first sip of beer.