Lists

Where were you when you first unlocked an unlisted track after a long period of dubious silence as a record played possum? Or when you noticed an album creeping up to track 69, where Tool’s “Disgustipated” lurked at the edge of Undertow? If you were born after 1995, maybe never.

I’m no more or less happy to drink my way across tonight’s hallowed boundary between old and soon-to-be-old than I have been any other year.  I’m certainly more than willing to present you with five of this year’s best blog posts.

Unfortunately, we haven’t found an inverted cross tree topper. Yet. 

“Best Of” lists are child’s play compared to Chip McCabe and his absolutely bonkers “666 Days of Metal” project. As a giant middle finger to Top 100 lists everywhere, the Connecticut-based writer chose the 666 greatest albums in metal history and proceeded to write a review of each album every single day for almost two fucking years. We caught up with Chip to talk about the mind-numbing logistics of sticking with such a daunting project.

Among 2015’s other contenders, five curried nearly enough votes to make it onto our list… but only nearly.  Does that mean we shouldn’t spill some love-ink for them?  Hell no!  Here’s the five records that tied for #41 on our Top 40 Albums of 2015.

Washington, D.C.’s Free Children of Earth singer/guitarist/lyricist Jason Yawn has a lot on his mind and we wanted to not only stream his band’s new album, Terminal Stasis this week on the blog, but also give Yawn a forum to deliver a track-by-track explanation and analysis which, despite your opinion and position on the matters at hand, make for some excellent and thoughtful reading.

Back in 2005, I talked to Starkweather guitarist Todd Forkin about his band’s then new album for issue #16.  It was one of my first freelance pieces for the magazine after leaving the friendly confines of 1032 Arch.  At the time, Croatoan was the band’s third LP and first since 1995’s Into the Wire.  While the Philadelphians have dropped another LP and split in the intervening years, April saw the re-release of their first two records via Translation Loss. So 113 issues later, it’s fitting in some way that vocalist Rennie Resmini closes out this little series after the break. To every one who has contributed to or read even one word of these playlists over the last three plus years — thank you.

Ever since 2006, each year end issue has included, alongside the customary list of the year’s best albums for you to argue about and call us out on, a collection of Top 5’s ranging from the silly to the (somewhat) serious to the even more silly. 

This afternoon, we continue making our own lives that much more difficult with the ongoing practice of ranking the songs that comprise some of the greatest albums of all time

Even though Gruesome “pays homage to death metal’s most celebrated founding American acts, Death” (according to a press release), the band’s tastes in the genre don’t stop and end there.  That shouldn’t come as much of a surprise given that the group features members of Exhumed (Deci-fav Matt Harvey), Possessed, Malevolent Creation and Derketa.  So while Savage Land, the quartet’s debut, may sound very Schuldiner-esque, guitarist Dan Gonzalez was kind enough to tell us about some other death metal bands. 

It’s been over 20 years since Sigh’s debut album dropped in 1993. Not surprisingly, not only has the extreme music landscape changed since then, but so has the Japanese outfit’s musical output.

While it was a pretty brutal winter here on the East Coast, we have no doubt that our friends in the North Star State had a much rougher go of it weather-wise.  Or, as Tanner Anderson told us last month (more of which you’ll be able to read more about very soon in print), “I haven’t seen my testicles since November of last year.”  Fortunately none of that stopped the Obsequiae frontman from finishing up his band’s excellent second album, Aria of Vernal Tombs, which is set for release next month.

While Royal Thunder‘s sophomore effort may be an early contender for album of the year, it’s way too early to tell if Crooked Doors will forever change lives.  Why the hyperbole?  Well, RT guitarist Josh Weaver was kind enough to tell us about some records that changed himforever.  “I’m sure I’ll be kicking myself thinking of other albums after I submit this,” explains the axeman.  “[But] these bands and albums played a huge role in influencing the music that I write and play today. I am forever thankful for these albums and hope they have as big of an impact on you as they did to me!”  In the meantime, we’ll continue to be grateful for the musical stew that this recipe has created in the form of the Atlanta quartet. 

You can pick up a copy of Crooked Doors here (bandcamp) or here (physical) and be sure to catch the band on tour in a city near you in the very near future.

Check out a Royal Thunder song stream, their Decibrity playlist, and upcoming tour dates after the jump. 

If he hasn’t already, I hope Karl Agell gets to read Scott Seward’s “Filthy 50” list from our September 2007 issue (again, probably my favorite Decibel feature ever) and starts downloading compilations from The Day After the Sabbath (Rich has only put together a mere 117 at this point).  After all, the former Corrosion of…

Last week, we brought you the first part of John Refano’s “Kill Yr Idols” playlist and then were lucky enough to see him and bassist AJ Annunziata and drummer/sampler Christopher Todd headline Saint Vitus in honor of the release of Sannhet‘s sophomore LP Revisionist.  Now that we’ve recovered from the celebration, here’s part two, which…

I’ll just come out and say it: Sannhet‘s Revisionist is one of my favorite albums of the year so far. So I was stoked when John Refano–that’s him below–agreed to participate in this little series we’ve been doing for three (!) years now. I’ll let the guitarist/loopist explain what “Kill Yr Idols” is all about:…

Brett Netson. One of the most soulful, inventive, vivifying shredders on the face of the planet.

Bringer of sublime aural sturm und drang via roots-y-alt-rock-meets-psychedelic-doom outfit Caustic Resin. Art rock force multiplier in Built to Spill. Vanquisher of smarmy motherfuckers. And, now, mastermind of a ridiculously killer multidimensional, dark snarling rock trio, Brett Netson & Snakes.

On the occasion of the release of Snakes’ transcendentScavenger Cultit seemed as good a time as any to ask the group’s iconoclastic leader for a playlist of his heavier influences.

We expected eclectic, and Netson did not disappoint…
 

It’s been busy times for Detroit’s Child Bite. The band has been writing new songs in anticipation of hitting the studio with Philip H. Anselmo down in NOLA later this year. Then there’s the fact that the group will appear on the upcoming musical “supplement” to the Morbid Tales! An Illustrated Tribute to Celtic Frost…

Sonically, Akhlys differs from Nightbringer, but what separates the two entities spiritually? Naas Alcameth: The subject matter of Akhlys is specific to certain dream and para-somnic experiences and their situation and importance within esotericism. All lyrics for The Dreaming I were inspired directly from my own dream experiences I have journaled over the last decade…

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)…

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…

One of the more pleasant surprises for me so far this year has been Karma to Burn‘s new LP. I’m a big fan of Almost Heathen (especially these two neck snappers), and the reason Arch Stanton–much like 2001 precursor–works is simple: the riffs. Just check out “Twenty-Three” below (yes, all of their song titles are…

** Our February 2015 (HERE) issue features a fantastic expose on the upcoming releases of 2015. Here’s five crucial releases by killer bands that weren’t part of our list. 5. Hate – Crusade:Zero Hate are viewed as underlings to the kingdom Vader built, but over recent years the Warsaw-based trio have come into their own….

5. BaneOriginally from Serbia but now located in Canada, death/black metallers Bane (possible connection to album title Storm of the Light’s Bane, but none to the Massachusetts-based hardcore band of the same name) take only the fastest, brutalist, sickest moments in Dissection’s oeuvre for the The Acausal Fire album. Actually, that’s not true, Bane are…

Broken Hope’s Jeremy Wagner sat down with us beginning last week for his four-part shredder’s studio. Here is the second installment from the death metal veteran turned author. We’ll be running the final two takes at a time to be revealed in 2015. — Savatage: Sirens (title track) (1983) The guitar work of Criss Oliva…

When you invite a a published novelist to the shredder’s studio expect a narrative. Such was the case with death metal veteran and Broken Hope founder Jeremy Wagner. Not only did Mr. Wagner visit the shredder’s studio — he provided your host with a near novella on the riffs that shaped him in chronological order….

Primordial dropped its eighth LP late last month, another stellar entry in an already impressive oeuvre. To celebrate, frontman Alan Averill (aka A.A. Nemtheanga) sent us a playlist that, as he describes, “might be something a little different.” After perusing his picks, it’s hard to disagree. We’ll let him take it from here: “I always…

Because synthesizers are awesome, and movie soundtracks are awesome, we asked the duo of British film composer Paul Lawler and American drummer AE Paterra (Zombi/Majeure), collectively known as Contact, to put together a playlist for us with their favorite soundtrack tunes and some words on each. This week, we have Paterra’s picks; click here to check…

** Decibel’s Top 100 Doom Metal Album of All Time issue is available now (HERE). So inspired by England’s place on the map (OK, list) and equally inspired by Anathema’s early catalog inclusion, I wanted to Top 5 songs that aren’t on Last.fm lists, have been spurned by Anathema (no remake of “Suicide Veil”?), or…

** Broughton’s Rules are from Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh is on the western side of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It’s a former rustbelt city that’s experienced a rennaisance in recent memory. Its citizens are no-bullshit and its music, espeically Broughton’s Rules, follow a similar mindset. Well, Broughton’s Rules (formed out of the ashes of instrumental wonderkids Don…