Decibrity Playlist: God Is An Astronaut

September 19, 2013

It’s hard to believe (for me, at least) that God Is An Astronaut is already into its second decade as a band. In fact, the Irish post-rockers just dropped their seventh full-length, Origins, earlier this month. The record marks a return to Rocket Girl, which also happened to license the first album I heard from…

STREAMING: In Solitude “Pallid Hands”

September 18, 2013

It might be a calculated risk on Albert Mudrian’s part to feature Swedish upstarts (OK, they’ve been truckin’ since 2002) as cover stars on the new issue of Decibel (available HERE), but looking back on previous cover icons his choices have proven, largely, correct. Though it’s easy to point fingers and say, “Hey, this band…

Let’s help Jason Becker

September 18, 2013

The folks who work hard to bring you the extremely extreme each week might be cantankerous but that doesn’t mean we don’t look out for our fellow man. Case in point: the gifted guitarist Jason Becker, who was struck with with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), which most readers know as Lou Gehrig’s disease. The disease…

TRACK PREMIERE: Domovoyd’s “Lamia”

September 17, 2013

I have no idea what a “Domovoyd” is (presumably something in Finnish or maybe a type of mushroom), but a lamia is a creepy snake person thing, and there are some definite serpentine tendencies to their music. It coils around your cerebral cortex, then sinks its fangs right into the pleasure center and injects 200…

STREAMING: Inquisition “Darkness Flows Towards Unseen Horizons” (Lyric Video)

September 17, 2013

Lyric videos are a bit of a mystery. They probably started with pop music on major labels for no other reason than to have a video on Youtube for nerdballs to copy/paste into lyric sites (with typos) as a way to pump up their online cred factor. Well, folks, lyric videos have, fittingly I might…

EXCLUSIVE: WARBRINGER “Hunter-Seeker” lyric video

September 17, 2013

As you may or may not know, Californian next-gen thrashers Warbringer will be dropping album number four—IV: Empires Collapse—on Oct 29th through Century Media. The band have been on the road pretty much constantly since 2011’s Worlds Torn Asunder, and in that time have augmented their lineup with guitarist Jeff Potts and bassist Ben Mottsman,…

INTERVIEW: Ben Ward of Orange Goblin

September 16, 2013

Prior to the release of 2012’s A Eulogy for the Damned, the Deciblog met up with Orange Goblin and found a band that was pretty much a long-standing institution turned part-time concern. Breaking bread over a table henged with pint glasses of cider and beer, the English quartet were talking about making their first studio…

In Person Aural Devastation: Author & Punisher Live

September 16, 2013

Decibel has made no secret of our love for the idiosyncratic have-to-see-it-to-believe-it one-man doom behemoth Author & Punisher. And these insane videos from the band’s recent performance at the Fillmore basically speak for themselves. So…further comment is probably unnecessary. The new record, Women & Children, is available here. Bonus: The Lynch-ian video for “Terrorbird” after…

Tales From the Metalnomicon: Lewis Dimmick

September 13, 2013

Welcome to Tales From the Metalnomicon, a column delving into the surprisingly vast world of heavy metal-tinged/inspired literature and metalhead authors… Man, Lewis Dimmick truly delivers something special with This Music, an exquisite collection of lyrical, poignant, often very funny vignettes detailing his coming of age in the 80s New York City hardcore scene. Naturally,…

BREWTAL TRUTH: Drink This Now!

September 13, 2013

Given the opportunity to write about craft beer every month in Decibel has been eye-opening. The idea that our “Brewtal Truth” column would have lasted more than four years (and counting) and even spawn a book—The Brewtal Truth Guide to Extreme Beers, out in November—is pretty amazing. Now it’s time to bring a little “Brewtal…