Welcome to Tales From the Metalnomicon, a column delving into the vast world of heavy metal-tinged/inspired literature and metalhead authors… Good goddamn can Revilement/Sledge City Slashers vocalist J.W. Henley spin a yarn! The Taipei-based death metal vocalist’s excellent debut novel Sons of the Republic is a fascinating study of the intricacies and tensions of the…

The setting: the San Francisco Bay Area. The era: the mid-’90s. The sound: the violent and harried subgenre of powerviolence, going over with the natives like a wet fart in a dry church.

British progressive thrashers Sylosis have been destroying minds for four albums now, and their latest may be their most ambitious yet (10 minute acoustic track!). Produced by guitarist/vocalist Josh Middleton, Dormant Hearts contains some of their most malevolent material to date, containing a full hour of anger. To celebrate the release of the album, we…

** See Armageddon contest info at bottom of post! It’s no secret guitar wiz Christopher Amott is no longer sharing albums and stage with his brother Michael in death metal sensation Arch Enemy. The younger, blonder Amott has moved on to his labor of love called Armageddon (no relation to the ’70s hard rock band…

February’s Napalm Death cover story opens with three full paragraphs pertaining to Barney Greenway’s undergarments. No, we haven’t gone full Maxim (although we know you’re still eagerly anticipating the sequel to the Hottest Doodz in Metal). Napalm, after all, are a band who’s most recent album was called Utilitarian, and writer Justin Norton is merely…

Virginia prog-rock djentlemen Iris Divine are in the progress of releasing their second full-length record, called Karma Sown.  We say “progress” because, while the album was released digitally earlier this month at Bandcamp, the music caught some label attention and is being considered for official release.  We don’t have details for you right now (we…

So, I’m assuming you’ve all heard about the so-called prank wherein Old Man Gloom and Profound Lord sent out promos of their The Ape of God double album. Included within was new music that wasn’t actually new music as it appeared on the official release of the album(s). if you want to read a more…

Please North Korea, threaten a terrorist attack over ALL Seth Rogen and James Franco movies from now on. Vat on the Pats This past week, the inevitable happened: The New England Patriots claimed their sixth straight AFC East title, and are on the fast track (for the millionth time) to the playoffs, with a bye…

In December of 2010, Decibel brought flexi back. Four years later, the obscure-yet-awesome medium is obviously here to stay. Our vaunted Flexi Series is going to be a whopping 50 deep as of the February 2015 issue, and there’s no better place to store and preserve these highly collectible, exclusive items than the Deluxe Edition…

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….