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…

5. Sabbat Brit thrashers Sabbat were among a select few to come from the island to have made a genuine impact. To this very day, Dreamweaver remains singular. The group’s logo also has similar import. Like most thrash metal logos, it’s readable at a distance yet it has an edge to it. Each letter in…

Sometimes it’s really hard to do this column here, you know? There’s just nothing I want to crap on, or it’s generic, or it’s a well-known band that everyone knows will be good. Looks like it’s a noise rock kind of week. GODFLESH release Decline and Fall on Avalanche, and I gotta say, I beaking…

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)…

“It’s been an accomplishment for us to complete the recording of our debut album and work with people that we never thought we’d have the opportunity to create music with, and it’s an honour to sign with Season of Mist and to be part of such an eclectic label and team,” says UK grind/sludge hybrid…

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,…

Daniel Suffering of Philadelphia heavy electronics act WHORID and the ANNIHILVS label recently received some terrible news: After twenty years in remission, his mother’s cancer has returned…just a few months after she lost her job and on the eve of an attempt to start her own business. To help pay for her necessary treatment and…

For your streaming pleasure today we have a new/old track from Swedish death metal legends Entrails. “Voices” is from the upcoming Resurrected From The Grave demo collection, an 18-track compilation featuring Reborn and Human Decay. The material was never released and is finally coming out many years later. The album is due next week; preorder…

Way out here in Western Canada KEN Mode is an institution, always good for a pair of shown in your city annually, having built up a loyal following over the past decade. It’s been rewarding to see the Matthewson brothers turn this little noise/metal hybrid into something Decibel readers have become fans of, indie scenesters…