While the moniker may conjure up images of retirees bashing each other over the head with hoes, slashing at their wrinkly skin with hand rakes, Freddy Kruger-ed up gardening gloves and lots of screaming while being chased by gnarly pairs of razor-sharp hedge clippers, Psychotic Gardening is actually a band. You may have made that…

So far as we can tell, Loudblast has never brought its live show to the good ol’ USA despite nearly three decades of extremely extreme enterprises (or if they have, it’s been a long, long time). Fortunately, the French quartet’s video for “Ascending Straight In Circles”–which we’re pleased to premiere–provides a pretty good idea of…

Hours before the final date of the third annual Decibel Magazine Tour, your editors sit down with three members of Carcass and special guest Blake Harrison of Pig Destroyer for a predictably contentious and uncomfortable podcast! We never got around to reading our favorite Liverpudlians Waldo the Parrot’s review of Surgical Steel—thank Christ. Featuring:Carcass “Mount…

It might seem like Cradle Of Filth has been around forever because, well, they have. But even the black metal superstars had their formative period. One of the documents of that time was Total Fucking Darkness, COF’s third demo. Decibel got the first sneak peak of this old but new material, the track “The Raping…

Like many other metal fans, I’m a longtime admirer of the crew at Banger Films, who in the past decade have raised the bar when it comes to documenting the metal scene with the seriousness of anthropologists and the artistry of filmmakers. From Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey, to Global Metal, to Iron Maiden: Flight 666,…

For most Americans, the earliest Scorpions song we remember is “The Zoo,” “No One Like You” or mega-hit “Rock You Like a Hurricane.” But the Hannover-based hard rockers had a storied history well before they were MTV and rock radio darlings.

Occasionally, it’s nice to listen to things that can’t be described as “brutal” or “crushing.” On the flipside, who the fuck wants to listen to Modest Mouse? That’s why it’s nice to have bands like Watter as palate cleansers. I’ve had This World on my stereo every night this past week as I went to…

For a trio of Brooklyn seventh graders the boys of hep-hep-hepped-up, see-you-in-the-place-where-Judas-Priest-and-In-Flames-meet melodic metallers Unlocking the Truth have compiled quite a list of accomplishments over the last year or so including — though hardly limited to! — head-turning sets at Coachella, SXSW, and last Sunday’s Barclays Center NBA halftime show; signing a deal with The…

Happy Monday. For your listening pleasure today please check out a full stream of Ifing’s debut folk/black metal album Against This Weald, available for preorder now from Blood Music and also available digitally soon via Bandcamp. The limited release (due May 6) will include 1,000 copies of a digipack CD and and a limited vinyl…

Rituals are a dime a dozen. Any greasy-haired jabroni with a couple half-baked tremolo riffs and a motheaten cloak can stage a ritual; extra points if he cops a wood-burning kit for Christmas and goes to town on some dirt from outside his grandma’s prayer meeting to accent the seven copies of his upteenth Garageband…