TRACK PREMIERE: Moab’s “Whittled Away”

June 3, 2014

Scion A/V have tossed lots of free singles, EP’s, splits, compilations, and socks to the ravening metal hordes, but it’s rare that a band releases an entire album through that imprint. Los Angeles-based heavy rock trio Moab are doing just that. Their latest nine-song opus of fuzz and feedback, Billow, will be released later this…

Yngwie Malmsteen, the Still-Reigning King of Shred Mountain

June 3, 2014

It’s been thirty years since Yngwie Malmsteen unleashed Rising Force on an unsuspecting world, obliterating any and all preconceived notions of what was possible with an electric guitar. Now comes Guitar Gods, a tour featuring the legit insane line-up of Malmsteen headlining over a shred-heavy bill that includes Uli Jon Roth (Scorpions, Electric Sun), Gary…

dB Exclusive: Making Hail Death documentary

June 2, 2014

Decibel has been excited for Black Anvil’s third album Hail Death since last year, when we gave readers a sneak peek of studio happenings in a print story. We’ve since teamed with the band to offer the first view of the documentary Making Hail Death. You can order Hail Death now from Relapse. Jason Shevchuk.

Mattias Frisk (Vanhelgd) interviewed

June 2, 2014

** Death metal record of the year? It might just be Vanhelgd’s new album, Relics of Sulphur Salvation. Featured in DB (June #116), we decided mainman Mattias Frisk had too much to say than we could fit in print. So, we took out the full transcript for ‘heads everywhere. Read on and don’t sleep on…

STREAMING: Publicist UK “Never Gone To School”

May 30, 2014

What happens when members of Revocation, Municipal Waste, Goes Cube and Freshkills get in a digital room together, run through a few ideas over craft beer (presumably picked and curated by none other than Dave Witte), realize they have less time than they ever had before but decide to form a new music project? That…

Premiere: New Grave Digger lyric video

May 30, 2014

The metal institution known as Grave Digger has been around almost as long as the genre of heavy metal. They will release their seventeenth album (yes, that’s correct) called Return Of The Reaper on July 11. Your friends at Decibel got a chance to premiere the lyric video of the track “Season Of The Witch.”…

Dweller In The Valley New Release: Younger Dryas

May 30, 2014

Semi-rural, semi-suburban Maryland is hardly an obvious spawning ground for gritty black metal.  With Washington D.C. and Baltimore hogging all the attention, and Frederick area bars almost exclusively hosting good-time cover bands of dubious quality, the area’s heavy music scene is pretty damn subdued. Dweller in the Valley drummer/vocalist Dane Olds is a current Frederick,…

The Great Sabatini Premiere New Album, Don’t Drown Despite What it Looks Like

May 29, 2014

Montreal’s kings of noise rock diversity and awesome promo photos, The Great Sabatini (who we have mentioned on this blog previously), have a new album in the starting gate. It’s called Dog Years and you can listen to the whole damn thing below while you read guitarist/vocalist Sean Sabatini discuss the record’s nuts ‘n’ bolts…

Decibrity Playlist: Archspire

May 29, 2014

When Oli Peters takes his songs about “lucid dreaming, a monster made out of teeth, a king who creates duplicates of himself who then overthrow him, and a guy who feeds himself to his backyard pig” on the road (my favorite part of KSP’s recent profile), he and his Archspire brethren tend to keep the…

My Kit: Rae Amitay’s Meditations On Drumming

May 28, 2014

Rae Amitay is the vocalist and drummer for Immortal Bird and drums for Thrawsunblat. Follow her on Twitter. I run my fingers along the drum key nestled in my pocket and look out at my band from behind my kit. A quick glance at my ride cymbal notifies me of an impending threat to its…