So the much-beloved MTV sketch comedy show The State premiered twenty years ago today (!) and to honor the anniversary Chicago avant noise rockers Jar’d Loose have churned out a nutty/awesome cover of the Craig Wedren-penned theme song: Original here. A Jar’d Loose Deci-premiere from last year here. Also, the band is doing short tour…

The late, great Richard Pryor was many things. With his game face on he was the funniest man on the planet; Jerry Seinfeld said he was the Picasso of comedy. Pryor was a proper maverick who offended a whole bunch of squares who needed offended, and fittingly turned up in the weirdest of places, perhaps…

** As a longtime Vader devotees, Decibel had no clue (OK, I didn’t) debut album, The Ultimate Incantation, was recorded with the legendary Tomas Skogsberg at Sunlight Studios first. The sessions were scrapped and Vader landed at Rhythm Studios with Paul Johnston (Benediction, Cerebral Fix). The rest is history, so it goes. We tracked down…

Israel and thrash metal. Not two things associated with one another. Now, Israel and black metal, well, that’s something more common. If only marginally. Turns out Hammercult, not to be confused with HammerFall, Hammer Fight, Hammer Horde, or Hammer Witch, is the latest sensation from the Levant. Where’s the Levant? Near Turkey. Near Iraq. Near…

There’s always been a hardcore softspot in Decibel’s metallic heart for the raw and the punk.  This writer admits to rarely getting stoked for such sounds, often preferring to hear artfully concocted studio recordings and leave the unkempt, wild fury on the stage where it’s most powerful.  But somehow Norway’s Shevils buried into these ears…

It was as easy to predict as the Seattle Mariners’ annual late-spring implosion: Decibel’s Top 100 Black Metal Albums of All Time caused some consternation amongst black metal fans. Shocking. This is, however, a crowd not hard to provoke. They seem edgy, a little overly serious and prone to interhole-induced fits of rage. Which makes…

Andrew Carter. Who the hell is Andrew Carter? Well, if you ever want/need anyone to blame for giving me a start in the world of (ahem) “professional music journalism,” you can blame him as he was one of the principals who gave me my first paying gig at Terrorizer some 16+ years ago back when…

Wolvserpent was busy on the road in support of its recently released sophomore LP Perigaea Antahkarana, but it was guitarist/vocalist/keyboardist Blake Green’s other job that made him wary of even taking the time to put together a playlist for us. We’ll let the man himself explain the side effects–which, fortunately for us, he was able…

Like bizarre stuff? Like cool covers of hardcore classics? Then you will dig our full album stream of Singles, Other Shit from Portland’s RABBITS. Take a listen below and then read the “virtual” liner notes compiled for your friends at Decibel. You can check our RABBITS on Facebook and pick up a copy from Eolian…

I’m not going to apologize for liking Nightwish. I might be only a small handful of Decibel writers willing to endorse the garish symphonic strains of the Finnish band (hi, Jeff Treppel), but I remain steadfast. Besides, for all the emphasis on extreme metal, isn’t Nightwish’s use of operatic melodies extreme? I’d even say that…