“The idea came from a discussion over a beer or two with a friend about Primordial possibly doing a set of epic Bathory tracks to commemorate our 20th anniversary,” says steelheart Alan Averill on the origins of Twilight of the Gods. “I realized this was pretty unlikely so he more or less made me a…

Hey, a hardcore band with an ironic album title. A quick click on the “play” button below will tell you exactly what No Sir think about you manage the’s future prospects. And if that’s too subtle for you, they list Albert Camus and David Lynch among their lyrical influences. Sonically, these West Coast punks sound…

Here are the two main things you need to know about Kharkiv, Ukraine’s future sleaze rock superstars John Gält: 1. The band’s superb debut full-length Served Hot is a brash, hook-filled throwback to hard rock’s better days, marrying a bit of Motörhead aggro and Priest-y chug-soar-chug to an old school Mötley Crüe swagger n’ sneer….

by Kim Kelly Earlier this year, it seemed as though Canadian black/death Satanists Weapon were still at the top of their game. 2012 saw the release of Embers and Revelations, their most ambitious album to date and their debut for heavyweight label Relapse. They’d hit the road for a successful North American tour with Marduk…

Three guys in pig masks? While we’d like to think that Purify the Horror were channelling the heist scene from BMX Bandits when they were working on their aesthetic, but it’s probably the whole anonymity thing that they were going for. Apart from the mortal threats issued during said bank job, the “Australian Goonies” doesn’t…

When was the last time you entered a cemetery with less than honorable intentions? Yesterday? Hail! Never? Well, you have some serious work to do. But what do cemeteries, (possibly) illegal activities, and California’s Ghoul have in common? Who the fuck knows?! We do know the Ghoulies latest EP, Intermediate Level Hard-Core, makes us want…

 Last Friday, August 2nd, I spent most of the day in a Washington, DC suburb to take in one of the oddest summer festivals around: Summer Slaughter 2013. Past years have found this tour loaded with distinctively death metal acts, abounding with brutality and breakdowns. This year’s edition of the tour certainly included a fair bit of…

Given the opportunity to write about craft beer every month in Decibel has been eye-opening. The idea that our “Brewtal Truth” column would have lasted more than four years (and counting) and even spawn a book—The Brewtal Truth Guide to Extreme Beers, out in November—is pretty amazing. Now it’s time to bring a little “Brewtal…

Today’s the first day of four of 2013’s This is Hardcore Festival. Last week, we spoke to owner and operator, Joe “Hardcore” Mckay about his background, the fest’s humble early years and most everything else concerning the annual Philly throwdown. Read it here. This week, we tracked down members from a few of the 54…

As many notable websites have pointed out this week (Grantland and HitFix to name two), it’s been ten years since The O.C.–and one of the best first seasons of television ever made–premiered on August 5, 2003. While I would have loved to come up with a post that actually related to Sandy Cohen and company,…