Three years after they instructed you to starve before the devil, tech death masters Arsis are back to make you feel unwelcome. Their previous album started with the most accessible thing they’d written to date. The title track from Unwelcome lives up to its name by repelling the casual listener right from the start with…

Hold Me…But Not So Close, the follow-up to last year’s mondo excellent Stealth Beats, is nearly upon us, and if the first single “MANhattan” is any indication, it’s sure looking like the seething, roiling sonic beast christened Gaytheist will continue to (improbably) live up to the awesomeness of its name. Good to Die Records has…

Brilliant things happen in the age of the Internet. Like former Pestilence drummer Marco Foddis Googling himself and finding our “in search of Marco Foddis post” so we could induct Pestilence’s storied Consuming Impulse album into the Hall of Fame. The issue in which Foddis features is available HERE for the doubters out there. Now,…

Welcome to Tales From the Metalnomicon, a twice-monthly column delving into the surprisingly vast world of heavy metal-tinged/inspired literature and metalhead authors… Tales first encountered the infernally enchanting work of James Newman when the stalwart badasses over at Shock Totem re-released his uber-excellent “ode to 1980s horror” The Wicked last year, and subsequent forays into…

 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 took them eight years to follow up 2003’s pulverizing Anatomy Is Destiny, but San Jose death metal degenerates Exhumed proved that gore metal is eternal on the brilliantly-titled All Guts, No Glory, which we recognized as the 13th best extreme album of 2011. The depravity rages on, as the quartet delivers their latest slice…

A few months ago, we (and know that when I say “we,” I mean “I”) favourably reviewed Matterhorn, the latest by Montreal’s the Great Sabatini. For those of you who didn’t bother to heed my word and at least check ’em out, here’s a sample of how they rock: In that review, in addition to…

Given that Soilwork unleashed its first double album (and ninth overall), The Living Infinite, earlier this month, it’s only appropriate that the long-running Swedish outfit passed along a double playlist. Up first: a collection of tracks from drummer Dirk Verbeuren, each offering an insight into his diverse tastes (Prince is becoming quite a fixture in…

It’s going to be a busy spring for Killing Joke. They’ll be touring North America and elsewhere and releasing an omnibus of singles from their storied career, which includes a disc of rarities. Super deluxe packages are still available here and the three-disc set is available here. Decibel scored an exclusive peek at “Timewave,” an…

First of all, are you crazy? A double album in 2013?Dirk Verbeuren: [Laughs] We kind of thought that at first, too. Speed [Strid] had come up with that idea. That’s something he had wanted to do. In his head he’s like, “I wanna do a double album.” When he first told us he wanted to…