Well, it looks like we’re still in the doldrums of the slow part of the year. The releases SHOULD be picking up in a week or so, so stay tuned. What time is it? Well, Australian black/death metallers PORTAL are releasing their latest and perhaps best, Vexovoid on Profound Lore. Before I start here, let…

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)…

photo credit: Lou Strummer France’s grindcore miscreats, Nolentia has recently made their newest and second album available to the world’s general populace and specifically those of you who enjoy your Nasum and Pig Destroyer weirded up a notch. The album’s called May the Hand That Holds the Match That Will Set This World on Fire…

Helen Money, aka Alison Chesley, dropped a new album earlier this week via the inimitable Profound Lore Records. As our Brent Burton described in Issue #101, the cellist’s playing is rather unorthodox as she “stretch[es] and distort[s] the possibilities of amplified cello with a bevy of effects.” To celebrate the release of her third record…

Welcome to Blues Into Metal, an occasional Decibel interview and blog series on the history and ties between America’s homegrown music and the extreme fare our readers cherish. In it, we’ll seek out musicians from both genres to discuss the links and shared history between the blues and metal – and the misconceptions about both….

5. Dark Suns – Grave Human Genuine 2008 (Sensory)Progressive metal bands don’t make sense. Especially the foreign ones. What the fuck does Grave Human Genuine mean anyway? German outfit Dark Suns paints, expertly on tracks like “Amphibian Halo” and “Free of You,” quite a vista. Similar in parts to Pain of Salvation’s The Perfect Element,…

Right now, television networks are picking up a bunch of pilots to shove into our eyesockets come September. This year, though, there is a difference – a weirdly large number of metal-themed reality shows. I feel it is my duty to report on some of the more promising entries. Storage War Ensemble In this spinoff…

Remember the collective freakout we had last year when that “Bath Salt Zombie”* ate another man’s face on a Miami causeway? Well, picture a more frenzied, pluralized version of that event set to a hardcore punk rock soundtrack — e.g., The Dwarves, The Meatmen, ANTiSEEN, The Murder Junkies, World War IX — and you’ll have…

A lot of people were digging Vex’s 2010 debut album, Thanatopsis but even though there was a buzz in the underground surrounding the Texan’s weird genre-splicing take on death metal Memorious still has the capacity to surprise. Looking at the bare facts is misleading; Horror Pain Gore Death Productions are writing the checks, Vex are…

Coventry’s mighty Cathedral are retiring in style this spring, following the release of swansong The Last Spire. And your friends at Decibel have the first new music from Lee Dorrian’s doom institution in nearly three years, debuting via our Flexi Series! It’s unclear if “Vengeance of the Blind Dead” is a nod to the cult…