Agalloch – “The Mantle”

September 28, 2012

After nearly a decade of European dominance of all things anti-Abrahamic metal—starting with Bathory’s Viking-themed classic Hammerheart—Agalloch issued debut album Pale Folklore.

The Lazarus Pit Acrimony’s Tumuli Shroomaroom

September 28, 2012

Welcome to The Lazarus Pit, a biweekly look at should-be classic metal records that don’t get nearly enough love; stuff that’s essential listening that you’ve probably never heard of; stuff that we’re too lazy to track down the band members to do a Hall Of Fame for.  This week, we’re going on a 50 million…

Throw Me A Frickin’ Label Hack: Germany’s Oliver Kaah

September 28, 2012

Decibel knows you’ve got a metal wishlist 23 albums long and five gigabytes of Profound Lore records you still haven’t heard all the way through, but each week we like to give you the opportunity to tune in to a project that isn’t backed by anybody’s hype machine.  Because music is universal, expression is boundless,…

The Great Sabatini on Tour

September 27, 2012

Eagle-eye devourerers of Decibel will likely recall my review of Montreal’s The Great Sabatini’s latest album, Matterhorn in a recent issue. In reviewing their new record, I made reference to Pig Destroyer, Kyuss, Blind and Deliverance-era Corrosion of Conformity and described the proceedings thusly: “…hails from further out in left-field with more peaks and valleys…

Decibrity Playlist: Witchcraft (Magnus Pelander)

September 27, 2012

To celebrate the release of Legend, last week we brought you Witchcraft bassist Ola Henriksson’s playlist of weightlifting songs. We’d wager that this week’s entry, however, marks the first time any of the artists below have been, and likely will be, mentioned around these parts (other than this apparently). Not only did frontman and founder…

STREAMING: Bedemon’s “Lord Of Desolation”

September 26, 2012

Pentagram frontman Bobby Liebling has received much deserved attention for his comeback from a harrowing addiction and the revival of his musical career, not to mention late in life fatherhood. A few of his former bandmates might not have dealt with the same demons but they’ve had their share of tough times seeing their musical…

STREAMING: Stinking Lizaveta “View from the Moon”

September 26, 2012

“I think ‘Doom-Jazz’ means playing heavy music, but not robotically,” said bassist Alexi Papadopoulos to Decibel when we were all much younger. “We like to give ourselves the elbow room for self expression. We are very scientific about our modes and time signatures and cues, but that’s what makes it fun.” That’s exactly the type…

STREAMING: Snakedriver’s “Incessant Madness”

September 25, 2012

We’re of the opinion that there can never be too much metal in the world. Thus, we greet the news of a new label, Mutants of the Monster—started by C.T. from Rwake and David Hall from Handshake, Inc.—with great expectations. And the best way we here at Decibel can to celebrate the debut of this…

Benign Is Overrated

September 25, 2012

We’re just about two weeks out from a new Malignancy record (!), and the Yonkers, New York tech-death grinders have graciously provided Decibel with an uber-sick opening salvo entitled, “Global Systemic Collapse” — which actually might be one of the more cheerily optimistic tracks off Eugenics. Here’s what the band has to say about the…

Banger Films needs you! Help fund Metal Evolution’s “lost” extreme metal episode

September 24, 2012

Decibel usually maintains a safe distance from the film and TV business because, well, it looks totally fucked up and confusing and the printed word is a tough enough mistress to keep. But when anthropologist, award-winning film-maker and metal fan Sam Dunn came calling looking for funding and support for an extreme metal episode of…