We’re obviously not breaking the news that Riot guitarist, Mark Reale (far L in photo), passed away on January 25 from complications from Crohn’s disease. Nonetheless, we wanted to pay tribute to a musician—and more importantly, a band—that hasn’t gotten his/their due in American metal history. Reale was not only a founding member of Riot,…

Get ready to put whatever trivial bullshit you were planning to bitch and moan over today on hold: The upcoming documentary Jason Becker: Not Dead Yet is imbued with the kind of uplifting against all odds triumph and spellbinding never-say-die persistence that reorients perspective in a serious way. After making a name for himself in…

Firstly, kudos to Ben Ward of Orange Goblin for posting this on Facebook today and reminding us that This is Spinal Tap doesn’t have a monopoly on eliciting belly laughs at the expense of rock and metal’s superstars. You may like Def Leppard, and even those who don’t may still appreciate “Rocks Off” from On…

Metal writers (sorry, not journos) are subjected to a slew of email proclamations from publicists, labels, and other label-centric interests. Stuff like “on tour now”, “new promo materials”, “x band celebrates the release of y album”, and so on. Basically, every day it’s email after email of one band’s new album release after another. Well,…

Oh praise be! The most miserable month of the year is all but over and it’s the weekend. This has been such a dry-mouthed hump of a month, but when Red Fang released their video for their super-catchy loose-minded stoner jam “Hank is Dead” the Deciblog made like Barney Gumble with the non-alcoholic champagne and…

The band’s name may not be familiar to the majority of you and their moniker isn’t going to help them stand out from the crowd, but Toronto’s Nephelium is bound to garner interest solely based on the fact that they originally called Dubai home. And not the “new” Dubai where everything seems like it prolapsed…

The sirens have sounded, and gears too big to comprehend are turning. In the wake of MegaUpload swallowing a massive Viral Load, it’s time to hurry up and download anything at all that you think you might need in your music catalog. It’s crunch time. Our laissez faire internet and “music is free attitude” may…

As any old schooler can attest to, gender equality in metal has never been better. But that doesn’t mean there still isn’t a very vocal contingent of the ever expanding scene that thinks chicks are dumb sluts who only go to shows because they’re drawn by the arousing potpourri of dread, sweat and a beer…

How does the commentary track thing work? Are you talking over the music in real-time or is the commentary track spliced in after it’s finalized? Fenriz: Lord have mercy! Just listening to Viking’s Do or Die album from ‘87 on vinyl and starting the interview. Well, it works like a commentary track on a movie—I…

We’ve never been over to visit and the tourist information website was fucking useless, but we’d like to think that New London, Connecticut is just the sort of place where parents just vacate their family homes en masse for months at a time, and leave their surly offspring to mulch around in unwashed jeans and…