Let’s put this in perspective. I can’t recall — ever! — a band of Amon Amarth’s music style and profile doing a full U.S. tour without direct or local support. That includes every legend in the book. Entombed, Morbid Angel, Cannibal Corpse, Vader, Carcass, Napalm Death, Obituary, etc. Sure, they may’ve done a string of…

It’s said that the opposite of love isn’t hate but indifference. And that has been the most common sentiment I’ve heard since the passing of Seth Putnam, singer of Anal Cunt and the man who called the world gay. Of course for his detractors, what else can you do? To actually celebrate his death would…

Almost every band has that album: you know, the critically and/or commercially reviled dud in an otherwise passable-to-radical back catalog. Well, every Wednesday morning, a Decibel staffer or special guest will take to the Deciblog to bitch and moan at length as to why everybody’s full of shit and said dud is, in fact, The…

In the ‘90s, the antics of Varg Vikernes and several others pushed black metal into an unwelcome, possibly unintended spotlight (though one can argue razing Stave churches was an attention-garnering move). But black metal, from a Norwegian perspective, is no longer musica non grata. Having witnessed in person Dimmu Borgir’s NRK-funded and sponsored (effectively the…

Okay, so maybe the (free!) Suffer Mental Decay demo isn’t quite as showy as a mass rock plateau suicide, but, good goddamn, the not-overly-modern-death-metal-with-a-twist of Masada sure is an awesome breath of fresh air in these deathcore-laden days. Featuring ex-members of Immolation and Goreaphobia and fronted by Crucifier’s “Black Lourde of Crucifixion” Cazz Grant, this…

1. hol·o·caust [hol-uh-kawst, hoh-luh-]“a great or complete devastation or destruction, especially by fire.” — Immortal’s Abbath Doom Occulta would disagree with this definition, especially the “fire” bit. His definition of “holocaust” is 100 years of winter followed by 100 years of brutal rule by the autocratic dictators of the frost-bitten kingdom of Blashyrkh. 2. tox·ic…

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 for students of extreme metal that you may not have ever heard of.  Stuff that we’re too lazy to track down the band members to do a Hall Of Fame for.  This…

Well, I don’t even know where to start with this one. Licensed pilot Bruce Dickinson has stated that Maiden is unequivocally better than Metallica. He is not in a position to walk the statement back and we doubt Mr. Balls to Picasso would have any intention no matter what. So is he right? Well… Many…

Opinions on Illud Divinum Insanus have gone from applauded to appalling. Mostly appalling. Check out the 35 (and growing) reviews on Amazon. Thus quoteth some Amazon reviewers: “a Spinal Tap level embarrassment”, “Inexcusable”, “An eight year wait for an absolute train wreck”, “How the mighty have fallen!”, and (my favorite) “It’s not completly [sic] terrible……

If you were expecting the same old tidy power rock from Seattle’s Helms Alee, they have a whole lot of mindfuckery in store on their second album Weatherhead. A bold and experimental epic, the trio cracks time signatures in half, wades through indie harmonies and steers in bulldozers full of triumphant, psychedelic riffs. “8/16” is…