The sludge-heavy stoner rock of Hark takes on myriad new dimensions throughout the Welsh quartet’s exapansive, high-octane sophomore full-length Machinations, out later this week via Season of Mist. Decibel recently interrogated guitarist/vocalist Jimbob Issac about the brutal and harrowing personal roots of the album’s thematic content, finding the unlikely inspirational sweet spot between Azeaila Banks, S.O.D., Unsane and Stevie Ray Vaughan, and the way playing large, prestigious festivals can expand a band’s sense of what is possible.

Metal and Beer Fest weekend just got even more metal. New York tech death machine Artificial Brain‘s record release show is the official fest pre-party. Find out more! 

As a special bonus to go along with our new Top 100 Metal Tours of All Time special issue, we rounded up members of Exodus, Slayer and Venom to talk about 1985’s Ultimate Revenge Tour for our latest That Tour Was Awesome.

Being inspired by the classics doesn’t mean you can just follow through and pull off something worthy of your forebears. But someone in Portland has unbolted a crypt and unleashed the debut four-song EP Summon Horrendous Destruction by Petrification. 

We talk to synthwave digital god Carpenter Brut about his inspirations and upcoming US tour.

Limited quantities of #150, which include the Obituary flexi disc, featuring the exclusive track “No,” are now available in the dB webstore. Don’t blow it.

If you like your black metal Finnish, insane, and teeming with crepuscular depravity then Förgjord’s third album Uhripuu is your kind of album. Come on in and check out a few tracks.

Atonement
Making good for 29 years
dB rating: 9/10

We spoke with Behemoth’s prime abominator Nergal about what it meant to return to the stage after his devastating illness, and what he could recall about his tourmates during that time.  Some of his remarks are exclusive to the Special Issue, but the remainder of that interview is here for you to check out right now.

There have been a handful of occasions when the beast rises out of the Lonestar State. From Absu and Divine Eve to Rigor Mortis and Devastation, the great state of Texas has produced some of the genre’s most intense acts. That tradition carries on with Laredo-based Venereal Baptism. Certainly, with a name like Venereal Baptism, there are only a few paths on which to tread. Brutal death metal, goregrind (sadly, this is still a thing), and black metal. Well, out of Laredo’s diseased womb Venereal Baptism is delivered to the iniquitous world of black metal.