North America’s premiere extreme music tour is back! This spring, the fifth annual Decibel Magazine Tour continues to bring you the most eclectic metal bill on the planet.

Metal has long been a global phenomenon, but we don’t get a lot of it from North Africa. Carthagods are the exception. 

Washington, D.C.’s Free Children of Earth singer/guitarist/lyricist Jason Yawn has a lot on his mind and we wanted to not only stream his band’s new album, Terminal Stasis this week on the blog, but also give Yawn a forum to deliver a track-by-track explanation and analysis which, despite your opinion and position on the matters at hand, make for some excellent and thoughtful reading.

The quartet blend crusty tone, thick hum and lingering melancholy melodies perfect for a midnight stroll through a personal cosmic abyss, while also answering the perennial question: “What is Monte McCleery, the bassist from Samothrace, up to these days?”  He’s up to Un, but on guitars and vocals here.

If you’re into early Between the Buried and Me or TesseracT, you’ll be happy to follow Matter in the Medium’s tech-metal twists and turns.  

It’s the most wonderful time of year! The end of the year, in which we launch a million anonymous online arguments over our Top 40 Albums of 2015. 

You know PRC Music. We’ve premiered more than a couple of their artists in recent weeks (they got their start five years ago with Beyond Creation’s The Aura). Well, they’re expanding into “psych, blues and heavy rock” label 4One8.

To commemorate five years of Decibel Flexis we’ve asked Decibel writers to write a review-length tribute to their favorite disc. Today’s installment features two Torche bangers, “Pow Wow” and “80’s Prom Song.”

They’ve got a date at midnight with Nosferatu.

The metalhead’s weekly guide to the NFL