From Alice Cooper’s face paint and Iron Maiden’s elaborate stage sets to Watain’s demon-summoning rituals and Ghost’s hooded robes, heavy metal has always had a close relationship with “performance.” Substance comes first, without a doubt, but performance ain’t far behind. Dimmu Borgir dress up like Satanic carnival barkers. Glen Benton branded an upside-down crucifix into his forehead. Robb Flynn had that Insane Clown Posse hair during The Burning Red days. Simply put, the spectacle of creating extreme music seems to be one of its most potent aspects, and countless bands have used it to their advantage.

In the July 2013 Decibel, Justin Norton interviewed Patricia Rosa, mother of Joe and Mario Duplantier of Gojira for our recurring “Metal Muthas” column. Patricia passed away two days ago, so to honor her, we’re reprinting that interview. Our condolences to the Duplantiers.

There are some diverse affectations in this photo; let’s talk about them. 

 Take your great taste in mathcore to the next level by getting into Syracuse-based “volume worshippers” Bleak.

Melk En Honing
Drinking and driven
dB Rating: 8/10

Slaughter’s Strappado hits closer to home for this particular hack than any of our previous entries. That’s because Slaughter hailed from the Toronto suburb of Scarborough, home to a ridiculously disproportionate number of metalheads in the ’80s.

The strange, aqueous nature of the music that Stern offers on its new record (Bone Turquoise, to be released on August 7 by New Atlantis Records) becomes a lot less unexpected when you realize that  the band includes Toby Driver, the scary genius behind Maudlin of the Well and Kayo Dot, as well as Kayo Dot co-conspirators Keith Abrams and Tim Byrnes.

It’s nice to know the Author & Punisher mastermind has a sense of humor, and it’s on full display in this extremely fucking weird, occasionally hilarious video.

No, a fairy in a green dress is not a part of the contest.

“Monday Is Here is about something that happened in my childhood that effects how I still perceive things,” says lead dreamweaver Mike VanPortfleet.