**Matt Olivo is the founding guitarist of extreme metal trailblazers Repulsion, whose Horrified LP ranks as Decibel’s #1 grindcore album of all time. Because we know that every reader ever plays guitar, we brought his print column to the Deciblog. In issue #114 Matt took a trip to NAMM 2014, where “metal gear is indeed solid.”

The National Association of Music Merchants, or NAMM, or “The NAMM” (careful—only if you’re a vet) is a massive four-day convention held annually in Anaheim, CA. It exists so that music gear companies from every rank, tier and division can present their latest designs in hopes of making deals to distribute them for financial gain. Fortunately for us, the smell of new music gear is practically a clarion call for tattooed longhairs and hessian beardfolk. They crawl out from under manhole covers in all directions and make their way to the venue. Once inside, they sprinkle metal, lice and everything vice into the crowd, thus making it much more festive atmosphere.

The Children of the night
Tribulation fly, wingless into the night, redefine modern death metal
dB Rating: 9/10

What happens when Meshuggah and Decapitated are fused together in brutal staccato matrimony? Human Improvement Process. Based in Italy, but not sounding particularly “Italian” (or that they’re from the home of balsamic vinegar), Human Improvement Process (or HIP) are one of the country’s upcoming stars. They’re technical, atmospheric, yet highly aggressive. “We’re beyond excited to…

Grindcore
dB Rating: 9/10

Something very radical has been brewing for a while to help someone in need and preserve another’s memory. Horror author/metalhead Dustin LaValley has been suffering from life-threatening Crohn’s/IBD issues while Metal Maniacs cofounder/former editor Katherine Ludwig lost her battle with non-hodgkin’s lymphoma earlier this year, leaving an irreplaceable void in the community. This inspired the…

Ottawa quartet Goetia have been heaving sludgy post-metal into the great northern atmosphere for some time now, and recently they joined forces with Deathbound Records – home of melancholic crushers Woccon and historical battlefield-stompers Catuvolcus – for an official release of their album Le Vide.  Lovers of grandiose epicness should take note, now that some…

And so it ends. My personal weeks-long salute to Relapse’s 25th anniversary in interview form, that is. The real celebratin’ hasn’t even yet begun – what with the upcoming fests, tours, beer collaborations, reissues and the loose promise of more Devourment thongs and booty shorts, it promises to be a crazy year steeped in warm…

As previously announced, VALLENFYRE will join AT THE GATES, CONVERGE, and PALLBEARER on the North American Decibel Magazine Tour that begins on March 27 in Los Angeles. In addition to the 15-date run, VALLENFYRE will also perform at the official Decibel Magazine Tour after party, which will take place at Saint Vitus after the sold-out Webster…

It’s been a pretty good stretch for doom lately, from Pallbearer and YOB garnering much deserved critical acclaim last year to Crypt Sermon, Elder and Brothers of the Sonic Cloth dropping strong releases already in 2015 with plenty more (Monolord!) on the way. There’s also that whole top 100 doom metal albums thing that no…

When Oliver Amberg was barely out of his teens he joined Celtic Frost as they started perhaps the most contentious shift in extreme metal history. But Amberg’s roots with the band stretch back several years; he was friends with bassist Dominic Steiner, who played on To Mega Therion (see the Hall Of Fame in our…