BLACKEST OF THE BLACKWÜLF: Blackwülf’s “Wings of Steel”

February 10, 2015

What’s better than a wolf? A black wolf, of course. What’s even better than a black wolf? A black wolf with umlauts. Oakland’s Blackwülf bring some serious stoner vibes to the party, hitting the listener with some fat bottomed rock. “Wings of Steel” is so fresh that it comes from an album they haven’t even…

New Hampshire Survives Ringworm Infection (Barely…)

February 10, 2015

“Some of you might have been conceived to this song,” Ringworm frontman James “Human Furnace” Bulloch told the gathered at Sonny’s Tavern, the small, homey New Hampshire bar the Cleveland metallic hardcore levelers were then steadily transforming into an overly-amped emotional and physical pressure cooker. “The album it’s on came out in 1993. You do…

Premiere: Shredhead’s Incredible New Animated Video

February 9, 2015

The videos that arrive at Decibel headquarters are often predictably bad. There are the things we loathe (lyric videos), things we find annoying (videos talking about the making of videos) and the low budget (we’ll just record ourselves playing live and hope people give a shit). Boy, did Shredhead’s new animated stop motion video just…

STREAMING: Rwake – Xenoglossalgia: The Last Stage of Awareness

February 9, 2015

It took us a good 10 years to get it right, but Rwake is really just pronounced “wake”. Good to know since Relapse is re-issuing the group’s debut demo, Xenoglossalgia (The Last Stage of Awareness), with stunning limited 3D art with 3D glasses. We can finally sound intelligent while descanting about Dostoyevsky’s formative years, vegan…

New Black Metal Book Series by “Cult” Author Dayal Patterson!

February 9, 2015

A year ago, metal enthusiast and writer Dayal Patterson presented the world with his authoritative document Black Metal: Evolution of the Cult, claiming the dark hearts of literate misanthropes everywhere.  To anyone who read the book and thought it could have been more developed… well, the author thought so, too.  This year, we will have…

Full Album Stream: Monolith’s “Against The Wall Of Forever”

February 6, 2015

Last week, we debuted the track “Caravan” from Monolith’s soon to be released album Against The Wall Of Forever. It turns out that there is a pretty decent audience for the band’s proto NWOBHM sounds. So, our friends at the new label Funeral Noise Records (a spinoff of death metal staple Gore House) asked if…

STREAMING: Kjeld “Skym”

February 6, 2015

It’s not often a new band drops jaws. Dutch black metallers Kjeld, from Friesland, are one such band. Corrupting the good minds of northern Netherlands (and Germany) for the better part of their eight years as a band, Kjeld is modern yet reflective on new album, Skym. They play “Proud and pure Frisian black metal…

Regional Openers for the Decibel Tour Announced

February 6, 2015

The 2015 Decibel Tour is still just under two months away, but it’s cold and terrible out (grim in a bad way), and you deserve some righteous news before the weekend. We have six outstanding, hand-picked regional openers who will get the party started in advance of At the Gates, Converge, Pallbearer and Vallenfyre’s trail…

Encrotchment With Eddie Gobbo From Jar’d Loose: Season Wrap-Up

February 6, 2015

Nightmares about my nonexistent children being killed by a falling flatscreen. Thanks, Super Bowl commercial. Season in Hell So, it’s several days after the big game. The dust has settled. We’ve watched every obnoxious and sad self-filmed fan reaction to Malcolm Butler’s miraculous end zone interception that the internet has to offer. I don’t think it was…

Italian DSBM Loner Vardan Interviewed (Sorta)

February 6, 2015

Every depressive suicidal black metal dude we went to high school with is dead.  Well, not really, though we probably could’ve seen it coming if it were true.  What I mean is, Xasthur groaner Scott Conner got a new gig playing dark bluegrass.  And where the fuck are Striborg and Nortt?  I feel sad sometimes,…