The Armstrong Metalfest has grown from humble beginnings to be a regular mainstay with its south-central BC location making for a popular summertime destination for fans and bands alike. We tracked down co-founder Jesse Valstar to get the low-down.
Promoter M A Spiro is looking to offer a better festival experience for the discerning fan metal with the curated Shadow Woods Metal Fest. She talked to us about what campers can expect.
On this week’s Demo:listen, we roll up our sleeves and get right down to it with Athens’ Pile Of Excrements.
While the weather outside is warm- everything here is so cold.
L7’s seminal third LP stands the test of time via its excellent songs, hefty production (courtesy of the legendary Butch Vig), pithy lyrics and general “go fuck yourself” attitude. Ranking these nasty jams from “worst to best” is a downright punchable offense, but let’s do it anyway.
Pentagram‘s Bobby Libeling allegedly recently practiced poor judgement. But his management’s defense of his actions is even worse.
Say you love Satan. We love Babylon Whores. And Sleep of Monsters have won our dark hearts.
Get yourself some Black Fucking Cancer with an exclusive track premiere and an in-depth interview with the band.
Two of the most respected labels in underground music today — 20 Buck Spin and Gilead Media — have combined their considerable heavy metal firepower to found and curate Migration Fest, a three day celebration of aural boundary-pushers and face-melters set to go down at the historic Capitol Theater in downtown Olympia, Washington this August. The stacked lineup includes Krallice, Christian Mistress, a The Body & Krieg collaborative performance, Thou, Vastum, Mutilation Rights, Kowloon Walled City, Pale Chalice, Vhol, Auroch, and a slew of others.
Speaking with Kriscinda Lee Everitt and Shawn Macomber for a behind-the-Monsters look at what it takes to put together such a righteous benefit anthology, which now spans two volumes!
On this week’s Demo:listen, our jaws drop and our eyes widen in utter disbelief of the anachronistic death-thrashings of Seattle’s Hexenslaught.
Vancouver’s Without Mercy is a prime example of how putting in a little bit of elbow grease can result in advantageous outcomes.
Agalloch are no more. Sort of. Neill Jameson thinks someone’s dick might have gotten in the way of things.
Home is where the (broken) heart is for Canadian black metallers.
“Only a handful of bands dare to leave the narrow(minded) frame which dictates what is so-called ‘true’ and what earns a negative connotation as ‘hip’. 95% of these traditionalist bands are the copycats of the copycats of the early 90ies Norwegian scene.”
** Neo-classical outfit Amber Asylum have never been an easy sell. From debut Frozen in Amber to new album Sin Eater, the Californians, helmed by instrumentalist Kris Force, have composed and released music for darker minds and uneasy souls. There’s tradition at hand, but there’s also exploration, in tone, in repetition, in atmosphere, in tolerance, in chaos. The result is an undulating set of emotions that conflict and blend to their music. To wit, Amber Asylum is music of dreams and nightmares, spun wistfully and painfully by Force and company to the delight of the other. Music of this quality was never meant for the masses anyway. Read on as Decibel and Kris find our inners.
New releases from Gatecreeper, Kerry King and Rotting Christ!
Swedish degenerates Gehennah are your new life coaches.
One of the highlights of the upcoming Choosing Death Fest in Philadelphia this April will be the first public screening of Death By Metal, the definitive documentary on Death frontman Chuck Schuldiner. We talked to director Felipe Belalcazar.
Wow, looking at the list of new releases coming out, I’ve pecked up on the notion that your old boy Waldo doesn’t keep up with new music as much as he should.
Mastodon/Baroness-esque prog-metallers Moon Tooth just dropped dizzying full-length Chromaparagon, and axeman extraordinaire Nick Lee (also of ’80s metallers Riot) breaks down 10 riffs that tempt him to do just what the headline promises. Take it away, Nick!
This month, we talked to Tatsuhito Mikami of Japan’s Church of Misery (and to vocalist Scott Carlson) about their contribution, a special mix of “Confessions of an Embittered Soul” from COM’s forthcoming And Then There Were None record.
If you didn’t catch Richard Christy’s review in Decibel #136, let me introduce you to the most metal horror film ever: Deathgasm. It’s a Kiwi midnight party flick made for and by metalheads where blackened doom riffs unlock portals to demonic dimensions and “metal up your ass” is less of a threat than a literal promise. We’re talking corpsepaint, monsters, hilarious black metal music video parodies, dildo fights, and enough blood to satiate the most demanding gorehounds.
This March, Wolvserpent release their next dark expedition in the form of a single-track 40-minute EP called Aporia:Kāla:Ananta. This morning we get to bring you a sample of the new material, so kick back, dig in, or do whatever you do when it’s time to hear idiosyncratic new doom.
Featuring ex-members of Transistor Transistor, Trap Them, Landmine Marathon, and Abigail WIlliams, the immersive, affecting debut from True Cross, Pure Divorce, deftly imbues majestic layered soundscapes situated somewhere between My Bloody Valentine, Jesus and Mary Chain, Dinosaur Jr and Slowdive with the power and transfixing sway of its primal predecessors.
It’s a legit Zelda Rubinstein-style multidimensional experience — which is to say even as you feel the warmth of the light and the strange, ethereal allure of the other side it is pure sturm und drang all along the path.
Stream a killer split from two Oakland bands and get a detailed report of what’s going on with metal on their side of the Bay.
Fleshgod Apocalypse vocalist/guitarist Tommaso Riccardi talks about the philosophical concepts behind the band’s new album, King.
Chicago prog metal unit Dissona will soon release their second full-length scorcher Paleopneumatic. The album wormhole-hops through myriad styles and instrument combinatorial choices; the overall effect is a twisted journey through a musical landscape molded by dudes who really know their shit.
Best Underground Metal Tapes of the Year, pt. I, featuring Jon Von Frost, Jake R. of Graceless Recordings, Jullian Rhea of Of Corpse & Cryptic Excision and much more!
The future is, ironically, bright for this ambitious Oaktown funeral doom outfit.