Last April we announced our partnership with f.y.e. for the Decibel Meter, a monthly collection featured both online and in store to make sure you don’t miss any of the essential titles that make push the extremely extreme dial to 11. The Wolves in the Throne Room cover story of the issue currently on newsstands touches on the classics of underground metal, but also looks at how the genre is every expanding in new directions; this month’s Decibel Meter includes much of the same. See the full list here.
First, a dose of the seriously heavy, to crush the skull/melt the face/bludgeon the eardrums/devour the soul, etc. etc. etc. Incantation (recently featured as our Best New Noise) continue to sink into darker, filthier depths on their 11th deathly essential Profane Nexus; The Lurking Fear, the Lovecraft-inspired supergroup of Swedish morbid royalty (At the Gates! God Macabre! Skitsystem! Disfear! The Haunted!) call forth Out of the Voiceless Void; Decapitated shed the tech and the death on the circle-pit-generating rager Anticult; and All Out War return in a flurry of brass knuckles (after seven years away!) with Give Us Extinction; and Venom Inc. reunite the classic Prime Evil lineup on Avé. Of particular mention is Warbeast‘s final full-length Enter the Arena, as vocalist Tim Corbitt (formerly of Rigor Mortis) hangs up the mic due to a diagnosis of esophageal cancer.
For those who think the standard death-and-Satan thing should’ve been left behind in the 90s, this month’s picks have you covered. The Melvins return with their 25th(!) full-length (we had to count) of concrete-thick sludge; Prong expand the metal pantheon yet again on Zero Days; River Black breathe new life into the chaotic-yet-refined rain of sledgehammers that was Burnt by the Sun; Iced Earth remain Incorruptible on their 13th firestorm of thrashing, ripping power metal; and Dead Cross consists of Mike Patton and Dave Lombardo plus members of the Locust and Retox–really that’s all that needs to be said to grab attention.
For the vinyl enthusiast, f.y.e. is offering some ultra-heavy exclusives: Obituary‘s triumphant self-titled return in swamp-green; the aforementioned Incorruptible in white; and Dying Fetus‘ Wrong One to Fuck With in brutal bone-white.
So for the morbidly-obsessed and ground-breaking focused alike, check out this list at f.y.e.’s website, or head straight to the nearest f.y.e location, to expand that musical lexicon.
