Chris Dick

By Dez FaFara (DevilDriver) What the fuck happened to Saturday morning kids TV, otherwise known as Saturday cartoons? Honestly, have I grown out of rolling out of bed on a morning, putting on comfy clothes, warm socks, a robe and going downstairs to get a bowl of Capt’n Crunch and putting on Scooby Doo? No. …

Someone in grand old Europe stole our thunder by premiering new music by lauded German thrashers Destruction. So, we fought back by asking lead destructer, bassist/vocalist Schmier, to provide a track-by-track breakdown of new album, Day of Reckoning. Sure, a lot of the old guard have reformed and are releasing new albums with pretty decent…

In many ways, the opportunity to stream new music from legendary rockers/proto-metallers Pentagram is both an honor and a surprise. The Virginians, who have been kicking around in some shape or form since the early ’70s, are, to many, on the same level as British gods Black Sabbath or Judas Priest. Sure, the latter have…

What: UFC 127When: February 26th, 2011 Where: Acer Arena, Sydney, Australia Te Huna vs. Gustafsson Sweden’s own Alexander Gustafsson made it onto the Ion broadcast of the prelims, and did not squander the opportunity as he put on quite the performance and defeated James Te Huna by rear naked choke towards the end of the…

By Mitchell Luna (Maruta) It actually turned out to be a lot more difficult—than I anticipated—to narrow down the list to 10 bands that have greatly influenced Maruta, let alone 5. So, 6 made the cut! These are bands that in our opinion(s) did something new and fresh at the time. They all managed to…

On rare occasions, it’s best to shut the “Forget You” up and let the music to the talking. I could blab about the last Vicious Rumors album to stay in the collection was 1990’s superlative Vicious Rumors album, but what’s the point? The Californians have, for all intents and purposes, survived every heavy metal trend…

OK, Entombed’s Wolverine Blues hit store shelves and my gut on October 4, 1993. That’s like almost 18 years ago. To date, no single band has been able to capture the immediacy of rock ‘n’ roll and the grit of death metal quite like heyday–for certain individuals; not me, the Crawl EP is the pinnacle–Entombed….

By Dez FaFara (DevilDriver) Since 1996, I’ve been on the road, meaning away from home and most of this time has been spent on a tour bus. The road life brings its unmistakable highs and torn down, dragged out lows. It also brings about characters. Our business is based on unique, one-of-a kind characters. You’ve…

BJ Penn, a prodigy at UFC 127 Coming up from Australia on Saturday is UFC 127, featuring one of my all-time fave fighters who has had some very entertaining bouts over the years, against someone who has gotten a lot of criticism for his perceived “boring” style: BJ Penn vs. Jon Fitch. Apparently, UFC President…

Requiem Metal Podcast has been going since April 2008. To date, podcast creators Mark Rudolph (also known for his awesome review illustrations and the cartoon Danzig dB cover) and Jason Hundey have 118 episodes under their respective Atlantean-like belts. That’s a lot of talking and, if I’m being highly subjective (which I am, ’cause both…

South Jersey’s Fight Amp always sound as if they’re one fragile step away from total collapse. Line-up changes, guts-everywhere noise…er, music, and partakers in all things hard partying (rumored; maybe) are partial reasons for this particular ‘feeling’, but hearing Mike, Mike, and John coherently explain Fight Amp’s challenges (and production techniques) in this video interview…

By Oscar Dronjak (HammerFall), Strikeforce Heavyweight Tournament Being raised on the early UFC, I am a sucker for tournaments. While I completely understand why it was eventually abandoned, I do miss the real sport-feel coming with an elimination event. Just look at TUF (The Ultimate Fighter); I’m sure the format of winning to stay in…

OK, so the Discovery Channel has Shark Week. Pretty cool series about fish at the top of the oceanic food chain. For the Deciblog, we’re officially calling this week (February 14th – February 20th) Viking Week. No, we don’ t have the budget to film bloody reenactments, travel to Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, or the…

Thrill Jockey. A label known for its wide musical scope. Tortoise. Gaunt. Trans Am. David Byrne. Mouse On Mars. Fred Anderson & Hamid Drake. So, where does black metal fit into the aforementioned? It doesn’t. Which is precisely the point, I think. Satan’s square peg in New Music’s round hole. Brooklynites Liturgy have taken black…

By Charles Elliott (Abysmal Dawn) Decibel asked me to create a list of top 5 (insert inane subject here) things for their blog so this is what I came up with. I wasn’t big on working out really until maybe a year and half ago when I started going through a real rough patch in…

Awaken from your slumber you filthy Vikings! It’s time for battle! Make damned sure your Stiklestad swords are sharp, your shields mended, every link in your chainmail strong, and your helms strapped. And don’t forget those vambraces, my blood-thirsty mates! Last time Alvar forgot his and he got a nasty flesh-wound on his left forearm….

By Oscar Dronjak (HammerFall), A look at UFC 126 The UFC usually stacks their Super Bowl weekend card to the max, and this year was no exception. On paper, UFC 126 was an unbelievable card that had almost otherworldly expectations. And for once, there was no question it absolutely lived up to the hype! Miguel…

For some men it’s unmistakable: the draw the to the color red. Like a bull to the red cape of a matador, we men are transfixed, relentless in pursuit and the feeling is strong and pure. I myself have been with a “natural” redhead for years and every day I see her, the same drop…

What did you get for Christmas? Most kids our age wanted an iPad. But turns out the Xbox 360 Kinect was pretty popular amongst dudes with belly bulges and retirement accounts.Marko Palmén: The best present I got for Christmas was a tour offer for Evocation, which we received the 23rd of December. The offer was…

By Dan Caycedo (Sons of Tonatiuh) The police were in full force. Four days before we left I decided it would be a grand idea to crack my heal bone. So me and the boys went out for a hockey game one night, and jumped off a 5 foot ledge for fun. I went to…

England’s Candlelight Records has without doubt made an impact on the genre of extreme metal.  The home to Emperor’s amazing legacy and the early trilogy of recordings from Opeth, the label has introduced the world to some of metal’s most unique and successful artists. In 2001, the label launched an American division that has since…

By Ashmedi (Melechesh) The first column for 2011. And it’s number 16. For a person who used to hate writing I find this quite the accomplishment.  2010 was very productive year. It is the year The Epigenesis was recorded and not long ago released, so I felt a sense of accomplishment and relief. We are…

DOGS:For Sly FaFara and Lord Bacchus FaFara “Ya like DOGS?” Brad Pitt asked in the movie Snatch. Dogs . Yes! I love ‘em. I’m a loner. Don’t do well in crowd. Don’t do the backstage thing. Humans just make me uncomfortable. They all want something from you. But Dogs!?!? When I’m home, it’s me and…

First off, let me introduce myself: my name is Oscar Dronjak, and I play guitar in the Swedish heavy metal band HammerFall. But that’s not what this blog is going to be about. I’ve been asked to write a weekly column on my number one favorite passions outside of music: MMA in general and the…

To date, Swedish progressive metallers Evergrey haven’t had much Decibel ‘presence’. Maybe a review here, a review there over the course of our six now-infamous years on this silly planet. Will that change? Only Pontificator-in-Chief Albert Mudrian knows for certain. But that hasn’t stopped Evergrey from infiltrating the Deciblog, where, like dreams, all things are…

When Charles [Elliott; vocals/guitar] contacted me the only lyrics that was written was Leveling the Plane of Existence. It makes reference to us crawling out from the primordial ooze and is basically about wiping us from the planet so that everything starts from zero again.

All, well most, metal writers are members of or ghost message boards. You know, places where like-minded folk with very niche-musical tastes congregate. In fact, Decibel has a forum. You should join and sling your David-sized opinions against dB forum goliaths! Anyway, it’s where we digitally travel to pontificate (very important), research (not very important),…

Scion A/V announced the partial line-up for the 2011 Scion Rock Fest. It was ridiculous! But it just got even more ridiculous! So much so, Scion A/V proposed to fly Decibot from his digital hovel to Pomona, CA to witness the awesomeness, but Decibot declined because the new Rev Theory album is imminent. OK, so…

How did you get past the personal and professional challenges that faced you while writing and recording Black Rivers Flow?Alex Lackner: With everything that was being thrown at us during the process of making this record many would seem to fail. We didn’t even allow that to be an option. To start with, the whole…

Violent, dynamic, and, as always, controversial, Austrian death/black metal machine have aspired to greatness on new album Blood Magick Necromance. So much so, in fact, we’ve been allowed early access to Belphegor’s ninth album and the gap between the group’s early black metal work is sort of like comparing Abominations of Desolation to Covenant. Belphegor…