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There is no metal on Maui. We looked. The most metal thing we found was the lumbering, acrid smoke-belching Sugar Cane Train that Saxon will no doubt write a song about on their upcoming 57th album, which is going to be a concept record dedicated to various forms of transportation. (Also set for inclusion are…

Just when we thought metal fashion faux pas couldn’t get any worse this year than Varg Vikernes playing a bizarre game of living Stratego in his backyard, here comes the New York Times with an article entitled “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Metal Model” to prove us all wrong. Seems Moscot, a New York-based eyewear…

Honestly, it’s pretty fucking close. Municipal Waste and Toxic Holocaust, two bands that, as Tankcrimes honcho Scotty Heath says, “brought thrash back from the basements to the big stage” join forces on the Toxic Waste 12-inch. Savor that genius for a second. While we’ve only got the art available for you right now, (courtesy of…

Partying, camping by the beach, hiking, fishing, smoking weed in graveyards, jamming King Diamond and Manilla Road: Natur had the sort of gnarly Rhode Island upbringing that all us city-bred shmucks can only envy. But it’s not only a healthy way to spend your adolescence, as Natur’s sticksman and designated spokesman, Tooth, can attest to,…

Of the few rules instructing the Hall of Fame interview process is all members—there’s been one exception in Decibel #16—that appeared on the recording must be interviewed. For a full set of rules, click here, but they’re boring. So, venturing on, there have been numerous and potentially earth-shattering Hall of Fame inductions that never got…

Welcome to The Lazarus Pit, a biweekly look at should-be classic metal records that don’t get nearly enough love; stuff that’s essential listening that you’ve probably never heard of; stuff that we’re too lazy to track down the band members to do a Hall Of Fame for.  This week’s entry is proof that the bassist…

Since Natur received a commendation from Fenriz’s Band of the Week approval bunker, the folks waving the searchlight through metal’s underground have been waiting impatiently for signs that the New York quartet could all get themselves into a studio and actually release an album. A four-track demo, released two years ago and featuring signature track…

If you’re reading this and into grindcore, you’re probably already well aware that Discordance Axis’ The Inalienable Dreamless is viewed by grind heads in the same way Master of Puppets get looked at by thrashers. Both are genre-defining albums that no die hard fan of the respective sound is nothing but 100% behind. Both Master…

To celebrate Tuesday’s release of Tragic Idol, we asked Paradise Lost guitarist Greg Mackintosh to a pick a non-PL record that related in some way to each of his band’s thirteen full-length records that he’s played on over nearly a quarter century (i.e. all of them). Last week, Greg’s entries took us from 1990′s Lost…

How has the internet changed metal? That’s like writing a letter that opens with “How has paper changed letter writing?” But to put a finer point on it, Metal Injection has created a just long enough mini-doc on the jaw-dropping paradigm shift in how we headbang now thanks to some nerds years ago who’d probably…

It’s no hard sight to see that today the world we operate in is fucked. Elitist just has a knack at pointing that finger right back at the butchers of modern times. Not only do we execute it with extreme hostility and prejudice for ‘the man’, but have disgust for the belief systems that have…

All of a sudden thrash’s heyday—it’s nascence—has inspired a bunch of books. Bazillion Points of Light’s Murder in the Front Row provided a photographic document of the California scene that started in L.A. with Metallica and Slayer and then blossomed into something amazing in the Bay Area shortly thereafter. Now UK author Neil Daniels offers…

“He was the exact type of person that grindcore is meant for — a true maniac.” So says Agent of Satan’s Lord Balsakk of his longtime friend, bandmate, and Bay Area grind/powerviolence standard-bearer Kindred (aka Stinkweed), a main player in Plutocracy and Agents Of Satan who passed away recently under mysterious circumstances. (“He was afflicted…

Even if you’re not a red-hot Cancer Bats fan you’ve got to admire a spectacular set-piece like this. In part to launch new album Dead Set on Living but totally to rise to a challenge from their booking agent, the Toronto punk-metal road hounds scheduled a one-day tour of London, with six shows routed in…

OK, we’ve just unveiled our first ever Paradise Lost cover story [Decibel #92] and exclusive Paradise Lost B-side flexi disc—which we’re super-chuffed about—but to say that we’ve been sleeping on one of the UK’s most important heavy acts of all time is all kinds of hyperbole. See, at Camp Decibel, Paradise Lost is given “special…

Cough, cough, happy 4/20. Hopefully you’re not smoking seeds like I am. Let’s get into it so you can get into other “recreational activities.” TORCHE release Harmonicraft, and this thing pecking kicks ass! Heavy rock riffage, with (gasp) a healthy dose of melody. This record should beaking turn the rock world on its boring tin…

Beelzebub’s Cave Miami, FL DIY Space (all ages) Having just wrapped up recording for our new record and with less then two weeks before the start of our run opening for Revocation and Cannabis Corpse (Dates here: http://www.metalsucks.net/2012/04/10/less-than-ten-days-til-the-awesome-revocationcannabis-corpseramming-speed-tour-begins/) I figured it was as good a time as any to haul out another DIVE BARS AND…

Witchsorrow’s sophomore album will be ripe for picking come the end of May. This is exciting news for doom heads. But what’s that you say, the timing could be better? The British trio’s Sabbath/Vitus morbido-doom doesn’t really make for a summer record, right? Those who think that crestfallen pessimism and slo-mo riff ‘n’ dirge was…

The last time we had direct contact with Brazilian death metallers Krisiun was way back in October 2011, where the terrible trio blogged a killer (literally!) Top 5 for us. Not that we don’t like a daily dose of Krisiun — new album The Great Execution is quality when not compared to, say, Apocalyptic Revelation…

British legends Paradise Lost will release their thirteenth album on Tuesday, the latest entry in a discography that is quickly approaching a quarter-century worth of releases. To celebrate this achievement, we asked guitarist Greg Mackintosh to a pick a non-PL record that related in some way to each of the thirteen full-length PL records that…

Justin Bartlett, eternal metal art badass, is going through some trying times. His 28-year-old sister Ashley was diagnosed with Stage 3 ovarian cancer on March 3rd and: On March 5th, she underwent emergency grueling surgery which seemed to last a day. Not only did the surgeons remove a 6″ and an 8″ tumor removed, they…

Last week, I interviewed one half of Calgary’s Mares of Thrace – the singing/guitar playing half, Therese Lanz – about a bunch of stuff that didn’t really have anything to do with the band or their upcoming release (next week!) on Sonic Unyon Metal, The Pilgrimage. This week, I offer this chat with drummer Stefani…

The same folks, Handshake, Inc., who had the good sense to bring you Managing Editor Andrew Bonazelli’s latest mixed-media masterpiece, DTV, have provided us with two exclusive like Rwake tracks from a very special upcoming 7″. The two savage tunes, “Forge” and “Imbedded”—both from If You Walk Before You Crawl You Crawl Before You Die—were…

Unless you live in Sweden and can subscribe to Sweden Rock Magazine for less than $132.77 per year (that’s the rate to America), chances of owning a physical CD slice of Marduk’s new “Souls for Belial” single are slim at best — pretty much up to eBay and/or those of you lucky enough to have…

Orange Goblin’s appetite for ale is the stuff of legend. When the Deciblog caught up with them prior to the long-awaited release of Eulogy for the Damned, frontman Ben Ward, bassist Martyn Millard, drummer Christ Turner and guitarist Joe Hoare were piecing together the making of an album that was recorded over nine weekend sessions….

Look, as regular viewers of Project Runway and The Rachel Zoe Project already well and truly understand, there is a fine line between embodying haute couture and becoming, in the immortal words of Tim Gunn, “a pterodactyl out of a gay Jurassic Park.” In Varg Vikernes’ promo shoot for the upcoming (actually quite excellent!) third…

After very regrettably missing the first four dates of the inaugural Decibel Magazine Tour due to visa delays, black metal miscreants Watain officially enter the fold at tonight’s show in Lawrence, KS. We’re all beyond thrilled to finally see the completion of this diabolical puzzlebox, and you should be too. Let’s all go off to…

Welcome to The Lazarus Pit, a biweekly look at should-be classic metal records that don’t get nearly enough love; stuff that’s essential listening that you’ve probably never heard of; stuff that we’re too lazy to track down the band members to do a Hall Of Fame for.  This week, we have another Dis- band, although…

Speaking to Terrorizer frontman Anthony “Wolf” Rezhawk just before comeback LP Hordes of Zombies dropped, there was a lot that needed thrashing out. Firstly, there was the prospect of the Californian grind crew getting back together again after founding member Jesse Pintado’s death in 2006. Also, drummer Pete “Commando” Sandoval’s well-publicized back trouble, which has…

If you root around the internet for about three-and-a-half seconds, you can find all sorts of info on Calgary’s doom-y, sludge-y, math-y metallic duo, Mares of Thrace. Most of that will pertain to the band being comprised of two women – drummer Stefani MacKichan and guitarist/vocalist Thérèse Lanz – and all that clappity-clap about hot(test)…