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The strange, aqueous nature of the music that Stern offers on its new record (Bone Turquoise, to be released on August 7 by New Atlantis Records) becomes a lot less unexpected when you realize that  the band includes Toby Driver, the scary genius behind Maudlin of the Well and Kayo Dot, as well as Kayo Dot co-conspirators Keith Abrams and Tim Byrnes.

If you’re ever in Canada, say the name ‘Golers’ at any downtrodden watering hole and watch dudes fired up on discount cases of Old Vienna hold their brewski aloft in celebratory salute (after which you can guarantee you’ve just made a sketchy, greasy friend for life). On the other hand…

The proverbial long way to the top has definitely been a long one for Byzantine, which started in a part of rural West Virginia with minimal access to heavy metal and widespread economic problems. Many of the band’s best songs since their formation have touched on the problems of Appalachia, particularly rampant prescription drug abuse. Decibel  talked to frontman Chris “OJ” Ojeda about his long metal apprenticeship and one of the world’s most dangerous jobs: prescription pharmacy delivery driver in rural America. 

What do Cathedral, Death Penalty, and cover artist Lucifer have in common? Guitarist Gaz Jennings, of course. Here’s our exclusive interview with the grand maestro of doom riffs.

Heavy metal has been flirting with electronic music for decades now, but the lines between the two worlds seem blurrier today than ever before. Chalk it up to Internet culture—with instant access to all the world’s information comes a vast multitude of subgenres that have enough permutations to satisfy all but the most discerning purists. Add to that the recent popularity of synth-heavy horror flicks like It Follows and numerous electronic artists signing to metal labels (Goblin Rebirth on Relapse, Gost/Dan Terminus/Perturbator on Blood Music) and it becomes pretty obvious: dark electronic/ambient music has pulled off a full-scale crossover!

Gabriele Gramaglia incorporates a love of Converge-heightened, spastic hardcore heaviness into his anguished odes to the great outdoors.  The percussion and vocal rhythms here really set Gramaglia’s solo project apart from the pack.  The music retains black metal’s otherworldly quality without losing the attention of mere mortals like us.

While metal may be Decibel’s bread ‘n’ butter ‘n’ focus, there’s no doubt we love ourselves some hardcore punk. Especially when it’s super-pissed off and sounds like a pack of rabid wolves developed opposable thumbs, invented a time machine and set the coordinates for somewhere smack dab in the middle of the mid-80s NYC, D.C. and Boston scenes.

I know it’s early on Monday morning, but what better time to explore new dimensions of sound  with Weird Owl than before you’ve had your first cup of coffee?

Upon hearing that Deicide’s sixth album In Torment In Hell was a potential selection for Justify Your Shitty Taste, our Editor-in-Chief responded with a simple: “Oooh, that’s bad.” No other words were uttered. But is it really?

Join Decibel in welcoming the second taste of heavy metal staple Jungle Rot’s upcoming album, Order Shall Prevail, out June 30.

A few months ago, French grinders Nolentia and stoner doomers, Drawers were invited to participate in 2015’s edition of the long-running Brutal Fest, an annual tour that brings European bands to Cuba. We got in touch with Nolentia guitarist/vocalist, Ghis and Drawers drummer Olivier Lolmede to get an account of the experience.

Tribulation have psych rock elements, their drummer has a psych rock band. Coincidence?

Oceanic was truly magical, a confluence of songwriting and tone quality and pacing that signaled a new depth for this rapidly evolving musical collective.  Opinions will differ about the quality of what came next, but it’s hard to deny that Oceanic marked an exciting developmental stage for Isis, when burly distortion was still a thematic element rather than an accent piece and contemplative crescendos built themselves into stunning peaks.

Back in 2005, I talked to Starkweather guitarist Todd Forkin about his band’s then new album for issue #16.  It was one of my first freelance pieces for the magazine after leaving the friendly confines of 1032 Arch.  At the time, Croatoan was the band’s third LP and first since 1995’s Into the Wire.  While the Philadelphians have dropped another LP and split in the intervening years, April saw the re-release of their first two records via Translation Loss. So 113 issues later, it’s fitting in some way that vocalist Rennie Resmini closes out this little series after the break. To every one who has contributed to or read even one word of these playlists over the last three plus years — thank you.

Pyrrhon caught our attention last year with their excellent album The Mother Of Virtues, which combined technical yet chaotic death metal with frontman Doug Moore’s staccato prose poems. A lot has happened in the ensuing year. The album made many year-end lists but the band split from Relapse and has since teamed with David Hall and Handshake for a new EP.

If your Tuesday afternoon was missing sheer horror, we have the album for you!

Enjoy a new song by A Light Within, a band that draws favorable comparisons to Junius.

Ever since 2006, each year end issue has included, alongside the customary list of the year’s best albums for you to argue about and call us out on, a collection of Top 5’s ranging from the silly to the (somewhat) serious to the even more silly. 

We at the Deciblog have spoken to Dr. Vivek Venkatesh a few times already, learning about his work and his simultaneously academic and visceral interest in the more extreme forms of metal.  Last October, we had the opportunity to speak with him again, this time in preparation for an article that focuses on the intersecting paths of academic study and metal.

This afternoon, we continue making our own lives that much more difficult with the ongoing practice of ranking the songs that comprise some of the greatest albums of all time

Even though Gruesome “pays homage to death metal’s most celebrated founding American acts, Death” (according to a press release), the band’s tastes in the genre don’t stop and end there.  That shouldn’t come as much of a surprise given that the group features members of Exhumed (Deci-fav Matt Harvey), Possessed, Malevolent Creation and Derketa.  So while Savage Land, the quartet’s debut, may sound very Schuldiner-esque, guitarist Dan Gonzalez was kind enough to tell us about some other death metal bands. 

Coffins is a long-time dB favorite and we’re happy to bring you four tracks from the new collection Perpetual Penance. 

You can always depend on Cradle of Filth to deliver controversial videos, and “Right Wing of the Garden Triptych” is no exception. Don’t watch this while your boss is in the room.

Despite what the band photo would lead you to believe, this is not a black metal remake of the “Addicted to Love” video (as awesome as that would be). Still, Total Negation deliver eight minutes of atmospheric black metal goodness here.

In Decibel‘s June issue cover story, we offered several examples of well loved and respected authors of extremity who dig the Noisem sound and overall ethic.  Blake Harrison of Pig Destroyer, Matt Harvey of Exhumed and Gruesome, and Bill Steer of Carcass all sounded off on their enjoyment of the, uh, blossoming band.

Carcass drummer Dan Wilding also had a few things to say about the band, and while we weren’t able to fit them into the article, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t hear about them anyway.  Here now, for your reading pleasure, are Mr. Wilding’s thoughts on Noisem from the time he spent touring alongside them.

When the promo for UK band William English’s debut full-length, Basic Human Error showed up in my inbox, I made a basic human error and judged a book by its cover. 

It’s been over 20 years since Sigh’s debut album dropped in 1993. Not surprisingly, not only has the extreme music landscape changed since then, but so has the Japanese outfit’s musical output.

One of the reasons Napalm Death has been so successful is their relationship with producer Russ Russell. Russell has worked with the band since 2000 and will probably be with them when they are making albums in their 70s. He joined us from England for a chat on working with the grind legends. 

While maybe not as majestic an image as Wolves in the Throne Room, Pitbulls in the Nursery certainly evokes some specific imagery as well. This French five piece may not be chowing down on babies, but their technical death metal attack is still pretty fierce in its own right. 

I knew from the off that Vancouver’s Witch of the Waste was going to be a band that hung out in extreme music’s left/left-centre field. How? T-shirts, brah!