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Sloths is a Portland-based trio who’ve been described as a cross between Botch, Slint, Old Man Gloom, Shellac, Converge and NOT the 60’s garage/punk band of the same name who recently reconvened in a hail of revivalism and the discovery of their old 45s going for shitloads on eBay! For these particular Sloths, a good…

Bigger ass? Kim Kardashian or Kim Kardashian’s ass? Keeling Over and Dying Happy This past Thursday, it dawned on me that my ‘lude had worn off and I was actually watching a football game where the Cleveland Browns had a lead in the fourth quarter, in a division game, and if they won, they’d be…

Last week, we brought you the first part of Aaron John Gregory’s “epic love letter to music.” When he left off, Giant Squid‘s vocalist/guitarist was in some baby cephalopod bands (The Pedestrians and The Connection) and listening to tons of Subhumans and Citizen Fish. Now, of course, the Californians have a fantastic new record out…

Ah, Mysticum, how you’ve been missed. There was so much talk for so long about the comeback album Planet Satan that we were convinced the record was either a myth or an elaborate troll. But no: Planet Satan was released this fall after decades of speculation, marking the return of a band audacious enough in…

Anatomy of Habit, Ciphers + Axioms (Relapse): Featuring members of Tortoise, Indian, and Bloodyminded, this Chicago noise rock supergroup has joined forces with producer Sanford Parker to create a spellbinding two-track, 40-minute opus that expertly blends dissonance and melody, aggression and introspection. The overall effect is not unlike that of Psalm Zero’s excellent debut from…

Because synthesizers are awesome, and movie soundtracks are awesome, we asked the duo of British film composer Paul Lawler and American drummer AE Pattera (Zombi/Majeure), collectively known as Contact, to put together a playlist for us with their favorite soundtrack tunes and some words on each. This week, we have Lawler’s picks; check back next…

No, this is not that dude who was in Marilyn Manson for about the length of a football season (that’s Zim Zum). This is ZOM and they come from Ireland bearing blackened death metal. Actually, they list their hometown as ANTI MATTER UNIVERSE on Facebook which sort of has the same ring as “From Parts…

My review of Dave Hofer’s excellent Perpetual Conversion: 30 Years & Counting in the Life of Metal Veteran Dan Lilker — out now on Handshake, Inc — will appear in an upcoming issue of Decibel, but the book is such a crazy, inspiring smorgasbord of gonzo metal history/wisdom a distillation of a dozen of its…

Early in 2014, your friends at the Deciblog premiered the self-titled full length from the French sludge metal band Drawers (yes, this is a real thing). My cohort Jonathan Horsley described it as “a heavy album, weighty enough to compromise the lumbar but not quite enough to crush the spirit; shit, it’s heavy and gentle,…

** Bethlehem have crafted one of the best albums of the year in Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia. Strange, heavy, explorative, and dark are all adjectives to describe the group’s seventh full-length. As a concept album, Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia picks up thematically where Mein Weg left off. Prepare yourself for a journey from a black, dangerous mind. Jürgen Bartsch’s mind. Have…

So much not thrilling going on this week. I dunno, maybe my beak is sore from all of this typing, I have a (ahem) hunt-and-peck approach to typing, you know… BLOODBATH are releasing Grand Morbid Funeral; get your HM-2 pedals a-ready for the stompin’. It harkens back to the so-called glory days of early death metal,…

Last year we featured a German drone/doom project called The Cold View, who had, at that point, recorded a five-song suite called Weeping Winter that could successfully leech all heat-potential from a newborn star and leave behind only frozen dust and brittle ash. Luckily for anyone still able to feel positive emotion after listening to Weeping Winter,…

For those who came late to the on-going party that is Fuck the Facts, you might not realise that some of the earliest works with the FtF brand on ’em came more from the noise side of the extreme music spectrum. And if you take into consideration that we recently dedicated an entire issue to…

Don’t blame me. I voted for Gibby Haynes. Slow, Still and Swaggin’ I’ve been a sports fan since 1984, when I came out of Dan Marino’s womb. I’ve been a metal fan since 1994, when I seen Cannibal Corpse in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, staring Dan Marino. One of the first dudes I remember meeting in the…

Giant Squid‘s debut LP, Metridium Fields, was re-recorded in the very early days of Decibel and we’ve been following the group’s musical trajectory ever since. Fortunately, the band is still going strong, having released a new album at the end of October. While guitarist/vocalist Aaron John Gregory described the record as a “giant love letter…

Got an iron deficiency? Ask your doctor to prescribe Centinex. Manufactured in Sweden using a formula passed down for generations, Centinex will provide you with all your daily metal requirements. Side effects may include headbanging, moshing, and death. Do not take Centinex if you suffer from whiplash. Try out a sample dose below. ***The FDA…

Massive hangovers! Camel breath! Riffs! Hair of the dog shots! Barfing on video! Fortunately, these guys decided to walk to the bar for another day of partying. The aforementioned bad behaviors are in full effect in the low production cost but high comedic value video debut of Deadkill’s “Shakes.” Decibel premiered the No, Never! album…

Feeling depressed? Antisocial? Apathetic? We’ve got just the thing: The Top 100 Doom Metal Albums of All Time special issue! Hey, we never said we’d be good therapists. But let’s keep it real: all the counseling you need is in these pages. Our staff navigated six decades (!) of proto-doom, funeral doom, gothic doom, stoner doom melodic…

The year is starting to wind down, but a smattering of noteworthy new metal releases are still trickling in over the next month, including a couple this week. Read on! Apostle of Solitude, Of Woe and Wounds (Cruz del Sur): More people should be getting excited for the first new Apostle of Solitude album since…

If you’re looking for some doom-y metallic hardcore nastiness, rising Michigan badasses Hollow Earth are here to oblige. We’ve got an exclusive stream of the uber-brutal slow-burner “The Reclamation” of band’s upcoming debut full-length, Silent Graves. Check it out. Preorder here. Metal Injection has got the video for “Swallowing Knives.” Tour dates after the jump.

We love Nader Sadek up in the Decibel compound – and by compound I mean the various living rooms, man caves and bathrooms where all this shit gets put together on a monthly basis.  If you’re a subscriber, you are getting/have gotten the new 4-song EP, The Malefic (including current band members Flo Mounier on drums, Rune…

For more than a year, Neill Jameson has posted periodic columns about his life in a New Jersey record store at the Deciblog. They’ve been among the most popular features we’ve run in recent years. Neill recently clocked out for the last time and agreed to give us his thoughts after last shift. Fear not:…

Time to take that pep back out of your step, kids — this morning we’ve got two haunting premieres from Belgium’s dark ambient/industrial music mainstay Neuropa Records… First up is “Conquest of Glory” off Barcelona-based darkwavers Der Blaue Reiter’s upcoming Le Paradis Funèbre II — L’ Adieu Du Silence, a record “inspired by a tragic…

Apparently there are two competing versions of doom progenitors Trouble now – at least this one isn’t called “Trouble featuring Eric Wagner” or something like that. This iteration does feature Wagner’s inimitable pipes, along with bassist Ron Holzner and drummer Jeff “Oly” Olson – and while Rick Wartell and Bruce Franklin’s guitars were obviously important, that monolithic rhythm…

Philly noise merchants Ladder Devils aren’t the most verbose of bands. They don’t have long, philosophical treatises on the whys, hows and whens of their origins and music. They simply state: “We are a four-piece band from Philadelphia and we make music.” OK, they’ve added a bit more: “Ladder Devils, formed in 2009 are a…

The Flight of Sleipnir aren’t your typical doom-stoner-folk metal outfit. Actually, the fusion of folk with stoner is incongruous. And doom folk is a rare breed unto itself. So, it’s with keen interest The Flight of Sleipnir spearhead this relatively new combo of genres on new album, V. Actually, the Colorado-based duo aren’t new. Sure,…

Horror and metal. Metal and horror. One couldn’t quit the other even if it wanted to. Which, as anyone who has attended either a horror con or metal show recently can attest, neither does. Except maybe those djent dudes whose non-role-playing-game media consumption is limited mostly to scouring Nova physics + math specials for potential…

Any fan of majestic extreme doom should make (geological) time to get familiar with Russian label Solitude Productions.  If you like four-minute songs just fine, but your salivary glands kick into overdrive for tracks that leave the eleven-minute mark in the dust, you’re the target market.  It’s easy to get lost in to celestial movements…

Earlier this month, I re-introduced you to Graham Williams, the man essentially responsible for procuring the across-the-board talent for FunFunFunFest, the annual party that’s taken place in Austin each year of the past eight. Not only is Williams a prolific promoter/booker with a seemingly inexhaustible knowledge of what the hell is going on in every…

Favorite Horror Movie: The Haunted Mask II Favorite Horror Movie Actor: The kid from The Haunted Mask II Lions for Lambs As we sat in the backstage area of Chicago’s Cobra Lounge this past Friday, Steve Colca, lead singer/guitarist of Austin, Texas’ Destroyer of Light, gave me an overview of their treacherous tour schedule. They’re…