Metal writers have so little time to devote to new music that you think you can win us over by playing up your lack of image, persona, willingness to be antisocial as a way of looking “dangerous” and “mysterious”? Come on.

But then you get one recording in your inbox that compels you to try it out, and lo and behold, it winds up being one of the biggest revelations of the year.

The average day at the office for David Karon in the laboratories of KHDK Electronics is, it would seem, not so average.

“Banshees and ghouls and demons,” he tells Decibel. “We pretty much knew from the start of this project we’d be rolling in that realm of evil.”

The effort in question is the Ghoul Screamer, a supercharged, lithe, insanely versatile, more sinister take on the classic tube screamer pedal painstakingly developed and perfected over a period of three years with company cofounder/Metallica lead guitarist Kirk Hammett — and set to be unleashed, appropriately, on Halloween.  

A Metalhead’s SPOOKTACULAR Guide to the NFL.

As I told the tipster who led me to Doralice’s Rusted Pieces — a violin/acoustic guitar duet covering five tracks off Megadeth’s Rust in Peace — this kind of shit is a metal website’s bread and butter. 

Anareta

Everyone can hear them scream: 

Horrendous bring their otherworldly death metal to a new star system

dB Rating: 10/10

** Nostalgic types need nourishment. Our days can’t always be filled with blastbeats, dirty riffs, and socio-politico lyrics. We need to feel as if we’re on another planet, in another world, some place not where we are now. To start the quest to spaces unknown, Decibel has compiled five killer atmospheric death metal songs to take you right into the weekend. Now, there’s a fine line between atmospheric death and atmospheric doom/death (or death/doom), but we’re not terribly interested in delineating such a line today. We’re more interesting in the journey itself, the way these songs transport back to times that probably never happened, but they’re as real as today.

A metalhead’s guide to the NFL

Relax, reader. Breathe deeply. Inhale through your nose, exhale through your mouth. Smell the corpses. Now blow out the ritual candles.

This morning we’re streaming Elder Giants, the paradoxically ultra-dark debut full-length from German black metallers Sun Worship — a roiling, nasty, multi-layered beast which, already much-beloved in Europe, at long last receives its North American release next week.

A METALHEAD’S WEEKLY GUIDE TO THE NFL

Is there a cooler “supergroup” to emerge this year than With the Dead? We’ll make it easy for you: fuck no.

Bury Them and Keep Quiet doesn’t result in a pretty situation. 

Deeper Than Sky

Even deeper than pie in the sky

dB Rating: 8/10

“‘Summon The Spawn’ was one of the first songs that we ever recorded and it ended up being the opening track on our debut demo of the same name,” says Revocation axe-slayer Dave Davidson. “It’s a fast, thrashy song with some weird twists and turns to throw the listener off guard. This one was a bit of a fan favorite in our local scene back in the day and I still hear people call out for us play it on recent tours that we’ve done.”

** German black metallers Nyx were formed by Blitz and Vinterbarn. The group’s new album, Home, is an expression of what black metal emotional qualities are rather than its direct spiritual linkage to the Infernal One. With that, Nyx embark on strange and wonderful and perverse journeys on Home. Certainly, Nyx are for fans of Myrkur (not because they’re female either), and first-album Lantlos, with maybe some early Bethlehem and demo-era Empyrium. We interview Blitz and Vinterbarn in preparation for the premiere of Nyx’s “Beyond”!

Sit back and enjoy a gorgeous, noisy hardcore pummelling from two bands.

This week, the metal community lost one of the oldest and most beloved pieces of its backbone, Jim “Sadist” Konya. 

Candy Striper Death Orgy frontman and Nuclear Assault superfan looks back as Dan Lilker & Co. hit the road on their “Final Assault.”

Considering that almost every story on the Pope’s visit was a fluffy feel good feature (with the exception of his visit with gay-hating Kentucky court clerk Kim Davis) we decided to go through extreme music’s vaults and find the most significant songs — or mentions — about the Pope. 

The Land of the Midnight Sun has always cast a unique pall over heavy metal, so this December, Decibel dives deep into the thousand lakes to extract our special Finnish Metal Issue.

Seemingly every year the NFL creates an all roads lead to Rome story line. The league’s broadcasters will focus in on two different teams, obviously an AFC team and an NFC team, and describe them as on a collision course all season season long. 

Battle scenes, H. R. Giger artwork, huge skulls, and pseudo-corpsepaint lead to some confused metalheads. 

Cure your Monday blues with Shumaun’s “Miracles of Yesterday,” a blend of metal, prog rock, and pop that isn’t the typical Decibel fare.  

Your Heavy Metal Guide to NFL FOOTBALL, with Eddie Gobbo.

Austin’s down n’ dirty noise merchants Total Abuse are gearing up for the November release of their hotly anticipated Deranged Records debut Excluded, but this morning we’ve got an exclusive advance stream of a grimy, feral aural salvo dubbed “Scabs” below.

Despite being tasked with copyediting two dozen illiterates and devising approximately 400 metal puns per issue, Decibel Managing Editor Andrew Bonazelli still manages to create an incredible amount of written material on the side. 

Earlier this year Brooklyn duo Psalm Zero released Real Rain, the first of a planned trilogy of special cassette releases called The Birthright Trilogy. Five months later avant-garde stalwart Charlie Looker and guitar genius Andrew Hock (if you read Decibel you know who Castevet are) have returned with the second installation, Hunchback, which will be released September 29 on Black Mass Productions.

Two legendary bands from opposite ends of the extreme music spectrum make November’s Decibel a must-read: Iron Maiden gallops onto their fourth dB cover, and Napalm Death grinds out their second Hall of Fame.  

I’m going to go on the record and say that we’re going to see some compelling football out of the AFC East this year.

Portu-goth institution Moonspell take the unpretentious approach to their video for “Domina.”