The man-boys in Converge suggest we shouldn’t have any heroes. Ironic, that, since they qualify as heroes themselves. Another hero whose deeds we love to celebrate is Neurosis vocalist/guitarist Steve Von Till. The man has helped guide the forces of nature his band channels into masterpieces of world-ending ferocity, and this alone makes him an…
It’s been a few months, I’ve posted about appropriately metal things – I’ve earned myself a break from the death metal mines. Luckily for you, the three people that don’t close the page when they see my byline, some of the stuff I listen to when I’m giving my ears a break is just close…
Live Evil Festival 2013 will take place on October 18th-20th at the Highbury Garage, London, with two UK exclusive shows from reformed NWOBHM elders SATAN and Ohio slayers MIDNIGHT already confirmed. With bands picked on the condition that they’ve featured in Fenriz of Darkthrone’s Band of the Week blog, Live Evil is resolutely, 100% fundamentally…
There really is no good reason for anyone to be bummed out about missing out on an ATP weekender when the days following the main event habitually throw up bills as awesome as this. A weekend spent emptying your bank account, taking drugs unknown to the over-30s and known only by weird acronyms, enjoying the…
On January 19th, Decibel will celebrate a century of extremely extreme issues at Philadelphia Union Transfer in exalted company: four-time cover stars Converge; swine-ablating grindhogs Pig Destroyer; crossover champs Municipal Waste; Repulsion (be still, beating heart); 2011’s AOTY artists Tombs; and funerealy epic doom titans Evoken. It’s the perfect Decibel storm, a line-up of bands…
Bands always make such a big deal about playing the Roundhouse because of who played here in the past. It’s a former railway engine room, with a lot of rock ‘n’ roll history. But any similarities between the 1960s Roundhouse and today’s venue begin and end with the building’s foundations and unalterable architecture. It’s hard…
Having shows in one’s place of residence seems like such a big deal to most people. To an old fart like myself, going to see a band play in a basement or living room is as natural as going to see a band play at some place where overzealous security goons get way too familiar…
Fucked Up, Rifflandia Festival, September 14, Victoria, BCRifflandia has one of the coolest names for a music festival. It seemed in past years when it was smaller that it was more about the “riff” than it is in its current iteration, where hip-hop, Americana, indie rock and, well, Fucked Up intermingle. For instance, we preceded…
Melvins Lite w/Retox, Club 9One9, Victoria, BC, July 16Who can really keep up with just exactly what the Melvins are up to at any given moment? There are new releases like clockwork. They have always been a prolific band and we suspect they always will be. If nothing else, they’ll have a discography that stretches…
Benefit shows always have a weird vibe but death metal benefit shows are especially weird. Maybe it’s because the genre is ordinarily used as our portal to antisocial emotional territories, and when there is the attendant poignancy of a good cause it makes everyone feel as if they’ve been given a different script for the…
June 15, Neumos, Seattle, WA. We received the message through the usual channels, but this time the priority was urgent. “We’re coming to Seattle,” said Witte, “and I need to go to Brouwer’s.” As the local beer ambassador to the extremely extreme set, we felt compelled to honor this request, so upon Municipal Waste’s arrival…
Sure, doom is a solitary magpie affair that doesn’t ordinarily deal in good news stories. But c’mon, even the joyless industry beancounters will be left catatonic with optimism after Electric Wizard‘s first magic trick of the night: filling a theatre. It’s the measure of doom metal’s stock that it can pack the heathens cheek by…
As above, so below. Through his work with EyeHateGod, Outlaw Order, Arson Anthem, and The Guilt of… Decibel readers have long known Mike IX Williams as one of extreme music’s most distinctive, subversive and iconoclastic voices. Less attention has been paid, however, to Williams’ similarly idiosyncratic and visionary literary output, including his excellent collection of…
Aelter is a solo project of Blake Green, guitarist/vocalist for Idaho drone/doom duo Wolvserpent. When joined by partner-in-crime, drummer/violinist Brittany McConnell, Green’s work with Wolvserpent (formerly known as PussyGutt) marks its territory across the dividing range that separates riff-orientated doom rock/metal with its abstract spiritual kin, drone. Anyone who has been lucky enough to catch…
Welcome to University of Leeds. This is Damnation Festival’s seventh year, the fourth since moving to the three-stage venue. It’s no minor triumph to last seven years as an underground metal-fest, packing the punters in when having to compete with larger festivals with their larger budgets, surviving all that industry bullshit at a time when…
09/23/2011, Terminal 5, NYC Is this exciting, or what? Seeing Queens perform their self-titled was cool, but I never, ever thought I’d get to see Kyuss…or, uh, anything like Kyuss, either. When I found out about the NY date, as Decibel’s self-appointed toke-master general, I felt it was my duty to attend. In addition, I…
I’m not trying to hate on Peter Frampton here, but I’ve been a bit leery of the entire live recording subgenre ever since I stumbled upon the devastating news that my favorite live album (Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide) wasn’t actually a live album. (What, was “Mama Kin” a song about the recording engineer’s “fuckin’…
Leslie West will never be known as the “Eric Bedard of heavy rock.” The former Mountain guitarist/vocalist, who’s now well into his 60s, is apparently un-fucking-stoppable. Mere weeks ago the brother, who is diabetic, had to have emergency surgery to amputate one of his legs just below the knee. For most 60-something guitarists that would…
Perhaps the expiration date has passed since the Decibel-sponsored Darkness Reborn World Tour has been toe tagged for almost a month now, but semi-deep reflection over the events at Philadelphia’s Electric Factory warrant at least a few digital inkwells be spilled in reverence to one of the three bands supporting headliner/arctic Mad Max lookalikes Dimmu…
At present writing, acclaimed director Julie Taymor and Bono and the Edge of U2 are putting the finishing touches on a musical version of Spider-Man. Bet you never thought you’d see something like that in your lifetime. But here it comes, along with a host of Broadway adaptations of familiar properties, like crappy movies (Toxic…
By Valient Himself (Valient Thorr) Alahoyus. This will be the final transmission of the VALIENT THORR FALL- INTO MADNESS TOURR. Or the VALIENT THORR AUTUMN OF 1000 CHARACTERS TOURR. Or whatever. I like to change the name nightly. We have definitely met some interesting cats out there this go round. When we last left off,…
By James Delgado (Kill The Client) We never really sounded like any of these bands in the end but the spirit of these specific songs were what we were tuning into back when we started this band up and after digging this little list up and playing it back all these years later… it still…
Eye Spy a double-dose of hardcore punk in VHS-inspired form from To Live a Lie Records.
Grindcore duo Suppression are back with a new album, Spiritual Sepsis, and you can hear it ahead of its May 10 release RIGHT NOW.
If you’ve got one minute and 18 seconds, you’ve got the time for noisemongers Dry Socket to clean out your earholes.
Hear the disaffected and soulless industrial sludge of Tucson quartet Realize on their new single, “Nature Bot.”
Hear U.K. blasters Endless Swarm assert themselves amongst Scottish grindcore royalty on Manifested Forms.
Rage out with Endorphins Lost and their new album, Night People.
Hear all of Andrew Lee’s (Ripped to Shreds) second LP from his blasting Houkago Grind Time project.
Hardcore punk bruisers Venomous Concept and Richmond crossover crushers Under Attack join forces in the best split 7-inch you’ll hear all year.