Metal

In just four short years, Philly upstarts Unholy Altar have brought no shortage of new followers to worship their brand of second-wave-inspired black metal. Last year, their Veil of Death! Shroud of Nite debut full length even managed to crack Rolling Stone‘s 20 Best Metal Albums of 2024 list. In April, they’ll cast a pall of darkness over Metal

Photo Credit: Cindy Herma French progressive metal band March of Scylla are dropping their debut album, Andromeda, on March 7 via Klonosphere and Season of Mist. Hear it below before it becomes available. The band was initially founded Christofer Fraisier, guitarist formerly of Taman Shud. Their dark, proggy sound came together when he added Gilles Masson formerly of Ashura on

Greetings, Decibel readers! Lots of cool stuff out this week. You’ve got one big name, one big-sounding band, one blackened beast, one blasted noise nightmare, and one bulldozer death metal album. You laugh, but you were along for the ride through all of that alliteration. Be well! — Cryptosis – Celestial Death If you’re looking

Death/doom collective Tribunal returns with their sophomore album, In Penitence and Ruin, an elegy most grievous and forlorn, descending deeper into the solemn abyss of woe, but Decibel is here to brighten the mood with an exclusive Green Smoke Vinyl variant strictly limited to 100 copies courtesy of 20 Buck Spin! The Canadian (now) quintet builds

Photo courtesy of Voidchaser Montreal/Stockholm progressive metalers Voidchaser, are dropping their latest EP, Trust, on March 7, and they’re sharing it with us first. The record is their follow-up to the 2024 release Solace and comes ahead of an extensive tour that will be announced soon. “Trust picks up directly after the events of Solace,” says vocalist and rhythm

“NinetyNinePagesOfBotchInaRow” was how I recently described Seattle’s Mercy Ties to a curious friend. He shook his head, after doing what he thought was an imperceptible double take, gave me the usual suspicious side-eye before asking me to “decode, dumbass.” I set the record straight by laying out the influences that went into Mercy Ties’ new

Low-and-slow Mexican City sludge duo Oculto are back with another psyched-out full-length vinyl LP, Mal de Ojo, exclusively on Things From Beyond Records. This fuzzed-up five-track doom fest—mostly instrumentals—is propelled by Adán Nájera (bass/vocals) and Gerson Paredes (drums), who grind through grimy riffs and crushing, doomy tempos on their fourth album. Mal de Ojo will be issued

The Gothenburg sound has never gone out of style, but Til The End aren’t just here to pay tribute—they’re here to carve out their path with sharpened riffs and anthemic aggression. Formed in 2023, this melodeath supergroup brings together a lineup of battle-tested musicians: vocalist Antony Hämäläinen (Nightrage, Armageddon), guitarist Kostas Sotos (Mystic Prophecy, Crystal

Swedish powerviolence band Xiao have been ripping it up for a while now, forming in 2019 and releasing a handful of EPs and promos in the time since (check out 2023’s Burn) and now they’re primed to drop their first full-length, Control. It’s a pretty no-frills, straight-to-the-face affair, drawing from the best parts of powerviolence,

We’re now only ONE MONTH away from the return of Decibel Magazine Metal & Beer Fest: Philly—the world’s loudest, heaviest, headbangingest, two-day craft beer event—so, if you’ve been on the fence, it’s time to get those tickets NOW. Swedish death metal legends Dismember will headline the first night with an exclusive performance of their 1991 landmark album, Like

Multi-national prog rock/metal outfit, Bagorah, are back with a new track, “Something From Nothing,” from their upcoming second full-length, Parabnormal. The studio-based quartet—Lenny Burnett (guitars), David Knight (drums/percussion), James Phillips (vocals/keyboards), Richard Sims (bass)—have once again gathered their collective creative efforts for a solid nine tracks of offbeat, ’70s-inspired heaviness. The track we’re premiering offers up one

One month from today, Philly’s biggest metal party of 2025 kicks off. And that long weekend of Decibel Magazine Metal & Beer Fest: Philly is doubling as a special hometown birthday celebration. The official Decibel Magazine Metal & Beer PRE-FEST—presented by Relapse Records in honor of the legendary label’s 35th anniversary on Thursday, April 3 at the Foundry

Ghost are showmen for sure. The pageantry, the drama, the pomp—they’re really out here putting on a whole ass production in the best way. It seems now it’s time to retire part of the production and trade it in for another. A new Papa is upon us, and his name is Papa V Perpetua. They

Shot during the Mondo Medicale cover photo shoot in 2002. Photo courtesy of Ross Sewage It’s been over two decades since Mondo Medicale carved its gruesome path into death metal history, but Impaled’s latest release, Demo Medicale, is more than just a trip down memory lane. It’s a long-buried artifact resurfacing in tribute to late

OOBRIS IOS In the vast expanse of the unknown, where time and space unravel into nothingness, OOBRIS IOS emerges from the void. Forged by members of Manitoba-based extreme metal acts Wilt and Dissolution, the band manifests a vision of destruction and creation—an auditory singularity that echoes the birth of the universe itself. Their debut album,

Photo by Max ljusare Swedish psychedelic death metalers Cavern Deep are back with the final album in their trilogy, Part III—The Bodiless, out May 9 via Bonebag Records and Majestic Mountain. Check the video for the single “Queen Womb” out here. Slow, loud, and heavy, the final part of this trilogy promises to be as

Greetings, Decibel readers! We’ve got a lot of heavily hyped-up releases for this week, so get ready for a major weekend of metal with the five great albums below. — Havukruunu – Tavastland From our premiere of Tavastland: And thus the epic saga continues on the band’s latest album, Tavastland, which Decibel is proud to present in it’s full glory here today.

Photo by Stanley Gravett London’s death metal force, Vacuous, makes their thunderous return today. The quintet calls to death metal’s earliest days in their effort to grow and morph their own unique take on the extreme metal genre. To that effect, their second full-length effort, In His Blood, shows a significant expansion of the band’s range

It’s been a long and winding journey for San Diego sludge slingers -(16)-. After nearly 35 years of existence, all roads have led to 2025’s career standout Guides for the Misguided, a record that led our esteemed reviewer Justin M. Norton to proclaim “These guys should keep playing forever.” Luckily for you, the hits keep

Havukruunu is one of Finland’s finest black metal exports, and has become an essential pillar of paganism-infused atmospheric excellence. The band combines the style’s penchant for soaring, flowing notes with the  raw and icy tones sometimes missing from the legions of Bergtatt-worshipping pretenders. Albums like 2017’s Kelle surut soi and 2020’s Uinuos syömein sota made the