Metal

Greetings, Decibel readers! This week’s new releases include the latest in heavy madness from Necrodeath, Onirophagus, Häxkapell and more! It’s a great week across the metal spectrum: from death-doom, to classic blackened-thrash, to weird and angular death metal. Ok, so maybe not the whole spectrum, but some of the best parts of it for sure.

Progressive death metallers Pathogenic prepare to release their relentless new album, Crowned in Corpses, on February 7 via Skepsis Records. And we have the video for the title track for you today. The album was produced by Raymond Marte (Moon Tooth), Anthony Lopardo (Loss Becomes), and the band. Raymond Marte mixed and mastered the record. Crowned

Photo courtesy of Dark Chapel Dark Chapel is a new band headed up by guitarist, vocalist, and producer Dario Lorina, longtime member of Black Label Society. Their debut album, Spirit in the Glass, is due out February 28 via MNRK Heavy.  Also featuring Brody DeRozie (guitar), Mike Gunn (bass), and Luis Silva (drums), they combine groovy, sludgy riffs with

Phoenix, Arizona’s Necrambulant are dropping their second full-length Upheaval of Malignant Necrambulance via Gore House Productions in March. Check out their shattering second single from the release, “Sentenced to a Gluttonous Pit.” “This was the first song written for the new album. Lyrically, the theme came from watching movies like Army of Darkness and Return of the

We’re gonna go ahead and skip trying to describe the brand new video from Toronto melodic death metal trio, The Curse Within. Let’s just say that the over-the-top visuals that accompany the band’s latest single, “Through Inferno,” are both hilarious and graphic. There are cats (“General Whiskers”), demons, carnage, lots of cheap beer and the band—Eric

Pants Exploder Brooklyn sludge titans Pants Exploder return with a bone-crushing new track and video, “Last Thing He Did Was Lose.” As the first taste of their upcoming third album, Pants Exploder III—out January 24, 2025—the song delivers a searing fusion of pulverizing riffs and relentless grooves that define the band’s signature sound. The accompanying

Hailing from San Francisco, Embrium have been steadily carving out a place for themselves among the extreme metal scene with their graceful fusion of shoegaze and post-black metal. Following the release of their 2021 debut EP, Embrium have worked on Timekeeper, their debut full-length set for a March release. Exactly two months from its unveiling, Embrium have shared

Photo: Andre Tedim Even if you’ve never heard one of his solo records, you’ve almost certainly heard the music of guitarist Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal. Releasing his first instrumental record in 1995, The Adventures of Bumblefoot, Thal has maintained an extensive solo career while also playing with Guns N’ Roses (recording on Chinese Democracy) and various supergroups,

German quartet Axetasy have been honing their their power metal-influenced speed thrash since the lads were teens back in 2019. After a handful of indie demo and digital single releases, their full-length debut, Withering Tides, arrives via Dying Victims Productions, a perfect landing spot for an outfit—Johnny “Amon” Kröner (vocals/guitar), Nik “Fetch” Mangold (guitar, backing

This week on The MetalSucks Podcast, we welcome guitarist Niclas Engelin of The Halo Effect to the show! In our interview, we discuss the overwhelming response to the band’s debut record Days of the Lost and how that momentum lead to their latest release March of the Unheard. We also discussed what it’s like being bandmates with people

You know what? Props to Breaking Benjamin, who have stayed in the either for like two decades. They’re finally back again with some new music—their first since 2018’s Ember—in the form of a new single called “Awaken.” Give it a listen below. “Awaken” marks the band’s debut in their new label home of BMG, since

Sure, the tragic, devastating, fiery hell happening in Los Angeles isn’t as close to Anaheim as people might think. Parts of LA are only about 45 minutes away on a good day, but that doesn’t mean these Orange County fools are that safe from the catastrophe so many others are experiencing. The Santa Ana Winds

“Shit, man. Now I have to play it. Ahh! Where’s my guitar?” Quickly glancing around a room covered in posters celebrating the likes of Type O Negative, King Diamond some group called Idles Hands is Gabriel Franco of Portland-based gloom ‘n’ rollers Unto Others. Struggling to find the right words to describe a particular scale

Prepare to be crushed in 2025 when The Cimmerian unleash their debut full-length, An Age Undreamed Of, this Friday via Hyborian Rage Records / BVR (Black Voodo Records). Check it out below. An Age Undreamed Of… by The Cimmerian The initial offering from the LA doomy thrashers combines sludgy riffs with historical and fantastical themes. “I pull

Happy New Year! Is it too late to say that? It’s January 10th after all. I think according to Curb Your Enthusiasm rules it’s a little late, but it is my first new releases column of the year, so perhaps everyone can give me a pass. Anyway, we’re off to a good start with the

Galgeberg From the intersection of gallows and grind comes Galgeberg, a death metal trio that delivers the perfect antidote to our modern chaos. Named after Oslo’s historical site of executions, the band embodies the raw, unfiltered spirit of extreme music with a sound as sharp as the blade of a guillotine. Today, they unveil “Epicurean

The Halo Effect, a melodic death metal supergroup featuring members of Dark Tranquillity and In Flames, are back with their sophomore album, March Of The Unheard, out January 10 via Nuclear Blast. Mikael Stanne of Dark Tranquility fame was excited to talk about the new record and taking their show on the road for the

With members hailing from various outposts of the musical universe, having a synth-accordion and saxophone as featured instruments, and the members’ declared bond over polyrhythmic metal, Middle Age Gregorian chants and ancient architecture, Ckraft formed in France a decade ago and blew convention out the window with their 2022 debut, the appropriately titled Epic Discordant

If you like your history with a dash of death metal, have we got a recommendation for you. Alternately, if you’re a fan of historical death metal, Ex Deo is gonna scratch all those itches with their new EP, Year of the Four Emperors. An ongoing concern since 2008, courtesy of Kataklysm frontman Maurizio Iacono (and

Happy New-ish Year! Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday! My grandma actually surprised me with the latest expanded edition of Choosing Death: The Improbable History of Death Metal & Grindcore by our fearless editor-in-chief Albert Mudrian. It more than made up for the fact that the Jets blew another winnable game to the Rams and