New York death/black/grindcore face-blasters Gravesend curiously emerged shortly after the start of pandemic in the spring of 2020 with a demo, followed soon after by their filth-encrusted 20 Buck Spin debut LP, Methods of Human Disposal. Now the mysterious metropolitans have returned with a brand new-two track EP “From the Gutter… to the Grave,” and it is the grossest cheery on the year-long celebratory cake for the first decade of the Decibel Flexi Series that we would could have ever wished for.

Looking to get your grubby mitts on this vital slab of wax? As always, the only way to guarantee your copy is to sign up for a deluxe Decibel subscription by Monday, October 4 at noon ET. Come grab a slice.

The post Gravesend To Release New EP, “From the Gutter… to the Grave,” via the Decibel Flexi Series appeared first on Decibel Magazine.

Monument of Misanthropy took their name literally on sophomore LP Unterweger. The album is a chronicling of serial killer Jack Unterweger, whose hatred of human was impressed upon his victims’ necks. Unlike his chosen ligatures—straps removed from the victims’ bras—the band’s music is razor sharp. It’s the kind of death metal born from brutality but executed with precision perfected by bands like Cattle Decapitation, Aborted and Benighted.

In fact, the vocalists of the latter two perform guest spots on the album. They’ve also added Putridity drummer Cédric Malebolgia and De Profundis guitarist Shoi Sen to the line-up. All of which is to say, they’re approved by some of the best, and with good reason—they RIP!

The band explains the brutal video and story upon which it’s based.

“‘The Legacy of a Malignant Narcissist’ is one of the more complex tracks on Unterweger. It starts pretty atmospheric with just two guitars, but picks up the pace quickly after the first verse. Finally, it collapses into total destruction toward the end of the song. It’s the perfect video song, as it details horrific murderous events from start to finish, albeit in a compressed manner. It tells the story of Jack Unterweger, who was found guilty of 11 accounts of murder. The video and lyrics depict the gruesome brutality of his crimes. He strangled his victims with a special kind of ligature. After Unterweger’s trial and conviction, the clip focuses on the serial killer’s suicide in his prison cell. The ligature used was finely crafted; it’s one the sadist had used on his female victims.”

Vocalist George Wilfinger delves into the release at large.

“We are very proud to release our best and most brutal material through the passionate, supportive and amazing Transcending Obscurity,” exclaims Wilfinger. “Producer Kristian ‘Kohle’ Kohlmannseder of Kohlekeller Studio Germany (Aborted, Benighted, Cytotoxin etc.) delivered a brutal and punishing mix. We also have friends Julien Truchan (Benighted) and Sven De Caluwé (Aborted) lending their vocal skills to a track each. This recording definitely takes everything up a notch for Monument of Misanthropy, and we could not be happier with the results!”

Check it out in the player below.

Unterweger is out November 12 via Transcending Obscurity. Customers can pre-order it on vinyl or CD, including a limited version housed in a coffin-shaped wooden box set. There are also a variety of wearable merchandise options. U.S. customers can head here, while EU ones can purchase here. The label also has their own store and a Bandcamp, so the options are as plentiful as the riffs.

The post Video Premiere: Monument of Misanthropy – “The Legacy of a Malignant Narcissist” appeared first on Decibel Magazine.

Fight Fire With Fire is an ongoing series on our site where we pit two classic genre albums against each other to definitively figure out which one is better. “But they’re both great!” you’ll say. Yes, these albums are the best of the best. But one is always better. Plus, we love these sorts of exercises, and also love watching you battle each other to the death in the comments, so how could this possibly end poorly?

Let’s talk crossover. We haven’t dabbled into the genre yet in this column, so what better place to start than with Suicidal Tendencies‘ self-titled 1983 debut and D.R.I.‘s Dirty Rotten EP debut, also from 1983?

These records are both absolute genre classics, we love them both and they both hold up perfectly over the years, the youthful angst in them actually translating into something that still sounds relevant decades later, which isn’t always the case.

So, yes, two great records. But one is better. Read on to find out if it’s Suicidal’s suicyco punk moto-ramblings or D.R.I’s blinders-on take on HC/crossover that we crown king of the crossover records today in Fight Fire With Fire.

Suicidal Tendencies – Suicidal Tendencies

This album was where we were introduced to the wonderful rantings of vocalist Mike Muir, and while the band underwent many changes in sound and lineup over the years—putting out albums that I much prefer over this one, even, and albums that are much more metallic—there is absolutely no denying that this is a punk/hardcore/crossover masterpiece.

Sure, we all know “Institutionalized” to an almost exhausting degree (which is impressive; not many crossover albums of the era—or any era—had a song that became this ingrained in everyone’s mind, punkers and metalheads alike), but this album is just hit after hit after hit, and they come fast and furious, as they should on a good punk record.

The ST saga in years to come was one of highs and lows indeed, and it often confused us along the way, but this record is an amazing document of punk, hardcore and crossover, and while they would drop albums far more metallic, they would rarely tap into the anarchic power and glory of this record.

Take manic opener “Suicide’s an Alternative/You’ll Be Sorry”, the vocal tradeoffs a thing of beauty, the pure punk forward momentum just perfect; then the quirky ST personality comes in at around a minute and a half, immediately establishing this band as something different—really, something different from any other band, to this day.

“Two-Sided Politics” shows off some cyco guitar soloing in its one-minute runtime, the band also managing to craft incredibly memorable songs—memorable vocal lines, memorable riffs, hell, memorable drum beats—and “I Shot the Devil” (with Muir’s unforgettable opening scream of “I shot Regan!” both setting the song in a particular time and era and also, somehow, making it ageless) continues that, being a mixture of catchy crossover, quirky ST, and great Cyco Miko ranting.

“Subliminal” also places the album very much in its era, given how much of a going concern subliminal messages were in 1983 and for several years after. This song is a bit longer but rages hard, the slower verse making way for the great, speedy chorus, ST showing off how great they are at both here, the verse sticking in our heads forever, and the chorus just forcing us to turn off our brain and slam dance until we’re seeing multiple Muirs dancing around in angsty glee in front of us.

“Won’t Fall In Love Today” barely hits one minute and is a classic loner anthem, the band managing to squeeze in everything a song needs—couple verses, couple choruses, guitar solo—in 59 damn seconds. And it’s catchy, hooky—it’s ridiculous and not talked about enough just how well this band was crafting memorable songs back on this album.

“Institutionalized,” well, we all know it, and you know what? I’m not sick of it, I don’t think I’ll ever be sick of it, it still rules, Muir still wants a goddamn Pepsi, and I still want more of this song, which honestly just sounds better and better as the years go on. This is a classic for a reason.

The second half of the album doesn’t lose any steam, as the band slam through great song after great song: “Memories of Tomorrow” and “Possessed” may not get stuck in anyone’s head as much as anything discussed so far, but as soon as you hear them, yup, it all comes back in a heartbeat, no matter how long it’s been. “I Saw Your Mommy…” threatens to wear out its welcome at almost five minutes, and it’s pushing it as far as the humor goes, but, hey, the choruses are classic raging crossover, although it’s the goofier verses that we all remember regardless (even though the verses kinda sound like choruses and the choruses kinda sound like verses).

“Fascist Pig” is a classic punk call to arms buried way deep here, while “I Want More” nods heavily to what the band will sound like two or three albums from now, something far more serious and mature; it’s easy to forget this song is on here, given how much it sticks out from the rest, and that’s a good thing. Well, the slower parts anyway; the fast parts then blast right back to IQ-bashing punk/crossover.

“Suicidal Failure” ends the album perfectly, a great companion piece to the opener, some killer solos and a slower tempo foreshadowing what will come a bit later, like “I Want More,” the band stretching out just a touch, and in the process helping to give this album a bit of variety, adding immensely to its longevity.

No one player really stands out as incredible, the sound more of enthusiastic young punks than virtuosos of any kind. It’s fine: we don’t need—or want—virtuosos in punk, we want spirit, which this record is just absolutely overflowing with.

Good god, what an album, perfect crossover, great punk (yes, definitely more punk than crossover, if we’re splitting hairs), tons of personality—this thing just drips with personality—from a band that made a career out of always showing off that personality. The production holds up just fine, the teenage angst that this album is built on actually transferring to an enjoyable listening experience for all ages.

It’s hard to imagine a crossover record better than this. But then D.R.I. come moshing in.

D.R.I. – Dirty Rotten EP

Man, what a glorious racket this one is.

What I love about this album is that while ST’s is a collection of very distinct songs, this one sort of blends into one big mush of chaos, D.R.I. creating a cohesive record here, 22 songs flying past in under 18 minutes, end result being nothing less than one of the most important crossover records of all time.

(And a quick note about methodology here: while pitting an EP against an LP might seem unfair to some, I argue that it’s absolutely not: especially in punk and hardcore, an EP is just as valid a complete work of art as a full-length is, in my eyes [also, in punk and grind, some of my favorite full-lengths ever could fit on a 7″]. More of us are familiar with this release in its reissued form with extra tracks, but in my eyes the extra material lessens the EP’s incredible impact, so we’re sticking with the original release here. And when you’ve got 22 songs on a record and we’re still talking about that record decades later, yes, it can go up against a full-length that’s only like 11 and a half minutes longer than it.)

Opener “Sad to Be” is, naturally, one to remember as it announced to the world, “Here’s D.R.I, they are a mess, and they are awesome,” the band packing an alarming amount of noise into the song’s 2:13, instruments coming and going, a part where the tempo picks up faster and faster, there’s noise, feedback, man, this is barely a song by any conventional sense, but the parts where the band is locked in and raging, and Kurt Brecht’s vocals are a rallying cry, it’s excellent, pure early-crossover DIY underground punk chaos. Then “War Crimes” follows it up with a song that wouldn’t sound wildly out of place on Suicidal’s debut, both bands tapping right in to what makes crossover and early hardcore/punk so great, D.R.I. absolutely nailing it here, scaling down the noise of the opening track for something more conventional, and it’s a huge victory.

“Busted” brings some humor before more chaotic punk/HC, and we’re into a rapid-fire approach now for the next several songs, “Draft Me,” “F.D.R.C.” and “Capitalist Suck” doing what they need to do in their 30 seconds, as does “Misery Loves Company,” before “No Sense” spreads its wings a bit more at 1:16 and “Blockhead” closes off the original side A with another near-epic at 0:55.

Side B continues with some classics, “I Don’t Need Society” and “Commuter Man” kicking it off with a killer one-two punch before “Plastique” and “Why” basically drop the same song two times in a glorious row, and, man… side B is awesome, short song after short song just killing it, “Balance of Terror,” “My Fate to Hate,” “Money Stinks” and on it goes, every song a winner, every song kinda the same at this point in the record, but, as I mentioned earlier, D.R.I. making that work, the songs on this album coalescing into one incredibly satisfying ball of what would later be coined crossover, here, it’s just punk/HC, less metallic than ST but with a heavier sonic punch, more singularly focused and racing to the finish line.

And to the finish line we go, with the frantic “Human Waste,” the fun “Yes Ma’am,” the falling-apart-at-every-second “Denis’s Problem,” then a couple more gotta-love-’ems in “Closet Punk” and classic closer “Reaganomics,” this record’s memorable anthem. It’s maybe not quite as ingrained as “Institutionalized” is in all our heads, but it’s killing me, it’s killing me, it’s killing me, it’s killing you. You know it, I know it, and it’s awesome, what an ending to a totally killer record.

The non-stop drum barrage is impressive, and, importantly, D.R.I. does get mentioned in talks about early blast beats, let’s not forget. This release—in particular, the grinding parts of “No Sense”—often gets brought up in these intense, nerdy discussions, so that gets huge points from us here, as we’re always interested in the history of such sonic extremity. Everyone else does a just fine job on their instruments, and, like ST, it’s more about the sloppy energy than it is any sort of jaw-dropping precision. But, a pioneering release for blastbeats means that we at Decibel HQ are slipping and sliding in our drool.

I love the production on this one too; not sure how punk records from 1983 can sound so damn good to me all these years later, but they do, D.R.I.’s in particular having a bass-heavy, sludgy, raw sound to it that matches the attitude in the music absolutely perfectly.

It’s all about spirit with this stuff, and while DRI’s EP doesn’t quite have the personality quirks that ST’s has, it hits the finish line with a more solid sense of accomplishment; they did what they set out to do, and it just sounds better and better as the years go on.

—————-

Both records are fantastic, trailblazers, and have a youthful energy that holds up wonderfully today. I love them both. However, one stands out a bit more due to the band’s never-ending well of personality and sideways humor. Only one has rants that became legend. Only one wanted a Pepsi: today we’re declaring Suicidal Tendencies’ self-titled album the winner in our crossover battle, may Muir rant and rave forever more, soft drinks just out of reach as the echoes of this legendary debut hang above the punk, hardcore, metal and crossover scenes for all time.

The post Fight Fire With Fire: ‘Suicidal Tendencies’ vs. ‘Dirty Rotten EP’ appeared first on Decibel Magazine.

C’mon now.

You must have suspected a band that rages through songs such as “I Killed a Werewolf Once (It’s on Film),” “Facehugger,” and “Witch, Please” was eventually gonna make a horror flick, right?

And so it has come to pass with the new interconnected videos for the Bleach Everything tracks “Bound” and “Cured.” In recognition of the crossover, Decibel is exclusively premiering the first part, “Bound,” below, and the horror movie mag Rue Morgue will simultaneously premiere the second part, “Cured,” here.)

So this is what we had to say about “Bound”/”Cured” when we premiered the tracks back in January:

In little more than two-and-a-half minute this pair of tracks somehow manages to call to mind the work of such wildly disparate bands as Husker Du, Integrity, My Bloody Valentine, Drive Like Jehu and more without losing the sneering heart and kinetic soul of Bleach Everything past. It’s a brilliant, condensed piece of transcendent avant punk that speaks to listeners on a more fundamental, primal level than ever before.

And here is what frontman Brent Eyestone has to say about the “Bound” video:

“‘Bound’ is part one of a two-part music video series we made with our friend Nath Milburn of Lil’ Baker Films. The first part finds all of us trapped in an old haunted house with the added terror of being isolated from one another. A demonic presence [Jenn Muse] stalks and toys with everyone’ psyche accordingly.

“We shot everything in a historic section of Redondo Beach, California using a vintage camcorder to mimic a lot of the direct-to-video creations that ourselves and Nath have enjoyed as horror and thriller fans for decades. It’s a treat to be able to share both these videos as part of most metal and horror fans’ favorite season.

The post Video Premiere: Bleach Everything — “Bound” appeared first on Decibel Magazine.

Straight from the Seattle underground comes Colony Drop, tearing through their first demo in a flurry of thrash, crust and hardcore punk with the fury of a thousand Disrockers. Despite the demo’s brief length—only two songs, “The Guillotine” and “Stand Against the World”—Colony Drop make their mission statement very clear.

“These two songs represent Colony Drop at its most direct and pointed,” vocalist Joseph Schafer explains. “The perfect tip of the spear for launching our assault on the world. They’re the foundation upon which we’ll build the remainder of our campaign. Of course this is just a taste—we have our first record written and are right now prepping to record it.”

Schafer explains that “The Guillotine” focuses on corrupt individuals who inflict suffering upon others, in many forms, for financial gain. It’s the first song that Colony Drop ever wrote, existing in some form for about three years.

“‘Stand Against the World’ is a bit grander,” he continues. “Ben [Burton, guitar] wrote the first version of this song, and right away it showed off his triumphant-but-grim sense of melody. From the start the song expressed our shared love of Burning Spirists hardcore—Japanese crust with loads of expressive guitar playing—so putting a D-beat for the rhythm was the most natural thing in the world. I’d been kicking around the words ‘JoJo’s D-Beat Adventure’ as a gag for months, a sort of portmanteau of the manga JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, as well as Wolfbrigade’s 2004 EP A D-Beat Odyssey. That’s where the chorus came from. What started as a gag really helped us find our voice—especially myself as a singer—so the song has a lot of meaning to us, and I see us playing it live for a long time (whenever we can play live safely, that is). I made sure to put a lot of allusions into the lyrics, almost like a word puzzle in song form, to make things more fun and reward repeat listens. We hope listeners get as much joy out of hearing it as we did writing it.”

With that in mind, tune in to The Demo below.

The Demo by Colony Drop

The post Full EP Stream: Colony Drop – ‘The Demo’ appeared first on Decibel Magazine.

Underdogs of the world unite! Your saviours have arrived to give you more shit than anyonehas thrown at you, EVER. The world’s first Post-Nu-Metal supergroup have arrived with an unhealthy mix of comedyand parody that will have Nu-Metal fans worldwide taking their Korn, Linkin Park andSlipknot albums down to cash converters faster than you can […]

VIEW HEAVY DIGIMAG #171 HERE There’s been lots happening this past seven days, and in case you missed anything, here’s the weekly DigiMag to bring you up to speed! Asking Alexandria are dropping their new album See What’s On The Inside tomorrow, and lead singer Danny Worsnop gave us 15 minutes of his time to […]

If you’re still searching for the perfect drink to enjoy while headbanging on your couch to the upcoming Ωmega Alive release, look no further. Together with the renowned Belgian craft beer brewery Kazematten, symphonic metal titans EPICA have created their own “Epica Beer” that is now available at https://www.kazematten.be/en/beers/epica/

Better Noise Music is celebrating Rocktober all month long, as bands unleash brand new headbanging material and commemorate hit catalogue releases, compiling the vast array of iconic tunes into new playlists across digital platforms. Every October, all rock music lovers around the world know that listening to only rock music for 31 days will suffice. From honouring the […]

Asking Alexandria have celebrated their signing to Better Noise Music earlier this year with a  new album, See What’s On The Inside, due out on October 1. Having released the anthemic single Alone Again, Asking Alexandria are already basking in critical praise for See What’s On The Inside, an album that the band themselves have […]