Pix by Kaotic Images With The World Is A Vampire Festival Tour wrapping up earlier tonight at the Gold Coast’s Broadwater Parklands, HEAVY thought it fitting to take you back to the first day of the run at Brisbane’s Eatons Hill, which featured Brissy rising legends PistonFist as local opening support. The festival – thanks […]
One of the more intriguing things about this generously hopped haze is that the grain bill is arguably more complex than the collection of hops. Bow Echo Hazy IPA has all of the hallmarks of a juicy IPA—oh yeah, there’s the Citra and Mosaic—but it really doesn’t punch you in the face with the fruity/ripe melon/tropical flavors. It’s hazy but not too hazy, hoppy but not too hoppy, and potent enough to ward you away from ripping through more than one can during daylight hours. It’s very solid. It’s an IPA. If they found a way to brew it with fluoride, I’d probably replace my water consumption with this.
Anyway, back to the grain bill: Bow Echo incorporates 2 Row Pale, Pilsner, Carapils, Crystal Malt, and Flaked Oats. Some version of Pale malt and Crystal are pretty standard for any IPA, but the Pilsner malts are a winner here. Pilsners are the OG ultra-crisp and crushable style—like, why not brew every IPA like that, with toothsome hops and a tight, clean finish? This Memphis brewery has also nailed it with the mouthfeel, approaching something that is a little closer to a medium-bodied version of a style that is frequently thin. Hazy IPAs tend to live at the surface, and Bow Echo has some layers.
Also props to the inclusion of English Ale yeast, which tends to show up in British pub styles like ESBs. Like Belgian style IPAs, the inclusion of the yeast produces a beer that is medium carbonation, with a generous (but quick to dissipate) head and a ton of lacing. The latter, of course, has no bearing on the taste of the beer itself, but it’s fun to look at when you pour the brew into a pint glass or goblet and swish it around. And the text above about waiting until sundown? That’s bullshit, this beer is bright, like a warm hug, and can turn your day around instantly. It’s always hazy IPA o’clock somewhere.
For more info on Wiseacre Brewing Company, please head here.
The post No Corporate Beer Reviews: Bow Echo Hazy IPA appeared first on Decibel Magazine.
Greetings, Decibel readers!
What you have before you are five masters of their craft. Selecting the artists for this week was incredibly easy. I mean, bands like Enforced and Runemagick are such indisputable giants that they effortlessly rise above the competition. But there’s a few lesser-known practitioners on this list as well. And they deserve to achieve the same level of esteem as well. Especially if you like death-doom or melodic death metal. Or all of that combined (scroll to the bottom).
So, enjoy!
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The masters of muscular thrash-core return with their third full-length album. While late-2000s neo-thrash burned through everyone’s patience for high-tops and derivative 80s themes, bands like Enforced have carried the torch forward in a dignified and worthwhile manner. The songs light up and demand a response from your senses, created a mosh pit in your head that keeps you coming back.
Stream: Apple Music
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The masters of atmospheric melodic death metal are back with their second album. Producer Dave Kaminsky has done an incredible job here, balancing the crushing guitars and vocals with the smooth orchestral arrangements that makes everything blend together in a mesmerizing listening experience. If you dig stuff like Draconian but want some more Gothenburg in the mix, you’ll be in heaven with this album. And if you dig this, keep your eyes out for my interview with guitarist Yegor Savonin on Monday!
Stream: Apple Music
Air Not Meant For Us by Fires in the Distance
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The masters of off-putting and anxiety-inducing brutality return with an EP following up their 2021 album, In the Mouth of Madness. This is some seriously menacing stuff, and it’s crafted with such expertise that it’s almost cinematic in how it moves from one riff to the next. Don’t sleep on this. In fact, you might have trouble sleeping after listening to it.
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The masters of titanic death-doom return with their lucky-13th full-length release. At this point, listening to Runemagick is like eating at your favorite restaurant. You know love the place, they know what you like, and bring it to you without having to take an order. Dig in, and don’t be afraid to go back for seconds!
Stream: Apple Music
Beyond the Cenotaph of Mankind by RUNEMAGICK
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The masters of melodic, energetic death-doom return with their first-ever full-length. As I often say, Redefining Darkness Records is an easy mark of quality, and their support for Vadiat only further establishes this. That bridge on “Spear of Creation” is so nasty, man, I wish I’d come up with that. The dual-harmonizing guitars and heavy-metal solos give the band’s style a special shine that sets them apart from the legions of similar bands out there. Rock on!
Stream: Apple Music
The post Five For Friday: April 28, 2023 appeared first on Decibel Magazine.
Think fast! Under Attack, the new hardcore punk squad out of Richmond, VA is your new favorite band you don’t even know about yet. With a line-up that has spent time in the likes of Municipal Waste, Human Remains, Discordance Axis, Limp Wrist, Suppression and many, many, many more, this new three-song EP, Bastards Fucking Bastards, is a mission statement of pure destruction available exclusively via the Decibel Flexi Series. The only way to score one for yourself is to sign up for a deluxe Decibel subscription by Monday, May 1 at noon ET. The war goes on, but don’t let this opportunity be lost to time. Subscribe today!
The post UNDER ATTACK (featuring members of MUNICIPAL WASTE, DISCORDANCE AXIS, more) to Release Exclusive EP via the Decibel Flexi Series! appeared first on Decibel Magazine.
If you’re a high-octane punk rock band looking to make a video, what better locale to shoot than an auto body shop. That’s what SoCal quintet Daisy Chain (featuring members of Graf Orlock, Sweat and Mossbreaker) opted for when shooting “Roll the Dice” from their recently released debut on Vitriol, The World is Not Spinning. In fact, the video we’re premiering isn’t just a lip-sync job, the session at at Mountune, a motorsports company in Carson, California, was actually recorded live by Gabe Van Benschoten (who also co-produced The World is not Spinning).
“Roll the Dice” is a gritty stomper—part Black Flag, part old-school TAD—which befits the blue-collar garage setting. No fancy effects used by director Christian Wolford, just the band—Jarred Tibbits (drums), Kevin Lessley (bass), Kyle Barnes (vocals), Dandee Ronruen (guitar), Justin Smith (guitar)—grinding it out. To grab a copy of the album the track comes from (and hear the studio version), you can order it here.
This is what vocalist Kyle Barnes had to say about the track:
“This song is really about the potential for regret in every relationship and decision we make. Ultimately, you are going to change and think about things differently at different times in your life, but the mechanism of regret is something that really punishes you if you let it. The concept of acting to please another person or clique, coupled with this concept just multiplies the effect in your life and mind. This track addresses the ability to release yourself from that self-imposed prison of memory and grief and the little decisions that allow one to recommit themselves to other goals, aims and people.”
The post Video Premiere: Daisy Chain – “Roll the Dice” appeared first on Decibel Magazine.
Check out the latest track from hardcore band Suffocate Faster, “Lost Ones,” from one of two EPs slated to release this year via Smartpunk Records.
About the song, the band say: “There are so many so-called criminals out there in society that have made mistakes in their young lives or even fallen on hard times at any age. Once they have been branded with a criminal record, especially a felony, our system and people continue to make it as dif icult as possible for them to get work or come up in the world. No one is perfect. It only takes a ‘normal’ person getting upset or being pushed too far and they end up in the system just as easily. Give everyone the same chances and you’ll see a big change in our world.”
Musical activism and baring who they are in their lyrics are common threads on their upcoming EP, as the band tackle heavy themes of how society treats criminals with a ripping, blasting, track.
The post Track Premiere: Suffocate Faster – “Lost Ones” appeared first on Decibel Magazine.
New Zealand-based proggy tech death gurus Blindfolded and Led to the Woods just released a video for the track “Caustic Burns,” taken their forthcoming album Rejecting Obliterations, out May 19 via Prosthetic Records.
The record showcases themes of grief and trauma as residents of their hometown of Christchurch struggle with natural disaster, domestic terror, and mental health issues.
About the new track, the band offers: “‘Caustic Burns’ utilizes dissonance, its grinding pace, and a thread of complex melody all within that unique, cross-genre sound we are becoming known for to tell a story that embodies early 2000’s, grimey, dark thriller films through the lens of Aldous Huxley’s The Doors of Perception. Visions, deities, murder, trips, and twists. Musically, it’s Ulcerate vs. Cephalic Carnage vs Spawn of Possession. Story-wise, it’s David Lynch vs David Fincher.
“Life, death, purpose and perception are the cyclical points of experience and reciprocal suffering for which ‘Caustic Burns’ exists within. You inhaled me deeply and held your breath, I inhale you deeply and hold my breath.”
The post Video Premiere: Blindfolded and Led to the Woods – “Caustic Burns” appeared first on Decibel Magazine.
Get stoked on the forthcoming Revenge Beast release with the first single from their debut album, “Inclination to Darkness.” The self-titled LP is out June 30 via Upstate Records and features Marc Rizzo on guitar, vocals by Jay Decay, Brennan McShane on bass, and Doug Gussio on drums. And this riffing fury of this one makes us stoked to hear more.
Rizzo says about the video, “‘Inclination to Darkness’ was the first song written during COVID that started this whole band Revenge Beast! It really showcases what the band is all about. Once we recorded this song, I think the sound of the band came together naturally. We are excited for the video to drop with its epic visuals that match the lyrical content.”
Learn more about the album here.
The post Video Premiere: Revenge Beast – “Inclination to Darkness” appeared first on Decibel Magazine.
Cleveland’s Vadiat is loaded with talent who have cut their teeth in death metal for over thirty years. Formed in 2019, Vadiat imbues doom-drenched death metal in the vein of Amorphis and Incantation. The band itself is comprised of current and former members of bands like death/thrash pioneers, Terror, as well as Blood of Christ, Ringworm, and more. They initially made themselves known in 2019 with an EP entitled, Darkness Proceeds. After a few years, their debut full-length album, Spear of Creation, deepens the unique vein in the members’ collective résumé.
Helmed by Brian Sekula (guitar/vocals) and Joe Twardzik (drums), Vadiat’s ten-song salvo sways between near-gothic melodies and pummeling death metal riffing. Sekula and Twardzik are rounded out by Matt Sorg (guitars) and Ed Stephens (bass). Their deathly pedigree is on full display in moments like “Shadows Divine” and the title track as well as a personal favorite in “Father Impaled.” The album closes on a stellar cover of Trouble’s “Pray For The Dead.”
In a statement to Decibel Magazine about the processes behind Spear of Creation, Sekula says, “From writing all these years I understand my limitations and I stay within them; I’m not trying to write so extreme that it’s not comfortable. I try to be more organic and let things flow naturally from whatever I’m hearing in my head. I’ve always been a fan of atmospheric music with harmonies and this band is the outlet to express that. I try to make music people will remember and I appreciate songs that have staying power, so that is the aim.”
He continues, “The songs that make up Spear of Creation are an accumulation of older material with a mix of recent songs. Our vision for Vadiat is pretty consistent… to me chemistry is everything. When you have the luxury of writing with someone whose vision is musically aligned with yours, it makes it fun. We’re certainly not in it for money or fame, that ship has way sailed, if it was ever even there in the first place. For us, it’s all about the music and camaraderie.”
Twardzik adds, “Vadiat are not concerned with fads or trends. We’ve been listening to heavy metal for over 40 years and we just make music to the best of our ability for those who enjoy heavy music.”
Listen to an exclusive stream of Vadiat’s debut full-length album now. Pick up a copy of the album from Redefining Darkness Records ahead of the album’s release this Friday.
The post Full Album Stream: VADIAT – Spear of Creation appeared first on Decibel Magazine.
Back in 2021, Decibel magazine premiered the Break Your Faith EP from Atlanta thrashers Turn Cold. The debut introduced Turn Cold as a band that harnesses the power of golden age thrash without being derivative disciples. At the time I wrote: “While the songs are sleekly written, the sound is never over-polished and sanitized. Speed metal fans and crust punks alike will want to jam this boozy blend of thrash and hardcore immediately.” Now they return with three more tracks of pit-stirring thrash with their new EP, Chew Glass.
Lead guitars glide in from the ether to gently ease the listener into the opening title track. But Turn Cold soon properly ignite the EP with combustible riffs. The breakdowns between rippin’ sections stomp even heavier here than the debut. Make no mistake, these boots were made for moshing. “Beast on the Prowl” cruises on a groove as the album’s mid-tempo crusher. There’s a feral streak to closing track “Balls of Fire” that ends the EP on a wicked exclamation point. Listen to the whole offering before the May 5th release date, exclusively here at Decibel. If you’re a cassette fiend like me, grab a limited edition tape and jam it in your tape deck pronto.
“We’re stoked to share these new joints and play them on the road,” Turn Cold write in a statement. “This is Zone 6 thrash written and recorded in our beloved city of Atlanta. Catch us on the East Coast Crossover Takeover tour with Living In Fear this summer!”
Crank up the volume, blast the AC, and press play. Also check out the tour dates below.
6/23 Fri – Chapel Hill, NC @ Local 506
6/24 Sat – Philadelphia, PA @ Kung Fu Necktie
6/25 Sun – Boston, MA @ O’Briens
6/27 Tue – Rochester, NY @ Bug Jar
6/28 Wed – Cleveland, OH @ No Class
6/29 Thu – New Kensington, PA @ Preserving Underground
6/30 Fri Brooklyn, NY @ TV Eye
7/1 Sat – Washington, D.C. @ Pie Shop
7/7 Fri – Atlanta, GA Boggs Social & Supply
The post EP Premiere: Turn Cold – ‘Chew Glass’ appeared first on Decibel Magazine.