Daughters Do What They Want on 'You Won't Get What You Want'

Published Oct 25, 2018

Dense, dark and unhinged, Daughters' long-anticipated return, You Won't Get What You Want, is aptly titled.   Born from an internal schism...

Cruciamentum / Thantifaxath / Paroxsihzem / The Long Dark Road Hard Luck Bar, Toronto ON, November 2

Published Nov 03, 2017

On Thursday, November 2, Toronto experienced perhaps the strongest extreme metal show of 2017.   Kicking things off was Guelph, ON troupe...

Neurosis / Converge / Amenra Danforth Music Hall, Toronto ON, August 2

Published Aug 03, 2017

Amenra's live show was one hell of an introduction to the Belgian band. Kicking off a tight, three-band bill at the Danforth Music Hall, the...

Iron Maiden / Ghost Budweiser Stage, Toronto ON, July 15

Published Jul 16, 2017

With suitably gorgeous sunny weather conditions, pseudo-Satanic occult rock act Ghost kicked off the proceedings at the Budweiser Stage for...

Kreator / Obituary / Midnight / Horrendous The Opera House, Toronto ON, April 11

Published Apr 12, 2017

An exceptionally well-curated bill for a large metal tour is rare, so it goes without saying that when Decibel Magazine's annual bonanza com...

Gevurah / Sortilegia Smiling Buddha, Toronto ON, April 1

Published Apr 02, 2017

The air was thick with fog when Toronto duo Sortilegia began their performance at the Smiling Buddha. With a table sitting front centre ador...

Four Lessons Neurosis Can Teach About Emotional Honesty

Published Oct 03, 2016

Neurosis have been around for three decades and made 11 albums, yet they continue to defy easy characterization. The "post-metal" label they...

Neurosis Fires Within Fires

Published Sep 21, 2016

Neurosis are a three-decade staple of thinking (wo)man's music, a band who inspire emotional hyperbole, who are both crushing and fragile, t...

Royal Thunder Crooked Doors

Published Apr 08, 2015

When Royal Thunder's CVI was released in 2012, the hype machine framed the band as part of a wave of occult rock bands, bands that were seem...

​Royal Thunder Open Up About 'Crooked Doors'

Published Apr 08, 2015

Royal Thunder's Crooked Doors has been framed as break-up record, given that vocalist/lyricist/bassist Mlny Parsonz and guitarist Josh Weave...

Blind Guardian Discuss 'Beyond the Red Mirror,' Reveal New Orchestral Project

Published Feb 20, 2015

Nearly 30 years after their inception, German power metallers Blind Guardian are looking to the past for their 10th full-length. Not the fic...

Blind Guardian Beyond the Red Mirror

Published Jan 30, 2015

Whether you listen to their albums sequentially or in random order, there is fluidity within the Blind Guardian catalogue that few bands hav...

Doom Metallers Anguish Invent Their Own Religion

Published Nov 27, 2014

Metal's fantasy-inspired lyrical repertoire runs like a who's who of legendary authors: H.P. Lovecraft, Aleister Crowley, Robert E. Howard,...

Onslaught / Artillery / VX36 / Shrapnal The Palomino Smokehouse, Calgary AB, November 16

Published Nov 17, 2014

On a freezing Sunday night (November 16), Onslaught and Artillery, two underground thrash legends, played a small, sweaty venue in the icy f...

Anguish Mountain

Published Nov 14, 2014

Encapsulating an album in a tidy sentence can be an extremely frustrating task. In the case of Anguish, it's easy. This is heavy doom metal;...

Amulet The First

Published Oct 18, 2014

Amulet's 2011 Cut the Crap demo was intriguing, featuring "old school" classic metal with a black magic obsession. You know the kind: infuse...

Witch Mountain Mobile of Angels

Published Sep 26, 2014

Vocalist Uta Plotkin says she was leaving Witch Mountain two days after the release of their fourth full-length, Mobile of Angels, because a...

Nik Turner's Hawkwind / Witch Mountain / Hedersleben The Palomino Smokehouse, Calgary AB, September 24

Published Sep 25, 2014

Psychedelic, kraut and doom music straddles a thin, and very personally interpreted line between monumental, thunderous, and/or transcendent...

Witch Mountain on Uta Plotkin's Departure and the Band's Uncertain Future

Published Sep 23, 2014

Recruiting Uta Plotkin, an intern at drummer Nathan Carson's Nanotear Booking Agency, turned out to be a major turning point for Portland me...

Hammerfall (r)Evolution

Published Sep 05, 2014

Shamelessly and obviously plagiarizing yourself is a strange thing to do. However, when you look at Gothenburg's Hammerfall, it's certainly...