Deicide, Dying Fetus, Biohazard, Crowbar Daeva, Internal Bleeding, Will Haven and More Booked for Decibel Magazine Metal and Beer Fest: Philly 2024


 

Decibel Magazine Metal & Beer Fest: Philly—the world’s loudest, heaviest, two-day craft beer event—returns to the Fillmore Philly on April 12-13, 2024, for its seventh year! Headliners include unique full album play-sets from Deicide, Dying Fetus, Biohazard, Crowbar, and more.

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ALBUM REVIEW: Sevendust – Truth Killer


Closing in on 30 years into their career, you couldn’t blame Sevendust if they took their foot off the gas at this stage. They have indicated as much that they are looking to tour less intensely as they have been, as the bands have families and are thinking of their futures. The band has slogged it out for decades on countless tours, metal festivals worldwide, and at times, more intimate unplugged gigs as well. While there are surely not a lot of new mountains to climb, it’s refreshing to see that the band is still hungry, and challenging themselves to create quality new songs on their 14th album Truth Killer. Following a successful run at Rise Records, the band has found a new home in Napalm Records, home to many of their peers and touring partners. The vibe at Napalm fits better than Rise did, as they head into this next phase of their career.

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ALBUM REVIEW: Undead – Putrefactio


 

Spanish foursome Undead unleash a skilful, satisfying slice of death metal with the sick, slick, and sprightly Putrefactio (Redefining Darkness Records). It’s far from rotten.

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ALBUM REVIEW: Metallica – 72 Seasons


 

And so the Metallica riff machine rolls on! forty years after their debut album Kill Em All (1983) laid the blueprint for the Thrash Metal genre, they return with record number … well that’s kind of up for debate depending on how you view their discography, and whether you count live albums, covers album and erm collaborations. But 72 Seasons (Blackened Recordings Inc) is here, their latest artistic statement four decades into a career that has seen them rise from the US West Coast underground, to become the most successful Heavy Metal band of all time. Continue reading


ALBUM REVIEW: Tomb Of Finland – Across The Barren Fields


 

Without hampering the quality of the record, Tomb Of Finland pile layer upon layer and meticulously interspersed elements of doom, black metal and good ol’ death metal on the quartet’s third full-length, Across The Barren Fields (Uprising! Records). Continue reading


ALBUM REVIEW: Hellripper – The Affair of the Poisons


The reignited interest in distinctly eighties-sounding metal styles, and more specifically, the thrash revival of the 2000s, has brought with it a handful of blistering new acts, alongside a slew of respectable releases from its originators. However, as a general scene, it has also suffered from a lack of innovation and compositional creativity. Often bands of this scene are perfectly content to just emulate classic sounds long-established by Sodom, Kreator, Venom, Bathory, and Slayer. Oftentimes, I find it a dull guessing game of which thrash bands are being ripped off whenever I listen to these bands. But there are nevertheless a handful of acts that in addition to paying tribute to the old guard’s sound manage to capture that fury, excitement, and blasphemous spirit of heavy music during the proto-extreme metal era. James McBain, the singular creative force behind Hellripper, clearly loves the style of first wave black metal and Teutonic thrash but is also creative enough to blend them to create something that sounds completely fresh. The result here is The Affair of the Poisons (Peaceville Records), a sophomore effort to the more straightforward Coagulating Darkness, and a release of blackened thrash/speed metal fury that will leave you yearning even more for a destructive live experience in 2020.Continue reading


ALBUM REVIEW: Eternal Champion – Ravening Iron


It”s been four years since Eternal Champion unleashed The Armor Of Ire in 2016, but the hype has only intensified with their sophomore full-length. Ravening Iron (No Remorse Records) continues the Austin group”s Epic Metal aspirations as the coarse but melodic guitar work casts a dungeon friendly atmosphere and the vocals forever echo Manilla Road”s Mark Shelton (RIP) with their nasally yet bombastic character. Thankfully, there are enough alternate approaches explored that keep this album from feeling like a retread. Continue reading


EP REVIEW: Midnight Dice – Hypnotized – Underground Power Records


Coming off a self-titled demo in 2019, Midnight Dice’s first EP, Hypnotized (Underground Power Records/Hoove Child Records), sees the Chicagoans continuing to build their momentum. Comparisons to the musicians’ previous band Satan’s Hallow remain inevitable as Hypnotized rides on a similarly anthemic Classic Metal style. However, there are also developments that show the band beginning to carve out a more distinct identity.Continue reading


3TEETH – Metawar


One of the best parts about reviewing albums is getting to deconstruct the music on the album and expose the soft squishy underbelly that the band hides deep within the tracks. The newest release from 3TEETH, Metawar (RED Music), is a case in point. The third studio album from the Los Angeles-based band is a cataclysmic master stroke pregnant with thinly veiled innuendo and tightly coiled enigma. Let me break that down for you in Skullgurl terms, this album is fanfuckingtastical.Continue reading