LISTMANIA BEGINS: THE DECIBEL TOP 40 FOR 2024

 LISTMANIA 2024  20 Responses »
Nov 132024
 

(written by Islander)

Well, holy shit, is it already time to begin our site’s annual LISTMANIA orgy? Lo and behold, it is.

It has become an annual (and reflexive) tradition at our putrid site to launch our year-end LISTMANIA orgy with the appearance of DECIBEL mag’s Top 40 list, because they always seem to burst from the starting gate sooner than anyone else — and they’ve done it again this year, even earlier than they did in 2023.

I need to repeat, of course, that the reason we also use their list as the launching point for all of our own forthcoming YE features is because, in my humble opinion, DECIBEL is still the best print publication out there for fans of extreme metal. Their list also always generates healthy discussions (and sometimes unhealthy ones), so it’s still a fitting way to launch the latest LISTMANIA season apart from the list’s early-bird status.

The DECIBEL 2024 list will officially appear in the magazine’s January 2024 edition (with Cirith Ungol on the cover), which hasn’t yet hit my own mailbox, but DECIBEL again decided (for the tenth year in a row) to scoop their own list rather than letting leeches like me leak it. They published the list on-line yesterday, and so I can now again re-publish their list without too much guilt, beyond the sheepishness that comes from being one of the factors that forced them to start outing themselves in the first place. Continue reading »

BEER AND LOATHING IN DENVER: DECIBEL METAL & BEER FEST, ROCKY MOUNTAIN EDITION, 2022 — DAY TWO

 Concert Reviews  No Responses »
Dec 192022
 

(Last week we published our friend Gonzo‘s report on Day One of the recent Decibel Metal & Beer Fest in Denver, and now we’ve got his write-up on the second day’s performances and beers.)

Day 2 at any festival always comes with a price – exhaustion, overstimulation, tinnitus, alcohol poisoning, IBS… the possible danger is almost limitless. But so is the potential for having a truly amazing time worth writing about.

For the second day of Decibel Metal & Beer Fest in Denver earlier this month, things could’ve easily gone in any direction for this humble scribe. Continue reading »

LISTMANIA BEGINS: THE DECIBEL TOP 40 FOR 2022

 LISTMANIA 2022  25 Responses »
Nov 112022
 

 

It has become an annual tradition at our putrid site to launch our year-end LISTMANIA orgy with the appearance of DECIBEL mag’s Top 40 list, because they always seem to burst from the starting gate sooner than anyone else — and they’ve done it again this year, although about a week earlier than they did in 2021. There’s also the fact that, in my humble opinion, DECIBEL is still the best print publication out there for fans of extreme metal, and their list always generates healthy discussions, so it’s a fitting way to launch the latest LISTMANIA season apart from the list’s early-bird status.

The DECIBEL list will officially appear in the magazine’s January 2023 edition, which hasn’t yet hit my own mailbox, but DECIBEL again decided (for the eighth year in a row) to scoop their own list rather than letting leeches like me leak it (actually, this year they called people like me “enterprising dorks”). They published the list on-line yesterday, and so I can now again re-publish their list without too much guilt, beyond the sheepishness that comes from being one of the factors that forced them to start outing themselves in the first place. Continue reading »

LISTMANIA BEGINS: THE DECIBEL TOP 40 FOR 2021

 LISTMANIA 2021  11 Responses »
Nov 192021
 

 

It has become an annual tradition at our putrid site to launch our year-end LISTMANIA orgy with the appearance of DECIBEL mag’s Top 40 list, because they always seem to burst from the starting gate sooner than anyone else — and they’ve done it again this year, although about a week later than they did in 2020. There’s also the fact that, in my humble opinion, DECIBEL is still the best print publication out there for fans of extreme metal, and their list always generates healthy discussions, so it’s a fitting way to launch the latest LISTMANIA season apart from the list’s early-bird status.

The DECIBEL list will officially appear in the magazine’s January 2022 edition, which hasn’t yet hit my own mailbox, but DECIBEL again decided (for the sixth year in a row, or maybe the seventh) to scoop their own list rather than letting leeches like me leak it. They published the list on-line yesterday, and so I can now again re-publish their list without too much guilt, beyond the sheepishness that comes from being one of the factors that forced them to start outing themselves in the first place.

Of course, there will be a lot more content in the January issue. It includes a cover story on the Converge Bloodmoon collaboration record with Chelsea Wolfe, a Hall of Fame feature on Arcturus’ “black metal weirdo classic” Aspera Hiems Symfonia, editorial comment on the records that made their year-end list, and more. It will also include a Portrayal of Guilt flexi disc. You can order a copy of the issue HERE. Continue reading »

LISTMANIA BEGINS: THE DECIBEL TOP 40 FOR 2020

 LISTMANIA 2020  16 Responses »
Nov 122020
 

 

Wow, it’s already that time of year again, and wow, I’m aghast all over again at how early this is starting.

It has become an annual tradition at our putrid site to launch our year-end LISTMANIA orgy with the appearance of DECIBEL mag’s Top 40 list, because they always seem to burst from the starting gate sooner than anyone else — and yes, they’ve done it again. But there’s also the fact that, in my humble opinion, it’s still the best print publication out there for fans of extreme metal, so it would be worth paying attention even if they published their list for the first time on January 1, 2021.

The DECIBEL list actually will officially appear in the magazine’s January 2021 edition, which hasn’t yet hit my own mailbox, but DECIBEL again decided (for the fifth year in a row, or maybe the sixth) to scoop their own list rather than letting leeches like me leak it. They published the list on-line earlier today, and so I can now again re-publish their list without too much guilt, beyond the sheepishness that comes from being one of the factors that forced them to start outing themselves in the first place.

Of course, there will be a lot more content in the January issue (which has Judas Priest on the cover), including commentary about each of these 40 albums and why they were selected, as well as dozens of contributor-conceived year-end Top 5 lists, a Hall of Fame feature on Priest’s Painkiller album, and a brand new Venomous Concept flexi disc. You can order a copy of that issue here HERE. Continue reading »

LISTMANIA BEGINS: THE DECIBEL TOP 40 FOR 2018

 LISTMANIA 2018  53 Responses »
Nov 162018
 

 

It has become an annual tradition at our putrid site to launch our year-end LISTMANIA orgy with the appearance of DECIBEL mag’s Top 40 list. It has become a tradition in part because, in my humble opinion, it’s still the best print publication out there for fans of extreme metal, and in part because they always manage to jump out of the starting blocks first in the race for publishing YE “best of” lists – and they’ve done it again this year. So here we go!

The DECIBEL list will officially appear in the magazine’s January 2019 edition, which hasn’t yet hit my own mailbox, but because it’s out in the world somewhere already, DECIBEL again decided (for the third year in a row) to scoop their own list rather than letting leeches like me leak it. They published the list on-line yesterday, and so I can now again re-publish their list without too much guilt.

Of course, there will be a lot more content in the January issue (which has Deafheaven on the cover), including commentary about each of these 40 albums and why they were selected. You can order a copy of that HERE. Continue reading »

LISTMANIA BEGINS: THE DECIBEL TOP 40 FOR 2017

 LISTMANIA 2017, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  42 Responses »
Nov 202017
 

 

Every year our LISTMANIA series of posts includes not only lists of the year’s best releases as compiled by our staff, invited guests, and our esteemed readers, but also lists assembled by what we call “big platform” web sites and selected print magazines. And every year, it seems that DECIBEL magazine provides the launch for LISTMANIA by coming out with the first of the lists we see from that category of web sites and print zines — and they’ve done it again this year.

I’m a long-time DECIBEL subscriber, but my hard copy of the January edition, which features Steve Tucker on the cover and includes the YE list, hasn’t hit my mailbox yet. However, today DECIBEL provided an on-line teaser for the issue that included their full ranking of the year’s Top 40 albums.

This is the second year in a row that DECIBEL has scooped their own list rather than letting leeches like me do it, and so I can now again re-publish their list without too much guilt. There is of course a lot more content in the January issue, including commentary about each of these 40 albums and why they were selected (you can read everything else DECIBEL has previewed about the January issue here). Continue reading »

LISTMANIA 2015 BEGINS: DECIBEL MAGAZINE’S TOP 40 ALBUMS OF 2015

 LISTMANIA 2015  50 Responses »
Nov 192015
 

Decibel Top 40 of 2015

 

Every year our Listmania series of posts includes not only lists of the year’s best releases as compiled by our staff, invited guests, and our esteemed readers, but also lists assembled by what we call “big platform” web sites and selected print magazines. Today we feature the first of the 2015 lists we’ve seen from that category of web sites and print zines — and fittingly, it comes from the best metal magazine on the planet, DECIBEL.

The list appears in the January edition of DECIBEL, which features Lamb of God on the cover and is beginning to arrive in the mailboxes of subscribers now. My copy is taking its sweet time making it to my mailbox up here in the far northwest corner of the U.S., but a friend on the East Coast sent me pics of the list, which is why I’m able to bring you this post. I know I’m stealing some of DECIBEL’s thunder, because they haven’t posted the list online themselves. But I’ve been doing this thunder-stealing for six years now, and it’s too late to stop. Continue reading »

TOURISM: THE DECIBEL MAGAZINE TOUR 2016 — ABBATH, HIGH ON FIRE, SKELETONWITCH, TRIBULATION

 Metal News  4 Responses »
Nov 162015
 

Decibel Magazine Tour

 

We just received the announcement of the line-up for the 2016 edition of THE DECIBEL MAGAZINE TOUR, and it’s a blockbuster: Running from mid-March to mid-April next year, the fifth installment of the tour will feature Abbath (performing not only songs from the band’s forthcoming debut album but also tracks from Immortal’s back catalogue), High On Fire, Skeletonwitch, and Tribulation. There will be regional openers in select markets announced soon.

Here’s further info that accompanied this announcement: Continue reading »

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