Libertine was recorded by Matt Russell and mixed and mastered at STR in San Diego by Matt Ibarra of Rectal Hygienics. It’s set for release on colored vinyl, cassette, CD and digitally via Brutal Panda on September 11. Place your preoder here (Brutal Panda webstore) and here (Bandcamp). And check out the tour dates (located below) following Libertine‘s release in September.

Vocalist Hugh Potter describes the new track:

“This is the second of two songs dedicated to obsessive sexual behavior of the male. Here the role of pornography and desensitization: a life drawn out only to consume and pleasure oneself. At the same time being destroyed by the inadequacies of fantasy and role play. Hence the Dworkin quote—this fantasy must be replicated in reality, and it is a violence that begets further violence. A timeline of scrubbed internet histories and deleted videos of dubious legality. You’re aware that it’s gotten out of control, but to stop you wouldn’t know where to begin and would you want to? Can you even come without the hideousness of your own perversions?”

Foreign Body live dates:

9/18/2026 McDuffs – Philadelphia, PA

9/19/2026 Preserving Shows – Pittsburgh, PA

9/20/2026 Horror Bar – Toledo, OH

9/21/2026 Sinkhole – St. Louis, MO

9/22/2026 Backline At Avondale Music Hall – Chicago, IL

9/23/2026 Black Circle – Indianapolis, IN

9/24/2026 Portal – Louisville, KY

9/25/2026 Dirty Dungarees – Columbus, OH

9/26/2026 Pie Shop – Washington, DC

9/29/2026 TV Eye – Queens, NY w/ Forn, Otay Ishii

The post Track Premiere: Foreign Body – “When Sex Is Not Enough” appeared first on Decibel Magazine.

Arriving this week 20 years ago, Supremacy still holds a strong place in Hatebreed’s remarkably-consistent discography. At a time when many hardcore and metalcore bands found influence from the Swedish melodic death metal scene (Unearth, All That Remains and Killswitch Engage all released major albums the same year), Hatebreed dug deeper into their sound and released one of their heaviest albums. 

Shortly after the release of the album, former guitarist Sean Martin explained Hatebreed’s philosophy: 

“Regardless [of] what people say, we always stayed true to what we believe in. Stayed true to our fans and friends back home. We just stayed true to what we think Hatebreed should be, we don’t deviate from it. And I think that’s what people want.”

Hatebreed have always worn their influences on their sleeve: the hardcore punk base of Agnostic Front and the crossover attitude of Cro-Mags, the speed of Slayer and the groove of Sepultura. Those ingredients, paired with frontman Jamey Jasta’s drill sergeant vocal delivery, have always been Hatebreed’s calling card and it’s no different on Supremacy. The Connecticut hardcore band’s fourth album produced no major singles, though “Destroy Everything” and “To the Threshold” became major live staples. Instead, it’s like an affirmation that nothing has changed about Hatebreed’s philosophy. 

In addition to releasing Supremacy on a major label, Jasta had become the host of MTV’s Headbanger’s Ball in 2003 and Hatebreed received a Grammy nomination in 2005, signaling their rising mainstream popularity. Despite those factors, Supremacy is straightforward and raw, with a renewed focus on the grooves and breakdowns (“Supremacy of Self,” “Destroy Everything,” “Mind Over All”). There’s less focus on the accessible side of the sound, which makes it one of the heaviest records in Hatebreed’s discography. 

20 years removed from its release, Supremacy still feels like an essential 2000s hardcore record. There is real magic to its directness and Hatebreed’s consistent knack for finding new ways to maximize heaviness within those confines, a trait they’ve maintained into their fourth decade as a band. 

In a press release at the time, Jasta said, “I wanted to tap into pure adrenaline — the speed, the brutality, the breakdowns. I wanted to make a crushing record that was going to have a memorable impact on people.”

Mission accomplished. 

The post Retrospective: 20 Years of Hatebreed’s <i>Supremacy</i> appeared first on Decibel Magazine.

Here’s how lead singer, Sarah Ann, describes “Water Wars,”

“You know how Judas Priest kicked off their masterpiece Stained Class with “Exciter,” then jolted into a bunch of ‘70s rock bangers? That’s kind of how we felt with starting the album on “Water Wars” (which people will understand far more clearly after hearing track two from the record). Musically, “Water Wars” is our most Judas Priestian, riff-laden, speed metal banger yet — with a dark, and frankly increasingly prescient, lyrical theme. It opens Witch Wife in an Alien World with a jolt, and isn’t necessarily representative of the album … although no song truly is. It’s a weird record.”

As to that lyrical theme, she goes on to say that

“Water infrastructure is being intentionally targeted in the genocide in Palestine; the United States recently intentionally attacked a water desalination plant in Iran. We’ve seen conflicts over water arise in California, India, Ukraine, Bolivia, Egypt, Turkey, Florida and more. Nestle owns aquifers worldwide and convinced the World Water Council to remove water as a human right, instead designating it as a “human need,” for fuck’s sake. Then you add AI data centers projected to be consuming the equivalent annual water needs of 1.3 billion people? We’re fucked, and it’s getting worse. It felt appropriate to address this growing crisis.”

Witch Wife In An Alien World comes out on October 9, 2026 via Cruz Del Sur on CD, vinyl, and spectral purple vinyl.

The post Track Premiere: Smoulder – “Water Wars” appeared first on Decibel Magazine.

“‘From Fiction’ features lead guitarist Jody Porter of Fountains of Wayne (as a special guest),” says Arjun “Arj” Agerwala, another founder and original member from the 2000s. “It was written and recorded in one session at Stratosphere Sound, and a live version of it (from our first-ever show at NYC institution Arlene’s Grocery) is one of the bonus tracks on Crystallized.

“It’s another song on the record that wrote itself. I started it with the opening guitar lick, playing it live but in the style of a loop. We built it from there and wrote the lyrics together, again in a sort of stream of consciousness. The song was inspired by the people yelling about God on street corners and subways in New York, so the vocals are written and delivered in that style, except it’s us talking about the lies that are fed to us constantly by politicians, the media, and all the people trying to take advantage of us for their own gain.

“The verse is intentionally quieter, with Jody’s perfectly eerie guitar, as the ‘preacher’ describes the current state of the world to his flock, how they are being manipulated and have become addicted to an unending cycle of hatred. The chorus comes in like a bomb, with Jody’s leads punctuating the message. It is the preacher’s prophecy leading to its inevitable conclusion and destroying all that is good and decent in the world. There are no words because there is nothing left to say.”

In 2026, Agerwala reformed the band. After Crystallized, he will be issuing a wealth of unreleased songs in honor of his best friend and bandmate.

“We were proud of the record, but we didn’t have any big plans in mind for it,” says Agerwala. “We didn’t make the record for anyone but ourselves. It has taken me nearly five years to recover from Josh’s death. It feels fitting, now that I’m able, to share our vision and bring something beautiful out of that darkness. This album is now both a tribute to him and a literal record of our friendship and creative journey together. I want anyone who may be into this to be able to hear it. It also feels like a tribute to our mentor Adam Schlesinger. I know that his passing affected Josh deeply.”

Crystalized is out tomorrow. Get it here.

The post Track Premiere: The Still Out – “From Fiction” appeared first on Decibel Magazine.

On Hell is Evil, Deathgrave open themselves to outside influences, pulling more from thrash, death metal, punk, noise rock and even industrial than ever before. As a result, the 32-minute record is packed to the gills with action and you can get in on it by streaming below. The album is out officially tomorrow, August 21, on Tankcrimes (digital here). Keep reading for an interview with Wilkinson about the new album.

It’s been about three years since the last Deathgrave album. What’s changed in the time since? 

Literally the world in not a totally awesome way. I’m getting distracted. In regards to Deathgrave, we were able to explore more musical boundaries and fully develop our sound. We started writing our previous album, It’s Only Midnight, when Clint [Baechle, drums] joined in 2018. A lot of songs were pretty old hat to us by the time the album came out. So, for Hell is Evil, we really all got to musically understand each other and lean into expanding our sound with a more solid focus. The album from front to back was freshly composed, new and exciting for us while creating it.

What musical ideas were you focused on with Hell is Evil? Some of these songs are very grindy, while others are definitely more punk in their songwriting. Was that a conscious choice? 

We have always been a band that straddles multiple musical genres. To me, this aspect is no different than before except I focused on blending the styles and transitions to feel more seamless. Each song was written with a musical motif in mind so some songs lean more in one direction or another.

Does the album title relate to the lyrics throughout the record? The title track seems to focus on a fictional depiction of Hell, while “Born from Death” is about Georgia’s inhumane anti-abortion laws. 

No, each song has its own theme and set of lyrics.

Chris Reifert is featured on “Hard to Swallow.” Did that collaboration come out of your tenure in Autopsy? 

I mean, it made it easier to have him come down! The short story was Andre [Cornejo, vocals] wanted a rant during the section where Chris sings. He hit a block there while tracking. Andre and Fern [Alberts, bass] were talking in the kitchen while I was sifting through tracks and they mentioned how cool it would be to have Chris come down and do his thing. I wrote Chris and he was down at the studio within an hour or so. He even wrote his lyrics for that section after reading Andre’s lyrics and discussing what the song was about. Super fast and professional as always.

You also recorded/mixed/mastered Hell is Evil. Does that make it a more seamless experience for the band and allow you to work on songs until they’re where you want them? 

In a way, yes. I wrote the basic skeleton of every song before anyone learned anything. Everyone wrote their parts and immediately tracked. This is how all of us work. Our recording process is almost like an ad-lib. We could have technically done this anywhere with this process but it was great just doing this ourselves on our own schedule. When it came to mixing and mastering, I didn’t want to overwork anything. Deathgrave is an untamed beast and needs to sound that way. Who better for the job than ourselves?

On a personal level, when I record my own music, I tend to grab the inspiration while it’s there. If a song or part isn’t working, I won’t beat it to death. It goes straight to the can or the holding cell for a potential revisit in the future. There were two parts on the record where I compositionally changed the sections while tracking because they weren’t working as I envisioned. We have to facility to do this and wasted the 20 minutes to redirect the parts. It happened in real time while Clint was tracking the drums.

In both instances, they served the song better. I believe if the song doesn’t bloom during the creation process, it may be best to let it die on the vine. If it is something magical, it will come back during another wave of inspiration, most likely. The important thing is to constantly create new ideas so losing some along the way is a huge part of the process. It is important to keep a fair amount of improvisation within the writing, layering, composition and recording. We are, in theory, trying to capture lighting in a bottle. If it takes a long period of time and labor to capture a song, it is no longer an encapsulation of inspiration. So doing this ourselves on our own schedule, in my studio, and on our own terms is definitely the smoothest way for us.

The post Full Album Stream: Deathgrave – “Hell Is Evil” appeared first on Decibel Magazine.

Says the band about “The Tolerator”: “When coming up with stories for our lyrics we often end up telling them through a protagonist or antagonist [lens] which is very often an anti-hero or a sad and pathetic figure that comes uncomfortably close to our own miserable selves at times. Yes, we are an emo band that put our lives on display for YOUR entertainment.  For ‘The Tolerator’ we investigate how being a tolerant human being can go too far. So much so that our hero just keeps on tolerating and tolerating absolutely everything. He even justifies being so good at never protesting and accepting whatever comes his way that he sees it as a superpower. This is also a song where we acknowledge the important position of the saxophone in grindcore history, from Siege, through Naked City to Brutal Truth and Napalm Death. Although our boy Bendik Brænne chose a slightly less free jazzy approach than what is normally accepted as grindcore sax. This suits us well.”

What they also fail to mention is that at 2:54, it’s the longest song to appear on Vntrve, which you can pre-order and further check out at the links below.

Bandcamp

Facebook

Instagram

Tidal

YouTube

The post Track Premiere: Grindcore Nutbars Beaten to Death Test Tolerance with “The Tolerator” appeared first on Decibel Magazine.

Raleigh, North Carolina trio Deceptor proudly fall into the latter camp. Their debut full-length, Reign of Terror, arrives August 21 through Dying Victims Productions, but you can hear the whole thing below today.

Led by vocalist/bassist Gabriel Earley alongside guitarist Preston Lanier and drummer Andrew Harper, Deceptor trace their lineage to the period when thrash was becoming nastier, death metal was becoming stranger and the dividing line between the two was still wonderfully unstable. Across 10 tracks and a remarkably economical 33 minutes, Reign of Terror pulls from early Sepultura, Whiplash and Sacred Reich on one side, Morbid Angel, Obituary and early Gorguts on the other.

That reverence comes with a good origin story. Earley began Deceptor as a bedroom project after becoming fascinated by the stories of Jon Zazula championing young bands like Metallica and Anthrax. Lanier entered the picture in 2022 after Earley approached him at an Exodus show and handed him a copy of Deceptor’s Bound by Ritual demo; Harper joined several months later after seeing the fledgling band tear through a DIY house show.

The same DIY impulse runs throughout Reign of Terror. Aside from the album artwork, the band handled the recording’s mixing, mastering and design themselves, fitting neatly with their self-appointed designation as the “East Coast Death Thrash Militia.”

“Do it yourself, speak for yourself, and think for yourself,” the band says.

That ethos extends to the album’s subject matter, which Deceptor describe as pro-American and anti-government, drawing on themes of revolution, psychological warfare and guerrilla combat. It’s confrontational material designed to match music that rarely sits still: riffs sprint, lurch and abruptly change direction; Earley’s bass gives the record’s frequent breakdowns additional weight; and Harper attacks the kit with the kind of controlled violence that makes the band’s Gene Hoglan worship fairly easy to identify.

Most importantly, though, Deceptor understand that recreating an era requires more than simply recreating its production values. Reign of Terror has the speed, ugliness and technical ambition of its chosen period, but also the sense that these three are genuinely excited by what might happen when all of those things collide.

Stream Reign of Terror in full below. The album is out August 21 on CD and vinyl via Dying Victims Productions.

The post Album Premiere: Deceptor – <i>Reign of Terror</i> appeared first on Decibel Magazine.

Haze, Cacophony, and White Light was tracked by the band with additional tracking of vocals and guitars at Acadia Recording Company in Portland. Mixing was done at The Cathedral of Psychic Death by Aaron Charles (Falls Of Rauros), while mastering was completed by Dan Lowndes at Resonance Sound Studio. It’s set for release on cassette and digitally via Contemn Light on August 21. Place your preorder here and get your digital presaves here.

Vocalist/guitarist Rob Cook talked about the band’s third full-length effort:

The post Full Album Stream: Shabti –<em>Haze, Cacophony, and White Light</em> appeared first on Decibel Magazine.

For over three decades, Philip H. Anselmo, Pepper Keenan, Kirk Windstein, Jimmy Bower, and Pat Bruders have quietly built a metal legacy like no other. And when they get together, magic ensues conjured by earthquaking grooves, bellowing straight from the soul, and riffing loud enough to awaken an ancient deity.

Don’t get lost in the smoke. Pre-order your copy of Volume V now!

The post Pre-Order DOWN’s New Album ‘Volume V’ on Decibel-Exclusive Orange and Black Galaxy Vinyl! LIMITED TO 300! appeared first on Decibel Magazine.

“A furious critique of authoritarianism, dehumanization and the abuse of power,” Everything Decays tell Decibel. “The song depicts humanity as expendable cattle, manipulated and discarded by those in control. It explores the fear of living under systems that value obedience over life, where resistance is crushed and individual worth is determined by those in power.”

You can listen to the new single below. Everything Decays will release Requiem II: We Will Slaughter the Lambs on September 11.

The post Track Premiere: Everything Decays – ‘Crowd Control’ appeared first on Decibel Magazine.