Decibel (magazine)
Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Script error: No such module "Infobox".Template:Template otherScript error: No such module "check for unknown parameters". Decibel is a monthly heavy metal magazine published by the Philadelphia-based Red Flag Media since September 2004. It is currently the only monthly metal music magazine published in North America.[1][2] Its sections include Upfront, Features, Reviews, Guest Columns and the Decibel Hall of Fame. The magazine's tag-line is currently "Extremely Extreme" (previously "The New Noise"); the editor-in-chief is Albert Mudrian.[3]
History
Decibel was first conceived in late 2003 by journalist Albert Mudrian (born 1975),[4] around the time he was finishing his book Choosing Death: The Improbable History of Death Metal & Grindcore (2004).[5] Mudrian had previously written in a number of magazines published by the Philadelphia-based Red Flag Media, who he joined in 1997,[6] and felt that there was "a market in the United States for a metal magazine that covered extreme music the way that magazines like Spin used to cover pop music and culture".[5] He brainstormed some ideas for the magazine, including its name, with former Terrorizer editor Nick Terry (who Mudrian first contacted in 2002 to write the foreword for Choosing Death).[5] The magazine's original title was Powertrip (after Monster Magnet's song and album); Terry pushed for naming it Sabotage (after the Beastie Boys song), though his idea was scrapped in light of the September 11 attacks.[5] Mudrian and writer Nick Green cited Terrorizer as an influence on DecibelTemplate:'s content and editorial style, although Mudrian felt that overall it drew more from his previous publications for Red Flag Media.[7] Terry also felt that Alternative Press was "a possible deep-background influence" on the magazine and some of its writers.[7]
Decibel was officially launched in July 2004, with its initial lineup of journalists including Terry, Aaron Burgess, Iann Robinson and Kevin Stewart-Panko.[8] The magazine's first issue, featuring The Dillinger Escape Plan on the cover, was published on September 4, 2004,[9] with an initial circulation of 30,000 copies.[8] In December, the Dillinger Escape Plan's second album Miss Machine was crowned "Album of the Year" for 2004 in the magazine's first ever critics' poll.[10]
On August 31, 2024, Decibel will hold a 20th Anniversary Show at the Brooklyn Bowl in Philadelphia, featuring Autopsy, Horrendous, Immolation, Krieg, Rid of Me, Deathevokation, Ecdysis and Crypt Sermon.[2]
Features
Hall of Fame
Each issue of Decibel features an article dubbed the Hall of Fame which pays tribute to a significant album in the history of heavy metal music. All contributing band members to the specific album must be alive at the time of interviewing.[11]
In 2009, 25 of the Hall of Fame entries were used as the basis for the book Precious Metal: Decibel Presents the Stories Behind 25 Extreme Metal Masterpieces released through Da Capo Press.[11] The book also includes previously unreleased interview questions that were left out of the magazine articles, and a full piece on Darkthrone's Transilvanian Hunger that was never published in a magazine due to its length.[12]
Flexi Series
In November 2010, the magazine announced the launch of the monthly Decibel Flexi Series. Beginning with the January 2011 issue (#75), the magazine now includes a limited vinyl flexi disc bound into the magazine each month available exclusively to its subscribers.[13]
Tour
Beginning in 2012, Decibel has put on an annual tour in the US and Canada. According to metal blog No Clean Singing, typically the tour is headlined by a seasoned death metal or black metal band and includes three supporting acts: a "hard-touring band with a dependable legion of fans"; a "critical darling band in search of a wider audience, one that Decibel Magazine has put a lot of page space into supporting"; and a "pit-friendly band with connections to the metal underground, one early in their career and sporting a charismatic frontman". Some dates of the tour also include local openers.[14]
Decibel Tour 2012
- Behemoth - Watain - The Devils Blood - In Solitude
Decibel Tour 2013
- Cannibal Corpse - Napalm Death - Immolation
Rotating Openers - Magrudergrind - Cretin - Beyond Creation
Decibel Tour 2014
- Carcass - The Black Dahlia Murder - Gorguts - Noisem
Decibel 2015
- At The Gates - Converge - Pallbearer - Vallenfyre
Decibel Tour 2016
- Abbath - High On Fire - Skeletonwitch - Tribulation
Decibel Tour 2017
- Kreator - Obituary - Midnight - Horrendous
Decibel Tour 2018
- Enslaved - Wolves In The Throne Room - Myrkur - Khemmis
Decibel Tour 2019
- Cannibal Corpse (Feb 17-Mar 7) - Morbid Angel - Immolation (Mar 8-Mar 14) - Necrot - Blood Incantation
Decibel Tour 2020 (CANCELED DUE TO COVID-19)
- Mayhem - Abbath - Gatecreeper - Idle Hands
Decibel Tour 2022
- Obituary - Municipal Waste - Gatecreeper - Enforced - Spirit World
Decibel Tour 2023
- Dark Funeral - Cattle Decapitation - 200 Stab Wounds - Blackbraid
Decibel Tour 2024
- Hulder - Devil Master - Worm - Necrofier
Decibel Tour 2025
- Mayhem - Mortiis - Imperial Triumphant - New Skeletal Faces
References
External links
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