As if you needed any more incentive to attend this year’s second annual Decibel Magazine Tour—featuring not only headliners Cannibal Corpse, Napalm Death and Immolation, but rotating openers Beyond Creation, Cretin and Magrudergrind—it gives us great pleasure to announce eight one-off openers for select locations. Blast beats, please:
MAMMOTH GRINDER
May 10 / Houston, TX / Fitzgerald’s
Mammoth Grinder are akin to the classic early eras of Entombed, Dismember or Autopsy, combined with the bolting hardcore speed of Discharge. Armed with a recording driven by chainsaw guitars, screeching noise and quaking drums, these Austin, TX natives carve out a sound equally appealing to fans of metal and hardcore punk alike.
KILL THE CLIENT
May 11 / Dallas, TX / Trees
May 12 / San Antonio, TX / Backstage Live
Kill the Client formed in 2004, and have released three full-lengths in addition to split releases with Agoraphobic Nosebleed and Thousandswilldie. The band has also appeared on For the Sick—A Tribute to Eyehategod and 2008’s This Comp Kills Fascists. “Kill the Client is beyond excited to be playing on the Decibel tour,” says frontman Champ Morgan. “Both as big fans of the magazine and the amazing lineup. To share the stage again with our friends in Napalm Death and Cannibal Corpse will be, as always, a good time. Looking forward to grinding Texas faces in. GRIND HARD! GRIND FAST! NO MERCY!”
ABYSMAL DAWN
May 16 / Santa Ana, CA / The Observatory
Hailing from Los Angeles CA, Abysmal Dawn play an aggressive brand of modern death metal. The band seamlessly blends the hooks and technicality of early ’90s American death metal with the atmosphere, melody and the brutality of their contemporaries.
EARLY GRAVES
May 17 / Oakland, CA / Metro
Early Graves formed in the Bay Area in early 2008, and have released three full-lengths, most recently the critically acclaimed Red Horse. The band’s sound has been described as a mixture of old-school Swedish death metal and American hardcore punk, and has drawn comparisons to Napalm Death, Carcass, Tragedy and Testament, among others. “Napalm Death and Cannibal Corpse are bands we have been listening to since we were kids,” says guitarist Chris Brock, “and we are extremely proud and excited to play our home in the Bay Area with the tour. Huge thanks to Andrew and Albert at Decibel.”
GREAT FALLS
May 19 / Seattle, WA / El Corazon
There are three certainties in this fucked-up world: death, taxes and Great Falls. Accidents Grotesque—the follow-up to the Seattle trio’s well-regarded 2011 full-length Fontanelle—is a beacon of truth for the godless masses, a dizzying blend of mathematical hardcore and grind in the vein of Narrows and KEN Mode. Says bassist Shane Mehling, “We were already so stoked to see the show that getting to actually play alongside these legends is almost indescribable. I’ve waited decades to be in the same green room as Shane Embury’s hair.”
ARCHSPIRE
May 21 / Vancouver, BC / Commodore Ballroom
Pushing boundaries of speed and endurance set only by the genre’s top artists, all the while remaining accessible and interesting, is no small feat. These Canadians have proven themselves worthy of touring and playing with bands like Origin, Decapitated, Hate Eternal, Abysmal Dawn, Vomitory, Fleshgod Apocalypse and Aborted.
BLACK ANVIL
Jun 05 / Brooklyn, NY / Music Hall of Williamsburg
NYC’s Black Anvil let loose Triumvirate, the follow-up to the acclaimed Time Insults the Mind, on the unsuspecting world in 2010. Triumvirate’s assault is powerful, primal and pure, capturing and channeling the spirit of metal’s earliest trailblazers through a 21st century urban hostility. Insidious tracks such as “The Evil of All Roots,” “Scalping” and “Dead and Left” are as cold and hard as they are hypnotic.
DRUGS OF FAITH
Jun 06 / Philadelphia, PA / Union Transfer
The original idea was to start a punk band, but it ended up being too hard to categorize. Rock, hardcore and grindcore are among many elements blending into something original in the form of Drugs of Faith. Frontman Richard “The Grindfather” Johnson says, “It’s an honor and a privilege for Drugs of Faith to be supporting the bands on the Decibel Magazine Tour in Philadelphia. It’ll be our job to warm up the early attendees for these top names in death metal and grindcore—that goes for Magrudergrind, too, who’s playing this leg of the tour. June can’t get here fast enough, basically.”
