FEAR, EMPTINESS, DECIBEL: PARADISE LOST GRACE THE COVER OF THE JUNE ISSUE!

Before there were blogs there were these things called magazines, and the only metal magazine we still get excited about reading every month is Decibel. Here’s managing editor Andrew Bonazelli…

Ideally, here at Decibel, we try to switch up the cover artist, hall of fame and flexi disc so you’re not like great, here’s the girlfriend metal issue, or god, will these guys ever get off XXX Maniak’s dick? And yet, this is two straight issues now that you’ve gotten a double dose of the cover artist (well, in May just one of them) courtesy of a gnarly new flexi. But we’re cool with it, seeing as how everyone here loves Paradise Lost. And I mean loves. It’ll be fairly obvious when you check out the sidebar, in which basically half the masthead and a ton of extreme musicians give their entire discography props.

Which is a pretty cool thing, because these guys have gone rogue more than once. Transforming from doom overlords to the metal equivalent of this is a good way to alienate your entire fan base. Yet, that (mostly) didn’t happen. PL stick to their convictions, create inspired music, and people follow. Not blindly, like Metallica fans. More like they embrace the challenge. And we know Paradise Lost don’t move, say, Meshuggah numbers. Who cares? Their courage and passion over nearly a quarter-century is more than enough to warrant a cover.

And hey, if you can’t deal with that funny feeling in your pants, there’s a Vulgar Display of Power quasi-HOF in this one, too.

-AB

The June 2012 issue of Decibel also features High on Fire, Prong, Torche, Unsane, Suffocation, and an awesome Paradise Lost flexi disc, and can be ordered here. But why not just get a full subscription to ensure that you never miss an issue?