Decibel: Американский журнал о тяжелом металле

US music magazine

Decibel is a monthly heavy metal magazine published by the Philadelphia based Red Flag Media since September 2004. 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.

Decibel was first conceived in late 2003 by journalist Albert Mudrian (born 1975), around the time he was finishing his book Choosing Death: The Improbable History of Death Metal & Grindcore (2004). Mudrian had previously written in a number of magazines published by the Philadelphia based Red Flag Media, who he joined in 1997, 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". Terry also felt that Alternative Press was "a possible deep background influence" on the magazine and some of its writers. The magazine's first issue, featuring The Dillinger Escape Plan on the cover, was published on September 4, 2004, with an initial circulation of 30,000 copies.

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. 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.

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.