{"id":629878,"date":"2026-09-19T20:14:17","date_gmt":"2026-09-19T20:14:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/629878\/"},"modified":"2026-09-19T20:14:17","modified_gmt":"2026-09-19T20:14:17","slug":"decibel-books-announces-deconstructing-towers-the-story-of-hydra-head-records","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/629878\/","title":{"rendered":"DECIBEL BOOKS Announces &#8216;Deconstructing Towers: The Story Of Hydra Head Records&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Decibel Books has announced the publication of &#8220;Deconstructing Towers: The Story Of Hydra Head Records&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>Forged from an uncompromising vision and bound only by handshakes, Hydra Head Records&#8217; trailblazing, nuanced aesthetic redefined what was possible for an extreme music label. Founded by future ISIS frontman and NEUROSIS guitarist\/vocalist Aaron Turner, Hydra Head rose around Boston&#8217;s metal and hardcore scenes of the mid-&#8217;90s, proceeding to shroud genre-defining records of the era in artistically fearless artwork and packaging. Within a decade later, the label relocated to Los Angeles where the lights were brighter, but the descent came from much greater heights.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Deconstructing Towers: The Story Of Hydra Head Records&#8221;, authored by longtime music journalist and GREAT FALLS bassist Shane Mehling, chronicles Turner&#8217;s nearly two-decade journey running Hydra Head through detailed accounts from the label&#8217;s artists, his former bandmates and ex-employees who played pivotal roles in its incomparable history.<\/p>\n<p>At over 500 pages (in addition to a 32-page color section),including countless rare and previously unpublished images, and featuring exclusive stunning new cover art from Turner himself, &#8220;Deconstructing Towers&#8221; illustrates the once-untold history of one of extreme music&#8217;s most influential and revolutionary record labels.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Hydra Head Records was a complicated, gratifying, frustrating and ultimately life-changing enterprise to be a part of,&#8221; says Aaron Turner. &#8220;Central to its existence was a dedication to musical freedom and creative integrity, coupled with a focus on fostering friendships through collaboration. Though the label fell short of those lofty intentions from time to time (and to be frank was a downright mess in certain departments),I like to think that the heart was always in the right place \u2014 and that what came out of the label left a lasting and positive impression within the underground realm it occupied.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Turner continues: &#8220;I am grateful to Mr. Mehling for diving headlong into the detritus left in the wake of Hydra Head&#8217;s existence, to all the folks who took the time to talk with him about it, and who made it what is was in the first place: a sprawling, ungovernable, ferocious and (hopefully) endearing beast.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Decibel has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.decibelmagazine.com\/2026\/09\/18\/pre-order-deconstructing-towers-the-story-of-hydra-head-records-from-decibel-books-read-an-exclusive-excerpt-now\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">shared an exclusive preview<\/a> of &#8220;Deconstructing Towers&#8221;, which takes readers back to the early 2000s as a major label bidding war for Hydra Head&#8217;s homegrown heroes CAVE IN was underway on the strength their breakthrough album &#8220;Jupiter&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>Books are expected to ship in early December 2026. <a href=\"https:\/\/store.decibelmagazine.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Pre-order here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/deconstructingtowers2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"638\" height=\"638\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-606271\"\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Decibel Books has announced the publication of &#8220;Deconstructing Towers: The Story Of Hydra Head Records&#8221;. Forged from an&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":629879,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[93,61,60,278],"class_list":["post-629878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629878","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=629878"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629878\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/629879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=629878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=629878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=629878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}