Deconstructing Towers: The Story of Hydra Head Records

THIS IS A PREORDER. ITEM IS DUE TO BE RELEASED IN OR AROUND EARLY DECEMBER 2026. 

ALL ITEMS ORDERED TOGETHER WILL BE CHARGED AT THE TIME OF THE ORDER AND WILL SHIP TOGETHER WHEN EVERYTHING IS IN STOCK.

Forged from an uncompromising vision and bound only by handshakes, Hydra Head Records’ 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’s metal and hardcore scenes of the mid-’90s, proceeding to shroud genre-defining records of the era in artistically fearless artwork and packaging. Within a decade, the label relocated to Los Angeles where the lights were brighter, but the descent came from much greater heights.

The new Decibel Books release, Deconstructing Towers: The Story of Hydra Head Records, authored by longtime music journalist and Great Falls bassist Shane Mehling, chronicles Turner’s nearly two-decade journey running Hydra Head through detailed accounts from the label’s artists, his former bandmates and ex-employees who played pivotal roles in its incomparable history.

At over 500 pages (in addition to a 32-page color section), including countless rare and previously unpublished images, and featuring exclusive stunning new cover art from Turner himself, Deconstructing Towers illustrates the once untold history of one of extreme music’s most influential and revolutionary record labels.

“Hydra Head Records was a complicated, gratifying, frustrating and ultimately life-changing enterprise to be a part of,” says Aaron Turner. “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—and that what came out of the label left a lasting and positive impression within the underground realm it occupied.

“I am grateful to Mr Mehling for diving headlong into the detritus left in the wake of Hydra Head’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.”

Pre-orders are live now with an expected ship date of early December, you can read an exclusive preview, which takes readers back to the early 2000s as a major label bidding war for Hydra Head's homegrown heroes Cave In was underway on the strength their breakthrough album Jupiter.

Deconstructing Towers includes exclusive new interviews with:
ISIS • CAVE IN • BOTCH • CONVERGE • PELICAN • TORCHE • JESU • OLD MAN GLOOM • XASTHUR • THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN • DISCORDANCE AXIS • AGORAPHOBIC NOSEBLEED • KEELHAUL • KHANATE • BIG BUSINESS • DAUGHTERS • DROWNINGMAN • and many more

THIS IS A PREORDER. ITEM IS DUE TO BE RELEASED IN OR AROUND EARLY DECEMBER 2026.