As my readers know, I’m an huge supporter of underground music. Life is tough for musicians during the COVID shutdown; the prospect of live music venues remaining shuttered for months after the rest of society re-opens is particularly depressing to those of us who live for great shows. One thing we can all do, though, is to go out and financially support bands we like listening to — especially those who we listen to for free on the Internet. Tomorrow, May 1, Bandcamp is foregoing their share of profits from any download sales of music on their site, so it’s a great time to go pony up for some music from great bands. Here are some records I’ve bought recently that you should check out:
Mestarin Kynzi by Oranssi Pazuzu: excellent psychedelic black metal from Finland, just came out (but check out their back catalog as well)
Floppy Disk Overdrive by Master Boot Record: “Dehumanized”, all-electronic metal from Italy. Not a single human element, but bad-ass nevertheless. Again, check out the back catalog as well.
Mareridt by Myrkur: I wrote a not-so-great review of Myrkur’s first EP a bunch of years ago. Since then she has become one of my favorite metal performers. This album has some tracks that will become classics, like the masterful Ulvinde:
New Man, New Songs, Same Shit, Vol.1 by Me and That Man: Yes, Nergal from Behemoth did a country record. Several country records. And they’re fucking awesome, and evil as shit. You can be the first kid on your block to get the chorus of “Burning Churches” stuck in your head:
Deserted by Gatecreeper: Classic death metal from the American desert. I picked up these guys’ last record, Sonoran Deprivation, based on an off-hand comment by a friend of mine who saw them live, and I’ve been hooked ever since. These guys are recording some of the best death metal riffs on the market today, seamlessly blending boot-stomping mosh pit crunch with Mach 3 speed. If you miss the heyday of bands like Carcass and Entombed, these guys will not disappoint.
The Scars of Man on the Once Nameless Wilderness by Panopticon: Okay, this guy is some kind of lefty anarchist, and there’s at least one cringeworthy anti-Trump song in the second half of this two-album set, but never mind, the music is amazing. The first half is black metal, the second is literally country. Both are very well done. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt that his politics are sufficiently antisocial to qualify for the angry metalhead stamp of approval.
Palindrome by d’hiver mort: This one is kind of old. It was once described as sounding like a swarm of angry robots chasing you through the ruins of a cathedral. Sort of an experimental industrial/metal sound with tons of atmosphere layered onto it. It’s also by your friendly narrator, ASD, from a very different life many many years ago.
The Antisocial Darwinist 