Bandcamp Picks: 2021 Stocking Stuffer Edition

[All releases were available as "name your price" downloads at the time of posting.]

Bandcamp Picks: 2014 Stocking Stuffer Edition

Tis the season...here are some stand out Bandcamp releases that came to my attention that may have slipped under the radar, and are available as free or "name your price" downloads unless stated otherwise.

It's been exactly a year since we checked in with DoC faves War Wolf; in that time, they've released an 8 song EP and a split cassette with fellow Brits Crossburner (who should probably rethink their band name). I'm happy to report that War Wolf are still putting that classic Sunlight Studios tone in the service of no frills power violence, and still hitting nasty grooves in between bouts of feedback like a slightly less terrifying Nails. See you guys this time next year, then?



Similarly, Madrid's Teething take that classic Swedish guitar sound and strap it to some classic Napalm-era grind. You know what I want for next Christmas? A War Wolf/Teething split. As a "name your price" download, of course.



Aussie black metallers Wardaemonic are making their first trip to South East Asia in a few months. Their first album is a decent release that follows the same template that's characterized black metal since the first Emperor album, with occasional excursions into a more atmospheric, droning style. But it's their most recent release, the three song Proclamation EP, that's really impressive, as they give themselves in to death metal riffing for a blackened death sound reminiscent of Zyklon and Cadaver Inc. We could definitely use more bands like this around here.



Tankcrimes have made Dystopia's legendary Human = Garbage available on their Bandcamp page. Metal presented these crust punks with a blank canvas with which to experiment, much like Neurosis - and the similarities don't end there. The band combined sludgy doom, mood-setting samples, and off-kilter Voivod riffing just as Souls at Zero did before it. The resulting album still stands as a landmark in the history of punk kids giving in to the joys of metal.



Milwaukee's Protestant - great name btw - features Halo of Flies Records boss Cory von Bohlen and have been playing ultra heavy metallic crust for a decade now. They've recently wandered on to a more blackened path, but their early releases are still commendable for their filthy, crusty, bare knuckle simplicity. All their releases are available as "name your price" downloads, except the two most recent (which are available for a very respectable $5).



Corinth from Leeds take the Sword's swagger and Kylesa's forward thinking sludge, resulting in some phenomenal songs. They're still not quite at a place where they've carved out their own identity, but their talent is undeniable.



Stick Lecherous Gaze on a mixtape between the Dictators and Motörhead; they play the kind of greasy gutter rock that made the Supersuckers so many friends over the years, and throw in a little Black Flag for good measure. Everything on their Bandcamp page is available as a "name your price", with the exception of their full-length On The Skids.

Bandcamp Picks: Stocking Stuffer Edition

Since tis the season to be moochin', here are some free Bandcamp downloads to stuff into stockings and/or inboxes.

If the purpose of the two song teaser EP Downpour by Canada's Kataplexis was to whet appetites for their upcoming full-length, then mission accomplished. Tight, blasting, and technical, this is death metal done right. Everything on Kataplexis' Bandcamp page is available as a free or "name your price" download, and it's all fucking great.



French provacateurs Celeste meld black metal, post-hardcore, and doom into a uniquely noisey and nihilistic package. All their releases are available through their label Denovali Records' website  as free downloads (with the exception of their newest album Animale(s), which is on sale for a very respectable €5).



It seems like it wasn't that long ago that I was writing about War Wolf's first EP (actually, it was almost exactly one year ago). On their first full-length, Crushing The Ways Of The Old, the Brits set their HM-2 pedals to "kill" for their raw and rawking Entombed-influenced hardcore. The album and everything else on their Bandcamp page is available as "name your price" downloads.



It's been a quiet year for Brazilian death metal, so this new EP by Sao Paolo's Gammoth is most welcome. Though more restrained than their hyperblasting countrymen, Caro Data Vermibus demonstrates the band is adept at creepy Immolation style riffs. This EP shows the band is striving to craft a unique identity - a rarity in the current death metal landscape, marking Gammoth as a name to remember.



Not long after I posted a link on Facebook to Death Sigils, the new album by Virginia's Occultist, they were listed as "band of the week" by Darkthrone's Fenriz. Not sure what that means; I guess I could crow about beating Fenriz to the punch if I didn't believe Fenriz was just another guy posting Bandcamp links on his blog. The album and Occultist's earlier EP are both available as "name your price" downloads, Tom G. Warrior grunts and all. Ooorgh.



Regular readers of this blog know that I have little patience or interest for anything old school revival-related, but for some reason BAT's first demo hits the spot. With members of DRI and Municipal Waste in their ranks, the 80's thrash fetishism on Primitive Age is pretty thick, but so are their chops. The band go out of their way to state that they recorded on analogue tape - not sure what difference that makes when it all ends up getting converted to MP3s, but who am I to quibble with free music?



Not content with simple crusty death/doom, the first demo by Newcastle's Live Burial is packed with swathes of atmosphere, a la (very) early Paradise Lost. Anyone who remembers the glory days of "The Peaceville Three" will feel a twinge of nostalgia for the fog and fuzz. Better jump on this before these kids discover keyboards and the Sisters of Mercy.



I first encountered Denmark's Crematoria in the Hellbound? documentary. Their 2010 debut EP Embodiment of Brutality is a fun slice of groovy death metal. The members all seem incredibly young, so chances are this band will morph considerably as the years pass - but even at this early stage their talent and love for the genre is clear to see.

Solstice

Solstice by Adrian Sol on Mixcloud

Hellbound? (Probably)

This guy? Definitely.

Just watched the documentary Hellbound?. It's pretty dry for the most part, and the points it makes are fairly obvious - evangelists are nutty and hypocritical, Christian theology is convoluted and open to interpretation. But the filmmakers won my heart with a brief detour into a European metal festival, where they catch Deicide's Glen Benton being his typically wry self, and ask Oderus Urungus to name three people he thinks are in hell ("Jesus. Every pope ever. That's more than three. Ronald Reagan is in hell, believe it or not."). The filmmakers also interview David "Soul Patch" Vincent and Mayhem's Necrobutcher (who seems uniquely ill-suited for documentary interviews).

Coal in your stocking

"Would you care for a candied cane? It represents the emotional crutch of the season's empty frivolity."

"It's the most wonderful time of the year" ...unless you're a hardened cynic with a blog. Dan Brooks of the excellent Combat! blog (as seen on the blog roll at right) wrote a wonderfully funny article for the Missoula Independant about the crappiness of X-mas music. The piece has possibly the best sentence I've read this week:

"But we tolerate the songs because it is Christmas, and if we cannot tolerate them we know we are awful, because it means we cannot tolerate others’ happiness."

If not tolerating X-mas songs makes me Scrooge, then: Bah, hambug.

In college, I worked for the residential life department, and part of our job was to throw a holiday party for the kids in our dorm before they disappeared back home for the winter break. One year a dispute came up with the sole Jewish member on staff over whether or not we should use Christmas themed music during the party. The Christian staff members seemed unwilling to budge on the point, even if it risked alienating non-Christian students. I brought up that we didn't have to play X-mas music just because X-mas was coming; good music is good music regardless of the time of year, and our residents would enjoy that just as much. It was a rare act of diplomacy and understanding on my part that surprised everyone, including me. That's probably why it worked.

I sympathize with my Jewish friends for feeling alienated during the season. I personally hate the holiday. Hearing the words "Merry Christmas" makes me feel dead inside. The only thing I ever enjoyed about the season was the weather while I was living in NY; as someone raised in South East Asia, walking around in the freezing cold and encroaching darkness brought me closer to my black metal albums than anything I would have experienced back home.

As a kid, my Christmases never came with presents, or family dinners, or any of the usual trappings. Instead, I had to go to church three times in a 24 hour period - midnight mass on X-mas Eve, and twice on X-mas day. [Jesus, if you're reading this: Fuck you and your birthday]. These days, I don't celebrate the holiday in any way, besides a yearly viewing of Scrooged and one of National Lampoon's Vacation movies.

But even with my antipathy for the holiday and the musical cash-ins that come with it (seriously, how many more people are going to send me links to that Christopher Lee album?), I couldn't help but be moved by this: Stephen Colbert had the disabled veterans group MusiCorps and soul singer Aaron Neville do a few songs for his show, including the best version of "Hallelujah" I've ever heard. Better than Leonard Cohen's original; better even than the Jeff Buckley version. Even though I hate X-mas songs, I don't hate this. Possibly because it's being delivered by wounded soldiers and not a department store PA. The medium is the message, I guess.

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