Yomp Wyzzords [Weekly Mixtape 186]

Grave Disgrace | We as a Company | Dusted Angel | Walking Bombs | Warcoe | Supernaughty | Graven Cross | Appalooza | Cosmic Reaper | Mephistofeles | Fuzzy Circuits | Castle Rat

Direct Download [hold + "Save As"]

High Rollers [Weekly Mixtape 167]

GURT | Witch Whores of Satan
Goatsmoke | Bongripper | Nightstalker
Tons | Ocultum | Weed Demon

Direct Download [hold + "Save As"]

Bandcamp Friday Picks [Mar 2025]

Bandcamp's new management has stated that they will continue to keep Bandcamp Fridays going through 2025. Times are tough for independant artists, so try to help out if you can. Here are some recent and upcoming releases that tickled my fancy.

Each Week We Stray Further From God [Weekly Mixtape 156]

Helvitnir | Sarkom | Sakahiter | Nobody
Void of Hope | SAOR | Insanity Cult
Decline Of The I | Lucifer's Child

Direct Download [hold + "Save As"]

Madness Reigns [Weekly Mixtape 154]

Squid Pisser | Goatkrieg | Gate
Horornisdiphonevalley | Archagathus | Hatred Surge
Fâché | Rats Will Feast | Civilian Thrower
Drugs of Faith | Scare | Wolfbrigade
Crepitation | Sully | Haggus | Fupa Goddess
invaded by madness | Rescüe Cat | Lifesick
Escuela Grind | Gasmiasma | Kosuke Hashida
Bred For Slaughter | Järnbörd | Rotten Sound
Walking Corpse | Dead | Tomb Warden | Brat

Direct Download [hold + "Save As"]

Varicose [Weekly Mixtape 132]

The Depressick • FERAL WINTER • Vastigr • Offernat
Forgotten Tomb • Selvans • Manic Abraxas • Amarok

Direct Download [right click + "Save As"]

Zoomies [Weekly Mixtape 128]

Psychosomatic • Squid Pisser • Apes • Brat • Slug Gore
Brainsore • Incinerated • Arthouse Fatso • Wristmeetrazor
Durian • Kandarivas • Kosuke Hashida • ACxDC
The Order of The Precious Blood • Christ on Parade • DOOM • VHS
Henry Kane • Nest • Bedtimemagic • Paradox Rift • Feed Them Death
Impending Annihilation • Onchocerciasis Esophagogastroduodenoscopy
Escuela Grind • Culled • Diuretic • Subscum • LWSTNDRDS
Sick/Tired • Lycanthrophy • CRUSHUMAN • Houkago Grind Time
L.M.I. • Full Of Hell • Compulsion To Kill

Direct Download [right click + "Save As"]

Bandcamp Friday Picks [Mar 2023]

Bandcamp Fridays keep rolling, so here are some recent releases that you should support with some $$$. The platform is waiving its fees for all purchases made today, so now's a good time to hand some independant artists your cash (even the ones that offer their releases as "name your price" downloads).

Bandcamp Friday Picks [Feb 2023]

Today is the first Bandcamp Friday of 2023 - meaning the streaming company is waiving its cut of all purchases made through the platform. To celebrate the occasion, here are some recent and upcoming releases of note that were sent my way, which I present to you with only a modicum of pontificating.

Bandcamp Picks [2022 Stocking Stuffer Edition]

[This post contains excerpts from previous Bandcamp Friday Picks, along with some new reviews. All releases were available as "name your price" downloads at the time of posting.]

Bandcamp Friday Picks [Dec 2022]

Today is the last Bandcamp Friday of 2022, the final day of the year in which the streaming company waives its share of all purchases made through its platform. Here are another dozen recent and upcoming releases that I think deserve your support.

Bandcamp Friday Picks [Nov 2022]

Today is Bandcamp Friday - that blessed day in which the streaming company waives its cut of all purchases made through the platform. Here are some recent and upcoming releases that I think are worth supporting with your cash, hard-earned or ill-gotten.

Bandcamp Friday Picks [Oct 2022]

October 7th is Bandcamp Friday, that blessed day in which the streaming company waives their cut of all purchases made through their platform. If you're interested in showing some support for the underground, here are some recent and upcoming releases that are currently testing the robustness of my new computer speakers.

Bandcamp Picks: 2021 Stocking Stuffer Edition

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

Bandcamp Picks: 2020 Stocking Stuffer Edition

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

Bandcamp Picks 189 - svrm, Svarttjern, Haxandraok, Turia

Fans of atmospheric melodic black metal will be all over the latest album from Ukraine's svrm. Занепад mixes up its shoegazing folky black metal with some tasty riffing, recalling both Agalloch and Slavic folk art.  [Name your price]



Cross-pollinating the Greek and Polish black metal scenes, Haxandraok takes the best of both and adds some idiosyncrasies of its own. The project's debut Ki Si Kil Ud Da Kar Ra is a unique amalgam of disparate influences, integrating eastern melodies, reggaeton-esque and speak-singing into a black metal framework. [€6]



Svarttjern may hail from Oslo, but one gets the sense that they'd feel more comfortable in the Bay Area. In its second wave black metal assault, Shame Is Just A Word displays a deep fondness for the frantic rhythms of classic thrash - a fondness that manifests itself with a cover of the Exodus standard, "Bonded by Blood." Bang your head as if up from the dead. [€7]



Emerging from the same mysterious Dutch collective that produced Solar Temple and Lubbert Das, Turia demonstrates a similar knack for atmosphere and melody. The third album under the project's name, Degen van Licht sticks to a more traditional black metal template, though at times it employs the hypnotic riffing that made the last Solar Temple album such a joy, along with some post-punk riffing . A premium blend of old school and new school. [€7]

Bandcamp Picks 188 - Porta Nigra, Umbra Conscientia, Ragnarok, Ainsoph

German trio Porta Nigra aren't particulary grim or frost-bitten, but they are adept at crafting engaging albums. Their third album Schöpfungswut integrates NWOBHM histrionics into driving and upbeat melodic black metal (a la Lord Belial or Necrophobic). Singing entirely German keeps the music authentically guttural. [€7]



A collaboration between members of Costa Rica's Corpse Garden and Germany's Dysangelium, Umbra Conscientia unites the blasphemous intentions of two disparate scenes. The project's first release Yellowing of the Lunar Conciousness is a no-frills assault, with only the first and last tracks providing a respite from its single-minded blast - though the occasional headbanging groove does slip through. One of 2019's sleepers. [€7]


A product of Norway's black metal explosion who missed the success of their peers, Ragnarok are nevertheless still at it, and still staying true to the principles of the second wave from which they emerged. There are no female vocals, shoegazing riffs or rock and roll parts to be found on Non Debellicata - just blistering speed and frostbitten riffs. Sometimes a story can be both old and told well. [$7.90]



Speaking of female vocals and shoegazing riffs, Dutch newcomers Ainsoph have no qualms about throwing as many different elements into their metal as needed. Ω - V runs the gamut from black, doom, and post punk, topped by singing that seems like it was teleported from a different, more indie friendly album. Ignoring the rules is the real blasphemy. [Name your price]

Bandcamp Picks - 2019 Stocking Stuffer Edition

Here's a run down of the best free metal albums on Bandcamp that were released this year, to ensure that you have the blackest of Xmases. All releases were available as "name your price" downloads at the time of posting.

Bandcamp Picks 186 - Coilguns, Salvation, Child Bite, Bedtimemagic

Formed by members of the Ocean Collective - who are known for releasing sprawling double disc concept albums  - it's only by comparison that Coilguns is less ambitious. Watchwinders, the band's fourth album, eschews the sludgy, atmospheric metal of their former band, finding itself closer to Breach's forward-thinking, genre-splicing post-hardcore. Moshpits for the mind. [Name your price.]

[Read my interview with Coilguns here.]


Anyone nostalgic for the glory days of noise rock will revel in the ultra muscular sound of Chicago's Salvation. The trio's third album Year of the Fly hammers the listener with its pulsing, percussive riffs and an obvious Nineties bias. It seems AmRep Xmas comes earlier every year. [$7]



Detroit's Child Bite follow suit with their own blend of Nineties heavy alternative. Blow Off The Omens combines the fuzzed out heft of the Melvins and the slithering rhythms of the Jesus Lizard, with Shawn Knight's vocals reaching Mike Patton levels of yodel-yelling. Ipecac and roll. [$9]



Like similar bass/drum combos Lightning Bolt and Radiation Blackbody, Boston duo Bedtimemagic seem intent to prove that they don't need guitars to make a hellacious racket. Pillow Talk is a surprisingly diverse album, encompassing everything from sludgy doom to screamo melody while limiting itself to four strings, keyboards, and an extremely limited drum kit. Minimum resources, maximum results. [$7]

Bandcamp Picks 185: Blattaria, Blut Aus Nord, Mystagos, Qayin Regis

Perhaps the most overlooked project to emerge from the Fallen Empire roster, the enigmatic (and pest-obsessed) Blattaria are back with their third album. Another paean to the mankind's eventual successors, Life Is A Disease weaves tales of roach superiority through a discordant mix of death, black and grind. Like the insects the project is named for, this is a glimpse into our bleak and disturbing future. [Name your price.]



Few bands are as comfortable ignoring metal's self-imposed limitations as France's Blut Aus Nord. Blending post-punk and black metal, the tellingly entitled Hallucinogen is shamelessly psychedelic, using repetitive guitar lines to hypnotic effect, and burying Vindsval's vocals so deep in the mix they register as little more than echoed whispers. Though not as ambitious (or as electronic) as they were during their 777 era, the band's deconstruction of the genre continues unabated. [€7.77]



Sweden's Reveal! join their countrymen Morbus Chron and Tribulation by abandoning the kvlt kids in favor of avant craziness. Their third album Scissorgod channels Seventies prog, krautrock, and horror soundtracks for an unsettling, unpredictable, multi-dimensional album that makes the rare appearances of old school blackened thrash that much more affecting. [€6.90]



One-man band Mystagos are part of a surging Spanish black metal scene, whilst blatantly wearing the influence of its Scandinavian forebears. Their second album Azoth displays a deep love for True Norwegian Black Metal (in particular, Euronymous' no-frills riffing),  before edging into avant/prog territory with simple chord progressions, scale-climbing basslines and spooky quasi-chanting. A surprisingly well-rounded take on "kvlt". [€5.99]



Fellow Spaniards Qayin Regis imbue their blackened death metal with dollops of atmosphere. Over the course of four long tracks, their debut Doctrine makes it clear that the Madrid band are as menacing during their slower and quieter passages as they are with unfettered blasts. [€6]