Bandcamp Picks - The Body, Body Void, Ommadon, Hundred Year Old Man

Portland-based duo The Body have long insisted that they are really a noise act, rather than a sludge or metal band. To that end, their latest album I Have Fought Against It, But I Can’t Any Longer ditches the riffs for synths and electronic beats, skewing closer to Portishead than Eyehategod (if Portishead was fed a steady diet of Eyehategod, that is). The results are as dark and emotive as anything The Body has put out - and Chip King's screams have never sounded more anguished. [$9]


Since changing their name from Devoid, Bay Area trio Body Void have been making waves that befit their ultra low-end rumble. At times reaching Khanate levels of listener antagonism, I Live Inside A Burning House displays a solid understanding of dynamics, using sections of ambient noise and brief flashes of caveman hardcore to keep their minimalist sludge from getting tedious. However, with five tracks running for well over an hour, it remains a punishing affair to the end. [$5]


By calling their music "fundamentalist drone", Glasgow's Ommadon guaranteed a friend for life in me. Over the course of two 20 minute compositions, End Times drowns the listener with riffs as thick and dark as molasses, peppered with blackgazing tremolo riffs and ridiculously guttural vocals. Anyone mourning the absence of Black Boned Angel should join me in celebrating the existence of Ommadon. The album is available as a "name your price" download.

After a slew of well-regarded EPs and the "Black Fire" single serving as an appetizer earlier in the year, Hundred Year Old Man patiently laid the groundwork for their first full-length. Breaching often sounds like two different records being played simultaneously, as ambient guitars cascade over the band's heaving grooves. Their partnership with the similarly forward-thinking and experimental Gizeh Records makes sense, and the latter's embrace of heavier music is most welcome. [£5]

Bandcamp Picks - Greber, Vile Creature, Leechfeast, Hundred Year Old Man

DoC's new friends Greber forgo guitar histrionics, limiting their grind/doom assault to just bass, drums and vocals. Surprisingly full-sounding despite its minimalist approach, Cemetery Preston at turns punches you in the throat with full on speed and blankets you with sub-sonic rumbling. Bass to break faces. [$9.99 CAD]



Also based out of Ontario, Vile Creature are another duo making a hellacious racket. Over the course of its four trudging tracks, Cast of Static and Smoke punishes the listener with thicker-than-molasses riffs and throat-ruining howls, while the lyrics paint a bleak picture of machines overrunning humanity. Baptized in a river of metallic sludge. [$6 CAD]



Slovenians Leechfeast have been plying their trade under the radars of most people (okay, me) for almost a decade. Neon Crosses, a co-release between 3 labels, veers from hateful sludge to mournful funeral doom and back again, with each oppressive chord landing like an anvil falling off a slow-moving truck. Kings of anti-speed. [£4]



Leeds band Hundred Year Old Man have been slowly building momentum with a succession of EPs. Their newest, Rei, combines simple riffs with atmospheric interludes to arrive at a Will Haven/Cult of Luna style of catchy doomgaze. With extensive drone and noise sections, their partnership with the similarly experimental Gizeh Records makes perfect sense. The EP is available as a "name your price" download.

Bandcamp Picks - Monarch!, Totengott, Cavernlight, Hundred Year Old Man

The 8th (!!!) album from French outfit MONARCH! plumbs the depths of misery without getting too monotonous. Never Forever is a car crash in slow motion of sludge metal, feedback, and droning noise passages. Emilie Bresson's vocal approach is accordingly eclectic, mutating from shrieks to growls to creepy clean singing and spoken word sections. A band that doesn't just perform doom metal as a form of Sabbath worship. [$7.99 CAD]



Spain's Totengott wear their Celtic Frost influence loudly and proudly. The aptly titled Doppelgänger is a spiritual twin to the heaviest Frost material, including a pretty spot-on Tommy Fisch-sticks impression. The world certainly isn't lacking reverential imitations of Hellhammer/Celtic Frost, but Totengott ranks among the best (and heaviest). Urgh! [€5]



Wisconsin's Cavernlight are only on their second album, but have seemingly mastered their style of sludgy doom. As We Cup Our Hands and Drink From the Stream of Our Ache (a long title for an equally drawn out and morose album) is at turns crushing and ambient, culminating in the monumental final track, which employs female vocals and a blasting finish. An eloquent and cathartic work of loss and sadness. [$5]



Leeds' Hundred Year Old Man approach the genre with more in mind than slow chord progressions. The three songs on the single/EP Black Fire is suitably bleak, adopting ambient drone to find a middle ground between Cult of Luna and experimental musicians like Aidan Baker. Heavy, but with the thoughtfulness befitting a band on the high-minded Gizeh records. [£2]