Bandcamp Recommendations – 4th December 2020 #BandcampFriday

The last #BandcampFriday of the year is here! Check the previous posts I did here

New music from the solo black metal act in a couple years. From the single released so far, sounds a bit darker.

2020 has been a great year for Death metal and this album is a great addition to the list. Just over 49 minutes of prime death metal. No filler at all. AOTY material!

Comeback release from the now Mumbai based act showcases a heavier progressive sound.

The new release from genre shifting Aussie act has them take a psychedelia route. Trippy stuff!

2nd release this year from as Jesu. On Terminus, he goes back to the shoegaze sound of his earlier material.

500th release from the grindcore label is a 3 way split between the best current acts in the genre.

3rd solo release from Indian veteran metal musician. He plays all instruments on this one. Out next week.

Compilation featuring the bands that are part of Global Grindcore Alliance Festival Vol 1.0. Quite a few exclusive tracks.

Ripple Music and Vegas Rock Revolution put together this compilation. John Gist (VRR) has hand picked the bands part of this.

Revolting album premiere

I’ve been writing for The Metal Wanderlust more recently. After the Wombbath premiere, I wrote about the album premiere for that latest Revolting album The Shadow at the World’s end.

Check out the album on The Metal Wanderlust

Tribute to Nitin Rajan

Friend and fellow metalhead Nitin Rajan passed away on 17th November.

A short tribute I wrote for him for Horns Up podcast

Vocalist, festival promoter, digital head, he played many roles in the Indian music scene.

A Metal lifer, Nitin started the earliest know death metal band, Morticide and then was one of the founders of Domination the Deathfest. I remember reading about the festival in the Metal India zine and being amazed that there was an extreme metal festival in India.

I met Nitin a decade ago at the first edition of the Rolling Stone Metal Awards where he was a judge and we became friends then. I still remember how excited he was to bring back the Domination the Deathfest in 2013.

“I prefer performing live” Nitin used to tell me. Anyone who had watched him at a gig with Primitiv or even Killibrium in recent years would agree that he was a powerhouse on stage and commanded the audience.

Everyone who met him even if it was once I am sure has a great story to tell about Nitin.

Thank you for the music and also your friendship. The Bombay Death Metal Legion forever.

Here is a video of an unreleased Primtiv track that I took a couple years ago.

Nitin Rajan Photo by Tushar Dhanawade

Wombbath track premiere

Wombbath are an Old School Death Metal act from Sweden that completes 30 years of magnificence this year in their chosen field. No easy task for a band that plays Metal let alone Death Metal. To mark this milestone Wombbath are releasing an album consisting of re-recorded songs from their older material as well as some brand new material, “Tales of Madness” via Transcending Obscurity Records.

Listen to Unholy Madness here

Bandcamp Recommendations – 6th November 2020

First Friday of the month, everyone knows the drill by now.

This one was a surprise release. New music from the band that got every teenager in the 2000’s into metal. This is to benefit the Armenia Fund, a US based charity organization instrumental in providing those in need in Artsakh and Armenia with supplies needed for their basic survival.

The debut album from the best Pakistan metal act that I have heard recently

As the days turn shorter and weather colder, here is some Hungarian Black metal for company.

First non metal recommendation, my good friend Abhi Meer has a new single out through Boxout.fm recordings.

Pummeling power violence from the American duo.

The first album from the Canadian grindcore stalwarts in 5 years is out in a couple weeks.

2 track EP by the Tech death metal act from Down under is out later this month

4 compilations featuring bands across all sub genres of Metal. All proceeds go to combatting UK food poverty.

https://hungercompuk.bandcamp.com/

Fistful of Metal 21

A hour of metal from around the world. First aired on boxout.fm

Track List

Spirit Adrift – Ride into the Light

Raging Speedhorn – Hard to Kill

Enslaved – Homebound

Takatak – Flash Your Bones

Svalbard – Click Bait

False Gods – Stay Frosty

Construct of Lethe – Lamasthu

Depravity –  Cantankerous Butcher 

Fuck the Facts – Pleine Noirceur

Carcass – The Living Dead at the Manchester Morgue

Inferi

This year has been a rough one for everyone, even more so for Metal bands used to being road warriors. Some of them have embraced being indoors and have made productive use of their time. A few have done live stream virtual concerts and others have worked on new music. American Death Metal act Inferi fall in the latter camp. They wrote and recorded their latest EP, “Of Sunless Realms” that released earlier this month. Vocalist Stevie Boiser shared with us a few things about the experience and also their plans for the coming months.

Read the interview on The Metal Wanderlust

Fistful of Metal 20

This episode is dedicated to the memory of Riley Gale, the front man of American metal act Power Trip.

Track list

Power Trip – Executioner’s Tax
Capra – Torture Ship
Allfather – Poison Soil
Grid – Disinformation = Facts
Grid – Insatiable
Skeletal Remains – Illusive Divinity
Necrot – Asleep Forever
Cloudkicker – Code Language
Hinayana – In Sacred Delusion (Ft. Toni Toivonen)
Foretoken – Bewildering Duress/Retribution
Jupiterian – Mere Humans
Cynic – How Could I

Bandcamp Recommendations – 2nd October 2020

Here are my picks for this month’s Bandcamp Friday

Is it Bandcamp Friday? pic.twitter.com/Z49KWfn39k

— bandcamp (@Bandcamp) October 2, 2020

This British trio have released one of the most intense metal albums I’ve heard this year. Believe the hype around it.

9 tracks of catchy melodic Black metal from the American quintent. Yes, it does have clean vocals.

Latest album from the German collective adds a new depth to their progressive sound. Their best as yet.

Over a hour of doom curated by the good folks at Sleeping Village

The who’s who of the Metal put their spin on Alice in Chains – Dirt on the 28th anniversary of the album.

Compilation with a stacked line up that benefits the family of a killer metal musician.

Check my previous picks here and here

Podcast Recommendations

As today is International Podcast Day, here are some of the podcasts that I listen to regularly.

Andy Social Australian musician Andy Dowling interviews people from all walks of life. The chats are quite detailed which make it a good listen during a run/walk. I am featured on Episode 196

Dumb and Dumbest A daily podcast (I have no idea how they do it) focused on the music business. Hosted by consultant Matt Bacon, Music Publicist Curtis Dewar and Social Media expert Keith Chachkes.

History in 5 songs with Martin Popoff Author Martin Popoff is a human encylopedia on rock and heavy metal music. He packs in a lot of trivia in a short time (Averages episode is 20 minutes). You will look at your favourite rock/heavy metal artist with different eyes after listening to each episode.

The Ex man Podcast Musician Doc Coyle (Bad Wolves, ex God Forbid) talks to professionals in the music world and other creative industries about the challenges and transitions of leaving monumental ventures. I’ve taken a lot of inspiration from the guests on the podcast.

Vox & Hops This podcast covers two things I really enjoy, metal music and craft beer. Host Matt McGachy, frontman of extreme metal band Cryptopsy interviews metal musicians and brewers in a casual manner, leaving one feeling that they are at the same table listening to the conversation.

Don’t forget to check out my podcast too – Horns Up