Oakland, California Grimey Black Metal Band Dispirit Released This Album Last Year, And Played A Superb

Oakland, California grimey black metal band Dispirit released this album last year, and played a superb Red River Family Fest III set.

Black metal with the slime of death metal, their sound sucks you in like a bog. But that riff in Besotted by Feral Whims, right after the soft intro, it's utterly fantastic, rythmic and mesmerizing. These fellows are quite skilled, and absolutely worth seeing live if you have the opportunity.

Tundra-Demo

Boreal Hymn

Just released on US label Sacrificial Sounds, this little demo is stunningly beautiful. The duo contains a member of Wormwitch, whose album Heaven That Dwells Within was one of my favorite black metal albums in 2019. It's the raw, aggressively beautiful pagan black metal I've come to expect from Sacrificial Sounds releases, and it is done exceptionally well. This reminds me of a mix of the stellar Gaahl's WYRD album released last year and the aforementioned Wormwitch album. It's haunting, ritualistic, animalistic, and powerfully evocative of it's namesake.

You can pre-order the cassette, or just pick up the digital version, from the Sacrificial Sounds Bandcamp.

"Hunter-Killer"

Black Jackal

My favorite Texas metal band put out a new single late last year, and it's amazing. It's the raw blackened thrash n roll of their debut, but this time with a bass solo. I strongly encourage everyone who enjoys good metal and good fun to check these guys out! I look forward to the hinted upcoming second release.

You can pick the track up on their Bandcamp currently.

Hocico

Bienvenido a La Maldad

Speaking of electronic music, Mexican industrial masters Hocico have one of my all time favorite music videos.

It's a superb blend of Hellraiser and Aztec imagery that does an exceptional job evoking the theme of the song. It's the lion barely kept caged at the circus, waiting to strike. Primal rage underlying a pretense of control. It's aggressive, fast-paced, and spirited, while playing sensual and appealing. Leather and feathers, chains and war paint.

I'd love to see these guys live sometime, but it really feels like lately they have an easier time going across the Atlantic to Germany than across the border into Texas. Alas, someday.

Adversarial Light

Lothric

There's not much I can say about this album just yet, except that I bought it after just one song. So far it has been a fantastic modern homage to second wave black metal, and I found the riffs to be exemplary. The vocal work is really well done as well, it has a sort of lilting quality to the harsh bellows before transforming into fiery damned roars. And the drumming remains consistent even while galloping at full pace with the guitar, making nice complex transitions to underline vocal and riff changes. As I explore more of it I'm also finding some superb Viking/Folk metal forays with the guitar riffs and overall song pacing that pleases me greatly. Overall, I strongly recommend checking out this project.

The album can be picked up digitally from the artist on their Bandcamp page, unfortunately it looks like physical copies are currently all out of stock, not that I can blame people for snatching them up.

Bandcamp Daily

Artists and Labels Offering Donations, Special Merch, and More Today

Including those donating to organizations fighting for racial justice and change.

Bandcamp are returning all revenue directly to bands and labels for today's sales (June 5th 2020), and numerous musicians and labels are using the opportunity to offer discounts, specials, and raise donations for various causes.

Naturally there's several punk labels and bands, but also several heavy metal labels, from Apocalyptic Witchcraft to Dark Descent. I've put all the heavy metal labels and bands I recognize from the list in the tags, but you might recognize a band name I don't.

Invictus Productions in particular are donating to a wildlife preserve in Ireland, and the aforementioned Dark Descent to a homeless youth outreach program. For several of the labels you will need to check what their discount code is and make sure you apply it! Some are automatically slashing digital prices, but will also discount physical merch as well if you use a code.

Please note though, due to the revenue return, even if a band isn't offering a discount, today your money is fully supporting them! Meanwhile several labels are also using this as reason to give more revenue than usual to bands for sales. Plenty of reason to support the musicians you like, all of whom have taken a financial blow this year.

I also know this list is not comprehensive, so you might do some more digging and see if your favorite band or label are doing any discounts. I've included some in the tags that I received messages from announcing discounts/ specials/ donations that I didn't see on here. Note that Non Serviam have an ongoing 1€ digital album sale.