It just occurred to me that I know a fuckton about music, and I really enjoy it when artists get compensated for their work. So: whenever the mood strikes me, I'll drop a list of five cool albums that you can purchase on Bandcamp Friday. I'll get to flex my music writing muscles, you'll get to listen to music you (hopefully) haven't heard of before. Sound good? Sounds good.
Let's start with some black metal that's been kicking around in my library recently.
I Want to Be There – Sadness
Sadness is Damián Antón Ojeda, a one-man project of what I can only call the most sublime post-black metal committed to record. There is a terribly unique vision to Ojeda's music, a wonderful expression of longing and intimacy that can only expressed through distant, near-incomprehensible screaming.
Every track on this album is melodic in a way that new listeners will find easy to enjoy, and full of plenty of surprises that will delight even longtime fans of blackgaze or atmospheric black metal. "I Want to Be With You" in particular deserves to hang in a goddamn museum for how arresting it is. It isn't subtle--in fact, it's far too obvious--and yet, in that obviousness is something so truly, astoundingly fresh that I can't help but love it.
Also? This album is only one dollar. One. Kick them some extra dosh while you're there.
Also check out: Circle of Veins
Onryō II: Her Spirit Eternal – Saidan
Saidan are a relatively recent duo out of Tennessee who have managed to turn their Japanophile fixations into something incredible.
Their version of black metal is heavily rooted in the classic hard rock tradition--while they naturally feature the blast beats and screaming vocals endemic to the genre, their actual song structures and melodies sound closer in composition to something like Led Zeppelin or early Rush. The extremely gratuitous (and extremely awesome) guitar solo on "I Am The Witch" definitely don't help their deniability in this regard.
Additionally, despite their horror aesthetic, a lot of their music centers around strong, empowering melodic lines, something that wouldn't sound out of place on a power metal record. The soaring, tremolo leads will sound welcome to anyone infatuated with Asunojokei's recent work.
If you're a fan of melodic black metal or hard rock, you'll find something to love on this record. And if you aren't a fan of either just yet, these two just might be the ones to convince you otherwise.
Also check out: Visual Kill: The Blossoming of Psychotic Depravity (It's not out until later this month, but the preview track rules and I pre-ordered it anyway.)
Kentucky – Panopticon
I'm sure some of y'all have heard of this one before. If you haven't yet, allow me to give you the elevator pitch: atmospheric black metal meets pro-union protest music.
Panopticon is Austin Lunn, a largely one-man project out of rural Appalachia known for incorporating elements of bluegrass and folk music into large, socially conscious tracts of black metal mastery. While there's never been any doubt about his political messaging (see: the entire album Social Disservices), Kentucky feels even more personal than any of his works before it.
In perhaps his most well-known work, Lunn shines a harsh light on the coal industry and the power it has over his home sate and its residences. In doing so, his sprawling, airy compositions of blast beats and banjos gain an unprecedented level of righteous anger and fury that precious few are ever able to channel. In true Godspeed fashion, Lunn also incorporates archival interviews with coal miners in the state, as well as modern interpretations of coal mining protest music, ensuring that the listener is wholly unable to avoid the true human suffering that fuels his artwork.
Kentucky isn't as refined as Panopticon's later works--at times, it can feel like the field recordings, folk music melodies, and atmospheric black metal are working at cross-purposes rather than in unison. And yet, it's that exact lack of refinement that makes the work so believable. Only something so earnest would dare to show such ragged and incomplete edges and, in so doing, make its core message all the more powerful.
Kentucky is perfect because of its imperfections, not in spite of them, and you absolutely owe it to yourself to give it a listen.
Also check out: ...And Again Into the Light, The Rime of Memory
The Xun Protectorate – Khonsu
This is one that my partner threw across my plate while on the timeless search for "something that sounds like Opeth." She didn't succeed in this particular case, but that doesn't mean that Khonsu aren't worth listening to.
They're best described as progressive black metal, drawing heavily from the operatic, grandiose excess of artists like Devin Townsend and Ayreon. There are also heavy doses of technical and industrial metal thrown in for good measure, creating a record that truly sounds like nothing else I've heard before.
Granted, I couldn't for the life of me tell you what this concept album is about, but, hey, I sure did have a fun time listening to it!
Also check out: Traveller (Haven't really listened to any of their other stuff, but I did enjoy their cover of Björk's "Army of Me.")
Murmuüre – Murmuüre
Whatever you think Murmuüre sound like, you are probably wrong. I have them filed in my library under "atmospheric black metal," but that is less of a genre tag and more an admission of defeat.
Murmuüre's lone, self-titled release is one of the most baffling half hours of music I have ever listened to. It's built on a strange foundation of orchestral and electronic elements, but with frequent interplay of intense, black metal drumming and guitars. There are screams, there are woodwinds, and there are some of the most strangely evocative soundscapes ever conceived.
And, because it's experimental black metal, the entire thing sounds like it was recorded on a potato the next studio over.
Part of me believes this album is a joke; it's such a strange mixture of sounds and tones that, on paper, it would seem to be nothing more than an assault on the senses. And yet, if it is a joke, it must be the funniest I've ever heard--I can't stop repeating it.
All right, nerd, but what if I want more?
If you still need more new music to listen to and/or purchase on this Bandcamp Friday, check out #DRONEWEEK and #DRONEWEEK2024, my week-long dives into drone music in all of its lovely forms. Those threads aren't selected specifically for artists on Bandcamp, but I did preferentially post Bandcamp pages when they were available.
Anyway, I'll see you the next time I feel like writing about music, I suppose.