As we move deeper into 2021, Bandcamp are continuing to waive their artist fees on the first Friday of every month to support artists during this difficult time. These fee-free Fridays have become a landmark in the music calendar of late, but this also means it’s a day inundated with sales posts and social media advertising all trying to grab your attention above the countless other artists doing the exact same thing.
Cutting through the clamour to get to the good stuff is getting tougher, so if you’re looking to support some artists and pick up some cool music and merch this Bandcamp Friday, then here’s our quick list of recommendations.
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Save Our SOAN
Featuring a whopping 57 tracks from a host of awesome bands, this new compilation from Nottingham’s Stuck On A Name Studios aims to raise money to keep the venue, which has become an integral part of the UK scene, afloat financially during lockdown. There’s also a limited edition cassette featuring the likes of Underdark, Nothing Clean, Moloch and Nazi Killer.
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Kastchei
First-wave black meets post-punk on the latest album from this project, with proceeds going to Detention Action, who provide support to people held in the UK’s heartless immigration detention system.
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Caïna
Pre-orders went live recently for the ninth studio album from one of the UK’s finest post-black metal artists, with early orders coming with some added extras such as alternate takes and a thank you in the lyric booklets.
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Divide And Dissolve
Earth-shatteringly thunderous drone-doom with an impetus on destroying white supremacy in all its forms. The duo’s latest album is an early AOTY contender that is simply a must-hear.
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Geten
With a debut album out today, Geten craft bleak DSBM in memory of the late Per Yngve Ohlin. All proceeds from the release are going to Friends, a Swedish organisation dedicated to protecting children from bullying.
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Necropanther
Denver’s prime thrash architects Necropanther announced something exciting yesterday in the form of a new EP with its own narrative, which follows the tragic adventures of a reluctant whaler in the waters surrounding mid-1800s England.
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Firelink
Extreme metal that’s sometimes melodic, often epic, and all inspired by the intricate world of Dark Souls. What’s not to love?
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Lunar Cult
When Astral Noize writer Stuart Wain isn’t reviewing albums and interviewing bands, they’re making music as Lunar Cult, a dungeon synth and chiptune project inspired by Fogweaver, Nobukazu Takemura, JRPGs and black metal.
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Concrete Ships
Boasting psychedelic noise rock with an uncanny ability to captivate your attention, the new album from this Lincoln outfit explores some unique existential themes. Intriguing stuff.
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Cara Neir
Chiptune and black metal butt heads on the thrilling new concept record from Cara Neir, which sees the duo sucked into an 8-bit dimension by an alien entity. Notably, the awesome art style of the release also adorns their merch. Be sure to check out our interview with them for more on the album…
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Völur
Germanic folklore explored through a unique amalgamation of doom metal, jazz, folk and classical. Read our interview for more info on this unique trio.
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Grimalkin Records
For most underground labels, any profits are pumped straight back into the funds for future releases, so for a label to instead put those profits towards charitable causes is a commendable act. Collective and label Grimalkin Records do exactly that. Most of the Richmond, Virginia label’s records are benefit releases with proceeds going to individuals in need or charities/organisations chosen by the artist themselves. Why not check out Cultum Draculesti’s bewitching black metal, MELVL’s uniquely powerful ambient music or the eerie but poignant folk of Spartan Jet-Plex.
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Putrescine
Yesterday we were lucky enough to premiere a new single from the San Diego death metaller’s upcoming debut album, and it has us super excited for the release of this stunning record. If you like Dark Souls, progressive politics and ruthless death metal, this is a must.
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Gimli, Son of Glóin
“Come for the memes, stay for the riffs” is the calling card for this project, a Southampton two-piece whose vocals are all sampled Gimli quotes from Peter Jackson’s The Lord Of The Rings trilogy, but whose riffs are actually really fucking good.
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SLOW
Imagine dropping into a bowl on your skateboard only to find the bottom doused in a grimy layer of cannabis resin and you’ll be some way to imagining the unique sound of Brazil’s SLOW. It’s skate punk meets stoner sludge in a bizarre concoction that works surprisingly well.
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Everson Poe
This solo project is a lot of things all at once, with a prolific output that jumps from post-punk to electronica to doom metal and beyond. Last year’s Rituals is an exceptional album, blending the beauty of soaring post-rock with the gloom of sludge.
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Greenwitch
A San Fernando Valley group serving up cosmic death metal with a grand sci-fi narrative and a fuckton of riffs. One of the best recent additions to the current crop of OSDM.
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Kira McSpice
This Boston songwriter crafts ominous and unsettling gothic folk with a truly ghostly aura, and is currently three-quarters of the way through an album tetralogy exploring the phases of a migraine. Latest instalment Attack is by far the heaviest one yet.
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Dax Pierson
Announced today, NERVE BUMPS (A Queer Divine Dissatisfaction) is the new record from experimental electronic artist Dax Pierson, an inventive blend of futuristic synths and bombastic drum programming, with hints of hip-hop, jazz, John Carpenter-esque arpeggios, trap/anti-trap percussion and musique concrete-informed experiments.
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Video Nasties
With a sound that’s at once familiar and unique, Video Nasties walk a delicate tightrope between melodeath and black’n’roll whilst taking heavy influence from horror movies and their soundtracks.
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Olhava
This blackgaze group out of Saint Petersburg, Russia come to Bandcamp Friday armed with their stunning latest album Ladoga, released back in March 2020. It balances droning atmospherics with powerful blastbeats, turning the ruthless nature of black metal into something truly transcendent.
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Trna
Another Saint Petersburg outfit with a post-black metal sound (props to Kosmogyr’s Ivan Belcic for these two recommendations), albeit with a slightly grittier approach than the above, Trna’s physical releases are mostly sold out, but they are offering all three of their albums for less than $18 at the moment. Can’t go wrong here.
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Settle For Shadows
Like blackened punk thrown in an industrial blender, this Scottish project produces frenzied music that’s original and exciting, though there’s also experimentations with oddball avant-gardisms and more to be found in this discography.
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Cowley Club Benefit Mixtape
Brighton venue and anarchist social hub the Cowley Club is yet another institution struggling thanks to the pandemic, but this insane compilation aims to help. There’s a ton of stuff on here, and it’s all available for a donation of your choice.
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Words: George Parr
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