The 100% Pure Antifascist Scrub – June 2026 Edition
Welcome back to The 100% Pure Antifascist Scrub! As a reminder, my goal with this monthly feature is to introduce you to the best of antifascist music from the prior month. Antifascist themes are not required. Rather I look for the bands/projects to be publicly antifascist. Look for the article on the first Friday of each month. Every release included here has been vetted by me through conversation with the band, looking at their socials, talking to people in the scene who know, and/or through a long reputation of consistency in this regard.
Today, I have to share that this will be the last Scrub for the foreseeable future. I love writing the Scrub. It has very quickly become a column that I love working on, and it is my hope that I will be able to get back to it eventually. However, I’ve had some things come up recently in my personal life which require my full effort and attention. I have to step back from several “extra” responsibilities in order to focus on these. Unfortunately, the Scrub is one of the casualties. Thank you all for reading and I hope to be writing for you again at some point.
Brigata Vendetta – The Disease and The Cure (5/8/2026, Pirates Press Records) [Hardcore Punk]
I know, I know, this is a May release. However, I didn’t get a response from the band until the day after the May Scrub was published. The band plays urgent, in-your-face, and clearly political hardcore punk. Great for rabble rousing, etc.
Apostle – A Splinter In The Infinite Noumenon (6/5/2026, Terminus Hate City) [Blackened Hardcore]
There are lots of styles wrapped into this one, but rage is the key element holding them all together. Whether you’re in a slow-burning section or listening to one of the moments of raging wildfire, this album is righteously angry.
Diabolic Oath – Unholy Barbaric Hymns (6/5/2026, Sentient Ruin Laboratories) [War Metal]
War metal that is both interesting and antifascist? Yes, please! This EP is every bit as nasty and brutal as you’d expect, but there are real riffs, as well as some interesting compositional twists.
W.M.D. (When Minds Develop) – Against All Warnings (6/5/2026, Self-Release) [Thrash Metal]
W.M.D. are a newer band from Vancouver, B.C. in Canada, but they sound decades old. The trio channels the mid-to-late-’80s sound much more than more recent pizza thrash or death thrash styles. Interesting riffs, strong solos and generally well rounded songwriting keep this one in the rotation regularly.
Limbic Gravity – 44:08 (6/9/2026, Self-Release) [Ambient]
44 minutes and 8 seconds of being enraptured by the vastness of the universe as experienced through rich, haunting ambient. Meditative and slightly unsettling.
Moss Knight – By The Stream (6/9/2026, Self-Release) [Fantasy Synth]
I’ve been a Moss Knight fan for some time now. He generally makes beautiful comfy synth, which I find calming. For this release, he has gone in a different direction, channeling rich sorrow through the addition of strings. By The Stream is hauntingly beautiful and has quickly risen to the top of my personal Moss Knight favorites list. It makes my eyes get moist.
Hail – Child of a Cursed Temple (6/12/2026, Fiadh Productions) [Black Metal/Noise]
I will be eternally grateful to Fiadh Productions for introducing me to this project. Feral black metal meets abrasive noise and industrial elements. I was so excited to see that a new album was coming, and am relieved to say that it has not let me down.
Immortuus – Shadow Over Wisborg (6/12/2026, Self-Release) [Black Metal]
Raw and vampiric, Immortuus has created a strong black metal album. Though Shadow Over Wisborg doesn’t reinvent any musical wheels, it does stand out on the strength of the riffs and the fury of the composition.
Make – Exegesis At The End Of Time (6/12/2026, Accident Prone Records) [Psychedelic Noise-Sludge]
Through the duality of patient abrasion and restless calm, Make create a rich tension upon which this album hangs. After a decade of hiatus, the North Carolina band prove that they still have it. Exegesis at the End of Time is exceptional.
Non Serviam – La Lune Dont Mon Âme Est Pleine (6/12/2026, Lay Bare Recordings) [Experimental Black Metal]
I first discovered this collective through the release of Le Cœur Bat in 2021. That album is a bizarre ride through electronic-infused black metal. This latest offering, the third full length, is equally bizarre, perhaps even more so. But as with Le Cœur Bat, it is utterly engaging. Well done!
Nuclear Tomb – Epoch Inhumane (6/12/2026, Rotted Life Records) [Thrash Metal]
My second favorite weirdo thrashers! (I mean, come on…who will ever replace Voivod in that regard? Nobody.) Through the release of the last two albums, these Maryland thrashers have really caught my attention with their unhinged riffs and off-kilter rhythms. They have something truly special going on.
Ornitier – Oraisons (6/12/2026, Self-Release) [House]
House, dubstep, and more collide in this liminal electronic release. Masterful use of rhythm to move the sounds through consciousness, but an equally masterful use of space between rhythms to do the same. Thought-provoking techno meant for more than just making you dance (but feel free to dance).
SAĦĦAR – Migja ta Mohh Mignun (6/12/2026, Time To Kill Records) [Black Metal]
Though it seems this project has been around for nearly two decades, this release is my introduction to the Maltese solo project. The album dives deep into occult and sorcerous themes through raw black metal, mixed with doomed-out passages and the burliness of death metal.
Twist Lock – Surplus Citizen (6/12/2026, Self-Release) [Hardcore]
Surplus Citizen features three angry individuals making abrasive art about the state of the world. Plus breakdowns. There are definitely breakdowns, so lace up those boots and get ready to mosh.
If I Die Today – I Felt Nothing (6/19/2026, Self-Release) [Post-Hardcore]
This Italian quartet absolutely brings it. Post-hardcore plus chaotic hardcore plus classic metalcore. This is some really angry stuff with some really great riffs.
Inherits the Void – The Silent Abscission (6/19/2026, Avantgarde Music) [Black Metal]
Vocal-forward melodic black metal from France. I really like the French vibe in black metal, though the French scene is another one which causes me to be wary. That’s why this is extra special. Quality French black metal which is antifascist.
Quiet Fear – La Tierra Arriba/El Abismo Abajo (6/19/2026, Iodine Recordings) [Screamo]
Every time I come across a release like this I’m grateful that, though I was late to the screamo party, I didn’t miss it entirely. The urgency of this release is palpable. The emotional heft and earnestness are sincere and deeply felt. Full solidarity with this band.
Saidan – Fangdriller: Scars Beneath Memory’s Wrist (6/19/2026, Avantgarde Music) [Black Metal]
Saidan is a project which has a lot of buzz right now in the underground black metal scene. Fangdriller serves as a worthy explanation as to why the buzz is justified. Interesting riffs, nods to the old school, and a symphonic sensibility make this a fun listen.
Solystalgia – S/T (6/24/2026, Nameless Grave Records) [Death/Doom]
Bleakness infringes on every measure of this album. The time signatures are not slow enough to be considered funeral doom, but the album carries that weighty sense of inevitable nothingness.
Haggus – The Mincecore Manifesto (6/6/2026, Tankcrimes) [Mincecore]
I love Haggus. You love Haggus. We all love Haggus. I’m really stoked that we get more new Haggus already, even if only an EP. Their anti-society belligerence is so welcome, especially when society is so bleak.
Hoc Est Bellum – Filth Bombers (6/26/2026, Time To Kill Records) [Bestial Black/Death]
I love finding bands playing in this style who are also antifascist. Though the themes are about different topics, this is music suitable for going to war against oppression. Let this brutality gird you for fighting righteous battles.
Seven Chains – Swollen in Flux (6/26/2026, I, Voidhanger Records) [Blackened Death]
Really great experimental blackened death metal with a new album after 6 years or so. Imagine if Portal and Oranssi Pazuzu decided to make some music together. You might end up with something similar to this. Absolutely mind-bending.
Verdun – Abyssal Womb (6/26/2026, Transcending Obscurity Records) [Blackened Sludge]
The mix of black metal and sludge really does something to me, something I like quite a bit. Verdun is one of a small number of bands that do this really well. Intense and combative, Abyssal Womb is a granite mass of darkness.
