Free Flush Vol 11
Back already, you know the drill. Everything here is recent, free and by my taste alone—very good. Support the artists financially if you can, sing their praises if you can’t. Check out my Free Bandcamp Wiki 2021 which I painstakingly maintain each year, this is where I pick my reviews so feel free to leave treasures you find in the comments here or there. Look, these things, they’re not written in order of presentation and I mostly did this drunk so bear (bare?) with me. Also last time the images were kinda fucked up on mobile, so I tried making them smaller, dunno if that helps. Hope you like it.
Deeformis – No Heartbeat
Some of you may remember me talking about Deeformis last year when I covered their album Stranger on here and also in the top 5 of my end of year list. Well solo artist Alona Dee is back at it with some brand new bleak depressing black metal riddled with her impressive screams and cinematic instrumentation. It’s such an epic sound, especially my favorite track “Wear My Doom” which soars like a motherfucker and has soul-crushing high range vocals. They’re very underground at this point and I’m very excited to watch them continually grow and reach more parts of the metal community.
Hellish Form – Remains
Continuing on the theme so far of soul-crushing vocals, here’s a new funeral doom album featuring people from Body Void, Keeper and various other bands so you know you’re in good doomy hands. As you might expect from trendsetters in blackened doom, this is far more of the extreme abrasive death doom variety than fancy pants melodious funeral doom. That artwork by Cauê Piloto is really something huh? There’s not a whole lot to say because it’s a bloody no-brainer for angry miserable bastards like you.
Sallow Moth – Stasis Cocoon
Damn we’re being treated with the artwork today, this time from Adam Burke but many of you probably guessed that already. It’s a bit rarer to have mind-blowing art on free releases because, well, art costs money and giving away albums doesn’t typically make money. Garry B, however, the sole member of Sallow Moth and Cara Neir, makes a point of releasing each album for free and so I adore him for that. This is the third chapter in a series of albums and it’s killer blackened death metal that is exciting quite a lot of people in my circles, rightly so. It’s not as straightforward as most blackened death; there are hints of old school thrash and on the guitar solo tones definitely some trad metal in there. It gives it an overall black death ‘n roll feel. There’s a whole ass sci-fi story on the Bandcamp page, get on it nerds.
VVVLV – 100 Years Of Defeat
A solid helping of sludge metal, or sludgecore if you take into account the various hardcore/crust influences, but it’s also surprisingly fast with some thrashy speed riffs and black metal. It’s a real hoot in terms of sludge. There’s a good amount of jump and melodic guitar licks with VVVLV. I really enjoy the vocals, they are very punk and raspy; it’s a kind of style I hear a lot with crossover bands. It’s a dynamic style that has the imperfect aspect of punk and the ability to easily twist into black metal. The title track, “100 Years Of Defeat” was written on the 100th anniversary year of the Russian Revolution and inspired by a paragraph from Lenin’s “State and Revolution”: “After their death, attempts are made to convert revolutionaries into harmless icons, to canonize them, so to say, and to hallow their names to a certain extent for the ‘consolation’ of the oppressed classes and with the object of duping the latter, while at the same time robbing the revolutionary theory of its substance, blunting its revolutionary edge and vulgarizing it.” The rest of the album reflects darkly on current times. Good lefty DIY shit.
Violent Ends – Decade Of Despair
A bit of that North Carolina mathy hardcore death like you read about, a real stompy romp. I don’t understand how these albums have as few as 4 supporters because it’s fantastic. You could really injure yourself to this shit. Sometimes it leans hard into the grind and other times leans into the hardcore for some lyric-focused moments. Big early Code Orange (Kids) sounds on tracks like “Open Wounds” which I always enjoy, especially considering Code Orange abandoned that filthy rusty sound I loved about them. Very impressive hardcore pick all round, even holds up against more established acts right now.
Void Angel/Sacral – Crucible of Utopia
When talking about name your own price metal on Bandcamp it’s kind of a crime to not mention a bit of raw black metal, especially anarchist raw black metal. With tracks like “Let the Light of Burning Prisons Guide Our Way” you can somewhat know what to expect here thematically. In terms of music it’s quite a speedy grinding bop laced with screams, belch-like vocals and disorienting tremolo. And that’s just Void Angel. The Sacral side is a bit more atmospheric but nonetheless neck-wrenching chaos with a crust punk edge, surprisingly catchy a lot of the time! As with many good anarchist bands, the proceeds for this album go to a good cause, specifically Land Back movement.
Inumbrate – Inumbrate
Ladies, get your balls and nail them to the wall because this is “balls to the wall” death thrash from Sweden as they say. Who says? I don’t know, I just did and I go by they/them so I guess they is me. I’m too drunk to write a sensible article but I’m perfectly drunk to experience this album in all its simplistic glory. It’s a good time, not exactly revolutionary or full of frills but it’s a fun bit of hair whipping with some surprisingly looming moments that share a lot of similarity with black metal.
