Free Flush Vol 7
It’s almost December which means we’re all probably broke from begrudgingly buying presents for our racist relatives, so I’m here once again to save you some money on music. If you can afford to support the bands then please donate to add to your collection or buy merch where available! In this volume I present a few albums that are among my 2020 favorites, just happened to discover they’re Name Your Own Price. Have a gander at the previous volumes for some more great free albums (At least I like all of them)—These are all free and released in 2020. My main is twitter: @carcassbomb for any public hate mail or thirst traps you want to harass me with. Or you know what? Maybe send me some free bandcamp albums that aren’t already on this list.
Vol 1 – Vol 2 – Vol 2.5 – Vol 3 – Vol 4 – Vol 5 – Vol 6
September 4, 2020
Technical Thrash from Switzerland
If you’re a fan of Coroner‘s thrash stylings then you’re in for a treat here, because this album kicks ass and is also FANCY. It was produced by Tommy Vetterli who produced Coroner tunes so the comparison is not unfounded. Comaniac is a youthful band overflowing with energy and dunking on the catholic church, for obvious reasons. Personally I’m not a big thrash guy; in fact, this might be the first thrash album I’ve suggested. It’s just a decent heavy metal album through and through. Catchy hooks, riff reprisals and dick-wagging solos. I shit you not, but this is the first thrash album I’ve seen with ‘lmfao’ as a lyric.”Narcotic clan/Treat me with a blow/Narcotic Clan/Lmfao.”
August 19, 2020
Black Metal from Israel
Very quickly, Stranger is becoming my favorite BM album of 2020. More often than not with solo projects, the vocals are lackluster but Alona Dee has such a great a voice capable of mantling a variety of clean and growling styles. It is atmospheric or probably DSBM (I’m not deep enough in the subculture to know for sure) and there’s a doomy heart to the sound but do not confuse that descriptor for boring—Deeformis has a phenomenal sense of building up to impactful moments in the compositions. If you’re a fan of Australian band Deadspace I believe you’d be right at home here, there are similar suicidal aesthetics. It’s severely depressing but also provides one with a sense of empowerment…and not the bad kind of empowerment as far as I can tell. More of the introspective/interpersonal kind.
Letters In The Abyss – The Sunken Village
November 13, 2020
Melodic Death from America
Good value, this one: it’s free and contains 8 fantastic tracks of symphonically-infused melodeath, but it also contains the instrumental versions of those tracks at the end as well. The vocals seem to be heavily influenced by both black metal and death metal, as you’ll hear with the varying speeds and gruffness in the delivery. It’s heavier than the majority of melodeath I’ve heard with fast as heck guitars and drums. (If melodic means there’s restful moments between having the shit kicked out of you, then yeah I guess it’s melodic.) There aren’t even clean vocals. I don’t find the symphonic elements overbearing either; they aren’t always present. It’s a good balance overall and a severely underrated album. When I found it, there was only one supporter which is a shame considering the effort put into this release by the Californian trio.
September 30, 2020
Black Metal from America
You ever want to go ham but also do it in the weirdest way possible? Then listen to Serpent Column today and get in touch with your primal self, but don’t touch your primal self. Or do, I guess. I respect this band because of their consistent album art aesthetic; this is something many bands overlook when it can make a huge difference. Get a visual artist you love and do NOT let them go. Musically, it’s an avant-garde black metal buffet with unusual drumming and a knack for non-sucky ambient transitioning.
The fundamentals of music craft are played with in a way that screams complete disregard for marketability—my favorite kind of market. The drumming is full of talent, the guitars can spin an intriguing melody but the vocals aren’t quite as adventurous as the rest of the mix. But hey, maybe it doesn’t need to be. Maybe this current build is the most stable and makes it easier to digest the quirks. They sure as shit aren’t bad vocals—they help keep the overall sound grounded in black metal. All their releases are free, a gracious thing considering the underground popularity and quality.
February 7, 2020
Stoner rock from Australia
Ah the sound of my home continent, I can practically smell the bong water spilled onto the band practice room carpet months ago, cooked by the unwavering sun—from black, to brown, to a weird kind of hard purple. If you lived here you’d want to find a new planet too. This album has a bunch of blues-infused doom and a bunch of bopping desert dances. The tracks can be drastically different from each other in terms of being upbeat or being more on the doom side of things, but it’s consistently rooted in psychedelia. Which is like academia for cool people. I’m not surprised at all that the vinyl sold out, this album is precisely what the stoner crowd wants. It does not disappoint.
July 18, 2020
Melodic black metal from Mexico
Music to accompany your inner struggles, this is a cinematic piece of music that incorporates piano and orchestra into the blend of blackened melodic death metal. The production is pretty much the antithesis of ‘raw’ with a crisp, sharp sound that really lets the bass of the piano notes sing. Seems to be at least partially inspired by “The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows” which has the one goal of creating words for depressing scenarios that don’t quite have a word yet. It’s an ambitious debut with some room for improvement, which I look forward to experiencing on future releases. They certainly possess vision.
Allfather – Century Sessions Volume 1
September 4, 2020
Sludge/Punk from UK
Now, let’s get into some filth. I didn’t think I’d ever include a live album here, but this is such a great performance and an incredible recording in one. It captures the raw bones and glory of Allfather. Anti-fascist sludge grooves meet a vocalist prepared to shout, thrash and scream. Century Sessions Volume 1 includes 3 older songs and 2 new demos—though you wouldn’t know they were written at different times due to the essence of the recording session that presents it consistently throughout. I wasn’t really missing shows because I’m painfully introverted, but I really want to see this performed on a stage, I want to SEE the anger.
Luck Won’t Save You – Sail Into The Abyss
August 1, 2020
Melodic deathcore from America
Would it be a Free Flush if I didn’t include a -core release? Of course not, it would be some poser shit. This EP is miles above the average deathcore band with the amount of progressive and melodic elements present in the sound (it’s not just djent labelled as prog, I swear). These songs are actually competently written and the breakdowns have a little more pizazz than 1 – 0 – 1 palm muting on the 7th string, there are dual vocals and stimulating peripheral sounds that make every moment feel thick and purposeful.
As an added bonus, this release also has instrumental versions of the songs at the end of the album. In terms of Name Your Own Price EPs, this is a brilliant trend. Jared Klein (Rivers Of Nihil) is on drums and there’s a fair few extra contributors. It’s an EP well worth investigating, it has momentum for days.
