Gathering current and ex-members of Sickbag, Death Mercedes, Hangman’s Chair, Eibon, Glorior Belli, Dacast, Colossus of Destiny, the Parisian Cowards delivered their 38 minutes of raging fury and filth, merging Hardcore, Sludge/Doom and Black Metal into their debut effort entitled “Shooting Blanks And Pills”. The album will be officially co-released on 30 June 2012 by Throatruinner Records and Hellbound Records. The digital version is already available for free download (name your price) on the official Bandcamp page of the record label, while the 12” LP will be out in late june and limited to 300 copies on black vinyl.
Disturbing, twisted, dark and intense, the 6 tracks of the album are still impressively musical, melodious, Cowards sounds like a mixture of Black Sabbath and Motorhead with Eyehategod and Deathspell Omega, the perfect combination of heaviness and rawness with classic approach, riffing and contorted dark vibe. Read more Cowards – Shooting Blanks And Pills (2012) Free download!
free download
Mr. Pan[k]sament – Doomstep Prophecies – The Remixes (2012) FREE DOWNLOAD!
Remixing isn’t a good business and generally speaking remixers are mainly disconsidered. Half way between sound engineers and musicians, remixers are doomed. If you deliver a better track then the original, the artist will definitively hate you. A friend of mine, Bluetrax explains it precisely: “See, the perfect world of music works like this: if you have a weak production, the remix cannot by any means be better than your original. so, for you as a remixer it’s a waste of time trying to get the best out of you. just try to please the world with some more senseless crap. anyway, that’s how it works most of the time. that’s why so many musicians have to fight for their rights and their money 😉 ”
I lost the numbers on the way, don’t know exactly how many remixes I did this year – already. Many. Probably too many. Here we go, 30 new tracks, FREE DOWNLOAD – in return, eventually you can vote for some of the contests I’m still in: Matisyahu, Kimbra, The Temper Trap and Jason Mraz. Thanks – appreciate it! Read more Mr. Pan[k]sament – Doomstep Prophecies – The Remixes (2012) FREE DOWNLOAD!
Hod [Splendor]
“Hod (“Majesty”; הוד) in the Kabbalah of Judaism is the eighth sephira of the Kabbalistic tree of life. It is derived from hod הוד in the Hebrew language meaning “majesty” or “splendor” and denoting “praise” as well as “submission”.
Hod sits below Gevurah and across from Netzach in the tree of life; Yesod is to the south-east of Hod. It has four paths, which commonly lead to Gevurah, Tiphereth, Netzach, and Yesod.
All the sephirot are likened to different parts of the body, and netzach and hod are likened to the two feet of a person: right foot and left foot. Feet are usually only the means for a person’s activity. While the hands are the main instrument of action, the feet bring a person to the place where he wishes to execute that action.
Hasidic Judaism’s view of Hod is that it is connected with Jewish prayer. Prayer is seen as form of “submission”; Hod is explained as an analogy – that instead of “conquering” an obstacle in one’s way, (which is the idea of Netzach), subduing oneself to that “obstacle” is related to the quality of Hod. Read more Hod [Splendor]
Meredith – Debut, EP (2012) – free download!
Fred Lefranc – Guitar, Vocals and Ben Delacroix – Drums formed Meredith in Paris, France and this four track free release available through their Bandcamp page is an excellent mixture of raw (garage) Punk – in the vein of The Stooges – , dark, contorted post Rock with roots back to Joy Division, adding some heavy (Post) Hardcore energy and not at least their own originality with cutting edge experimental taste. As they describe themselves perfectly: “Meredith are the bastard child of a drunken encounter between Dave Grohl and Shannon Wright, the duo Meredith was born on a moonless night, in the back of a filthy cab. Bearing the gifts of raw, uncompromising ruthlessness, with some siblings in Barkmarket, Fugazi and Trail of dead, their lineage is extensive and impassioned.” Read more Meredith – Debut, EP (2012) – free download!
Celldweller – Wish Upon A Blackstar Pre-Orders and free download
Klayton is Celldweller. Personifying the sound of the iPod generation, he creates a hybrid fusion of digital and organic elements: intricately designed soundscapes constructed from Dubstep, Drum & Bass and Electro, woven together with aggressive Rock/Metal and Orchestral elements.
“Wish Upon A Blackstar”, the second album (third overall), by Celldweller is probably one of the most anticipated albums of the year.
Now you can listen & download “Unshakeable” on (and from) Soundcloud.
Contorted electronic with blowing Dubstep elements, grinding Rock and the unmistakable touch of Klayton strikes again!
Read more Celldweller – Wish Upon A Blackstar Pre-Orders and free download
Don’t Believe The Hype Pt. 2 – Sostanze Records Free Download!
If you have a party coming up, we have the soundtrack that will slaughter your neighbors. Download it now. For free.
“Don’t believe the hype (part 1)” by Sostanze Records made platinum record with over 40.000 downloads on the web, so, they are back with the follow up and their devouring energy.
The compilation offered is a mix of electro, dubstep and drum’n’bass, ready to burn your stereos and give you the right music for a night among friends, through the different approaches to the electronic music proposed by the several artists, each of them with his unmistakable style. Read more Don’t Believe The Hype Pt. 2 – Sostanze Records Free Download!
Environments – 2 (2012) – free download
Ambiental experiment, both strange and intimate, have the exotic smell of a country-side field-recording re-shaped with post-industrial, urban noises. When Alex “Para” Ghita decide to involve more noisier with his drums in the flowing build-up of the tracks, its reminds me of Sigur Rós, although I admit it, I have no serious references in this field of experimental music.
Environments is a Bucharest (Romania) based experimental ensemble build around Stefan Panea’s compositions involving with help from Alex “Para” Ghita on the drums and Marius Costache on effects and noise shaping. The project is already on its second release, starts with the forth track, exactly from where the first release left off in 2011. Read more Environments – 2 (2012) – free download
Vagiant – Gospel According To Vagiant (2011)
Vagiant is a five-piece union of antisocial, paranoid still life loving, good-mannered and joyful nerds. That’s what they think about themselves, I think they need urgent medical care, lots of colorful pills, eventually biscuit cases. This is totally madness on loose. No genre attached, this is a quite contorted, experimental, glowing and flowing (post) Rock journey through different sounds and styles, from quiet, warmer moments to energy full, nervous breakdown-like explosions. In an extensively patterned and predictable, standardized world, Vagiant brings chaos and disorder, bring a fresh breath of music.
And what’s even better, you can grab for free (name your price) this 5 track release from their Bandcamp page. Read more Vagiant – Gospel According To Vagiant (2011)
Nihil Quest – Splendid Isolation (2011)
Quality Metal – for FREE. Reminds me mainly of Annihilator crashed into Alice In Chains, Nihil Quest delivered their debut full-length album with 11 groovy, but classic Metal tracks.
Nihil Quest was formed in the summer of 2006. The main idea was to play music inspired in first place by hard rock and metal classics (such as Black Sabbath, AC/DC, Slayer), but also they merging different influences and sounds from Blues to Industrial Rock.
Their first release was a three song EP entitled “0.9” and it was issued in late 2009. Two years later, a full-length, 11-tracks record was released. It was titled “1.1 Splendid Isolation” (released on 11.11.2011).
The band was not interested in cooperation with any record labels, as this would mean restrictions to the way the material is being distributed. The album was published via iTunes, Amazon MP3 store and other digital outlets. However it was also made available for free on Jamendo under Creative Commons license. This kind of licensing allows for playing the music without any fees and for non-commercial use in movies, computer games etc. Read more Nihil Quest – Splendid Isolation (2011)
The Tape Disaster – A Voz do Fogo, EP (2012) free download!
Brasilia’s finest Progressive Rock outfit it’s back with a beautiful EP and through the experimental net label headed in the depths of São Paulo, Brazil, Sinewave the two track material it’s available for free download.
I listen The Tape Disaster last year, and wrote about them because I was quite impressed by their ability to merge smooth and nowadays Shoegaze called elements with the power and explosion of traditional Rock and the magic aromas of Brazilian music and percussion. Read more The Tape Disaster – A Voz do Fogo, EP (2012) free download!
