Free-ish Metal Detector: Blackened Death Records
If you are running short on both, metal and money, Blackened Death Records has you covered with Hammer Smashed Faith.
Blackened Death Records is a brand new label, so the compilation Hammer Smashed Faith is not meant to show their roster but a bunch of lesser known metal bands. You can listen to it below and download for free from the label’s Bandcamp site (or pay as much as £3 GBP to get a physical copy).
Beargod’s picks:
Wounded Cross – “Bonecrusher”
- A riffy instrumental. Or at least I wish it was instrumental. It’s a fun heavy metal song but the vocalist sounds somewhat off.
Sturmgeist.Fornicator.Insultus – “A Ritual (To Become Possessed)”
- It’s black metal like you ever heard before but I dig the sounds the guitars make when they go like, “whuuuuuuuuuuwhaaaawhuuuuhuuhuuhaa”
Mundus – “Hell Eternal Forever”
- Decent blackened death with production I dig.
Carnivorous Forest – “Wendigo Psychosis”
- It’s a nice acoustic song that manages to keep a good atmosphere throughout, probably the best this comp had to offer.
Look, it’s pretty clear to me why these bands haven’t made it big yet. They all need more practice, more gigs, and more practice but I can hear potential in a few of them, so maybe you’ll find the next big thing here. Plus, it’s free.
The compilation has already been followed with a sequel. It features songs from a variety of great bands: Thrawsunblat, Chthe’ilist and The Meads of Asphodel. I also recommend you check out Wapentake and Ethereal Forest. The problem with this latter compilation is that if you are reading this you probably know at least half of the aforementioned bands. And the featured songs aren’t new, but maybe they’ll keep you interested while you check out the new songs in-between.
The label has also released albums by Redacted and Sea Wolves of The Atlantic (the latter isn’t free but a song of theirs is featured on Hammer Smashed Faith II). Sea Wolves… are a dark, neofolk-ish band, one that I’ll be keeping an eye on. Dark atmosphere and haunting melodies make Lucifer’s Light EP interesting enough to warrant multiple listens. Shame it’s the only not-free release by the label so far, although it’ll only cost you that aforementioned £3 GBPs. Redacted is a skip-able death/thrash duo, so if you’re only going to remember one thing from this post, make it “Sea Wolves of The Atlantic is a band I should probably pay more attention to”.
Goodnight, everybody!
