Fresh Album Fridays: Kevin Abstract, Tkay Maidza, Jung Kook and more

Notes

It's Bandcamp Friday (supposedly). Hoping that still is working the same way given the turmoil going on there. I can't enthusiastically say to support Bandcamp due to their owners' actions recently, however, if Bandcamp Friday is ongoing, that means today, all proceeds go to the bands/labels anyway, so at least Bandcamp's owners aren't getting a cut today for their bad behavior.

Non-metal releases

Deceits - If There's No Heaven...
bandcamp / album.link
Darkwave / post-punk from LA. Reverb and sadness.

Green Lung - This Heathen Land...
bandcamp / album.link
Metal-adjacent but accessible for non-metal fans alike. This lands somewhere between stoner doom, heavy metal, and psych rock. And if those genres typically turn you off, I'd still give Green Lung a try. Stoner rock is full of hundreds of bands that sound the same and use the same lazy riffs. Green Lung rises far above those.

Metal releases

Begotten - To The Dreary End
bandcamp / album.link
(Note: Free/name-your-price on BC) Canadian DSBM - As always, content/trigger warnings re: suicide and depression for anyone not familiar with DSBM topics. Deseperate vocals, artfully done accompaniment. Avoids being too direct/cheesy in its presentation. Feels authentic.

Nahasheol - Serpens Abyssi
[edit by author: link and description removed but title left for informational purposes]
[reason for removal: main member of Nahasheol is announced to be playing live for Αχέροντας (Acherontas), who are fascists, and well-known for being so in the scene. fuck nazis / fascists! stop infesting the world and the metal scene!]

Veruta - Forked Tongue of Fire
bandcamp / album.link
Black metal with plenty of character. Typical aggressive black metal style but with some midtempo moments.

Black Knife - Baby Eater Witch
bandcamp
Lyrically/visually cheesy and on-the-nose blackened punk but it works. Found them when they did a 4-way split with Wraith (a favorite of mine)

Amalekim - Avodah Zarah
bandcamp / album.link
Sinister, occult black metal. Release dates vary between different pages (3rd or 17th), so actual release date is unclear.

Manipulator - Drawing Secret Circles
bandcamp / album.link
Ripping NYC deathgrind that seems to have done a video game and artbook release as well? Interesting! I grabbed the artbook.

Dying Wish - Symptoms of Survival
album.link
Metalcore. Not a genre I visit often but this is one of the stand-outs of the modern era of the genre.

Ch'ahom - Knots of Abhorrence
bandcamp
In typical Sentient Ruin fashion, this is extremely unique black/death metal with tribal and ritualistic intros and interludes and plenty of prog influence

Carnation - Cursed Mortality
bandcamp / album.link
Swedish-style old school death metal from Belgium.

Acid Force - World Targets in Megadeaths
bandcamp / album.link
Speed/heavy/thrash with some janky vocals. Might be an acquired taste for some.

Xoth - Exogalactic
bandcamp / album.link
Space-lasery blackened tech-death. Fast, precise, well-written and still brutal. It doesn't go too far left-field with the synths and space themes- they're used in reasonable amounts.

Warcrab - The Howling Silence
bandcamp / album.link
Great sludgy death metal. The vocals have always reminded me of Weyandt's from Zao, but on top of thick, heavy sludge. Despite the band name, it's not comedic music.

Suffocation - Hymns From The Apocrypha
bandcamp / album.link
A band that needs no introduction. Death metal titans that have been around for a long time. Out of the few bands that can mix in slam parts, breakdowns, and slow heavy sections without ruining their work, Suffocation is one of the best- then the rest of the time they're blasting. Pretty heavy-handed production like all of their recent releases but I think the music still shines through. I might be biased as a huge fan.

Carnal Tomb - Embalmed in Decay
bandcamp / album.link
Death metal with those deep despairing doom metal undertones. Crawling and evil guitar leads and plenty of blast beats. A typical weakness for bands like this is vocals, but these vocals have a nice low-mid growl that feels very rich and full.

Cirkeln - The Primitive Covenant
bandcamp
An aggressive evolution from their debut. The earlier release leaned more into epic sounds with synths and large triumphant atmosphere whereas this new one pushes into darker, doomier territory. Blackened heavy metal with an old school vibe. Some notable Celtic Frost influence in some tracks, whereas others are more straightforward black metal aggression.