Sunday, December 17, 2017

Bandcamp Picks - Godflesh, Thaw, Svartidauði, Gnaw





Stripped of the grime of their earliest albums, Godflesh still has the power to unsettle. In case you forgot about Justin Broadrick's extended dub phase, Post Self is here to remind you of the fact, following up where releases like Nihil and the temporarily shelved Messiah left off - with G.C. Green's bass anchoring Broadrick's ambient guitar to the most machine-like beats the duo have employed in decades. Robotic in the best possible way. [$8]



Thaw have embraced noise since their earliest recordings. Though the band has deep roots in Poland's vibrant death and black metal scenes, Grains is ostensibly a doom drone album, finding common ground with the likes of Black Boned Angel and Earth in both its monolithic assault and ambient interludes. A marriage of knuckle dragging hesherdom and chin-stroking experimentation. [$7.90]



Iceland's Svartidauði are themselves no strangers to avant garde weirdness. Their latest two song EP is a rabbit hole of nightmarish psychedelic black metal, with "Exultation" consisting of a single guitar melody repeated over shifting drum patterns. Two songs lasting 14 minutes - to ask for more would be to invite madness. [€2]



With a lineage that goes back to the genre-hopping grind of OLD and the proto-industrial of Ike Yard, Gnaw is a band that can be relied on to bring the noise. Cutting Pieces is album number three for the NY band, broadening their caustic sludge with experimental electronic music and Alan Dubin's tormented diatribes. As reassuring as a choir of dental drills. [$6.99]