Bandcamp Waives Fees for 24 Hours: A Decibel Buyer’s Guide, Part II

As COVID-19, the coronavirus, continues to upset everything we know about our way of life, artists and those in the music industry have been forced to re-evaluate how to live life for the foreseeable future. For their part, the folks at Bandcamp will once again waive their cut of purchases made today, May 1, as well as on June 5 and July 3, the first Friday of each month.

Decibel has assembled a small list of artists affected by the COVID-19 pandemic who have music on Bandcamp, but any artist could use the support and today is a particularly good day to make a purchase.

No/Más – Last Laugh

No/Más is an aggressive grind band from Washington DC. Dig into this and scare your family by starting your one person circle pit to these gnarly ass breakdowns. —Blake Harrison

Internal Rot – Grieving Birth

These Aussies know how to grind. Some of the NASTIEST grind to come out of Oz. Could be the record of the year!—Blake Harrison

Ozzuario – Existence is Pain

Ozzuario, a duo from Chicago, play a unique kind of industrial no wave post-punk metal. Existence is Pain is their sophomore album. While not as confrontational or aggressive as their debut Desolation/DestructionExistence is Pain has proven to be the catchier and more enjoyable album. Whether they’re thrashing, downtrodden or dancing, a lot of really great moments abound on this album.—Dutch Pearce

Solstice – White Thane

According to a message sent out last Friday, April 24, English epic doom stalwarts Solstice “will be releasing via Bandcamp a digital-only 10 track release of archive rare recordings from the past 7 years.” Also by purchasing said release of rare, archival recordings one’s name is entered into a raffle “to win a set of test pressings for the new vinyl reissue of New Dark Age, a copy of the White Thane cassette, a  Solstice “Eisenfaust” embroidered armband and a solid silver Insignia badge.” Nothing like adding victory to your acquisition. Good luck, fellow doombearers. —Dutch Pearce

URSA – Mother Bear, Father Toad

I had been eagerly awaiting the successor of URSA‘s 2018 opus Abyss Between the Stars, and the band wished the world happy 4/20 with a release this week. Fans of Cormorant will recognize the reverberating croons of Matt Solis once the album’s central myth is relayed via spoken word. What follows is a sumptuous half-hour of psychedelic doom with a harsher sense of mellow that will appeal to Khemmis fiends.—Sean Frasier

Caskets Open – Concrete Realms of Pain

Finnish executioners Caskets Open released one of the young year’s best doom records in March, and this is your chance to rectify not listening earlier. Concrete Realms of Pain boasts the black-velvet goth overtones of Type O Negative, along with passages of hardcore punk that invoke Corrosion of Conformity. Will satisfy fans of trad doom and mean-streak sludge alike.—Sean Frasier

Sweven – The Eternal Resonance

Visionary Morbus Chron vocalist/guitarist Robert Andersson returns with conspirators from Speglas in a new project continuing the mind-bending brilliance of Morbus Chron’s terminal record Sweven. While the band Sweven reference sprawling prog more than the Stockholm buzzsaw, it’s a singular union of whispered introspection and unorthodox aggression that will still delight adventurous Swedeath fans.—Sean Frasier

Paralysis – Mob Justice

New Jersey crossover crew Paralysis are on the road to the release of their second full-length, a vicious 10-track ripper called Mob Justice. Whether you got here from Bay Area classics or the recent wave led by Power Trip has brought you back to the pit, you can get down to Mob Justice. You can stream two tracks, “Oblivious” and “Cut Short,” now and the whole album is out later this month.—Vince Bellino

Thin – Dawn

Dawn, the first full-length from New York math grind outfit Thin (formed from the ashes of the criminally-underrated Mary Todd), is a cover-to-cover assault on the brain. Firing off one jagged, spastic riff after another, Thin do a lot with a little: despite Dawn‘s relatively-short run time, the trio fit in a remarkable amount of riffs, blasts, breakdowns and barely-coherent shrieks.—Vince Bellino

Many Blessings/Pulsatile Tinnitus – Split

The split tape from Many Blessings (Primitive Man‘s Ethan Lee McCarthy) and Pulsatile Tinnitus (Bleed the Pigs‘ Kayla Phillips) is an unsettling, cinematic work of noise. Featuring two individual tracks from each artist and a collaboration piece, their split focuses more on creating a sense of unease and tension than on destroying the senses through unrestrained harshness.—Vince Bellino