Five for Friday: August 7, 2020

Don’t forget, everybody, it’s the first Friday of the month. You know what that means?

“Time to go to church?”

Well … if you practice, then yes. But aside from that! It’s Bandcamp Friday, when Bandcamp waives it’s revenue share to get more money into the pockets of the artists. So if you want to support some prog-death, tech death, and hardcore like the bands displayed below, then today is a good day to do it.

Astriferous – The Lower Levels of Sentience

From our debut of The Lower Levels of Sentience:

“With mastering handled by Dan Lowndes, Astriferous’ new EP awaits like a void ripped into reality and boiling with tentacular riffs, time-warping bass and drums, and dreadful duel vocal attacks. At only four tracks, The Lower Levels of Sentience is a monstrous and devastating work of art.”

Black Crown Initiate – Violent Portraits of Doomed Escape

Reading, Pennsylvania’s Black Crown Initiate is one of the definitive acts of modern, progressive extreme metal. On their latest album, Vlient Portraits of Doomed Escape, they combine elements of flashy technical death metal with flourishes of post- and progressive rock. If Gojira and Rivers of Nihil are your scene, get on this.

Stream: Apple Music

Oneiric Celephaïs – The Obscure Sibyl

On the other hand, if you like your technical death metal pure, raging and aggressive, you’ll be down with the craft-masters of Oneiric Celephaïs. This is death metal for people who prefer Death’s later years (Symbolic and The Sound of Perseverance), along with the modern tech-death scene of the last 10 years or so.

Stream: Apple Music

Terminal Nation – Holocene Extinction

Further cementing themselves as the masters of new–old-school death metal, 20 Buck Spin unleashes yet another righteous storm of fury upon our ears. Terminal Nation’s HM-2-fueled metal comes to us gleaming with filthy crust-punk and hardcore paint on its shell. This fits nicely with the band’s overtly political lyrics.

Stream: Apple Music

Year of the Knife – Internal Incarceration

But maybe you just want some hardcore. Year of the Knife is one of the most buzzed-about bands in the scene, and by the ferocity on display here, that’s no surprise.

Stream: Apple Music