Support Music And Charity At Once

Today, Friday the 4th of August, Bandcamp is donating the entirety of their 15% share of all sales on their website to the Transgender Law Center. The benefit runs until midnight Pacific time, which is 3am for us on Eastern time. You can get more info on Bandcamp’s benefit here. If the benefit is over when you read this but you’d still like to donate, or you’d just like to donate directly to TLC, you can do that here.

This means anything you buy on Bandcamp will help support TLC as well as the bands you buy from. Because of this I thought I’d throw together a list of some of the best local metal I’ve found on Bandcamp this year, as well as a few other metal bands outside of the area that are actively participating in today’s benefit here. If you’d like the full list of the 200+ bands and labels that are participating, metal and non-metal alike, you can see that here.

Who Do You Think We Are? by A Sound Of Thunder

First up it should be noted that locals A Sound Of Thunder are actively participating in the benefit and for today only they are selling a “trans pink smoke” double vinyl variant (limited to 100 copies) of their covers album Who Do You Think We Are? for $25. The album will also be available on CD ($18) and digital formats ($8) for the first time. They have previously only been available to those who participated in the crowd funding campaign, however the CDs and digital downloads of the cover album will only be available publicly today. You can find all formats on Bandcamp here.

Chicago based Immortal Bird isn’t really a local band, though their vocalist, Rae Amitay, did go to high school in Fairfax, Virginia. Today they are also donating $1 of any Bandcamp sales to TLC, in addition to Bandcamp’s donation. I highly recommend their 2015 album Empress/Abscess which is just $7 digitally on their Bandcamp here.

Some other non-local metal bands that are participating include Ghoul who are donating all sales Friday and Saturday to TLC. You can download their latest album Dungeon Bastards for $7 here.

Massachusetts based thrashers Lich King put out a killer album this year in The Omniclasm and you can download it from Bandcamp for $10 here. Lich King is donating all of their proceeds from Bandcamp today to the benefit.

The Brazilian/Italian operatic metal band Ruins of Elysium has made a point of standing up for LGBT rights (just check the lyrics to their song “The Birth Of A Goddess” for starters) so it makes perfect sense that they’ll be donating their share of all Bandcamp sales today. Check out their latest album Seeds Of Chaos And Serenity which is available for download for $11.88 on Bandcamp here.

Immortal Bird and Ghoul and Lich King and Ruins of Elysium

If none of that stuff floats your boat feel free to scour the list I’ve made below of some of my favorite local metal albums on Bandcamp of 2017. You can help support a local band and the Transgender Law Center when you buy any of these today!

Alluvion – Psyche/Stoner from Fredericksburg, VA. $5 gets you their 9 track album .​.​.​Of the One Consciousness that released in May here.

Alluvion and Ashes of Mankind

Ashes of Mankind – Death/thrash metal from Baltimore, MD. $6.66 gets you their 8 track album A Scene in Hell that was released in May here.

At The Graves – Doom/sludge from Annapolis, MD. Just $1 gets you a download of their 8 track album Wrecked that was released in late July. You can also get it on CD or cassette for $6 each. Digital and physical versions are all available here.

At The Graves and Blood Mist

Blood Mist – Sludge/stoner metal from Baltimore, MD. $5 gets you a download of their 5 track self titled album that was released in February. You can also get it on CD for $7. Digital and physical versions are both available here.

Cab Ride Home – Thrash metal from Northern Virginia. $10 gets you a download or the CD version of their 11 track album Crash The Gate. Released in April, this is the band’s final album since their vocalist, Danica Roem, is now running for a delegate seat in Virginia. Digital and physical versions are both available here.

Cab Ride Home and Earthling

Earthling – Thrash metal from Harrisonburg, VA. $7 gets you a download of their 6 track album Spinning in the Void that was released in July here. This album shreds guys, highly recommended! Features Alan Fary who also plays in Valkyrie.

Full Of Hell – Death/noise from Annapolis, MD. $6.35 gets you a download of their 11 track album Trumpeting Ecstasy that was released in May. You can also get it on CD for $8.74. Digital and physical versions are both available here. This has been one of the most talked about albums from our area this year and it lives up to the hype!

Full Of Hell and Inhumation

Inhumation – Death metal from Frederick, MD. $6 gets you a download of their 6 track EP Ontogenesis that was released in April. You can also get it on CD for $8. Digital and physical versions are both available here.

Lord – Sludge/stoner from Fredericksburg, VA. $7 gets you a download of their 6 track album Blacklisted that was released in May. You can also get it on CD for $10. Digital and physical versions are both available here and they also have some packages that include tshirts with Mark Riddick art.

Lord and One Slack Mind

One Slack Mind – Stoner/groove metal from Washington, DC. $8 gets you a download of their 10 track album Both Sides Against the Middle that was released in July. You can also get it on CD for $10. Digital and physical versions are both available here.

Pain Tank – Grind/death metal from Northern Virginia. $8 gets you a download or the CD version of their 13 track album 97​,​901​,​726 Confirmed Kills. Released in March, the album’s name is meant to be the total number of fatalities in all wars that the USA has been involved in. Digital and physical versions are both available here.

Pain Tank and Sickdeer

Sickdeer – Black metal from Washington, DC. $7 gets you a download of their 7 track album The Wretched of the Earth that was released in March. You can also get it on CD for $10. Digital and physical versions are both available here and you can read the review of this album on DC Heavy Metal right here.

Sloth Herder – Grind/black metal from Frederick, MD. $5 gets you a download of their 14 track album No Pity, No Sunrise that was released in March. You can also get it on CD for $7 or cassette for $6. Digital and physical versions are all available here.

Sloth Herder and Virginia Creep

Virginia Creep – Stoner/Indie from Washington, DC. OK so this one actually came out in October of last year but it didn’t show up on my radar until this year. It features JR Hayes of Pig Destroyer as you’ve never heard him before, so that alone makes it worth listing here. $2.99 gets you a download of their 3 track self titled EP, just go here.

August 4, 2017
Categories: Shameless Promotion, Washington DC / Maryland / Virginia Metal Scene . Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Author: Metal Chris . Comments: Leave a comment

Review of Reverberations by Alluvion

Band: Alluvion
Album: Reverberations
Release Date: 7 October 2016
Download as digital files (name your price) from: Bandcamp

Cover of Reverberations by Alluvion

Alluvion is a band from Fredericksburg, Virginia, that released Reverberations back in October. Be sure to check Alluvion out at the Rhodeside Grill in Arlington, Virginia, on Friday, Jan 27th as part of the local metal showcase the venue is hosting (details here). I’ve never heard of that place having a metal show before so hopefully a good turn out will mean more in the future. Anyways, enjoy the review, written by DCHM writer Tal, and be sure to stream the songs at the bottom of this post. If you really like them, you can download as a name-your-price from the above Bandcamp link.

Alluvion is one of those many metal bands that defy genre categorization. There’s definitely a stoner doom feel to it – the music is thicker and fuzzier than what I normally listen to, but not to the point that it bothers me. But under the stoner doom veneer, there’s a lot more going on. While the first song on Reverberations, “Exodus,” has a lot of long droning tones, the second song, “Heel of the Boot,” is fast and thrashy but with sludgy production, and later on the album there are punk and atmospheric moments as well.

The vocals are equally unique. What drew me most to this album was the clean vocals. The first thing you hear on the album – other than some spacey guitar noises – are John Harmon’s ethereal and, let me just put it out there, beautiful high clean vocals. Especially in the fourth song, “Drop It,” the wavering and drifting style of the high clean vocals reminds me a lot of Cristina Scabbia from Lacuna Coil, which is quite a juxtaposition with the overall thick, stoner-doomy sound. Aside from some outbursts toward the end of “Exodus,” though, John’s clean vocals are not quite as strong and piercing, and they seem to get drowned out in a live setting.

He does have versatility, though, since he also does harsh vocals and screams, all of which are featured in the first song, “Exodus” — so there’s a lot of contrast going on. At first there are riffs that are fuzzy but have heavy metal energy going on in the background, but about two-thirds through, the song slows way down and ends with more spacey noises.

The second song, “Heel of the Boot,” continues the theme of constant changes. After a few seconds of some very cool riffs that alternate between high and trumpeting, and low and bludgeoning, the song becomes a frenetic thrashy assault with harsh screamed vocals and violent lyrics: “Bring that shit around here and we’ll force you under heel of the boot, as we continue to slaughter all you’ve ever loved“. But there’s a clean chorus and then the song becomes very groovy, with a celebratory feel, in strange contrast to the violent lyrics — “All you’ve ever loved, you’ll eventually ravage. All will fall victim to collateral damage.”

As if things weren’t weird enough, there’s “Reverberations,” a nearly two-minute track in the middle of the album with a bunch of people talking, as though in a crowded room, that gradually gets warped and blurred and mixed with creepy mechanical noises that bring to mind sci-fi and horror movies involving alien invasions or demonic possession. The demonic impression is furthered by a voice whispering, “Resonance, spaces, get out of my head.”

The middle track, “Reverberations,” seems like it might be an intro to the fourth song, “Drop It,” especially since that song also includes the line “get out of my head.” This song has the most stoner-doom-like riffage – groovy in a low-key sort of way, and then plodding and understated in the middle of the song. It has a similar vocal mixture to other songs, with mostly high clean vocals and some harsh vocals and low roaring, and closes with about a minute of weird noises – train-like sounds, spacey noises, rumbling that sounds like a collision.

As one might expect by now, the last song, “Critters,” is another succession of changes – from stoner doom rumbling that quickly turns to speedy proggy guitaring and then a pop punk feel with straightforward energetic riffs and harshly shouted and sung vocals. Then there’s a slow interlude in the middle with some atmospheric guitar. In a fitting end to the album, the song ends with about a minute of progressively less-riff-like and more spacey guitar noises.

Despite all that, the lyrics to the album are deceptively simple. Since most of the lyrics are addressed to the second person (“you”), one gets the sneaky feeling, “Is he singing about me?” Since most of the lyrics are critical at best (“I’m gonna show you your own apathy, because our blood stains are on your hands”) and threatening at worst (“Bring that shit around here and we’ll force you under heel of the boot”), it makes for a very unsettling feeling. Having to think and being uncomfortable are not necessarily bad things, though.

With all its jumping around between various styles, the whole album is a bit unsettling. I found myself enjoying bits and pieces of it rather than the whole — the mellifluous clean vocals, the opening riffs of “Heel of the Boot,” the fun beginning and atmospheric middle section of “Critters.” I can’t quite wrap my head around the whole album, but then again maybe that’s the intention.

January 19, 2017
Categories: Album Reviews, Washington DC / Maryland / Virginia Metal Scene . Tags: , , . Author: Metal Chris . Comments: Leave a comment