Some local releases for Bandcamp Friday

This Friday, August 1st, will be the first Bandcamp Friday since May of 2025! For those that don’t know, on Bandcamp Fridays the Bandcamp music site drops their cut from any sales that happen in that 24 hour period, so bands get 100% of the share of each sale (minus credit/debit card fees if you pay with one) which makes it a great day to support bands and buy some new music! To that end, I thought I’d round up a few local metal releases that have come out since the last Bandcamp day.


Obsidian Blade is a new local band with a trad metal/NWOBHM vibe but the members have all been involved in other bands in the DMV scene for some time. They’ve started playing out live a bit but so far this is their only recorded song available, and it dropped on June 10th.


The Borracho guys are at it again with their repetitive heavy grooves as their new full length album that releases on August 8th, though you can pre-order now and enjoy the 3 preview tracks right now.


Kontusion finally dropped their debut full length album on July 25th and man is this some back-to-basics filthy, brutal death metal! None of that spacey death metal that is in vogue to be found here.


Cemetery Sex is a local goth band and their debut album is dropping August 1st. The album showcases Anastasia Noire’s beautiful vocals that soar over the rainy-day vibe guitar riffs.


The most intense music in this post comes by way of Blood Monolith on their debut album that dropped on May 16th. This has been one of my favorite albums to drive around blasting this summer!


As The Sea Parts is a black/death band that formed in the 90s, went on hiatus for about 20 years or so, and finally dropped their debut full length on July 11th. The album has former Dying Fetus drummer Erik Sayenga on drums and sick cover art by Mark Riddick!


Fresh off their appearance at this year’s Maryland Deathfest, I.C.E. just released their third full length on July 11th and their frigid black metal riffs will def keep you cool in the dog days of summer.


If you dig instrumental metal with a fiddle then be sure to check out the newly remixed version of Seasick Gladiator‘s self-titled debut from 2017 that just dropped on July 12th.

That’s what I’ve got for now but if you know of any other metal releases by local bands since the last Bandcamp Day, or any that are pre-orderable just email me at DCHeavyMetal@Gmail.com and I’ll add them to this post!

Some new local heavy metal releases

Just thought I’d make a round up of some great recent (nothing before January 2022) and upcoming local releases to check out. If you’re in a band I missed feel free to email me at DCHeavyMetal@Gmail.com and I’ll add your release too!

The first one isn’t even an album but local politician (elected delegate of Virgina’s 13th district) and metal head Danica Roem made these awesome metal style campaign shirts as a fund raiser for her campaign. Order soon (here) as they won’t be available very long.

Weed Coughin is, as you might expect, a stoner band, though they’ve got some grimy sludge aspects to their sound as well. The Frederick, Maryland based band released their debut album, Other Worldly, on January 31st.

The Dregs play sludge/doom and released a 2 song EP titled Nightshade on February 25th.

A Sound of Thunder released a new music video on February 25th for their song, Theme from Shadowman, which is an official tie-in to the Valiant Comics character Shadowman. You can purchase the single here. They’ve also got a new album out in May and you can find more info on that later in this post.

Haunted Shores is an instrumental side project of Periphery guitarists Mark Holcomb and Misha Mansoor that is a lot more intense than their djent main band. They released their first album since 2011, titled Void, on March 11th but it isn’t on Bandcamp so you’ll have to check this link for the different places to buy it.

Kontusion is a new two piece death metal band featuring DC’s own Chris Moore on drums (Repulsion, D.O.C., ex-Magrudergrind) along with Mark Bronzino (Iron Reagan, Mammoth Grinder) and if the first track they’ve released is any indication, their debut EP (out March 25th) is going to rip!

Day of Departure is a DC based progressive band and they are set to release their self titled debut full length on March 25th.

Darkest Hour plays hardcore infused melodic death metal and they are releasing a 2 song EP with both tracks being not just re-mastered versions of older songs but entirely re-recorded versions of those songs. It’s out on April 1st, which is a Bandcamp Friday.

False Church plays intense metallic hardcore and their debut album, Dystopian Dissent, is being released by Horror Pain Gore Death Productions on April 22nd (preorders are available now though).

No/Más is an exciting grind band from DC and they’re releasing their debut album on Closed Casket Activities on April 29th. You can pre-order (including vinyl) here and listen to their new track “Exile” below.

Iris Divine is a progressive metal band from Northern Virginia and they currently have a Kickstarter campaign running for their upcoming third album, Mercurial. They already have most of the recording process completed they’re just looking for funding to get everything out to fans, which is expected to be in May. They’ve already met their funding goal but you can still pledge through April 6th to get your copy through the Kickstarter campaign here.

A Sound of Thunder has a new album, The Krimson Kult, out on May 20th, that was inspired by events that took place during the pandemic.

Black Lung from Baltimore plays psychedelic doom and they’ve got a new full length album, titled Dark Waves coming out on Heavy Psych Sounds on May 27th.

Stellar Death is a proggy instrumental metal band with spacey sci-fi flourishes. Their new EP Sentient (Chapter 1) will be out on June 10th via Bravemusic.

Yatra from Ocean City plays some heavy sludge along the lines of High on Fire and Lord Dying. They announced that their new full length album, Born into Chaos will be out June 10th on Prosthetic Records but you can already listen to a track and pre-order it now.