Dark ambient/industrial artist Hoarfrost has their entire discography available for download from their official website. This includes their album "Dungeon, a split with Mrok, and two compilations, "Where are you Europe?" and "See you in Sanitarium."
Methadrone is the ambient doom/drone project of ex-Incantation vocalist and Craig Pillard, with David Galas of Lycia contributing some additional guest vocals. The band’s unusual setup centers around two basses, one lead and one rhythm, with soft drum programming, ambient effects and haunting vocals rounding out the sound.
The band plans to release a new full-length titled "Sterility" this March/April, and Foreshadow has posted a free internet-only single as a teaser to the album. The single consists of two tracks, one taken from "Sterility" and one exclusive track called ‘Nalbuphine.’ The single page also has a link to preorder the new album at a special price. You can also order "Sterility" directly from the band through Methadrone’s MySpace page.
Latvian band Year Zero is currently offering their demo, titled "Timedemo," for free download on their website. It features 6 songs displaying their diverse style.
The band states "we have lots of influences - from black metal to avantgarde electronic tunes, from jazz to progressive," and the music somehow incorporates all these styles without sounding confusing or disjointed. Some black metal tendencies can certainly be heard, but the songs also have a progressive flair, often sounding vaguely reminiscent of Ulver’s recent sound. It’s perhaps fitting that Year Zero has also contributed a song to the freely available "My Own Wolf: A New Approach" Ulver tribute album.
Through their website, Antimatter are offering a free video EP titled "Antimatter 06 06 03." Filmed on their world tour in 2003, the EP features live video recordings of ‘The Last Laugh,’ ‘Going Nowhere,’ ‘In Stone,’ and ‘Empty,’ along with downloadable artwork.
Antimatter is a depressive acoustic/electronic group, originally founded by Anathema’s Duncan Patterson, along with Mick Moss. They use acoustic guitars, sparse electronics, and both female and male vocals to create a dark and melancholic sound which transcends genre. They recently released their fourth album, "Leaving Eden," which features contributions from Anathema’s Danny Cavanaugh.
You know those compilation/best-of albums that feature mainly underground, up-and-coming bands you’ve never heard of? Well, "My Own Wolf: A New Approach," an Ulver tribute album, is one of those, except for a couple key differences. One, it’s available online, free to download. And perhaps even better, the distributor has decided to give detailed information about each band on the album, including country of origin, musical influences, and year formed.
Some highlights include contibutions by promising French black metal act Smohalla, Aidan Baker of Nadja, and Finnish dark ambient group Jääportit. Smohalla’s recent "Nova Persei" EP, part of the Lovecraft series for God Is Myth, has sold out, but the band is currently working on a new album, to be released on Vendlus Records.
After the sellout success of LVTHN’s "Sentinel Hill," mainman Gaendaal has decided to release some older demo material as a free download. Titled "Archaeology," the internet-only release contains 9 more dark ambient tracks totalling about 60 minutes.
LVTHN is a side project of Gaendaal, who also plays in dark/black ambient band Wraiths. They released 2007’s "Sentinel Hill" as part of God Is Myth’s H.P. Lovecraft Series, a series of ultra-limited EPs inspired by Lovecraft’s works.
Check out Infetu for some excellent, stomach-churning dark ambient. They have two 25-minute EPs, "Pulse" and "Simulacra" available for free download from their site, along with as a scattering of other tracks they’ve produced. Well worth checking out.
SonicFrontiers.net has released its first compilation album, showcasing some of the underground’s most talented and underrated bands. "Chaos Bliss" features a great mix of various rock and metal styles. Highlights include songs from Japanese avant-garde black metallers Sigh, sludge/post-rock outfit Irepress, and German melodic death band Deadlock.
National Sunday Law, one of the featured bands on the compilation, actually have their whole demo available for free download via their MySpace page or their Last.fm page. They play sort of an instrumental math-rock/mathcore style, and are definitely worth a listen.
Aereogramme were a talented, now-defunct Scottish alternative/progressive/post-rock band. Their collaboration with ISIS on the "In the Fishtank 14" album gained them a bit of attention among metal fans, but the band at times struggled to achieve proper recognition despite several strong releases. They announced their split shortly after the release of 2007’s "My Heart Has A Wish That You Would Not Go."
Saviours Of The Underground, an unofficial Aereogramme site, contains a slew of information about the band - news, interviews, videos, a forum, etc. The site also has an extensive MP3 download section, which features some very rare Aereogramme material. There is a cover of Slayer’s ‘Disciple’ which was recorded for Slayer Day (06/06/06), tracks from the "Translations" EP, live tracks, and other rare studio recordings.
Head over to Aereogramme’s Official Site or Aerogramme’s MySpace Page for more information about the band, and check out their albums on Amazon. Any ISIS fans who haven’t yet heard the ISIS/Aereogramme Fishtank album should definitely check that out as well. It should especially appeal to those who are into ISIS’s newer material.
France’s Monolithe released the "Interlude Premier" EP earlier this year as a free download from their website. Head to the Monolithe website to get it. Like the group’s previous two albums, "Interlude Premier" features a single song, in this case the 20-minute doom epic ‘Monolithic Pillars.’ Monolithe is currently working on their third full-length, "Monolithe III," which will feature Blut Aus Nord frontman Vindsval as a guest-vocalist.
