SOME FREE SHIT FOR YOUR EARHOLES: ESCHATON, GRANTED EARTH, LASCAILLE’S SHROUD, AND STUBB

(groverXIII drops manna from Hel into your auditory canals.  No charge.  Lots of song streams at the end of this bad boy, too.)

Howdy, folks. I know everyone loves good free music, so I’m just going to jump right into the bands here. Fuck yeah.

ESCHATON – ISOLATED INTELLIGENCE

Eschaton have been mentioned ’round these parts before (here and here), but I first discovered them back when they emailed me about their initial EP release An Instrument Of Darkness a while back when TNOTB was still up and running, and I’ve been a fan ever since. Isolated Intelligence is their first full album (at least, I think it qualifies as a full album… it’s only five tracks, but it is over 45 minutes), and it’s as fascinating a listen as one might expect from these guys.

Stylistically, the album is Eschaton’s usual take on black/death metal, which is to say that it is anything but usual. There is a lot of experimentation going on here, with sprawling post-metal soundscapes rubbing elbows with clean female vocals and discordant guitars, all contained with the basic framework of black metal. Get it on the Bandcamps, honky.

GRANTED EARTH – NOMAD

Speaking of post-metal… Granted Earth, a three-piece from Monterey, CA, dabble in post-metal, mixing it with stoner rock and sludge and topping it all off with a progressive flair. Previously an instrumental band, the trio have added vocals (done by Jon, the drummer, who is also the only member of the band with a Y chromosome), and the result is some solid, if not wholly original, stoner metal. The duo of Rebecca (guitars) and Mallory (bass) is pretty formidable, delivering some serious riffage and keeping things varied and interesting. You can acquire Nomad, as well as their previous release Thermal Tide, for free on Bandcamp.

LASCAILLE’S SHROUD – IN GALACTIC WAVES OF IMMEASURABLE DEATH

I love me some good progressive death metal, and Lascaille’s Shroud, a band hailing from St. Petersburg, FL, have that blend of progressiveness and technicality that I love. In Galactic Waves Of Immeasurable Death is a three-track EP that still manages to span more than a half hour, making it longer than the new Veil Of Maya album.

The band, consisting of a guy named Brett Windnagle, presumably draws its name from a book called Revelation Space, which I am unfamiliar with, but there’s a space/war theme to the entire EP that makes this pretty likely. And the music… oh man, the music is wonderful. Windnagle is a talented dude, weaving guitars and synths into an epic tapestry of progressive space death metal. You can get the EP on, you guessed it, Bandcamp.

STUBB – STUBB

I’m going to wrap things up with some good ol’ fuzzed-out stoner rock. This London-based power trio recorded most of this album in a basement studio with minimal overdubs, and they rocked the fuck out of it. The album sounds great, and it’s packed with those laid-back stoner grooves that I love so very much. There’s not too much to say about this one… crank up the bass, kick back, maybe spark one up if that’s your thing, and let the riffs carry you away. As with the others, you can get this bad boy on Bandcamp.

 ~ groverXIII