Sankara - "Total Liberation of the Human Race" (2019)

SANKARA "Total Liberation of the Human Race"

Year: 2019

Genre: Black/Death Metal

Country: USA

Track List:

1. Intro
2. Proletarian Upheaval
3. Impaled on the Communist's Spear
4. Communist Death Ritual
5. The Blood and Bile of the Capitalist
6. Bourgeosie Crucifixion
7. Proletariat Sovereign
8. Outro

Bandcamp

"For what would've probably sold a decent number of copies based on gimmick and imagery alone, this thing has some bloody brutal, groovy riffs and dope songwriting. Kinda like Neckbeard Deathcamp, come to think of it..." - lord yabol

LS - All instruments, Vocals, Mixing
DA - Mastering
Cover art and logo designed by DA.

Sarparast - "Peace Is In Your Ablution or Our Bayonets" (2018)

SARPARAST "Peace Is In Your Ablution or Our Bayonets"

Year: 2018

Genre: Black Metal

Country: USA

Bandcamp

Sarparest is a black metal project by two biomedical scientists from NYC with an optimism for a better world and the material understanding of the unmerciful struggle we are faced with. This piece was exclusively written for Worldwide Organization of Metalheads Against Nazis

Voland - "Voland 2" (2017)

VOLAND - "Voland 2"

Year: 2017

Genre: Symphonic Metal
Country: Italy

Track List:

1. 1917
2. Ottobre
3. Dubrina
4. Outro

Bandcamp / Facebook


Voland are an extreme symphonic metal duo from Bergamo, Italy. Lyrically, Voland sing of various facts from Russian history, theatrically interpreting tragically epic real events.

Their first demo was reviewed on our blog, check it out here.
The EP "Voland 2" was published this year in celebration of the 100th anniversary of Russian Revolution of October 1917, with songs directly referencing the work of poets, writers and musicians active in that time.

Their philosophy regarding music is simple: they do art for its sake and for theirselves, They don't wish to monetize on it and therefore Voland's music is freely downloadable from their channels and available in digital format only. All they ask in return is their music to be listened to and spread around.

M.

Larva ov Cum - "Internazionalismo" (2016)

LARVA OV CUM "Internazionalismo"

Year: 2016

Genre: Avant-garde Black Metal

Country: Italy

Track List:

1. Buongiorno Direttore
2. Expo2015
3. Burgues Bohemio
4. Daesh
5. HobH

bandcamp

Just arrived in the mail today: a new album from Larva Ov Cum, one of the most original RABM projects. The trademark clean vocals are mostly gone, but the sound is still very recognizable. Recommended if you liked two previous albums of LoC.

Anti-Freeze - "Red & Anarchist Black Metal" (Split w/ PunaTerrori) (2016)

ANTI-FREEZE "Red & Anarchist Black Metal" (Split w/PunaTerrori

Year: 2016

Genre: Black Metal

1. Choose your side
2. Capitalist dirge

Facebook / Bandcamp (unavailable since December 2016, but both tracks can be found here)

Anti-Freeze is the solo project of Preston Ell currently based in London, Ontario and originating in the village of Wheatley and PunaTerrori is a Finnish one-man Communist (Marxist-Leninist) Black Metal band formed in 2013.

This is a split dedicated to militant anti-fascism and revolution. 

Gudsforladt - "Gudsforladt EP" (2016)

GUDSFORLADT - "GUDSFORLADT EP"

Year: 2016
Genre: Black Metal, Depressive
Country: United States

Track List:

1. Trauma Churns Within
2. They Hate You
3. Blood From Asphalt

bandcamp

Gudsforladt is a seemingly communist siding black metal project hailing from Salem, Massachusetts and this appears to be the debut release from him.

It's not a particularly long EP but it's tasteful and definitely suited for people who enjoy raw, depressive tinged black metal. Some keyboard ambience and clean guitar interludes further emphasize the depressive element in between tracks.

Hopefully this won't be the only release from this project as I enjoyed the small tidbit and am hoping to hear more in the future.


SIDE NOTE: Please remember that if you're going to send me music, include "RABM blog" in the subject line or message somewhere. I also run a label so I occasionally get submissions and I can easily confuse the two. Also if I don't happen to respond within a few days, feel free to email again. I'm not easily annoyed and I check frequently so I try my best to not miss any messages when they come through. 

Larva Ov Cum - "Resistenza" (2014)

LARVA OV CUM "Resistenza"

Year: 2014

Genre: Industrial Black Metal

Country: Italy

Track List:

1. Introducendo Inni Partigiani
2. Nessuna Politica Italiana
3. Attuando la Guerra Capitalista
4. Invocando Granai, Non Atomi
5. Contando Inegualmente Innocenti Cadaveri
6. Volontà dei Popoli

DOWNLOAD

This Italian political metal project is back with a new EP, which continues the line LoC took on the earlier releases - intense, "mechanical" BM sound, and relatively clean vocals. It sounds a bit monotonous at times, but "Resistenza" isn't a long release, so it's not a big problem. Ideologically, it probably will appear more to those who are on the "red" side of RABM (that's possibly why it was released on 7th of November). Like all the previous releases from LoC, "Resistenza" is released by an independent label SUN Prods., and it's officially available for free download/distribution.

bandcamp

P.S. Well, I think I've posted more than enough for today. I still have more than 20 albums waiting for a review, but a lot of them either have little to do with RABM, or it isn't really "my" thing in terms of music. Hopefully my co-editors will take care of it, while I take a break from blogging. I don't know when I'll return, but it'll happen sooner or later. Stay tuned.

Profecium - "En Los Albores de la Extinción Humana" (2014)

PROFECIUM "En Los Albores de la Extinción Humana"

Year: 2014

Genre: Old School Black/Death Metal

Country: Argentina

Track List:

1. Armagedon Nuclear (Intro)
2. En lo Peor
3. Esteros de Sangre
4. El momento de tu Muerte
5. Suprimirles
6. Desde el Interregno
7. Infierno Inevitable
8. Guerra Civil en las Puertas del Zar (Adelanto)

DOWNLOAD

At least some good news for today: Profecium, the pioneers of RABM in South America, are alive and well, and have released a full-length album just a couple of months ago, after more than 15 years of inactivity. While I'm not particularly big on their Trotskyist ideology, their music remains an excellent example of raw old school Latin American BM. Highly recommended!

Torture Garden - "The Great Depression" (2013)

Torture Garden "The Great Depression"

Year:  2013

Genre:  Blackened Doom Metal

Country: United Kingdom

Track List:

1. The Great Depression
2. Pervert
3. Of All Evil
4. Testament Of The Tapeworm
5. Mister Mammon
6. Circuses Without Bread
7. Hideous In Their Glory
8. In Memory Of The Fallen
9. Together, Reborn
10. Defying The Laws Of Hell
11. The Great Dictator
12. The Clearing Of Misery
13. Mists Of Time

I discovered Torture Garden a few months ago and have been really enjoying this album.  It is a good combination of black, doom, and a little bit of death metal.  While is was enjoying them and playing them on Rage and Frustration, my radio program, I hadn't pored over the lyrics closely enough to realize they were writing about the current economic crisis from a communist perspective.  You can find more of their music at their last.fm page here,  a preview of the album by the vocalist here, and a release announcement here.  You can download in a Pay What You Want format from their Bandcamp page linked below.  I highly recommend this release and hope you'll take the time to check it out.  - Hayduke X

bandcamp

Entfremdung - demo (2013)

ENTFREMDUNG "demo I"

Year: 2013

Genre: Raw Black Metal

Country: UK 

Track List:

1. Intro (I am Lucifer)
2. Oulenem
3. Invocation of One in Despair
4. Interlude (Anthem)
5. The Fiery Angel
6. Outro (Partisanenlied)

DOWNLOAD

Very raw "occult communist black metal", whose creator insists on maintaining complete anonymity. For more info on how to purchase this demo tape, visit the blog of Red Shambala Productions.

PunaTerrori - demo (2013)

PUNATERRORI "demo"

Year: 2013

Genre: Black Noise

Country: Finland

Track List:

1. Empires In Ruins
2. Under The Sign Of The Star
3. The Path To Our Destiny
4. Kristittyjen Viimeinen Yö

DOWNLOAD

 Raw blackened noise-punk from Finland, a side project of a member of another band which plays standard black metal, musically (not ideologically) influenced mostly by bands like Goatmoon and Satanic Warmaster. The project holds anti-revisionist (but not authoritarian) views and is strongly against any religion, especially Abrahamic ones. For those who wanted really evil, raw black metal that glorifies the revolutionary struggle. If you're unsure whether to download it or not, listen to this track:

Rare live videos of Profecium & Sartan

So, it has come to my attention that Solrak (a former member of Profecium, who now plays in Vorkuta) is making the detailed history of Profecium, Sartan (his early black/death metal band) and Zoretor (hardcore/punk). While I don't share his Trotskyist views, it'd be definitely interesting to read the history of the first RABM band in existence. Here are some live videos from the 90s:

Profecium

Sartan - probably the first BM band in Argentina

Vorkuta (a recent video; but to be honest, they look and sound like they're forever stuck in 80s)

Larva Ov Cum - "Odio" (2011)

LARVA OV CUM "Odio"

Year: 2011
Genre: Black Metal (with clean vocals)
Country: Italy

Track List:

1. Elemosine attue a gratificare il sottoposto
2. Spresonificazione della risorsa produttiva
3. Teorema dell'eterna sottomissione alla mansione lavorativa
4. Deumanizzando nel nome della meritocrazia monetaria
5. Pretendere cortesemente l'estinzione del padrone

DOWNLOAD


Another band from Italy, playing "Hysteric & Epic Modern Black Metal" (according to Evrom's blog). The vocal style is rather unusual (however, it doesn't ruin the music). I don't understand their lyrics, but according to the Italians in our Facebook group, Larva Of Cum are an anarcho-communist band. "Odio" is their first release, published under Creative Commons license (see their jamendo page).

Voland - "Voland" (2008)

VOLAND "Voland"

Year: 2008
Genre: Symphonic Black Metal
Country: Italy

Track List:

1. Leningrad
2. Il Generale Inverno
3. Il Lago dei Ciudi

DOWNLOAD

Voland are a sympho-black metal duo from Bergamo (northern Italy). Their song "Leningrad" was posted to our facebook group with the following annotation: "Italian RABM from my city! there isn't place for the nazi scum..." While I don't know if Voland themselves define their style as RABM, their lyrical message is quite clear: they sing about the events of Russian history in WWII, most notably - about the siege of Leningrad. Good stuff, but I'm afraid that a lot of national bolsheviks and similar types will like this EP too...

Voland is the name of Satan in M.Bulgakov's "The Master & Margarita". While Bulgakov's political views were anything but leftist, "Master & Margarita" is one of the greatest Russian-language literary works of XX century from any point of view.

The music is good, but doesn't really stand out of the line of other not so well-known symphonic BM. The vocals are either clean or growls, almost no typical BM screaming on this EP. The overall quality of production is fine, but they definitely need a real drummer. I know there's a shortage of good drummers everywhere, but the programmed drums are the weakest part of Voland's music.
myspace

P.S. This EP is freely distributable under Creative Commons license.

P.P.S. Unfortunately I don't have an opportunity to check my mail (let alone answering to it) right now. Hope I'll do it this weekend...

Fields Of Fire / Merkaba - "Continuum" (2010)

MERKABA (ex-FIELDS OF FIRE) "Continuum"

Year: 2010
Genre: RABM, Atmospheric/Melodic Black Metal
Country: USA

Track List:

1. Continuum

bonus (Fields Of Fire):

1. Bretton Woods
2. Static Lingering

DOWNLOAD

I saved the best release for the last... and finally you have a chance to hear one of the most promising new RABM bands! They're called Merkaba, and they're a project of Kentucky-based local branch of Red & Anarchist Action Network. Here's some info about them and their previous project, Fields Of Fire, provided by RAAN:


"Fields of Fire was amazing, mixing Cascadian-inspired black metal with flute and piano but they broke up before ever having a chance to record an album. The two songs in this file are the only ones they ever made that could be considered somewhat finished (they have three demo tracks on Myspace, but the band doesn't like the way they sound)

Merkaba is still really new, but is a three-piece incorporating two of the ex-members of Fields of Fire, from Kentucky (same state as Panopticon). They still play black metal but it is much more experimental now. They are hopefully going to record a full-length sometime early in 2011, but for now their only release is a CDR called Continuum, limited to about 50 hand-folded copies, which features one track that was recorded live for local radio with hand drumming in the beginning... This is the first band we know of to feature RAAN's symbol and link to the website on their album, so it is significant. Their politics are communist and of course RAANista, so they are eco-spiritual and anti-civilization, pro-permaculture etc."

I can confirm that the music is amazing, especially the instrumental track by Fields of Fire. The other track of FoF has some vocals, but (in my opinion) it'd be better without vocals. "Continuum" by Merkaba is also instrumental, and it's much more experimental than the stuff by FoF. Overall, it's a great release, and I can't wait for a five-song full-length album by Merkaba (it's already recorded but not mixed yet; it also will include a cleaner version of the song "Continuum"). Highly recommended to everyone who likes Cascadian black metal scene (and unorthodox black metal in general)!

myspace

Asmodeus Ex Machine - "Hell 2.0" (2008)

ASMODEUS EX MACHINE "Hell 2.0"

Year: 2008
Genre: "Cyber-Communistic Black Metal"
Country: Belarus

Track List:

1. Anti-Copy-Christ

DOWNLOAD


Well, now I'm finished with my "industrial" day, and from now I'll post BM and blackened crust. And let me start from a band, which played raw black metal, but with a strong "industrial" (or maybe "cyberpunk"?) flavour in both music and aesthetics.


Not much is known about Asmodeus Ex Machine, and I couln't find much info about them even in Russian. Anyway, AEM were a short-lived band (most likely a duo) from Minsk, Belarus, who labeled their music as "cyber-communistic black metal". Their only release is the one-song demo "Hell 2.0", recorded in 2008 (they apparently have recorded at least two more songs, but I couldn't find them anywhere). The name "Asmodeus Ex Machine" is an obvious pun on Deus ex machina, and "Anti-Copy-Christ" is a reference to anti-copyright. While using satanic and occult imagery, typical from BM bands, their main lyrical theme apparently was the freedom of information (which is more typical to cyberpunk). As for music, I'd rather call it raw blackened crust or grindcore than black metal... maybe because of vocals and drums. Not too bad for a first home-recorded demo, though.

Of course, free redistribution of this demo is welcomed, as the members of the band apparently are vehement supporters of informational freedom. Too sad they have released only one song, because AEM had one of the most original concepts ever. Strugge for informational freedom is at least as important as the traditional forms of resistance, especially in our time - call it "cyber-communism", infoanarchism, crypto-anarchism, or whatever you like.

Katyusha - "demo" (2010)

KATYUSHA "demo"

Year: 2010
Genre: RABM
Country: Canada 


Track List:

1. Red Circle
2. Revolutionary Black Metal
3. Retribution
4. Reprisal

bandcamp

"Revolutionary Socio-Anarcho Black Metal" from Canada (Quebec). (NB: there are also a R.A.S.H. band with the same name from Lugano, Switzerland, who sing in Italian... and they actually are very good!)

Speaking of sound, it's just black metal, nothing more, nothing less. The only standout track is "Reprisal" - an ambient track played completely on synthesizers. Honestly, you won't lose much, if you wouldn't listen to it at all. The other 3 tracks sound very nice, though - at least it's no worse than Mrakobesie or Jarost Marksa. I can't say much about the lyrics, because I could understand only separate words like "nazi scum" etc., but apparently they have a very strong political charge. Overall a very promising demo, let's wait for more stuff from them!

Sibat - demo (2010)

SIBAT "demo"

Year: 2010
Genre: Raw Blackened Crust
Country: Philippines


Track List:

1. Pulang Hukbo ng Bayan (People's Red Army)
   
2. We'll Fight Them 'Till The End

DOWNLOAD

Yes, the RABM movement exists even in Philippines! Sibat is an one-man project by Ka Mao, who lives somewhere in the northeast of Philippines, and he's obviously aware of my blog ;) These two tracks are ripped from youtube, but Sibat also have a myspace page.

I've never heard any Philippine punk or metal bands before, so can't compare Sibat with them. But at least this stuff is better than Zudas Krust or any other Malaysian or Indonesian crust band that I've heard. The vocals aren't in black metal way, but maybe it's even for good. Hope to hear more stuff from Sibat soon, and the Eastern Asian RABM scene will grow!

Profecium - "Satanas" (demo, 1996)

PROFECIUM "Satanas"

Year: 1996
Genre: Raw Black Metal
Country: Argentina
Label: self-prod.

Track List:

1. Ehomme, Etrah, Ejel, Aser, Ejech, Adonay, Iah, Tetragramaton, Sotherischiros, Athanatos, Amen
2. El santuario
3. La sombra de la muerte (intro)
4. La sombra de la muerte
5. Orgia entre los muertos
6. La tierra de satan (intro)
7. La tierra de satan
8. El reinado de la bestia (intro)
9. El reinado de la bestia
10. Acta Sanctorum
11. Malleus malleficarum
12. En el Nombre de La Sangre
13. Causatan (intro)
14. Causatan
15. Maria Padilla

DOWNLOAD

It's the first demo by Profecium, and unlike "Socialismo Satanico", it's about the typical "true" black metal subjects (satanism, occultism, etc.) rather than politics. However, I'll tag it as "communist black metal" too. The overall quality of recording and musicianship isn't much better than those of Curt & The Contras ;), so be prepared for a very raw sound. Though this demo does feature some interesting acoustic and folk/tribal parts, in general I'd recommend to check out "Socialismo Satanico" first.

Profecium - "Socialismo Satanico" (1997)

PROFECIUM "Socialismo Satanico"

Year: 1997
Genre: Communist Black Metal
Country: Argentina
Label: self-prod.

Track List:

1. Intro - Declaración de Principios
2. Dios Explotador
3. Proletarios Unidos
4. El Lamento de sus Mujeres
5. Cruz Fascista
6. Terrorismo de Estado
7. Socialismo Satanico
8. En el Nombre de la Sangre
9. Impalando Burgueses
10. Inkisidor Imperial
11. Antro - BlackersFascistas
    

DOWNLOAD

Finally, here comes one of the most obscure and rare releases that I have right now. I always thought Agony from Canada (sorry, I was mistaken - they're from USA) and Mrakobesie from Russia were the first communist black metal bands ever. And now it turns out that there was a communist BM band in Argentina in the mid-90s! Charles D. Ward, you can be happy now -here's exactly such revolutionary socialist black metal you have dreamed of.

The sound is unsurprisingly raw, yet very melodic. I couldn't find much info about the band, except they were from Buenos Aires, and have recorded only one LP and one demo. Some of the band members were participated in the very first Argentinian black metal band Sartan, and in the bands called Bolchevikes and Terrorist. I know nothing about these bands, but they probably were political (left-wing) too.

Much more stuff is coming soon, keep an eye on updates!