Single Premiere: Wipes Reinvent Jesus Lizard’s Dog-Featuring Video for ‘Seasick’
Posted in Interviews with tags Jesus Lizard, Wipes on 10/05/2026 by Kurt OrzeckTop 10 Best Chilean Metal Bands, According to Native Black-Metal Act Ad Finem Omnia
Posted in Features, Interviews, Lists with tags Acero Letal, Ad Finem Omnia, Animus Mortis, Atomic Aggressor, Chile, Inanna, Invunche, Poema Arcanus, Sol Sistere, Uaral on 09/22/2026 by Kurt Orzeck
Black-metal act Ad Finem Omnia are still riding high off the release of their second studio album, Senectus Viae, in July. but multi-instrumentalist Pablo Vera still generously carved out some time from his hectic array of goings-on to contribute to the ongoing series we’re calling The Bad Penny Passport.
We’ve checked in with musicians in more than a dozen countries to get lists of the top 10 bands/musicians who hail from their homeland. Astute observers may recall we did a Chilean installment of the series with noise-punk band Niño Nuclear. But Vera’s list is more metal-oriented, reflecting a different sector of the country’s music scene (which is mostly based in the capital city of Santiago).
Vera doesn’t just write in gorgeous prose throughout his entry, he also included an introduction of his own. So let’s get to it.
Continue readingRare Interview With Unsane Frontman Chris Spencer Finds Him Finding Peace of Mind
Posted in Interviews with tags Chris Spencer, David Yow, Flipper, noise rock, Paige Hamilton, Unsane on 09/22/2026 by Kurt Orzeck
“I’m tired of the rat race,” frontman of trailblazing noise-rock band Unsane reveals in a rare, recent interview. “So I just hang with my girl and wait for her to get a new dog. Going on tour is really fun now. It used to be not, because I didn’t play enough. My life was really chaotic before. Now, shit is a lot more centered.”
Continue readingOn Tyranny: 10 Best Protest Songs/LPs, According to Major Spark’s Vocalist and Punk Vet Mark Goodman (Exclusive)
Posted in Exclusives, Lists, On Tyranny with tags A Tribe Called Quest, Billy Bragg, Bob Marley, Brian Charles, Major Spark, Mark Goodman, Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Pogues, Wilco on 09/21/2026 by Kurt OrzeckWhile working on The Bad Penny‘s On Tyranny series, an idea for a critical installment of the feature came to mind: a list of the best protest albums and songs, as presented to us by someone who knows their stuff. That person is Mark Goodman, who handles vocals, lyrics and composition for Major Spark. Goodman also had tenure in the band Magnet, which also featured Moe Tucker of The Velvet Underground. While Goodman was still a member of the band, Magnet guested for Madonna’s Erotica. (Just a reminder: Today is not April Fools’ Day.)
Meanwhile, multi-instrumentalist Brian Charles – whose friendship with Mark Goodman has lasted almost their entire lives – is the other central figure in Major Spark. The Bad Penny recently interviewed him as well. We’ll post a feature detailing much more about the band and its two central members in the near future. But in the meantime, Goodman gave us a very diverse and undisputed high-quality batch of the best protest songs ever made. We couldn’t hold off sharing the list until October 2, which marks the day Major Spark‘s next album, Kill the Truth, will be out.
1. Billy Bragg and Wilco’s “All You Fascists”
(with lyrics by Woody Guthrie)
Obvious choice.
Continue readingDarkthone Tribute: 12 Bands Tell Us Why the Badass Black-Metal Barons Rule on Their 40th Anniversary (Exclusive)
Posted in Exclusives, Features, Interviews, Lists, Videos with tags Aske, Darkthrone, Death Brigade, Fenriz, Gravehorn, Incineratus, Myrholt, Nocturno Culto, Praesepultus, Tyranno on 09/21/2026 by Kurt Orzeck
With all the hoopla surrounding bands boasting anniversaries of their major milestones, whether it be sticking together after 30-plus years or playing a tour after decades of dormany, it’s crucial that extreme metalheads don’t forget one especially important 2026 celebration, especially in the black-metal netherworld.
That would be the 40th anniversary of Norway’s Darkthrone, who influenced the development and dissemination of black metal around the world more than arguably any other band not named Emperor, Mayhem, Bathory or Burzum. This year also marks the 35th anniversary of the release of their debut, Soulside Journey – which also was, ironically, Darkthrone’s only death-metal album.
Recognizing those milestones, metal publication Antichrist Magazine – based appropriately in Hell, Norway – released the simply named but dense in high-quality material A Tribute to Darkthrone. It was one of a series of like-minded compilations the outlet has issued and dropped in late July. With enormous help from the rep behind that various-artists collection, we received a slew of testimonials from 12 of the 17 bands who contributed exclusive songs to the comp about why they worship at the altar of Darkthrone.
Continue readingBosse-de-Nage’s ‘Hidden Fires Burn Hottest’: Two Cent Review
Posted in Album Reviews, Features, Reviews with tags Bosse-de-Nage, Deafheaven on 09/21/2026 by Kurt Orzeck
There isn’t a fine line between bands that get drawn into improv jamming as if Charybdis were beside them and acts that play consummately complex music while following sheet music they spent thousands of hours writing and revising. The line is about three feet thick.
Continue readingBattles’ ‘Mirrored’: Two Cent Review
Posted in Album Reviews, Features, Reviews with tags Battles, John Stanier on 09/21/2026 by Kurt Orzeck
To the extent that “math rock” suggests playing guitar notes perfectly and usually one note at a time, some weight could be given to the otherwise esoteric term. The repeated usage of it to describe Don Caballero guitarist Ian Williams’ one-handed finger-tapping technique must’ve driven him close to losing his mind.
Continue readingSystem of a Down’s ‘Toxicity’: Two Cent Review
Posted in Album Reviews, Features, Reviews with tags Daron Malakian, fascism, John Dolmayan, protest music, Serj Tankian, Shavo Odadjian, System of a Down on 09/21/2026 by Kurt Orzeck
“Wake up!” With those two words, the weirdest mainstream-crossover metal song of this century (its video has 1.5 billion views and counting on YouTube) still also stands as the loudest clarion call we’ve heard since Rage Against the Machine. That band’s protégé-ish followers, System of Down, took the baton from Rage and went on to come one of the most important “political” albums of this century: Toxicity.
Continue readingExclusive Premiere: Paper Girl Debuts ‘Ohio (Fall 2016)’ Music Video Ahead of Upcoming Emo-Nostalgia LP
Posted in Exclusives, Interviews, Videos with tags emo, Paper Girl, Sarah Gargano on 09/21/2026 by Kurt OrzeckPaper Girl, the Nashville-based emo/folk-punk project led by Sarah Gargano, has just put out the final single ahead of the release of a new album next month. It’s called “Ohio (Fall 2016),” and the video for it exclusively premieres today on The Bad Penny.
Paper Girl was also the title of Gargano’s first single, which itself referenced the John Green book Paper Towns. The new video for “Ohio (Fall 2016)” features the whimsical song playing as the artist bikes to a field, where she sits down and plays the song with a beaming smile on a sunny day. In addition to recalling the days of yore when her music was primarily of the emo variety, one can’t help but be reminded of the ongoing 2016 nostalgia meme, fueled in part by a Gen Z’s longing for pre-COVID days.
” ‘Ohio (Fall 2016)’ is a song I wrote from my high school boyfriend’s perspective about watching me go to college in Ohio and have fun without him after breaking up,” Gargano told The Bad Penny. “It’s probably the folkiest/cutesiest song on the album and the most similar to the songs I was releasing under my actual name.
Continue readingTop 34 Best Bandcamp Free Downloads #21: Exbats, BeachMaster, xCHUCKxBASSx, Bleary Eyed, Spread Joy, Unearthly Trance
Posted in Features, Lists, MP3s with tags BeachMaster, Bleary Eyed, Contortionist, Deathpile, Exbats, Regal Cheer, Rivka, Spread Joy, Unearthly Trance, xCHUCKxBASSx on 09/20/2026 by Kurt Orzeck
Welcome to the biggest – and hopefully best – installment of Bad Penny Freebies. These songs – which we test-ran a bunch of times to ensure they qualified. I just tried to make sure they’re solid listens, if not solid-gold hits. They also run the gamut musically more than any Freebies edition. But due to the massive number of free downloads we’re pointing to you this week, we’re gonna have to keep the descriptions short.
Home: NYC
Genre: Doom and drone metal with some power electronica
Label: Chrome Peeler
2. BeachMaster‘s One Is None demo
Home: Reno, Nevada
Genre: Black metal psych jazz
Label: self-release
