10 Best Free Bandcamp Downloads #16 (Albums-Only Edition): Alienatör, Nux Vomica, all under heaven, Iris Temple, Carbon Tomb, Variant Cause

Welcome to the 16th installment of The Bad Penny‘s Bandcamp Freebie series, in which we handpick our favorite free songs on the platform and dish them up for your consumption. We deserve lotsa high-fives this time around, because all 10 picks are full-lengths – of the highest quality, naturally – which makes us the most benevolent music outlet on the website. And which, in turns, explains we’re so unimaginably financially destitute that Merriam-Webster needs to adopt a new phrase for it.

(Note: If you’re financially capable of supporting any of these artists and/or labels, please consider doing so.)

1. Alienatör’s Pariahs (September 2019) and Regrets (November 2002) (self-released with help from the Canada Council for the Arts)

Hailing from Thunder Bay, Ontario – the municipality where Paul Shaffer also famously (?) grew up – Alienatör held the noise-rock torch between the years they released their two full-lengths. Whether Brad King (vocals, guitar); Sean Skillen (bass, vocals); and Simon Paquette (drums) threw in the towel after those two marvelous migraine-inducers is unclear. The three guys might also have a new album on their hands – but we say that without a shred of certainty, as there’s no mention of it on Alienatör’s Bandcamp page, and their Instagram account is still hyping Regrets. Isn’t that like two newlywed parents getting strangers to kiss their baby in Target because it’s a newborn? Perhaps the Target redshirt on duty can answer our questions. More likely, though, questions, critiques and the like will melt away upon taking Alienatör’s Pariahs and Regrets out for a test drive.

2. Side-Line Magazine‘s United 1 – The Freya Files and United 2 – The Odin Files by various artists (Side-Line)

If you’re even somewhat aware of The Bad Penny‘s devotion to democracy and whole-scale rejection of fascism, it’ll come as no surprise to you that we included these two comps – both released Friday – in our latest Bandcamp Freebies roundup. In fact, we just published an illuminating conversation with Bernard Van Isacker, the Belgian magazine editor and music fan who helped see these Ukraine-supporting collections to fruition. Learn a thing or two about the Ukraine/Russia war that could determine the fate of democracy in that part of the world, and throw down (as little or as much as you want) for these two darkwave compendiums.

3. all under heaven’s demo (self-release)

These New Jersey shoegazers seem clinically bashful, what with using all-caps for their band moniker and the first four songs they released (the fourth one isn’t on this release) – not to mention that whole eyes-trained-on-toes stage presence that is the behavioral norm (prerequisite?) for bands that play music of their ilk. But one of the breakthrough bands of the year, Loathe, sniffed out all under heaven’s talent anyway and tapped them for opening duties at three shows set for early August. Here’s to breaking through, despite the limited number of engagements with Loathe, duders. (Note: demo only contains three songs, but since the band ain’t calling it an EP, we’ll let them bypass our only-free-albums theme this week.)

4. Various artists’ Deadly Vision – The Novel Soundtrack (Ripple)

Unlike ultra-famous public figures, this next release does in fact need an introduction. Before we attempt to give one, take note that the revered Wino, Kabbalah and Fen chipped in tracks for this complicated comp. It’s purportedly a “reading soundtrack” for Deadly Vision, a medical thriller written by esteemed and now deceased British writer T.D. Severin. Here’s the fun part: The synopsis reads: “A revolutionary medical breakthrough. A technology, so advanced, people will kill to prevent its discovery.

“Dr. Taylor Abrahms, rising above his troubled past, is an expert in the burgeoning field of Medical Virtual Reality. A gifted researcher, he’s created an experimental fusion of virtual reality, artificial intelligence, and microsurgery that will revolutionize the way surgery is performed. With the Virtual Heart Project (VHP), Taylor can enter a virtual recreation of his patient’s beating heart and perform critical, life-saving surgery entirely within the realm of virtual reality. But in the political war zone of San Francisco University Medical Center, not everyone is thrilled.

“With a health care crisis threatening to bankrupt the nation, advanced biotechnology is a flashpoint in health care reform. Taylor’s research is scapegoated and he finds himself caught between warring factions in medicine and politics that will do anything to shut his project down, a battle that rages all the way to an upcoming Presidential election. Soon, Taylor finds himself the target of nonstop attacks: the destruction of his career, scientific sabotage, and murder, as those associated with the Virtual Heart Project are killed, one by one.

“Fighting for his medical career and eventually his life, Deadly Vision tells the tale of Taylor’s battle against overwhelming odds, political machinations, sabotage and murder, to bring this modern technology to reality and save the life of someone he loves.”

Right. On. Man.

5. Iris Temple’s Duality (Sooper)

Neo-soul hip-hop duo Quinn Cochran and Quinn Regan eked out this full-length a decade ago, but the reason we’re including it in this roundup is because the increasingly reputed Chicago label Sooper Records has taken them under its wings. Such a decision might not carry the same weight as a powerhouse rapper anointing his protégé, but our money’s riding on Iris Temple getting some love in the near future – perhaps abetted even more by today’s release of their new record, Ghosts of the Future.

6. Variant Cause’s Hit Songs Vol. 1 (self-release)

Here’s a story you don’t hear every day: Seattle’s Variant Cause toiled away for four years on Hit Songs Vol. 1, which they surely named with tongue firmly lodged in cheek, only to decide they didn’t have the goods, the bollocks, the testes to grind them into excellent numbers. But here’s the kicker: Rather than toss the tunes into the Sarlacc Pit, though, vocalist/guitarist Jan Gregor generously posted all 14 numbers – mixed and mastered by Jack Endino, mind you – on Bandcamp, gratis, in November. “These are songs for other bands to cover, songs for the world,” he said in a statement. Have at ’em, kiddos.

7. Hässlig’s Deathlust, Apex Predator and Apex Predator 2 (Nithstang)

Hässlig might ring a bell, as we featured the Spanish extreme-metal stalwarts in the last installment of Bandcamp Freebies. But that was just the tip of the iceberg as far as these magnanimous black-metal marauders are concerned (there’s gotta be at least one or two contradictions in that description). Here are three more free Hässlig full-lengths; pick your poison:

8. Carbon Tomb’s Passage to a Neutron Star (Transcending Obscurity)

Friday is a big day for these grinding Danish black-death-core-metal with a penchant for dissonant hardcore progressive metal. First of all, it took them a while to memorize their sub-sub-sub-sub-sub-sub-sub-sub-sub-genre. Second, they had to do a lot of submersive swimming pool exercises so they could recite the name of their style of music in one breath. The threesome consist of Dysgnostic’s Richardt on guitars/screamer (he prefers “shrieks” – which, yeah, now that he says it, makes a lot more sense) with two of his Danish homies who only go by Jeppe (bass/growls) and Mikael (drums). Those largely unexposed to extreme-metal will beg their kid on the couch to toss over the remote so they can scroll past Passage to a Neutron Star. But as for you and your consummately discerning ears, dear reader, it’ll take about 45 seconds before Carbon Tomb have you in their tractor beam.

9. Nux Vomica’s The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath (Auricular)

In a ~~just~~ world, – wait, scratch the word “just” … as I’ve told for the thousandth time, the world isn’t fair; don’t you read the goddamn news anymore, Chet? – this full-length by one of The Bad Penny‘s favorite, overlooked, so-called “musique concrete” bands of this century still has this 12-year-old disasterpiece up for grabs on their Bandcamp page. Hurry before they scrub it off their profile. No, wait, don’t; maybe the reason they broke up was to aggravate their audience because artists who feel no joy have no ethical or even artistic obligation to make you feel better. We’re all suckers in the end. But that doesn’t mean we can’t rock and roll till our death rattle tolls, yeah? That sentence could’ve been rephrased into a question, but the mighty Nux Vomica would probably discern from light years away that someone has developed an interest in their sound, prompting their return to earth to vaporize us all. How weird it is to kinda not wish upon a shooting star that one of your favorite bands doesn’t come back because they could threaten your mere existence, am I right?

10. Audiarrhea’s Syphilization (Up)

A fitting – scratch that, shitting – end to what we can only hope turned out to be the most scatological installment yet of The Bad Penny‘s Bandcamp Freebies series. Nine slices of garrulous grindcore that intends to distinguish itself from Audiarrhea puerile peers. Can you guess the trait that sets this trophy-deserving deranged trio from the rest of the pack? Humor, of course! Let’s sample a lyric from “I Bought a Human Skull on eBay” to test our hypothesis: “As I’m sitting there with a severed head in my hand, talking to it, I say, ‘Wow, this is insane!’ Then I told myself, ‘No, it isn’t it, you’re just saying that, that makes it not insane. Then I realized I was losing my grasp on something that was too violent to keep inside forever.”

And with that, ladies and gentlemen, see you next time. Sleep tight and don’t let the decapitated talking heads bite!

If you’re still hungry for more free music, below are the previous installments of The Bad Penny‘s Bandcamp Freebies series. Beware that artists may have removed the “free download” option from some of their material since the publish of the corresponding Bandcamp Freebies installment.

This entry was posted on 07/17/2026 at 10:01 pm and is filed under Lists, MP3s with tags 'Deadly Vision' OST, Alienatör, all under heaven, Audiarrhea, Carbon Tomb, Hässlig, Iris Temple, Nux Vomica, Side-Line Magazine, Variant Cause. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

The Bad Penny (beta)