Hedonist’s Scapulimancy debut terrorizds the innocent with a sound resembling a construction crew of demons using pile drivers to burrow deep, and then deeper, and then even deeper, into the earth. Go to Post-Trash to read my full review for the outlet’s “Year in Review: The Best of 2025” roundup.
Don’t miss these two other roundups either:
• Friends of The Bad Penny Share Their Top 10 Lists of 2025 Best Albums
• Boise Friends of The Bad Penny Share Their 2025 Top 10 Lists
The phrase “most anticipated album of the year” is, when actually considered, an absurd thing to say. The phrase is inherently contradictory, given that music has an unwavering subjective appeal even among an artist’s devoted fanbase. Because fans typically don’t know what’s in store on an upcoming release, it’s illogical for fans to froth at the mouth over a record that hasn’t yet materialized.
A more accurate comment would come from someone who has actually listened to the record in advance. If that arbiter thinks long and hard about the approaching album – and seriously considers the hopes and expectations of the fans of the artist who is putting it out – they might be able to predict, based on their musical expertise, that the album will hit the marks that the artist’s fanbase craves.
So let’s put it another way: Gaerea’s fifth album, Loss, is already positioned to be one of the most devastating and glorious (those words are interchangeable in the metal community) – and perhaps one of the best, metal records of 2026. We can base that theory on three principle pieces of evidence.
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From the “starving artist” lore of yore to Woody Guthrie illegally hopping trains as a method of touring to record labels, promoters, and clubs ripping off bands, artists have struggled to make ends meet since the dawn of … (commercial) art. And we didn’t even mention gear theft, vans breaking down, and natural disasters (until we did just now).
Resilient bands sometimes overcome such hurdles thanks to their fans’ generosity, if the musicians are wise and savvy enough to build, grow, and maintain their fanbase. Other bands get big(ger) through contracts involving their music, merchandise, tours, and marketing. Yet even more broke bands manage to succeed by keeping their costs low—or simply getting lucky.
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A couple of weeks ago, Mirai Kawashima—frontman of Sigh, one of Japan’s longest-running metal bands—published a two-sentence Facebook post that summed up both his current state of mind and his band’s latest material. And the thought he shared didn’t even mention Sigh.
In true metal form, Kawashima wrote: “So I turned 53 today. There’s not much difference between 52 and 53, but obviously 53 is 1 year closer to death.”
And, in true Facebook form, the oblivious top comment read: “Happy Birthday!!”
It’s obvious to say, but Kawashima (who is also a music journalist) couldn’t have posted that remark were he a day younger. But that fact is worth noting because, when he spoke with The Bad Penny ahead of Sigh’s latest album, the vocalist and bassist explained that he couldn’t have made Shiki at a younger age, either.
Tying it all together, Shiki is about Kawashima’s increasing obsession with death as he gets older. Compounded by the passing of his father the month before we spoke with him, Kawashima explained how death was an abstract concept to him, until he turned 50 years old.
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A tip of the sombrero to Post-Trash for allowing me to write seven capsule reviews among the 50 presented in the esteemed website’s Year In Review: The Best of 2025. The first one I’m presenting on The Bad Penny is Degraved’s Spectral Realm of Ruin (Dark Descent / Me Saco Un Ojo),
Seattle’s death-metal dealers took a helluva long windup before finally pitching their first full-length, concentrating for five years after their formation to ensure their opening salvo landed smack-dab in the middle of the strike zone. Indeed, the band hit right on the money.
Go to Post-Trash to read my full review.
“РЛБ30011922 is a way to deal with a death, to honor a memory and create a record of a reminder that this honor must be preserved.”
-PBV of 夢遊病者
When a band decides to call itself “夢遊病者,” it exponentially decreases their chances of getting “discovered.” But, of course, that presupposes the notion that mass appeal is the top priority for every musician. From all indications, that ain’t the modus operandi for Osaka, Japan’s experimental death-metal crew 夢遊病者. Their primary goal appears to be attracting erudite music-heads who are highly selective with what tunes they choose to consume.
The Bad Penny recently came across 夢遊病者 and became instantly hooked on the trio’s original sound, which also incorporates folk, free-jazz, grind, thrash and psychedelia. You owe it to yourself to check out РЛБ30011922, which consists of one engrossing song that runs 37 minutes (divided into 10 segments) and came out in late October. Don’t dare call the song, which shares the same name as the title of the release, a throwaway track; PBV (guitars/saz/bow/vocals/effects, NN (bass/electrophones) and KJM (drums/percussion) spent three years crafting it.
After getting hooked on the kaleidoscopic track, yours truly championed it in my Treble column, “The 13th Floor,” as one of the eight best psychedelic releases of the fall season. (You’ll find 夢遊病者’s “РЛБ30011922” even more tempting to seek out because it’s available on Bandcamp at a pay-what-you-want price point.)
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If you’re unfamiliar with the Brokedowns, a punk band out of Chicago, than shame on you. Less than three weeks ago, the band’s irrepressibly good-natured and good-humored guitarist/vocalist, Kris Megyery, bravely participated in our On Tyranny series, informing us how he had personally witnessed despicable ICE raids at his workplace. He also agreed to speak with The Bad Penny because the Brokedowns’ new record, Let’s Tip the Landlord, which just came out a few weeks ago through Red Scare Industries.
During the same interview, Megyery informed us that the Brokedowns’ drummer, Mustafa Daka, has limitless love for his pets, making him an ideal candidate for the Bad Penny’s other popular series, Pet Sounds. Megyery’s claims proved to be very well-founded, as Daka got back to us speedy, ready to gush over his cats.
“My precious angels, sisters Ava and Olive … are my favorite topics to talk about!” he gushed during an email exchange.
Continue reading“If I have a purpose in life, it’s to make music.” That’s a powerful statement from a young man named Damián Antón Ojeda, whose solo blackgaze project Sadness exudes the sincerity, intensity and deep emotion of an artist proving his credo through his art. All those factors combined make him an ideal entrant in The Bad Penny‘s new series “The Visionaries,” in which we interview introverted musical savants who typically don’t do many interviews. Following Aaron Turner and Jute Gyte, Ojeda is in very good company.
While Sadness has crafted dozens upon dozens of releases over the past decade or so – most recent the exquisite EP Shimmer – 2024 marked the first live performance for the project. But now, having really broken out of his shell, Ojeda is ready to tour next year and – while he’s too humble to say so himself – is well-positioned for global domination.
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When The Bad Penny embarked on its On Tyranny project more than a year ago, we initially interviewed artists residing in countries controlled by authoritarian regimes in order to learn how they are still able to pursue their vocation despite fears of retaliation including censorship, imprisonment and even death. We conversed with musicians in Russia, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Hungary.
About six months later, the Trump regime began deploying military forces into U.S. cities, deported U.S. citizens without due process to countries they had never resided nor visited, and ordered masked “authorities” with no visible identification to kidnap and disappear people with no criminal records off the street. Thus, we turned our focus to how U.S.-based musicians are coping with previously unimaginable atrocities and how Authoritarian America is damaging the careers and personal lives of artists and dissenters.
Today we bring you a different perspective on the growing power of autocracy as the governing force across the world via a short-and-sweet interview with grindcore band Rotten Sound from Finland. While the vast majority of artists we’ve interviewed for On Tyranny have expressed fear, disgust and despair over the direction that the U.S. – and, by extension, the world – is headed, The Bad Penny was surprised to learn that some artists are not worried about being persecuted for their stances, whether they be creative or “political” (whatever that term actually means anymore).
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The Bad Penny (beta) 