The Bad Penny (beta)

Exclusive Song Premiere: Ghoulhouse’s ‘Rotten Rancid Remains’

Posted in Exclusives, Interviews with tags Autopsy, Coffins, Dismember Exhumed, Ghoulhouse, Repulsion on 11/17/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

Ghoulhouse is a band for the people. The people of Philadelphia, specifically. The metalheads of Philadelphia, even more specific than that. Sealing together grindcore and extreme metal – or “old-school, rotten, crusty grindcore/death metal,: as the band’s label, Horror Pain Gore Death illustriously describes it – Ghoulhouse’s new album drops Dec. 5 on said label.

If you need even more convincing to check out the band, Ghoulhouse recommend them for fans of Repulsion, Autopsy, Coffins, Dismember and Exhumed, among others. While Realm of Ghouls doesn’t street for a few more weeks, Ghoulhouse graciously offered The Bad Penny the chance to premiere one of the cuts from the record, “Rotten Rancid Remains,” weeks in advance.

Read our interview with guitarist/vocalist Rogga Johansson (also of Paganizer and Revolting), then check out The Bad Penny‘s premiere of the Ghoulhouse’s brutal new song.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment »

Exclusive: Mystic Circle Just Dropped New LP – and Have Demos Done, Producer Set for Next One

Posted in Interviews with tags A. Blackwar, Beelzebub, Mystic Circle on 11/16/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

It’s always unsettling, surreal, perplexing – pick your adjective – to see a black-metal musician filled with delight. But Mystic Circle’s Beelzebub had every reason to be when The Bad Penny recently caught up with the vocalist/guitarist/bassist/keyboardist who comprises one-half of the legendary German band for a video interview a couple of months ago. He and his partner A. Blackwar (drums, guitars, keyboards) had recently polished off the third and by far strongest studio album Mystic Circle have conjured since getting back together in 2021.

The harrowing Hexenbrand 1486 is a punishing audio experience through and through, and features grisly subject matter well-suited for the blood-curdling occasion. On the record, Mystic Circle explore the legends of Jack the Ripper and the Boogeyman, along with the Catholic Church’s nauseatingly cruel treatment of supposed witches and other nightmare-inducing topics. Marking something of a departure from the band’s blistering black-metal sound are allusions to horror filml soundtracks by Dario Argento and like-minded B-movie directors.

What follows is a surprisingly candid and extensive discussion with Beelzebub about the record, Mystic Circle’s career and other subjects that he graciously chose to discuss with us.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment »

On Tyranny: Australian Punk Project Schkeuditzer Kreuz Says Authoritarian America Would Ban Band From Playing New Song Live

Posted in Interviews with tags authoritarianism, fascism, Kieren Hills, On Tyranny, Schkeuditzer Kreuz, tyranny on 11/16/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

“People forget that yes you’re allotted certain freedoms as a citizen of a country. It just seems like the notion of responsibility has gone completely out the window.”
-Kieren Hills of Schkeuditzer Kreuz

—

The land of the freedom to commit crimes, the home of the craven. That’s what America is increasingly being perceived as by artists living elsewhere in the world, according to Australian punk project Schkeuditzer Kreuz (and anyone else with a pulse, frankly).

With the Trump Administration canceling visas for foreigners who have published a single social media post criticizing the US government, deporting authorized workers to gulags in countries where they’ve never previously set foot and directing masked thugs to shoot ministers in the head with PepperBalls® (did you know those projectiles are trademarked? Isn’t that rad?!), is anyone reading this article still arguing with a straight face that Authoritarian America hasn’t arrived?

But back to Schkeuditzer Kreuz, a project comprised by independent electronic music producer Kieren Hills. We caught up with him in late September, shortly after the release of his band’s new album, Swan Grinder, which he’s now supporting in Australia and New Zealand (dates below). Schkeuditzer Kreuz refers to a major junction in Schkeuditz, Germany – specifically the interchange that connects the A9 and A14 autobahns. The band’s motto is “one human and some machines, making noise, in the face of it all.”

With that badass info in mind, it’s our pleasure to welcome the first Australian musician to participate in On Tyranny, The Bad Penny‘s ongoing series about how authoritarianism directly damages artists.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment »

Darkness Light Up Boise With Joyful Set; Justin Hawkins Lights Into Crowd Over Cell Phones

Posted in Concert Reviews, Reviews with tags Justin Hawkins, The Darkness on 11/16/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

The Darkness played a gig in Boise on Saturday night, and as to be expected, the always-entertaining British rockers delivered plenty of theatrics and pleased the crowd to virtually no end.

In what appears to be the Darkness’ first-ever concert in Idaho, frontman Justin Hawkins hammed it up in front of the packed crowd at the Knitting Factory Boise. He leaned hard into the glam-rock swagger that made the band stand out from the pack of detached fashionista indie rockers in the early aughts.

To that end, the Darkness tapped heavily into their 2003 debut, Permission to Land; six of the 20 songs they played derived from that record: “Get Your Hands Off My Woman,” “I Believe in a Thing Called Love,” “Growing on Me,” “Givin’ Up,” “Love Is Only a Feeling” and “Friday Night.”

Continue reading →

Leave a comment »

Fimbul Winter Has Come; Ex-Amon Amarth Players Call EP ‘Best Thing’ They’ve Recorded

Posted in Interviews with tags Amon Amarth, Anders Biazzi, Clint Williams, Fimbul Winter, Fredrik Andersson, Niko Kaukinen on 11/15/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

“It’s much heavier than the stuff we did in the past. Yeah, it’s very brutal, but it’s also mellow and melodic. I love it. I haven’t listened to any other band since we recorded this, because it’s so amazing. It’s the best thing I’ve ever recorded.”
-former Amon Amarth and current Fimbul Winter drummer Niko Kaukinen.

—

Fans of Scandinavian melodic death metal are notoriously persnickety. That’s particularly the case when it comes to evaluating whether a band in the narrow yet revered sub-subgenre has “sold out” over the years. The criterion is pretty straightforward: Has the band strayed from the raw, grisly production sound that characterized the first recordings by In Flames, Dissection, At the Gates, Dark Tranquillity and Dismember in favor of a more polished or – gasp! – mainstream sensibility.

If you consider yourself a devotee of MDM from the aforementioned locale in northern Europe, you may have noticed a key contributor to the rise of the subgenre missing from the last sentence: Amon Amarth. While perhaps more singularly responsible than another other Scandinavian death-metal act for getting Americans and others hooked on meth – oops, we mean melodeth – they, like many of the other progenitors, have taken a licking and even faced threats of getting exiled from the community they helped cultivate in the first place.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment »

Rock ‘N’ Roll Rebus #12

Posted in Fun And Games on 11/15/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

Continue reading →

Leave a comment »

From the Vault: Trivium’s Lyrics Don’t Make Any Sense

Posted in Essays, Sound Off with tags Matt Heafy, Trivium on 11/15/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

Trivium is quite possibly The Bad Penny‘s guiltiest of pleasures, and we’re gunning to see them in concert for the 10th-or-so time Nov. 29 at Revolution Concert House in Garden City, Idaho. But to balance out this website’s legitimacy, we’re counterbalancing our affection for vocalist/guitarist Matt Heafy’s band by unearthing this harsh but fair analysis of his lyrics that IndiePit originally ran in 2009.

Hey, what can we say? Trivium is pretty good at breakdowns; The Bad Penny ain’t too shabby at takedowns. Also, any guilt we might feel over this lambasting of Heafy’s lyrics is rendered moot by the band charging $55.70 to attend the aforementioned show. Not cool in the economically devastating times in which the non-billionaires among us are currently trying to survive.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment »

On Tyranny: Locust’s Bobby Bray Says Bands Have ‘Responsibility’ to Tour Red States, Recalls Yeah Yeah Yeahs Solidarity

Posted in Features, Interviews, On Tyranny, On Tyranny with tags authoritarianism, Bobby Bray, censorship, fascism, Justin Pearson, Locust, On Tyranny, Three One G, tyranny, Yeah Yeah Yeahs on 11/14/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

“Perhaps this new panopticon is leading us further down the path to a modern-day banality of evil.” -The Locust’s Bobby Bray

—

A conversation about iconoclastic, antagonistic musicians subverting authority wouldn’t be complete without input from Bobby Bray, best known as the vocalist and guitarist for The Locust. For that reason – and because his convictions about politics are as fierce, thoroughly considered and perfectly executed as his artistic vision – The Bad Penny could not be more grateful that he agreed to participate in On Tyranny, our ongoing series about how authoritarianism directly affects artists.

We carried out our exchange about tyranny, fascism, censorship and related topics with Bray last month. In the end, Bray delivered some of the most eloquent, cogent and sensible comments voiced thus far by any of the 50-plus musicians who have participated in the series we launched roughly a year and a half ago, when ICE assaults, a third Trump term and blowing up boats in international waters more than 1,000 miles away from U.S. shores seemed inconceivable to most Americans.

Without further ado, here is what Bobby Bray had to say about the current state of affairs in the U.S.

Continue reading →

1 Comment »

10 Best Free Bandcamp Downloads: Smirk, Miracle Blood, Jute Gyte, Rat Champion, Iodine Sampler

Posted in Lists, MP3s with tags Charlie Nieland, Count Your Lucky Stars, In Lieu, Iodine Recordings, Jute Gyte, Miracle Blood, Rat Champion, Smirk, Something Is Waiting, Twilight Sad on 11/14/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

Strapped for cash but hungry for great music? You won’t have much luck camping out at the grocery store these days; Bandcamp is a way better destination. Here’s a rundown of 10 rad releases, about half of them newly released, that The Bad Penny recently came across on Bandcamp.

(Note: If you do have some green to spare, please show your thanks to these deserving artists and labels.)

1. Smirk’s “Domestic Dog” b/w “Manhunt In Paradise”

Connecticut punk prince Smirk greased the wheels for a swing of spring dates last year with this single, which Industry Standards just put out today in the form of a 7-inch. The still-free digital version tops our list of gratis Bandcamp releases because the humble artiste donated all proceeds from sales of it to HEAL Palestine.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment »