Antifascist Black Metal Network

Cazvra is a 100 percent d.i.y solo bedroom project. Although the music and accompanying story is completely non-political, the person behind this multi-instrumental and eclectic music project is an anti-authoritarian anti-capitalist who comes from anarchist and queer punk backgrounds. The music on the “Elsewhere” EP is predominantly gloomy and heavy, despite the fact that we are dealing here mainly with dark ambient and one in which electronics dominate and for an orthodox ear - the raw black metal technically speaking - we have only a moment. But as we have proven many times with similar projects, black metal often transcends the traditional form, and through electronic sound it is possible to generate a suitably dark, gloomy and harsh image that is a beautiful abomination from the dull and conservative norm, that is still emanating black metalness. It should be added that having dark ambient in mind is a general indication of the direction in which Cazvra's music goes, as we have several different aesthetics such as noise and gaze woven in. This is some serious dark ambiet alternative gourment. 

When some artists, activists and fans of various political tendencies started to organized the Metal Sem Facho ("Metal Without Fash") collective, we were profoundly bothered with the presence of fascists, misogynists, LGBTQIA+phobes, Zionists and other far-right scum inside heavy music, and the desire to do something to remove this presence and promote a more inclusive and left-oriented underground. Our first effort was organizing groups to debate politics and music, and we talked about and with countless bands, traded information about whom to avoid and who to publish, helped in virtual campaigns such as that against the presence of the accessories of genocide Armored Dawn in Tarja's tour of the USA, and a series of other things. 

However, we also want to fight the far-right in a more material and less musical dimension, bridging the heavy metal community and the struggles that happen in reality. We have many and deep differences between us, but we have some important common principles, among which are there is class solidarity: that is, the support, polical and material (as much as possible), to workers who are victims of polical brutality, mass layoffs, environmental catastrophes, etc. This compilation, which we hope will be the first of many, is on one hand an opportunity to bring attention to some bands that share these values with us, but it also intends to gather funds to help the organized social movements who are on the frontlines against of the biggest disasters in Brazil's history: the huge floods in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, which happened between late April and early May 2024.

The very same climate collapse we see expressed in the forest fires of Canada and Valparaiso of Chile, on the bizarre drought of the Amazon River and on the murderous heat across the world brought a absurd of rain, which led to floods that kept Rio Grande do Sul quite literally underwater for the better part of a month. The losses for the poor are incalculable: hundreds of people dead, hundreds of thousands of homes destroyed, millions of animals dead... and on the part of those responsible for all of this, the big businessmen, big farmers, the governments, the efforts to reparate the victims was insufficient in the best of cases. The floods in Rio Grande do Sul show, once again, that the exploited and the oppressed of this world have only theimselves as friends.

The groups we want to support, CSP-Conlutas and the MLB, are old friends of the Brazilian social movement. CSP-Conlutas is a antibureaucratic federation joining hundreds of trade unions, student and popular organizations who are independent from all governments and play an outstanding role in the organization and unification of struggles and strikes around the country. The Movimento de Lutas nos Bairros, Vilas e Favelas ("Movement of Struggles on Neighbourhoods, Villages and Slums") fights for urban reform and for the right to live with dignity. Both organizations are present around the country and have been exemplary in the fight against the first consquences of the catastrophe, be it organizing shelters, community kitchens and distributing free food and donations, be it organizing demonstrations, occupations and other forms of demanding the rights due to the homeless and affected. Both need help to keep the actions of solidarity and struggle, which have not ended and will probably become even more necessary considering the continuity of the climate collapse.

This compilation is a small sample of bands that are somehow involved with Metal Sem Facho, be it in the organization, in the rank-and-file groups, or just are solidary to our ideas. We have legends of the Brazilian underground, bands that play tours around the world, and newer groups/ we have black metal, death metal, grindcore, thrash, and other stuff, we have bands from the South, Southeast and Northeast regions, and from 10 different states of the country; we have bands with LGBTQIA+, black and female members. None of this is by coincidence, since fighting to open space for diversity is one of our principles - in fact, we think we are lagging behind in that sense, since we lack two regions of the country and the oppressed sectors are the minority in this compilation. We believe that heavy metal's place is on the side of the oppressed and exploited and without any type of "proletarian" reductionism like those operated by transphobes and "anti-identitarians" that sell themselves as leftists just to spread the very same disgusting conservatism of the far-right.

The arts of the cover and of the logo, made by our dear colleague Clark, give us a clue of what we want with this compilation: not only to bring antifascist solidarity to our comrades of Rio Grande do Sul, but also to raise high the black and red banners above the reactionary mud that tries to drown heavy metal... and metaphorically (or not), to drown in fascist blood our blades. Fear then, minions, ancaps and others of the same ilk, for this declaration is just the beginning of our war!

We're proud to feature the long awaited second album from Kvadrat, the one man death/black metal band from Greece which took everyone by suprise with their debut EP release in 2021. Showcasing already a mastery in the combination of death metal and dissonant black metal alongside bathed in the waters of an oppressing, dark atmosphere, the question of where Kvadrat would go from there left many of us with baited breath. Coming from the bowels of the local diy grind scene and featuring prominenty an anti-nazi message in their bandcamp page, Kvadrat finally released their first full length "The Horrible Dissonance of Oblivion" in the beginning of April.

Masochrist is what you expect from melodic deathgrind: the music you need to get up and go to work, the music that keeps your heart beating, the music that will scare your parents, your colleagues, or any right-minded person. With 18 songs for almost 17 minutes, this album keeps the very high standard of short songs, going from 4 seconds to 1'23" for the longest. This allowed me to listen to it exactly 8 times this morning while doing one of the most annoying tasks at my job, withtout getting bored. With this album, Masocrist manages to provide songs that are even more brutal and violent than the rest, going faster, going screamier, but this melodic touch they have makes it still groovy.

In terms of politics, you get what you came for. With lyrics provided, which would otherwise be hard to understand, you come across some very leftist texts, dealing with government, current events such as the ongoing g*nocide in Palestine with 'Apartheid complicity', anti-imperialism with 'Virulent Age', or the loss of meaning of life with 'Raped by the Grime of Crust' « Work is the death of passion / The creative noose / Exhaustion, the death of desire / Raped by the grime of crust / Work is the death of passion / The creative noose... ».

Sometimes as a fan of metal, we may find ourselves in an indecisive mood about the kind of metal we want to listen to. Should we throw on some folk metal? Maybe some classic heavy metal? Nahhh maybe some black metal? The indecisiveness can be inredibly frustrating.

Well, if youre in that kind of mood, then we have the perfect album for you! Today we present Wandering Oak's second studio album Resilience! A record that flies through the many genres of the genre that we love called metal. It is truly impressive how Wandering Oak are able to weave in folk-y sections with black metal, power metal, prog and straight up classic heavy metal! Standout tracks such as Verspetine and A Florid Grain showcase the bands eclectic music style.The album also presents some of the best guitar work and production we have heard in a while!  The solos are pure face melters, and fans of 80s style shred guitar will have lots to chew on! 

Oh and by the way, if you go on their bandcamp, we recommend scrolling all the way down. Most importantly, the band has left a small little note to inform us of their stance on things: Hail Metal | Kill Fascism. 

So, when you have a band known for their unique take on black metal like Jute Gyte are, with their legendary microtonal progressive output, why would you choose their  rare ambient release to feature? Well, why not, after all their black metal releases are already acknowledged as genre classics, plus, it's named after an equatorial dark spot on Pluto who in turn is named after a Mandaean lord of the underworld and, well, we are huge nerds. 

So, 'Krun Macula' is eerie. It could be said to be somewhat calming, but the undercurrent is there. It's minimal, but somehow tunes on the  uncanny valley, but on a grand, impersonal scale. Like watching an endless march of people through a post apocalyptic wasteland while angels supervise them smiling, but the people can tell the smiles are fake, creepy, Stepford-like rictuses intended to calm them but that the angels are really alien and unfeeling, while the silence is not silence but to quote Harlan Ellisson,  the sound of one hand clapping. 

Missing a bit of angst and bitterness in this Sunday? Worry not, we got you covered.

From doomy passages to frantic blastbeats, "Unburned" can be your companion today offering a prime expression of fiery rage with an excellent addition of melancholy, hopelessness and sharply well written lyrics against the duality of religion and its rule, alongside the philosophical, moral and socio-cultural weight that follows closely tied to it. In 6 acts, FATAL unwinds a masterful and raw work equally moving, leaving their guts out in a sour frenzy of riffs and drumming paired with the oppressiveness of feelings and thoughts in an endless cycle of agony and despair, described in the best way by the artist here as a "war against yourself", a staircase delving directly into nothingness but a shallow realization eclipsing our passion and blurring our sight, a clear hint to DSBM in the channeling of a sound that manifests this crystalline sensation of being trapped, of witnessing the fall of everything around you and being absolutely powerless, by impulses of pure energy and beating drowned in the overwhelming atmosphere, hands that suffocate us gazing at a void.

Despite all, there's a voice of intention to stay put and resist, to continue against this struggle and suck out the poison in the veins. To keep on surviving, to burn it all down and claim your place and your dignity. A statement like a wall against the highest tide promising not to fall; one carved vestige in  stone for those that want us dead to remember that we will return, in one way shape or another, with one face or another, but with the same passion and will.

Today we are pleased to present a new EP by the Rejecter, which was one of the first projects we published. It's a great opportunity to trace Rejecter's musical path and to reflect on its example of paying attention to genre frameworks. Black metal, however, consists of several distinctive musical elements, but it also exists in an elusive emotional realm. A certain atmosphere, emotion or impression completes the whole picture. This EP is no different, and questions about the framework of the genre are legitimate, as with the announcement of the release of this material, the band itself encourages us to do so. As we read on their socials: 

"I'm a lot less attached to the black metal name these days, but you'll hear its influence in the music...alongside a bunch of strange tangents into related styles that I feel aren't combined with blackened styles as often. The world has changed a lot and I've changed a lot, and I'm no longer certain what to call the style, but we've had no change in commitment to antifash ideas."

And so it is indeed, the ep is 4 compositions, each with a title that begins with "dis," and each is a successful approach to introducing aesthetics rarely combined with black. There's heavy metal, there's prog thrash, there's rock alternative. The vocals vary greatly and very well from shouting to modulated choruses, and similarly, very different instruments in each track make a black metal impression, once it's fast drums relentlessly pounding out split seconds, once it's guitar spilling black metal atmosphere.... The bass guitar often leads the entire piece with a heavy metal groove, laying the foundation for the entire song. 

Nocthun self describes themselves as apocalyptic antifascist metal and it pretty much sets the mood of "Rest in Flames", their new album. This 48 minutes album starts slowly with a first track starting with spoken text and low volume instruments before being quickly overflowed by raging guitars and drums, in a mix of death metal guitar riffs, and blast beats. This album keeps a melody and tone that makes it extremely accessible in the world of blak metal, and a nice mix makes it even more smooth to listen to. Nonetheless, this album stays extremely brutal, sometimes even overwhelming but in a good way, like a thunderstorm or a tidal wave coming and cleaning all the surrounding, all your sense, a fresh reboot for your day. The lead guitar that keeps taking us during the whole album makes an excellent work of bringing some variety, a welcomed calm in this tumultuous music.

In terms of politics, some of the tracks set the tone, such as 'Volcanic Hellfire', which lyrics deal with global warming and the way we are burning fossile fuels and feeding the machine that will destroy us, or 'Absolute Oblivion', which is about the veil of lies and manipulations that is shown to us, the small people of this world, «Beneath the veneer of societal sheen / Absolute oblivion, the dystopian scene».

We can also cite 'The Flag Rising' which is, as expected, a call to arms, a call to revolution against oppression, a call to fight for our freedom and our justice.

There are a lot of bands and musicians in the style of dissonant, technical or avant-garde death/black metal that can create interesting and original textures, but not many that can powerfully grab your attention and create an everlasting impression like Australia's one man death metal powerhouse Convulsing. Having already delivered two acclaimed albums in 2016' Errata (where the artist behind the project had layed his convictions upfront in the form of a note that says 'make art/reject fascism') and 2018's Grievous, the third long awated album from Convulsing came suddenly and unexpectedly in the 1st of March. The first thing you'll notice after hitting play is that the tone of the album is a little different comparing to the more 'cavernous' sounding previous two albums. A bit of the heaviness is dialed down and the guitars sound... greyer and more saturated in a way, reflecting the abstract, smeared black-and-white cover.