Free Stuff Is Pretty Rad.

It feels good when you don't have to FIGHT for your free music, right? When an artist figures out "hey, nobody's making a fucking DIME selling music anymore anyways, I might as well give this shit away myself and possibly make some dough on merchandise and touring by getting my music out there as wisely and efficiently as possible"? It's kind of weird that shit-tons more musicians haven't figured it out yet, you know? Whatever.

Here are two killer recordings from artists who have figured it out, Bros who have stayed ahead of the curve by offering up their music for FREE to anyone who cares to hear it.
The Revolution will not be sold on iTunes.


SEPPUKU PARADIGM - MARTYRS OST (2008)


I have to start out by thanking Brother Aylmer for not only turning me on to Seppuku Paradigm via his wonderful film blog Unflinching Eye, but to the film Martyrs itself as well, not to mention the burgeoning NWOFHM (NEW WAVE OF FRENCH HORROR MOVIE) movement that has been churning out one sick and disturbing film after another for about the last seven years or so (see also: High Tension, Inside, Calvaire, Sheitan, Frontier(s)). Aylmer is indeed a master of his craft and I will allow him to expound on the strange, dark, and mindbendingly dystopic violence of Martyrs in his own words:

"A lot of fans of really violent movies were angered and offended by the violence in Martyrs because it's not entertaining or cathartic. The final act in particular is a grim, prolonged and extremely unpleasant depiction of one of the main protagonists being tortured, humiliated and beaten, that is about as far away from "fun" violence as you can get. In this respect it succeeds at forcing the viewer to really feel empathy for the victim of this atrocity far more effectively than Michael Haneke's Funny Games, because it doesn't indulge in Haneke's childish manipulation and insulting condescension."....


"The cinematography and stark production design are excellent, as is Benoît Lestang's incredible and disturbing make-up FX (he was a great talent who tragically took his own life in 2008). A lot of people dislike the abrupt change at Martyrs' mid-point into kind of metaphysical SF, but for me it works perfectly, and the end (which Fangoria's Tony Timpone accurately described as "approaching Kubrickian transcendence") literally had my jaw agape and my eyes bugging."

Indeed, an extremely fucked-up film worthy of an extremely fucked-up soundtrack--a soundtrack provided by the twisted minds that comprise the experimental French electro-rock duo Seppuku Paradigm. Haunting, sad, and even at times sort of rockin' (see standout track "Crisis", which builds epic amounts of Goblin-esque tension in a mere 48 seconds), this is a score absolutely fitting for the film it accompanies, a harrowing journey into malevolent psychological territories best left unexplored.

Plus, it's FREE!

Seppukuparadigm.com/Last.FM
Download HERE




CEPHALECTOMY - AN EPITAPH TO TRANQUILITY (2009)


We last checked in with Cephalectomy HERE, wherein I shared their brilliant, Lovecraftian 2004 release Eclipsing The Dawn (another album that can be downloaded for free via their official website). Billing their brand of off-kilter, hyperviolent death metal as "True Northern Mystigrind" (they hail from Nova Scotia), Cephalectomy have never hidden their worship of early Kataklysm, and if that statement makes you shudder with disgust then you need to go back and do some more research. Careening back and forth between acoustic passages, psuedoclassical composition, blast-ridden Agorophobic Nosebleed interludes, and good, old-fashioned deathgrind pummeling, An Epitaph To Tranquility is yet another excellent entry into the nearly 13-year-old Cephalectomy catalogue, and also the second to last (the band has already announced that their next album will precede imminent retirement). I urge you all to check it out, free of charge, as Cephalectomy, Illogical Contraption, and the very Gods of The Internet have always intended.

Cephalectomy.com /Last.FM/Metallum
Download HERE

Cheesy, yes. But this band kills.