UNSIGNED AND UNHOLY: DIONAEA, NEPHELIUM, CARDAMON

I recently had a lengthy debate with a friend about the future of music. His argument: with declining sales of recorded music, the industry will shrink (already has) and will not be able to bring as many good bands out to the masses. My argument: the other side of the piracy coin is the incredible power of the Internet to spread music and super-cheap recording technology, which means there will be plenty of good bands in abundance in the future, easy discoverable, more than ever before. He’s probably right that as marketing dollars dry up there will be less casual listeners — most people need new music to be delivered to them, be it by radio, press, word of mouth, or otherwise, and it’s only us die-hards that really put effort into seeking it out. But MetalSucks gets so many good unsigned submissions on a daily basis that I believe, at least for us die-hards, there’s gonna be tons of great stuff out there to find if you’ve got the will to search for it. To boot:

• Dionaea: At first I was all “these guys sound kinda like Scale the Summit” and then I got to the 2:45 mark of the first song on their Bandcamp page, when Dionaea kick it into hyperdrive, and I’m like “WTF holy shit!” . MS reader (and band member?) Dion Valerian nailed it by calling these guys experimental post-grind, but they also touch on so many other metal micro-genres.

• Nephelium hail from Dubai, although they now call Toronto home; not that a band’s hometown should really influence your perception of them, but I just think that’s interesting. Just straight up ripping, pummeling, brutal groovy death metal — no bells and whistles, just the way I like it. Here’s the first single from their new album Coils of Entropy, out on February 7th:

• Cardamon: Female-fronted hard rock/metal bands are a dime a dozen, but Cardamon are really a diamond in the rough. The Dutch band is fronted by Floortje Donia, whose smooth and steady voice is nuanced and dynamic without any of the angst that plagues so many female lead singers in heavy music. The band plays an interesting blend of progressive hard rock and metal, and they too steer clear of cliche while crafting very memorable songs. I’m really impressed.