Tag Archives: Double Hell Death Match

Syrup Moose Records: V (2024 Compilation)

Posted by valleyofsteel on

ICYMI: at some point in the latter half of 2024, Syrup Moose Records officially announced that they were taking a well-deserved break during 2025. After averaging at least one release (digital and/or cassette, sometimes CD and/or vinyl too) for their first 2-1/4 years in existence, they have hit the pause button on anything new over the course of this whole year.

Honestly, I think this is a brilliant idea and more people should follow suit. It might give me a slight fighting chance to eventually one day dig myself out of the pile of stuff on my to-do list I have been compiling over the past dozen or so years, stuff I’ve heard and enjoyed enough to write something about to share with the folks who come here to read these words, but which I’ve failed to find the time and energy to do so (yet).

Anyway, because they’ve never half-assed anything, Syrup Moose closed out last year with one hell of a bang: their latest and greatest compilation V — the fifth in a series (not including their first anniversary Year of the Moose) — which tips the scales at a whopping 108 tracks (yes, you read that right, one hundred eight), totaling roughly EIGHT HOURS of material as varied as the label’s first two years of releases have been.

 

Various Artists – V (Syrup Moose Records, 27 December 2024)

Continue reading →

Know Justice, Know Peace (2024 Compilation)

Posted by valleyofsteel on

It feels like we just did this — but the goodly folks at Food Desert Recordings are at it yet again.

Released TODAY, Know Justice, Know Peace is a brand new compilation benefitting National Bail Out.

 

Various Artists – Know Justice, Know Peace: A Compilation in Support of National Bail Out (Food Desert Recordings, 26 April 2024)

 

Continue reading →

Please, Just Let Me Breathe (2023 Compilation)

Posted by valleyofsteel on

Welp, the terrible folks in positions of power across these United States (and all around the world) are still at it. Seems like every day we wake up to worse and worse news about increasingly-emboldened lawmakers coming up with more and more devious plots to take away people’s rights, especially LBGTQ+ people, and ESPECIALLY trans people.

It’s hard not to feel frustrated and helpless in the face of so much shittiness and — if we’re being honest — outright maliciousness and malevolence. But for what it’s worth, there are at least some good people out there trying to be helpful. People like Trans Lifeline, “run by and for trans people” to provide needed support for the community.

Also people like Food Desert Recordings, “supporting charities that uplift and empower maligned communities.” Today the digital label officially launches its third fundraising compilation, a gargantuan 27-track effort ranging from traditional heavy metal to post-metal, avant-garde black metal to dark ambient, harsh noise to trap metal. The artists, which include members of the trans community and allies, have donated tracks which in many cases are exclusive non-album singles or alternate versions you won’t find anywhere else. And all proceeds go to Trans Lifeline, which according to the label have totaled nearly $700 so far just from pre-orders.

Various Artists – Please, Just Let Me Breathe: A Compilation in Support of Trans Lifeline (Food Desert Recordings, 28 April 2023)

[[ Update 22 December 2023: if you’ve previously purchased and downloaded this compilation, please note that it has been altered. Unfortunately it has recently come to light that one of the contributing artists has been engaging in creepy, stalkery behaviors in their interactions with several people online. Therefore, this individual’s track has been jettisoned and replaced, as a statement that such actions are not to be tolerated. ]]

Continue reading →