iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Lloyd James @emplloyd.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

Haven’t posted one of these weekly listening charts in a while, felt like a good time with another Bandcamp Friday in the bag

Apostle - A Splinter in the Infinite Noumenon
Arise From Worms - A Bleeding Tree Hanging Self Destruction
Carbon Tomb - Passage to a Neutron Star
Devin Townsend - The Moth
Dissentient - Black Galactic
ERRA - Silence Outlives the Earth
GOREWORM - Miasmic Solitude
Karnivool - In Verses
Lammoth - Tales of Treachery
Lammoth - Onward
Mors Verum - Canvas
Mountainscape - Traversing Realms
MYRDØD - Unseen Daydream
Namu - Wretched Spawns of Iniquitous Orders Neurotech - In Delta Negative
Protest the Hero - Within
Saidan - Fangdriller: Scars
Beneath Memory's Wrist
Thornhill - Butterfly
Together to the Stars - Iridescence
Umulamahri - Learning the Secrets of Acid
Varials - Where the Light Volubilis - Theasterion

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - Nonagon Infinity
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - Polygondwanaland
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - PetroDragonic Apocalypse
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - Infest The Rats' Nest
Ortum, Labyrinthus Stellarum - Preludium Mortis
Neurotech - In Delta Negative
Protest the Hero - Within
Lammoth - Onward
Namu - Wretched Spawn

ERRA - silence outlives the earth
Varials - WHERE THE LIGHT LEAVES
Harboured - We're Only The Love That We Lead
The Blind Philosopher - Innergazer
Beyond Grace - Welcome to the New Dark Ages Pt 3
Destruction of the Healer - A Universe Bereaved
Sallow Moth - Hydrophilous Brood
Luminesce - Floral Contempt
IATT - Etheric Realms of the Night
Gimli, Son of Gloin - At Last, Durin's Mightiest Son Returns To The Field of Battle With Axe in Hand and Glory in His Heart!
Carbon Tomb - Passage to a Neutron Star
Ashen Skies - Broken Harvest

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Lloyd James @emplloyd.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

What perfect album came out when you were 16?

Album art for Karnivool’s 2005 album Themata

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Lloyd James @emplloyd.bsky.social · 06/02/2026

And don’t forget the mighty prog rock/metal legends Karnivool with their long awaited 4th album In Verses. Much imitated but never duplicated!!

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Lloyd James @emplloyd.bsky.social · 26/11/2025

Nov 26 Golgothan Remains - Bearer of Light, Matriarch of Death (2024) A visceral 21 mins of blackened death metal, the 4 tracks flow as one. Where Hadal Maw attack with groove, this channels the spirit of black metal with relentless blasts/tremolo, spaced with atmospheric breaks. #AusMusicMonth

Album art for Golgothan Remains 2024 EP 'Bearer of Light, Matriarch of Death'

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Lloyd James @emplloyd.bsky.social · 25/11/2025

Nov 25 Dyssidia - Costly Signals (2020) A wild ride of extreme prog metal that keeps you guessing, esp the vocals! Shares members with other features in this thread, Freedom of Fear & Hadal Maw, so you know they’ve got chops. Even better, they have a new album out this Friday! #AusMusicMonth

Album art for Dyssidia’s 2020 album, ‘Costly Signals’

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Lloyd James @emplloyd.bsky.social · 24/11/2025

Nov 24 (finally caught up!) Hadal Maw - Oblique Order (2021) A brief but potent release of crushing dissodeath. It's more accessible than a band of this style ought to be, which I attribute in part to the groove that pervades each song. #AusMusicMonth

Album art for Hadal Maw's 2021 EP 'Oblique Order'

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Lloyd James @emplloyd.bsky.social · 24/11/2025

Nov 23 Blood Sky - MMXXV (2025) A recent release that I've only just heard the once, but really enjoyed. A boisterous, full throated prog/power album that I discovered through the mighty Mike Mills of Toehider, who contributed the (fantastic!) vocals. #AusMusicMonth

Album art for Blood Sky's debut album, 'MMXXV'

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Lloyd James @emplloyd.bsky.social · 24/11/2025

Nov 22 Deciduous Forest - Fields of Yore (2025) Another melodic/atmospheric black metal pick from this year. Fairly up-tempo, with plenty of keys in the mix. #AusMusicMonth

Album art for Deciduous Forest's debut album, 'Fields of Yore'

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Lloyd James @emplloyd.bsky.social · 23/11/2025

Nov 21 Stellar Remains - Wastelands (2024) A tight 26 mins of prog death that I enjoyed even more than I remembered! It's got a great blend of sludge and atmospheric influences. Bonus: the artist responsible is also behind my pick for Nov 3, Echoes of Gloom.

Album art for Stellar Remains' 2024 release 'Wastelands'

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Lloyd James @emplloyd.bsky.social · 23/11/2025

Nov 20 Opus of a Machine - Stray Fire (2018) More Aussie prog metal. This one is a little less 'straight ahead' than Hemina, having more of a post-rock flavour. There's quite a diversity amongst the tracks, but huge closer Beacon showcases some of the best of the band's toolkit. #AusMusicMonth

Album art for Opus of a Machine's 2018 album, 'Stray Fire'

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Lloyd James @emplloyd.bsky.social · 23/11/2025

Nov 19 Rise of Avernus - L'appel du Vide (2013) The second death metal album in this thread with this title 😅 Both quite distinct styles though. I'd forgotten how much I love this album. An emotive form of melodic death/doom, with some symphonic and gothic aspects. #AusMusicMonth

Album art for Rise of Avernus' 2013 album 'L'Appel du Vide'

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Lloyd James @emplloyd.bsky.social · 23/11/2025

Nov 18 Hemina - Night Echoes (2019) Excellent Australian prog metal, and this is probably my favourite albums of theirs. A concept album in a multi-album concept series, featuring huge vocal hooks & harmonies. #AusMusicMonth

Album art for Hemina's 2019 album 'Night Echoes'

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Lloyd James @emplloyd.bsky.social · 18/11/2025

Nov 17 Aquilus - Griseus (2011) Absolutely MASSIVE (in scope & production, but a bit in run time too!) orchestral black metal. As much a piece of classical music as it is a metal one, it takes a while to unpack, but is easy to lose yourself in. #AusMusicMonth

Album art for Aquilus' 2011 release 'Griseus'

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Lloyd James @emplloyd.bsky.social · 17/11/2025

Nov 16 Altars - Ascetic Reflection (2022) Tried this before and didn’t get it, but I’ve started appreciating more dissodeath so I gave it another go and really enjoyed it. There’s variation in tempo and riffing to keep it engaging and it has a magnetic quality that draws me back #AusMusicMonth

Album art for Altars’ 2022 release ‘Ascetic Reflection’

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Lloyd James @emplloyd.bsky.social · 16/11/2025

Nov 15 Toehider - I LIKE IT! (2020) A favourite album from a favourite artist, this is as diverse as it is enjoyable. Speed metal, funk, prog rock epic, power metal, synthwave, prog metal and various blends feature across the songs, but a tongue-in-cheek thread runs through them. #AusMusicMonth

Album art for Toehider's 2020 album, 'I LIKE IT'

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Lloyd James @emplloyd.bsky.social · 14/11/2025

Nov 14 Anubis - The Unforgivable (2024) Fantastic prog rock. An album to get swept up in, where the tracks flow effortlessly into one another across 47 mins. Concept album ✅ Outstanding vocals (multiple vocalists) ✅✅ Earworm melodies ✅✅✅ #AusMusicMonth

Album art for Anubis’ 2024 release ‘The Unforgivable’

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Lloyd James @emplloyd.bsky.social · 13/11/2025

Nov 13 Illyria - Wanderlust (2024) A highlight from last year, Wanderlust showcases a compelling melting pot of progressive metal with aspects of post-black, metalcore and melodic death. Third track Pragma is particularly powerful #AusMusicMonth

Album art for Illyria’s 2024 release ‘Wanderlust’

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Lloyd James @emplloyd.bsky.social · 12/11/2025

Nov 12 Skyborne Reveries - Skyborne Reveries (2025) Another melodic/atmospheric black metal project. This one fits nicely into the ‘night time’ black metal mould for me, with some lovely synthy ambient sections and a melancholic sheen, particularly on the latter tracks. #AusMusicMonth

Album art for Skyborne Reveries 2025 self-titled release.

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Lloyd James @emplloyd.bsky.social · 11/11/2025

Nov 11 Zeolite - L'Appel Du Vide (2025) Crushing death metal/deathcore that leans more on the former than the latter. They back it up live too

Album art for Zeolite’s 2025 album ‘L'Appel Du Vide’

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Lloyd James @emplloyd.bsky.social · 10/11/2025

Nov 10 Fierce Deity - Power Wisdom Courage (2021) A fantastic slab of groovy melodic metal with tremendous vocals. The grand concept plays out with cohesion across the three powerful tracks and 32 mins and invites much singing along #AusMusicMonth

Album art for Fierce Deity’s 2021 release ‘Power Wisdom Courage’

Just looking at it makes me want to sing the chorus of Wisdom!

Leave the forest - answer your call
Pain, grief, love and life...
It's all just wisdom after all

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Lloyd James @emplloyd.bsky.social · 09/11/2025

Nov 9 Northlane - Node: Reloaded (2025) A re-recording of their 2015 album released on Friday. I don’t enjoy much modern metalcore, but these guys have always hit the spot for me. I listened to this one a lot during a tricky time in my life so enjoyed hearing the band renew it. #AusMusicMonth

Album art for Northlane’s 2025 re-recording of their 2015 album Node, titled Node: Reloaded

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Lloyd James @emplloyd.bsky.social · 08/11/2025

Nov 8 Barriers - Decay (2025) A recent release I’ve been enjoying - a tight 28 min slab of heavy mid tempo sludge. Their Bandcamp page has several core tags, but there’s not really much of that here, just moody, riffy heaviness. The closing track is a highlight of their best. #AusMusicMonth

Album art for Barrier’s 2025 release ‘Decay’

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Lloyd James @emplloyd.bsky.social · 07/11/2025

Nov 7 Suldusk - Anthesis (2024) One of my favourite albums of last year, dynamics are the name of the game. Melancholic, explosive, introspective & entrancing are some of the adjectives that come to mind, wrapped up in a sublime vocal performance. #AusMusicMonth

Album art for Suldusk’s 2024 album ‘Anthesis’

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Lloyd James @emplloyd.bsky.social · 06/11/2025

Nov 6 Freedom of Fear - Nocturnal Gates (2019) Simply one of the best purveyors of that sweet blend of proggy-techy melodeath going around. This debut rips, with a super-replayable in-and-out 30 min runtime. #AusMusicMonth

Album art for Freedom of Fear's 2019 debut album 'Nocturnal Gates'

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Lloyd James @emplloyd.bsky.social · 05/11/2025

Nov 5 Voyager - Ghost Mile (2017) I’d enjoyed Voyager’s albums before this one, but this is the one where it finally ‘clicked’ for me. Top tier, synthy, poppy prog metal, and this album has a slightly darker bent to the melodies. #AusMusicMonth

Album art for Voyager’s 2017 album Ghost Mile

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Lloyd James @emplloyd.bsky.social · 05/11/2025

Nov 4 Osaka Punch - Mixed Ape (2023) I’ve posted about this album a bunch before, a real highlight from one of Australia’s most fun bands. Their blend of groovy, funky rock/metal is so catchy and wills you into a sense of enjoyment (even if some ideas don’t quite stick!) #AusMusicMonth

Album art for Osaka Punch’s 2023 release ‘Mixed Ape’

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Lloyd James @emplloyd.bsky.social · 03/11/2025

Nov 3 Echoes of Gloom - The Mind's Eternal Storm (2025) A release from this year I've quite enjoyed. Riffy, melodic atmoblack, it starts strong but has some of its best work tucked away at the back, with the huge 10 minute title track a particular highlight. #AusMusicMonth

(Gorgeous) Album art for Echoes of Gloom's 2025 release, 'The Mind's Eternal Storm'

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Lloyd James @emplloyd.bsky.social · 03/11/2025

Nov 2 Oar - The Blood You Crave (2022) A recent discovery - I saw this band live in a tiny room at a festival and they were utterly captivating. Crushing post-black, with a sludgy, doomy bent, dripping with atmosphere. #AusMusicMonth

Album art for OAR's 2022 album 'The Blood You Crave'

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Lloyd James @emplloyd.bsky.social · 03/11/2025

Nov 1 Daysend - Within the Eye of Chaos (2010) A longtime fave of mine, a tight 40ish minutes of ripping melodic death. Great riffs, supreme solos and big choruses. Nothing new, just the basics done really well. Had the pleasure of seeing them at a reunion live show recently too 😊 #AusMusicMonth

Album art for Daysend's third and final album 'Within the Eye of Chaos'

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Lloyd James @emplloyd.bsky.social · 17/10/2025

Looks like you both agree…sort of

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Lloyd James @emplloyd.bsky.social · 06/10/2025

Spent a good chunk of my weekend at the fantastic Essence festival. Growth, Nontinuum, Golgothan Remains & Oar were particular highlights, but Convulsing closing out the festival was based af

Brendan Sloan’s setup for Convulsing, Pride/trans flag draped over speaker cab

Guitar headstock with sticker message:
“Why be a pathetic, racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic fascist when you could just fucking die?”

Brendan Sloan of Convulsing performing ‘pentarch’

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Lloyd James @emplloyd.bsky.social · 16/04/2025

A New Cave Sermon album has just dropped 👀 cavesermon.bandcamp.com/album/fragil...

Simpsons scene in Bart's bedroom. Homer is leaning over Bart, who is lying in bed. They both appear frightened and are looking towards the cover art of Cave Sermon's 3rd album in the top left of the image. Text says 'I don't want to alarm you but there may be a new Cave Sermon album on Bandcamp'

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Lloyd James @emplloyd.bsky.social · 16/02/2025

I’d wondered how I could surmise their impact on me, but really, the band said it best when announcing the tour. Loud Forever

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Lloyd James @emplloyd.bsky.social · 16/02/2025

On Friday night I saw one one of the most formative bands of my teen years on their farewell tour - Shihad. Although nowadays I don’t listen to them or ‘simpler’ hard rock/heavy metal often (the domino meme comes to mind) I’ve still enjoyed their new albums and seen their love shows.

Tour poster for Shihad’s Loud Forever tour.
A tombstone surrounded by lightning bolts is engraved ‘Shihad 1988-2025’. The top & bottom of the poster is lined with logos for each of their 10 studio albums in chronological order.

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Lloyd James @emplloyd.bsky.social · 08/02/2025

Bandcamp Friday purchases. Pretty sure the ciconia release was meant to be a pre-order but the whole thing is up already. So if anyone’s into shreddy instrumental prog, it’s pretty great. Jake Weber’s Middle Earth is also an awesome piece of shreddy instrumental prog!

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Lloyd James @emplloyd.bsky.social · 06/01/2025

Oh man, those kinds of messes are the worst! I once accidentally left a can of creaming soda in my car on a hot summer’s day and came back to pink sprayed all over the roof

A can of Kirk’s creaming soda left in the drink holder of a car. The top of the can has sheared right off and creaming soda is in adjacent nooks and crannies

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Lloyd James @emplloyd.bsky.social · 31/12/2024

#31 - Plan your own festival Not a large festival or all my favourites, but something that incorporates some flavour from this year while also being somewhat realistic.

Generated festival lineup. Includes: Devin Townsend (headliner), Voyager
VOLA, Thy Catafalque, Sgàile, Royal Sorrow (formerly Edge of Haze), Ignea, Bloody Tyrant, Dessiderium, Illyria, Suldusk, Kalandra, Anubis, Toehider, Hemina

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Lloyd James @emplloyd.bsky.social · 30/12/2024

#30 - Most anticipated concerts Not much lined up for next year yet, but for now Shihad, absolutely. They were a formative band for me - my first ever rock/metal show - and now they’re hanging up their boots, so this will be special 🖤

Tour poster for Shihad’s farewell show at the Roundhouse in Sydney.

The poster is red with the band’s name written in white text and the words LOUD FOREVER in black text. The poster also features white silhouettes of images from the artwork of each of their ten studio albums.

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Lloyd James @emplloyd.bsky.social · 29/12/2024

#27 - Favourite album by collaborators Cave Sermon - Divine Laughter I'm not familiar with Charlie Park's earlier work, but what I can say is that after hearing his collaboration with Miguel Méndez for vocals on this album, I can't imagine his music without it - a titanic collaboration

Album artwork for Cave Sermon's 2024 album Divine Laughter

https://cavesermon.bandcamp.com/album/divine-laughter

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Lloyd James @emplloyd.bsky.social · 29/12/2024

#26 - Special physical edition In what's essentially obligatory for me, Devin had a new album out so I picked up yet another of his artbooks.

Promo photo of the limited edition artbook for Devin Townsend's Powernerd.

I couldn't get a proper photo of my copy without risk of waking my young kids up...

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Lloyd James @emplloyd.bsky.social · 29/12/2024

#21 - An album that blew your mind at once Aseitas - Eden Trough There were a few I could've picked, but this blew my mind and surprised me as well. I wasn't expecting much (experimental/dissodeath is very swing & miss for me) but this was techy, proggy & challenging, yet immediately compelling

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Lloyd James @emplloyd.bsky.social · 29/12/2024

#20 - Favourite concept albums Anubis - The Unforgivable A prog-rock tour de force, a 10-part narrative concept album about a man's experience with a cult. The songs are superb, flowing seamlessly from one to the next, with melodic hooks and emotive vocals aplomb.

Album art for Anubis' 2024 album The Unforgivable'.

A shoeless man is depicted running through desert dunes towards the viewer, with a starless night sky behind him.

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