By It’s our Bandcamp Picks of the Week, featuring the conspiratorial psychedelic hip hop of Celestaphone & Dealers of God’s CULT SUBTERRANEA, and the explosive new hardcore split from Statement of Pride, Destiny, and Envision!
Celestaphone & Dealers of God – CULT SUBTERRANEA
Genre: Hip Hop, Experimental, Psychedelic
Favorite Tracks: “Drake Passage,” “Moscovium,” “Ayys Hello”
CULT SUBTERRANEA is made by two like-minded acts, both coming from different eclectic origin points. The first is Dealers of God, an Australian plunderphonics and hip hop group known for making lengthy albums that are dipped in psychedelic soundscapes and smoked-out humor. The other is Celestaphone, an American musician who began dabbling in making instrumental beats before eventually rapping in 2018. Despite having started in different sectors, they share some specific commonalities: sampling psychedelic rock music, exploring conspiracy theories, and as the album cover would indicate, aliens.
The ‘90s video game-inspired album art alone immediately speaks to what Celestaphone and Dealers of God are veering into with this collaborative project of theirs. Celestaphone, with his eccentric expressions, delves into the overwhelming intersection of religion, politics, military, and tech spaces, whose massive influence and power often skew the creation of stories and theories that can be easily believed, even if they’re ultimately found to be bogus and nonsensical. “Ayys Hello” plays interestingly into this, with Blu and Quelle Chris featuring to tell the stories of aliens that they may have encountered, even if in reality it’s nothing but a facade caused by their experience with psychedelic shrooms or the uncanny evolution of technology.
This heady spiral is amplified through the production. With how tightly knit the record is, the collective lace it with punches of psychedelic rock that are firmly within their comfort zones. The sharp horns and stable grooves on “Chaenodraco” and the dizzying synth melody on “Moscovium” match Celestaphone’s manic energy; a shuffling percussive repetition creates a low-key but still delirious tune on “Draconian Starseed,” and the kooky guitar and horn refrains on “Drake Passage” manifest on the back half as a dreary spoken word with washed-out ambience.
There is nothing uniquely dizzying quite like CULT SUBTERRANEA. It’s a concise project for both acts that unveils so much batshit wit, humor, and insight. It whirls through psychedelic production, anchoring around Celestaphone’s crazed flow throughout. Each bar spills forth, barking and wheezing at the powers that be while confronting the spread of conspiratorial information that can be weaponized in the wrong hands. The album title is indeed true: Cults do spawn first from the subterranea before resurfacing in the open. Listen to this bewildering album on Bandcamp. [Louis Pelingen]
Statement of Pride / Destiny / Envision – IT COMES FROM WITHIN…
Genre: Hardcore
Favorite Track: “Condemned”
“Are you willing to die for what you say you believe?” demands Carter Holmes on “Condemned,” the first song on the new IT COMES FROM WITHIN… split, in a lyric that sums up the entire EP. Hardcore’s always been about that conviction, whether it’s about animal rights, straight edge, or pacifism, and it’s one that knows no borders; IT COMES FROM WITHIN… pairs Florida straight edge bands Statement of Pride and Envision with Singapore’s Destiny, an internationalism in line with the bands’ stated politics.
Given that IT COMES FROM WITHIN… is being released on Holmes’ own label From Within Records, it’s only fitting that his band kicks things off. Statement of Pride has amassed a strong collection of EPs and singles since they debuted in 2022, and their two contributions pick up right where last year’s REBIRTH left off. “Condemned” is a straightforward hardcore ripper, breathless and breakneck; in three minutes, it showcases everything Statement of Pride can do in a neat package. They keep up the momentum on “From Within,” Holmes extolling the powers of a “strength” that “comes from within.”
Envision’s cuts are a welcome addition, being the band’s first material in over two years—not a tremendous amount of time in general, but eons for a hardcore band—and in that time they haven’t missed a beat. Named for the Palestinian novelist and revolutionary Ghassan Kanafani, their first contribution matches the urgency of its instrumentals with the urgency in its lyrics: “What was taken will be freed / By our hands / Or the next.” This being Envision, the star of the show on both “Kanafani” and “For Myself” is the guitar playing; the heavy metal-influenced leads absolutely shine, and the solo on “For Myself” is virtuosic. They never feel overwrought or unnecessarily flashy, though; it’s all integrated rather tastefully into the band’s classic ‘90s-sounding hardcore. Admittedly, both Statement of Pride and Envision have been around and established long enough that neither offers many surprises, and that’s perfectly fine on a release like this.
But it’s Destiny, who provide the middle two tracks on IT COMES FROM WITHIN…, that’s made the biggest leap since their previous material. TO SEE ANOTHER DAY from last year was a respectable effort, but these songs are far more compelling, anchored by a much-improved vocal performance. Like their splitmates, Destiny’s style of hardcore looks to the icons of the ‘90s—all three of these bands work quite nicely together—but the rapid tempo and dynamic changes in “Choose to Bloom” keep things interesting. “Stance,” on the other hand, makes it especially unfortunate that the band hails from an entirely different continent; the track’s gang vocals are clearly meant to be screamed together in a crowded, sweaty basement.
IT COMES FROM WITHIN… is a great document of just where straight edge hardcore is in 2025, and if that’s intriguing at all, then the split is essential listening. Even if not, there’s a lot to love in all three bands’ passion and energy. Grab it on Bandcamp. [Zac Djamoos]
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