Includes high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more. Paying supporters also get unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app.
Professionally printed and duplicated cassette tapes will be available for purchase here soon after 9/9/2019. 100 copies made. Purchase here will include digital download.
Purchasable with gift card
name your price
Limited Edition cassette tape
Cassette + Digital Album
Professionally duplicated and printed cassette tape, program duplicated on both sides of black cassette with direct-print label in white, two-panel double-sided j-card, colorless jewel case in shrink wrap. 100 copies!
Includes unlimited streaming of Step to Freedom - The Rotten Era
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Professionally printed and duplicated cassette tapes will be available for purchase here soon after 9/9/2019. 100 copies made. Purchase here will include digital download.
Cassette tapes without digital download available at blownoutmedia.bigcartel
Step to Freedom from Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, is one of these hidden diamonds in bandcamp. They are a long standing crust punk band, they "were formed in late 2007. In 2009, the mini-album "Without making the first step, losing the last hope" was recorded, released in limited copies and distributed only in the territory of the Russian Federation. In 2010, the demo "Faces of Death" was recorded. In 2014 they released the album "Social Zombies", a limited edition was released on audio cassettes. "Cemetery for the Humankind" was released in 2017" and The Rotten Era is their fresh new release. Recorded in November and December 2018, it consists of 4 tracks and 15 minutes of metallic crust/stenchcore inspired by bands such as Misery, Antisect and early Hellbastard. This is really so good beyond any expectations.
-Crust Demos blog 5/26/2019
I spend an inordinate amount of time trawling blogs, YouTube, and Bandcamp looking for ugly releases to share, and I still manage to miss a mountain of great music along the way. Case in point: Russian stenchcore band Step to Freedom. The Nizhny Novgorod-based four-piece released an EP, The Rotten Era, a few months back, but I only stumbled on the metallic monster recently. Step to Freedom have a couple of other releases under their belt already, and they’re all essentially comprised of harsh, bass-driven crust that’s both noxious and evocative of a very bleak reality.
My knowledge of Russian crustcore doesn’t extend very far past the reliably excellent Moscow crew Fatum, and if you enjoy that band’s thundering stenchcore—or the ear-splitting punk of OG crusties like Misery, Deviated Instinct or Axegrinder—then Step to Freedom will also likely appeal. I’m genuinely stoked to have stumbled on The Rotten Era; it’s one of those cranium-cracking gems so often lost in all the noise. Fans of guttural punk, squalid crust, and doom-choked hardcore should tune in. The Rotten Era‘s production features ample heaviness and density, and the EP deserves a wider audience.
-In Crust We Trust, Volume 5
supported by 7 fans who also own “Step to Freedom - The Rotten Era”
WOW !!! .... this is some real good raging hardcore , from a band of very tight & proficient musicians ,,,, this is just what 'the doctor ordered' ,,,, coming in at you with a high-octane delivery of blistering numbers ,,,, dunno where they get the energy from to surge on in the way that they do , but it certainly is a profound collection of 'in ya face' angst ridden & adrenalin overloaded offerings ,,,,, & I love it ,,,, bring it on .... diddley_whack
The Italian hardcore group’s latest is a powerful, claustrophobic album that rarely lets up its mathy, metallic assault. Bandcamp Album of the Day Feb 6, 2018
The Chicago punks seem intent on defying any hardcore conventions, focusing instead on communicating pure disgust for the rotting world around them. Bandcamp Album of the Day Jul 1, 2022
Polish noise-crust outfit eschews the big Tragedy-esque riffs still popular with their US counterparts for scratchy claustrophobia. Bandcamp New & Notable Nov 2, 2016