Szmrdt – Best Of [Demo]

Artist: Szmrdt Country: Czechia Label: Filth Junkies Records Formats: Demo Tape Year: 2026 It will come as no surprise that, even more than the artwork and the logo, it was the title of this debut demo tape that caught my…

Abhorvm – First Exhvmations [EP]

Artist: Abhorvm Country: Scotland Label: Death Revelations Formats: Cassette EP Year: 2026 Abhorvm is the newest addition to the ranks of Death Revelations, a label that has been churning out stellar underground releases lately by Triumphal Vengeance, Hæksenhamer and Sacris…

Gaalvan – Geschworener Hass [Demo]

Artist: Gaalvan Country: Germany Label: Crimson Reign Records Formats: Demo Tape Year: 2026 Gaalvan is a rather new one-man Black Metal project from Germany, solely helmed by Dark Tormentor (also in Asmodeum). As is more often the case with one-man…

Sammas’ Equinox – Pohjanheimo

Artist: Sammas’ Equinox Country: Finland Label: Breath of Pestilence Formats: CD Year: 2025 ‘Pohjanheimo’ is the second album by Sammas’ Equinox, a band from Finland that amongst others harbours members of Blood Red Fog, Moon Oracle, Caestus and Nécropole (live).…

Aürc – Isolation & Mist [Demo]

Artist: Aürc Country: Spain Label: Diabolical Vitriol Formats: Demo Tape Year: 2026 One-man Black Metal project Aürc, hailing from Catalonia, Spain, debuted with a digital demo called ‘Autumn Fires’ by the end of 2021, yet it remained largely unnoticed. Yours…

Black Hurst – Purgatory Of Flesh Bizarre

Artist: Black Hurst Country: USA Label: Ixiol Productions / Nuclear War Now! Productions / Signal Rex Formats: LP / Cassette Tape / CD Year: 2026 Black Hurst made their debut with a demo tape in 2023, if we don’t count…

Mughtasib – Invictus [Demo]

Artist: Mughtasib Country: Spain Label: Medieval Prophecy Records Formats: Demo Tape Year: 2026 This second demo tape by Mexican one-man band Mughtasib, which translates to “Violator”, is simply called ‘Invictus’ and continues the path chosen about two years ago when…

Diavol – Advance Promo MMXXV

Artist: Diavol Country: Romania Label: Self-Releasaed Formats: Demo Tape Year: 2025 Diavol is a relatively new band, hailing from the seemingly fertile Heavy Metal grounds in Bucharest, Romania. It is a duo consisting of Mike Witchspit on drums and on…

Vömitt – Motörized Kataphracts [EP]

Artist: Vömitt Country: Romania Label: Self-Releasaed Formats: Digital EP Year: 2026 In the summer of 2024 I first heard from Vömitt, a bunch of motörized scallywags from Romania. Although these lads already released an EP a year prior, I only…

Grieving Mirror – Golden Age Restored [Demo]

Artist: Grieving Mirror Country: USA Label: Neuro Plastic Formats: Demo Tape Year: 2026 In summer last year, Grieving Mirror debuted with ‘Opulence And Grandeur’, a very interesting demo tape that showed the multifaceted character of this one-man project, led by…

Crévüre – En Rase Campagne [Demo]

Artist: Crévüre Country: France Label: Self-Released Formats: Demo Tape Year: 2026 Whether Sanglant is also involved with other bands or projects, I do not know, but either way, ‘En Rase Campagne’ is the debut demo tape of Crévüre. As one might expect, judging by…

Blood Ecstasy – Age Of Iron [Demo]

Artist: Blood Ecstacy Country: Spain Label: Diabolical Vitriol Formats: Demo Tape Year: 2026 Although Spain’s Extreme Metal scene is one of the smallest in Europe relative to the country’s population, there’s always something great to experience. It may be a sad thought that the…

Monstrosity – Screams From Beneath The Surface

Artist: Monstrosity Country: USA Label: Metal Blade Records Formats: LP / CD Year: 2026 Monstrosity’s career got off to a promising start with an excellent 7″ single on Relapse Records in 1991 and, a year later, an even better debut album on Nuclear Blast Records—the…

Possession – The Mother of Darkness

Artist: Possession Country: Belgium Label: Iron Bonehead Productions Formats: LP / CD Year: 2026 Some ten years ago, Possession was the top focus of the Belgian extreme Metal world. Obviously, the country has produced some fine Black Metal over the…

Ejecutor – Medium… La Daga De La Iniciación

Artist: Ejecutor Country: Chile Label: Chaos Records Formats: CD Year: 2026 Although Ejecutor was already founded back in 1999 and seen their name pop up every now and then, I honestly never really paid any real attention to them. And…

Nachtgnawer – Medieval Devourer [EP]

Artist: Nachtgnawer Country: Finland Label: Purity Through Fire Formats: CD EP Year: 2026 Nachtgnawer managed to heavily impress me so far, both with their ‘Eternal Curse of the Blood’ Demo and ‘Unholy Vampyric Supremacy’ collaboration EP with Wulfseer. There are…

FesterDecay – From Demo To Rot [Compilation]

Artist: FesterDecay Country: Japan Label: Relapse Records Formats: LP / Cassette Tape / CD Year: 2026 I can’t remember the last time I reviewed two good albums from Relapse Records in such a short space of time as the latest…

Bloodaxe Holocaust – Bloodaxe Holocaust [Demo]

Artist: Bloodaxe Holocaust Country: United Kingdom Label: Self-Released Formats: Demo Tape Year: 2026 Bloodaxe Holocaust is the brainchild of Jake Davids and is at the helm all by himself. Whether this means the end of Sorrow’s Maw, that debuted with…

Fegefeuer – Plageteufel [Demo / Re-Release]

Artist: Fegefeuer Country: Germany Label: Narbentage Produktionen Formats: LP Year: 2026 Narbentage Produktionen, the label behind this vinyl reissue of the only recording Fegefeuer ever made, is based in the village of Ralingen, a town situated right on the Luxembourg…

Artavoz – Lashkari Satanis

Artist: Artavoz Country: Georgia Label: Narbentage Produktionen Format: Cassette Tape Year: 2026 Although this Black Metal duo, hailing from unknown origins, made their debut back in 2023 with a digital and instrumental single, you’d be forgiven if it slipped your attention. It did mine,…

Nathrath – Demo 1

Artist: Nathrath Country: Spain Label: Narbentage Produktionen Format: Demo Tape Year: 2026 For an old soul like me, it’s still nice to actually hear a demo on cassette tape, especially a first one. In fact, I have nothing against demos being made available digitally,…

Pus Excretor – Malignant Pustule [Demo]

Artist: Pus Excretor Country: Mexico Label: Extremely Rotten Productions / Me Saco Un Ojo / Templum Obscenum Records Formats: 7″ EP / Cassette EP / CD EP Year: 2025 Pus Excretor is a Mexican one-man Death Metal/Grindcore band that released…

Bloody Vengeance – Stuka Deathstrike [EP]

Artist: Bloody Vengeance Country: USA Label: Nuclear War Now! Productions Format: 12″ EP Year: 2026 Although the band has been around for about fifteen years, it is only in the last few years that Bloody Vengeance has started to gain traction. Perhaps this is…

Dreadful Relic – Ancient Obsession

Artist: Dreadful Relic Country: Greece / USA Label: Frost & Fire Records / Nuclear War Now! Productions Formats: LP / CD Year: 2025 Despite the mild controversy surrounding Dreadful Relic, I have considered this band to be a prime Nuclear…

Galghe – Heerscht de Dood nu als Onderkoning?

Artist: Galghe Country: Belgium/The Netherlands Label: Zwaertgevegt Format: LP Year: 2026 On the soon to be released debut full-length ‘Heerscht de Dood nu als Onderkoning?’, Galghe continues on their thematical journey to use their music to tell tales of the…

Templar – Conquering Swords

Artist: Templar Country: Sweden Label: Jawbreaker Records Formats: LP / Cassette Tape / CD Year: 2026 After a well-received demo and an EP as well as a good amount of live shows, Templar from Sweden now strike back with their…

Aerdryk – Onzuiver

Artist: Aerdryk Country: Belgium Label: Amor Fati Productions Formats: LP / CD Year: 2026 When the Aerdryk debut was released in 2022, it was presented with quite some flair. Not only did it form catalog number AFP199 of the renowned…

Dødmoon – Demø MMXXV [Demo]

Artist: Dødmoon Country: Finland Label: Signal Rex Formats: Demo tape / Demo CD Year: 2026 With pulsating pace and rasping vocals Dødmoon kicks off its first release ‘Demø MMXXV’. These Finns mean business with Black Metal in the Scandinavian style.…

Vargrav – Dimension: Daemonium

Artist: Vargrav Country: Finland Label: Werewolf Records Formats: LP / CD Year: 2026 Three years have passed since Vargrav released their third record ‘The Nighthold’. A time in which things have changed. For the band, who went from a fearsome…

Lokabrenna – Acephalic Apocrypha [Demo]

Artist: Lokabrenna Country: Iceland Label: Sect Entropy Formats: Demo Tape Year: 2026 After the release of ‘Flesh Cathedral’ in 2012, a real underground hype arose around Svartidauði, which marked the start of the Icelandic Black Metal “boom” and the hipsster…

Nebelfaust – Die Krähenfüße des Winters

Artist: Nebelfaust Country: Germany Label: Self-released Formats: Digital Year: 2026 After leaving a strong first impression with the debut album ‘Das kalte Eisen des Mondes’, Nebelfaust returns in early 2026 with ‘Die Krähenfüße des Winters’. Sole member Zinkruwahn offers us…

Septic Fumes – Mucilaginous Sewage [EP]

Artist: Septic Fumes Country: USA Label: Extremely Rotten Productions / Headsplit Records Formats: 7″ EP / Cassette EP Year: 2025 ‘Mucilaginous Sewage’ first saw the light of day almost a year ago, but only in the form of a cassette…

Verdigris / Crève-Gorge – MMXXVI Split Tape

Artist: Verdigris / Crève-Gorge Country: France Label: Starless Industries Formats: Split Tape Year: 2026 Although I am familiar with Veins Like Vines, I had missed the existence of this project by Septembre. About a year ago, he released his debut…

Exhumed – Red Asphalt

Artist: Exhumed Country: USA Label: Relapse Records Formats: LP / Cassette Tape / CD Year: 2026 Although the band also has a few serious misses and some negligible EPs under its belt, Exhumed is still the institution that sets the…

Venthiax – Rites Of Ra [EP]

Artist: Venthiax Country: Sweden Label: Dying Victims Productions Formats: 12″ EP / CD EP Year: 2026 When Venthiax sprang from the shared vision of Wendy, Emil, and Leo, they were still in their mid-to-late teens. Yet nothing stopped them from…

Zepter – Zepter

Artist: Zepter Country: Austria Label: High Roller Records Formats: LP / Cassette Tape / CD Year: 2026 After what you can call a very successful first EP in 2024, that saw a reissue on all relevant formats, the Austrian Heavy…

Zweihander – Genocidal Siege Of Thorn Knights [EP]

Artist: Zweihander Country: Chile Label: Self-Released Formats: Digital EP Year: 2026 After a demo and two digital singles (both actually more or less the same song in a different version), all released in 2025, Zweihander quickly strikes again with a…

Moospirscher / Grundhyrde – Split

Artist: Moospirscher / Grundhyrde Country: Germany / USA Label: NIthstang Productions Formats: Split Tape Year: 2026 What we have here is a split tape that is quite a bit out of the ordinary. Grundhyrde is one of the many musical…

Akhoth – Storm Of Pagan Fury [Demo]

Artist: Akhoth Country: Australia Label: Sorcery Productions Formats: Demo Tape Year: 2026 ‘Storm Of Pagan Fury’, the latest demo from Australian band Akhoth, sounds as if time has stood still. In fact, everything here exudes nostalgia. Not just the music,…