Tales From The Underground
Tales From The Underground
Artist: Imha TarikatCountry: GermanyLabel: Lupus LoungeFormats: LP / CDYear: 2022 In the review for ‘Sternenberster’, the previous Imha Tarikat album, from 2020 I already explained that I had the feeling the band never really got the attention the band deserves.…
Artist: Nightfall Country: Greece Label: Season Of Mist Formats: Digital EP Year: 2022 Last summer the Greek Melodic Black/Death Metal band released this digital 2-track EP which they recorded live at the Gagarin Club in Athens in November 2021. Both…
Artist: Nightfall Country: Greece Label: Season Of Mist Formats: LP / CD Year: 2021 Within the enigmatic Greek Black Metal scene Nightfall has always been a little of an outcast, both in terms of personnel as in the way they…
Artist: Grave Infestation Country: Canada Label: Invictus Productions Formats: LP / CD Year: 2022 Old School, rotten, infectious Death Metal from the grave, that’s what this four-piece Canadian band is offering you. And if you have been reading VM-Underground for…
Artist: Grave Infestation Country: Canada Label: Invictus Productions Formats: LP Year: 2022 To commemorate the release of Grave Infestation’s first full-length album, Invictus Productions also released this compilation LP (so far only released on vinyl) of the Canadian’s first two…
Artist: Hate ForestCountry: UkraineLabel: Osmose ProductionsFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2022 Out of nowhere, Hate Forest returned from the dead in 2020 with ‘Hour of the Centaur’, another showcase of the typical untamed Black Metal aggression bottled up…
Artist: Blood / IncantationCountry: Germany / USALabel: Hells Headbangers RecordsFormats: Split 7″ EPYear: 2022 This is the sort of split EP that you knew was coming, I can imagine the chuckle the label and bands had when working out the…
Artist: WitchmasterCountry: PolandLabel: Agonia RecordsFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2022 It was during the early 00’s that I first ran into the Polish Black/Thrash Metal band Witchmaster. I am not entirely sure, but at one time I got…
Artist: AgathodaimonCountry: GermanyLabel: Napalm RecordsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2022 From the mid 90’s to the first few years of the new millennium, the German Melodic (or Symphonic, if you prefer) Black Metal band released some decent albums, of which especially…
Artist: Eye Of Purgatory Country: Sweden Label: Transcending Obscurity Records Formats: LP / CD Year: 2021 Just when I thought I had reviewed enough of Rogga Johansson’s releases this year, having spent quite some words on a fair share of…
Artist: GrafjammerCountry: The NetherlandsLabel: Black Tapes / Folter Records / RabauwFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2020 Sometimes things get lost. But some things that are too old and too cold should not be forgotten… no, I’m not talking…
Artist: Stormruler Country: USA Label: Napalm Records Formats: LP / CD Year: 2022 While I will forever respect Napalm Records for their amazing pioneering work for the development of (extreme) metal, I also regularly scratch the back of my head…
Artist: Grymmstalt Country: Chile / Ecuador Label: Mahamvantara Arts Formats: Demo tape Year: 2022 Grymmstalt is yet another band of the ever-prolific Lord Valtgryftåke. This time the Chilean multi-instrumentalist teamed up with Ecuadorian vocalist Wampyric Strigoi, who also tends to…
Artist: Grymmstalt Country: Chile / Ecuador Label: Signal Rex Formats: LP / Cassette tape / CD Year: 2022 Not too longer after the release of the band’s single demo tape, they are presenting their first full-length album through Signal Rex.…
Artist: GeistlichtCountry: GermanyLabel: Self-releasedFormats: DigitalYear: 2022 In September of 2022, Geistlicht’s debut release ‘Hidden in the Mists’ pleasantly surprised me with beautiful artwork but most of all, a great album filled with atmospheric Black Metal. Possibly equally surprising, the band…
Artist: Hell Militia Country: France Label: Season Of Mist Underground Activists Formats: LP / CD Year: 2022 No less than ten years have passed since Hell Militia’s last album, the rather underappreciated and often misunderstood ‘Jacob’s Ladder’ from 2012. As…
Artist: DawnCountry: SwedenLabel: Cosmic Key CreationsFormats: 10″ EPYear: 2022 The creation of the Swedish band Dawn dates back to 1986, when guitar player Fredrik Söderberg formed the band as a solo project. When he moved to another city and recruited…
Artist: TheudhoCountry: BelgiumLabel: Heidens Hart RecordsFormats: CDYear: 2022 Founded as early as 2002, Theudho is currently one of the longest running Belgian Black Metal bands, and with its rather impressive output, the (now) one-man project left quite a mark on…
Artist: CatacombCountry: FranceLabel: XenoKorpFormats: 12″ EP / Cassette tape EP / CD EPYear: 2022 One of my favourite early 90’s 7” EP’s is ‘In The Maze Of Kadath’ of the French Death Metal band Catacomb. Their doom-laden, almost hallucinating kind of Death Metal…
Artist: CutthroatCountry: ChinaLabel: DeadheadzFormats: Cassette tapeYear: 2022 Cutthroat were a Japanese ‘all-star’ band, with members of Abigail, Barbatos and Sigh, featuring genre legends such as Yasuyuki Suzuki (Abigail and Barbatos) and Mirai Kawashima (Sigh, Necrophagia). In the years between 1998…
Artist: Lucifericon Country: The Netherlands Label: Invictus Productions Formats: LP / Cassette Tape / CD Year: 2022 After releasing three EP’s and one full-length album, the Dutch Black/Death Metal combo Lucifericon is ready to strike again with a new full-length…
Artist: Disgusting PerversionCountry: GermanyLabel: Black SunsetFormats: CDYear: 2022 Judging by the album title you’d almost expect an album in some mid 90’s Doom or Gothic Metal style, but you couldn’t be more wrong. Disgusting Perversion brings you unadulterated Old School…
Artist: Tchornobog / AbyssalCountry: USA / United KingdomLabel: Lupus Lounge / Vigor DeconstructFormats: Split LP / Split tape / Split CDYear: 2022 Lupus Lounge is presenting a very interesting split LP (also released on CD and on cassette tape by…
Artist: Gurthang Country: Poland Label: Immortal Frost Productions Formats: LP / CD Year: 2021 When I got this album to spend a few words on, I assumed the Belgium Gurthang had arisen from its grave. Which was not a strange…
Artist: AbradedCountry: USALabel: Aggressively Uninterested / Maggot StompFormats: Cassette tape / CDYear: 2021 Although this album was released by the very end of last year (on both cassette tape and CD by Maggot Stomp), it seems to be getting some…
Artist: Black CrucifixionCountry: FinlandLabel: Fallen Pages Productions / Séance RecordsFormats: Cassette tape / CDYear: 2021 When talking about early Finnish Black Metal, the same names invariably come up: Impaled Nazarene, Beherit, Barathrum and Archgoat. The latter only released two demos…
Artist: ChasmdwellerCountry: CanadaLabel: Self-ReleasedFormats: Cassette EP / CD EPYear: 2022 Canadian Chasmdweller again only needed a few months to come up with new music already. This time it’s a 25-minute EP, ‘Festering In Aural Trauma’, that we get to dwell…
Artist: Liber Null Country: Italy / The Netherlands Label: Immortal Frost Productions Formats: LP / CD Year: 2022 Liber Null, for those who are not familiar with the band, is another band that has one of Black Metal’s most prolific…
Artist: CryptivoreCountry: AustraliaLabel: Awakening Records / Bitter Loss RecordsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2022 The first demo of Australian one-man band Cryptivore was already received with great enthusiasm on our pages. My colleague was shocked by the quality the band had…
Artist: Atomic WitchCountry: USALabel: Redefining Darkness RecordsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2022 After having released a couple of singles/EP’s, Atomic Witch releases their first full-length album with ‘Crypt Of Sleepless Malice’, graced in a horrendously nuclear sort of artwork. And after having heard the album…
Artist: Black CommunionCountry: ColombiaLabel: Dunkelheit ProduktionenFormats: LP / CDYear: 2020 From Colombia came this Black/Death band, which folded not too long after releasing ‘Miasmic Monstrosity’. With current and ex-band members sporting names like Necro Pervertor, Blasphemer Goatpriest of Virgin’s Impalement, Sadistik Offender and A.C.M Six…
Artist: Slaughterday Country: Germany Label: Defying Danger Records / F.D.A. Records Formats: LP / Cassette Tape / CD Year: 2022 In the wake of the Old School Death Metal revival that happened around 2010, many a new Death Metal band…
Artist: In Pain Country: Sweden Label: Southcoast Productions / To The Death Records Formats: LP / CD Year: 2022 Being amongst the bands that were in the first batch of Swedish Death Metal bands from around the 90’s, In Pain…
Artist: Depressive WitchesCountry: FranceLabel: WormHoleDeathFormats: CDYear: 2022 After the release of the band’s debut album ‘Bad Flask’ and after getting somewhat used to the band not taking themselves very seriously, we should be ready for Depressive Witches’ second album. Again…
Artist: Depressive WitchesCountry: FranceLabel: Self-ReleasedFormats: CDYear: 2021 Anyone here who has been around a bit longer and knows the Black Metal scene of the 90’s will remember the video clips of the likes of Immortal and Hecate Enthroned. Where the…
Artist: Shrieking Demons Country: Italy Label: Caligari Records Formats: Cassette EP / CD EP Year: 2021 Formed in 2021 in Italy, Death Metal band Shrieking Demons needed very little time to record their first EP, ‘Diabolical Regurgitations’, which was released…
Artist: Ancient DeathCountry: USALabel: Rotter RecordsFormats: CD EPYear: 2022 This relatively new Walpole, Massachusetts, USA based Death Metal band released their debut EP last summer. ‘Sacred Vessel’ is a 26 minute clocking slab of modern sounding Old School Death Metal…
Artist: Denouncement PyreCountry: AustraliaLabel: Agonia RecordsFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2022 With Denouncement Pyre’s 20th anniversary approaching and a brand new album under its belt, this is a perfect time to give this underrated band some well-deserved praise. Because although the band has…
Artist: Drowning The LightCountry: AustraliaLabel: Dark Adversary ProductionsFormats: CDYear: 2022 The last two or so years, Dark Adversary Records, run by Drowning The Light mastermind Azgorh, has been reissuing quite a lot of his older material. Some of his older albums saw the…
Artist: Body Asphyxiation ScienceCountry: United KingdomLabel: Gurgling GoreFormats: Cassette EPYear: 2022 Early this year UK Cosmic Death Metal duo Body Asphyxiation Science released a pretty good split tape with Trench Foot, but also this ‘Gravitational Blood Art’ cassette tape EP.…
Artist: Lichtblick Country: Austria Label: Immortal Frost Productions Formats: CD Year: 2022 Lichtblick is German for ‘bright spot’, a symbol for hope, a brighter future. This is in stark contrast to the title of this second full-length from the Austrian…
Artist: Ancient NorthCountry: USALabel: Self-ReleasedFormats: DigitalYear: 2022 After having released two albums and an EP earlier this year, Forlorn, the sole initiator and driving force of the entity that is Ancient North, decided to close off the year with another…
Artist: The Rite / BezweringCountry: Denmark / Italy / The NetherlandsLabel: Headkick MusicFormats: Split 7″ EPYear: 2022 Dutch Bezwering and Danish/Italian band The Rite team up for a split 7” EP that was released just before last summer by rather…
Artist: Ritual Necromancy / Fossilization Country: USA / Brazil Label: Everlasting Spew Records Formats: LP / CD Year: 2022 Earlier this year Everlasting Spew Records presented a split release by two nice Death Metal bands: Ritual Necromancy, a former Dark…
Artist: Phlebotomized Country: The Netherlands Label: Hammerheart Records Formats: LP / Cassette Tape Year: 2022 One of the most original bands that helped shape the ‘famous’ Dutch Death/Doom Metal scene was certainly Phlebotomized. With their 1992 ‘Devoted To God’-demo tape…
Artist: AnaelCountry: GermanyLabel: Darkness Shall Rise Productions / Into Endless Chaos RecordsFormats: LP / Cassette tapeYear: 2021 Anael has always been a massively overlooked band in the German Black Metal scene. Not only were they able to bring something else…
Artist: Moonlight Sorcery Country: Finland Label: Avantgarde Music Formats: 12″ EP / Cassette EP / CD EP Year: 2022 At the beginning of this year I was completely blown away by the debut EP from Finnish newcomers Moonlight Sorcery. Just…
Artist: WargeistCountry: GermanyLabel: Self-releasedFormats: Digital EPYear: 2022 Not much is known about this new band called Wargeist, except the fact that they are from Germany and recently digitally released their first EP, ‘Altar Of Genocide’. So, instead of digging into…
Artist: DesecresyCountry: FinlandLabel: Xtreem MusicFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2022 Originally started out as a duo, Desecresy was brought back to a one-man Death Metal playground for Jarno Nurmi, who previously gained some fame in the otherwise quite…
Artist: VoidCeremonyCountry: USALabel: 20 Buck SpinFormats: Demo tapeYear: 2022 The exact purpose of this demo is unclear to me, the Californian based VoidCeremony already released their debut album ‘Entropic Reflections Continuum: Dimensional Unravel’ in 2017 through the same label, 20…