Tales From The Underground
Tales From The Underground
From the deepest bowels of Dutch Black Metal recently awoke the dreaded beast: Botulistum. Out of nowhere, the vicious outfit came out with their self-titled debut album. That album, which you thought would never come, still manages to surprise even…
Artist: Baxaxaxa Country: Germany Label: The Sinister Flame Formats: LP / Cassette tape / CD Year: 2023 German Black Metal has always been something that has had difficulties to get recognition from other parts of the world. Whether it were…
Artist: ÜbelkeitCountry: ChileLabel: Self-releasedFormats: Digital EPYear: 2023 A German word for a band name that translates to Nausea: you are forgiven if you didn’t guess that the entity behind the name Übelkeit hails from Chile and plays dissonant Black Metal. …
Artist: OerheksCountry: BelgiumLabel: Amor Fati Productions / Babylon Doom Cult RecordsFormats: 12″ Demo / Demo tapeYear: 2023 Soaring, high above the tree lines, carried by the thermals, observing all that transpires far beneath. With ‘Valkengebed’, Oerheks takes us once more to…
Artist: Guts Country: Finland Label: Morbid Chapel Records / Rotten Tomb Records / Vargheist Records Formats: CD Year: 2023 Lately, I have been mostly impressed by Death Metal bands from the more technical or avant-garde range, not because that is…
Artist: Tenebro Country: Italy Label: Seven Metal Inches Records Formats: 7″ EP Year: 2023 To celebrate the band’s first ever live appearance on this year’s edition of the NRW Deathfest in Germany, Tenebro joined forces (again) with Seven Metal Inches…
Artist: Rapid Country: Finland Label: Dying Victims Productions Formats: 12″ EP / Cassette EP / CD EP Year: 2023 Finnish Speed Metal combo Rapid came to my attention through their 2017 released 7” single (Svart Records) that my partner in…
Chaos; complete disorder, utter confusion, the property of a complex system whose behaviour is so unpredictable, it appears random. It will cause people to stop and look in fascination or run away in fear. There are those that are terrified…
Artist: Necrogore Country: Italy Label: Wrong Disk Records Formats: Cassette EP Year: 2023 Necrogore from Italy is a new band on the block of its country’s Death Metal scene, but while the band might be a new acquisition to the…
Apparently out of nothing, at least to me, came Zwart. A new band that hails from the furtile (yet pitch black) breeding grounds of Tilburg, The Netherlands. The band might be new but consists out of a number of experienced…
Artist: Moonlight Sorcery Country: Finland Label: Avantgarde Music Formats: 12″ EP / CD EP Year: 2023 Admittedly, after the amazing ‘Piercing Through The Frozen Eternity’ EP from early 2022 my expectation were extremely high on any material that would serve…
Artist: Drowning The Light Country: Australia Label: Dark Adversary Productions Formats: CD EP Year: 2023 Both this new EP and the ‘Violet Mercury & Moonlit Sorcery’ EP were released at the very same time, clock in around 20 minutes each…
Artist: Drowning The Light Country: Australia Label: Dark Adversary Productions Formats: CD EP Year: 2023 The Australian band never lets its loyal following wait long for a sign of life, earlier this year Azgorh already brought us two EP’s, a…
Artist: Hail Conjurer Country: Finland Label: Bestial Burst Formats: CD Year: 2023 The multi-talented Harri Kuokkanen is a restless person with a clear excess of creativity, if he’s not busy with some of his other bands, he seems to dedicate…
Artist: Mystic Circle Country: Germany Label: Fireflash Records Formats: LP Year: 2023 Alright, here it is. Already. In my review of the remastered reissue of ‘Drachenblut’ earlier this year I predicted that this album would see a remastered version of…
Artist: SieliunvihollinenCountry: FinlandLabel: Hammer of Hate RecordsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2023 Leading melodies aren’t exactly a stranger to a large part of Finnish Black Metal bands. Often inspired by the pioneering works of Satanic Warmaster, Horna and Sargeist, that sense…
Artist: CryptopsyCountry: CanadaLabel: Nuclear BlastFormats: LP / CDYear: 2023 I first heard Cryptopsy in the early 2000s, when it was arguably the peak of brutal Death Metal with a high degree of technicality, at least in terms of number of…
Artist: Tomb Mold Country: Canada Label: 20 Buck Spin Formats: LP / Cassette tape / CD Year: 2023 Although Tomb Mold might not have been the most typical down-tuned Death Metal band from the pack, the band’s rather stationary start…
Artist: Infernal Curse Country: Argentina Label: Iron Bonehead Productions Formats: LP Year: 2023 It has been about ten years ago since Infernal Curse first crossed my path, back then it was the also Iron Bonehead Productions released ‘The End Upon…
Artist: Profanatica Country: USA Label: Season Of Mist Underground Activists Formats: LP / CD Year: 2023 Ever since the band’s resurrection in 2001 and especially after their first full-length album ever, 2007’s ‘Profanatitas de Domonatia’, the nefarious Black Metal entity…
Artist: WaldgeflüsterCountry: GermanyLabel: AOP RecordsFormats: 12″ EP / CD EPYear: 2023 Autumn equinox is here, and to celebrate the beauty of the leaves turning shades of red, green and bronze, Germany’s Waldgeflüster offers us with their latest EP, ‘Unter Bronzenen…
Artist: Asphodelus Country: Finland Label: Hammerheart Records Formats: LP / CD Year: 2023 It were those enchanting mid-90s when so many bands left their extremes to broaden their horizons, push musical boundaries and, to put it simply, shun the beaten…
Artist: Bloody Run Country: USA Label: Self-Released Formats: CD EP Year: 2023 Earlier this year the trio that is Bloody Run, hailing from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, presented their third release. ‘The Revenge’ is an (extremely) short affair, clocking in at…
Artist: AegrusCountry: FinlandLabel: Osmose ProductionsFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2023 With the release of ‘Invoking the Abysmal Night’, Aegrus follows up their excellent ‘The Carnal Temples’ EP with seven new songs. And with it, it also follows the…
Artist: UndergangCountry: DenmarkLabel: Dark Descent Records / Extremely Rotten Productions / Me Saco Un Ojo RecordsFormats: 12″ EP / Cassette EP / CD EPYear: 2023 Upon death, the human body undergoes a process called Pallor Mortis where it becomes pale,…
Artist: Nachtgnawer feat. WulfseerCountry: FinlandLabel: Purity Through FireFormats: CD EPYear: 2023 Nachtgnawer’s ‘Eternal Curse of the Blood’ still stands as one of my favorite demos of last year. Taking a familiar Finnish formula of earlier Satanic Warmaster but by adding…
In the Owl interview I recently published, I mentioned that there are more than just a handful of real gems to be unearthed in the deeper, mouldy and shadowy layers of the Dutch Black Metal scene. Duindwaler, also a one-man…
It was towards the end of last year, on December 6 to be precise, that I asked my former colleague and friend, VM-Underground commander-in-chief Ricardo, if he was interested in Death and Pestilence’s later records besides the usual ‘Scream Bloody…
Artist: Death Worship Country: Canada Label: Nuclear War Now! Productions Formats: 12″ EP / CD Year: 2023 Not including a demo and a promotional tape, this is EP number three from Canada’s Death Worship (which seems to be headquartered in…
One of the longest running Dutch Black Metal bands is Sammath, who, in the form of ‘Grebbeberg’, recently unleashed their seventh onslaught upon mankind. The album, which in my humble opinion is their strongest to date, again has the war…
Artist: ManiiCountry: NorwayLabel: Terratur PossessionsFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2023 When Manes’ debut album ‘Under ein Blodraud Maane’ came out in 1999, most of the groundbreaking Norwegian Black Metal records of the second wave had already been released.…
Artist: Abysmal Spite Country: USA Label: Narbentage Produktinen Formats: Cassette EP Year: 2023 Last year the American Black Metal duo of Abysmal Spite presented a short but fine demo tape under the name of ‘Demo MMXXII’, of which I concluded…
Artist: SpeederCountry: England / SwedenLabel: Self-releasedFormats: Digital EPYear: 2023 “A bunch of scruffy adolescent Hardrockers that claim they are bringing back the old school metal and killing any posers”. Speeder takes the words right out of your mouth in the…
Artist: Salacious Gods Country: The Netherlands Label: Hammerheart Records Formats: Vinyl / CD Year: 2023 It is remarkable to realise that the time that was between the first and last time I heard from Salacious Gods is many times shorter…
Artist: Sulphuric DeathCountry: ChileLabel: Apocalyptic Productions / Burning Coffin RecordsFormats: Cassette EP / CD EPYear: 2023 When the old school Death Metal corpse started crawling back from the underground grave in the late 2000’s, bands like Dead Congregation and Grave…
Artist: Vomit Messiah Country: Spain Label: In Pulverem Mortis Productions Formats: Demo Tape Year: 2023 Just as the band needed remarkably few words to title this debut demo, it can sometimes be as easy to write a review. This brand-new…
Artist: Wooden ThroneCountry: FinlandLabel: Purity Through FireFormats: CDYear: 2023 Mikko Lehto isn’t exactly a stranger to atmospheric Black Metal. Since the inception in 2001, he has released six full-length albums with October Falls, initially as a solo project but since…
Artist: NoitilaCountry: FinlandLabel: Nordvis ProduktionFormats: CDYear: 2023 Noitilahti is a bay on the Lahnaselkä lake in Kuusamo, a municipal located in the Northern Ostrobothnia region in North-eastern Finland. Translating to Witches’ Bay, the scenery of dense pine forests and vast…
Artist: WitchfukkerCountry: The NetherlandsLabel: Destruktion RecordsFormats: Demo TapeYear: 2022 With a band name like Witchfukker, nothing less than extremely non-subtle music will do. And the Dutch duo do not disappoint. Reeking of a primitive scent of Extreme Metal that walks…
Without any doubt, one of the albums that struck me most in 2022 was the debut album of Sweden’s Sordid Blade. Not only did ‘Every Battle Has Its Glory’ sound really authentic and straight in line with so many other…
Anyone who delves a little into the caverns of extreme metal knows that beneath the surface of the more well-known bands you can often find the roughest diamonds. If you have ever really put your shovel deep into the Dutch…
Artist: EndstilleCountry: GermanyLabel: Ván RecordsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2023 You cannot deny a band that released several songs with the title ‘Monotonus’ some sense of self-reflection, and for that matter, consistency. Monotonous isn’t a bad quality anyway, and in case…
Artist: Protrusion Country: USA Label: Unholy Domain Records / Sevared Records / A Sangre Fría Records Formats: Demo Tape / Demo CD Year: 2023 Although Protrusion is a new band at the front, three of its four members have a…
Artist: MardukCountry: SwedenLabel: Century Media RecordsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2023 Five years. There hasn’t been this much time between two Marduk studio albums in the 33 years of their existence. Not that the best rested idly in the intermediate period.…
Artist: Ancestors Blood / Heimdalls Wacht Country: Finland / Germany Label: Heidens Hart Records Formats: Split LP / Split CD Year: 2023 On the verge of the end of winter and the beginning of spring this year, Heidens Hart Records…
Artist: DHG/DødheimsgardCountry: NorwayLabel: Peaceville RecordsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2023 That Dødheimsgard has been pushing the boundaries of Black Metal has been clear from the earliest works. Perhaps that’s why the influence of their classic albums ‘Kronet Til Konge’ and ‘Monumental…
Artist: Owl Country: The Netherlands Label: Zwaertgevegt Formats: Cassette Tape Year: 2023 Although The Netherlands is a small country, it still hosts an interesting Black Metal scene that manifests itself in the most unexpected places. Take for instance the very…
Artist: Urfaust Country: The Netherlands Label: Ván Records Formats: LP / CD Year: 2023 Ever since their inception in 2003, Urfaust has been the most unique entity within the Dutch Black Metal scene – which, on its own, can already…
Artist: RiutujaCountry: FinlandLabel: Self-releasedFormats: DigitalYear: 2023 Full of melody and harmony, ‘Kuolonkerjuu’ is the debut album for Riutuja. Sorrowful Black Metal with Varg-like vocal outcries, intensely varying drums and dominant layers of guitar melodies, even within a realm of music…
Artist: NidvinterCountry: NorwayLabel: Self-releasedFormats: Digital EPYear: 2023 ‘Winter Wars’ is the first EP of the band Nidvinter, an Oslo-based band that arose from the ashes of Hexenkeit in early 2023. It follows an earlier released demo on which the band…