Artist: Amputorium
Country: Belgium
Label: Nuclear War Now! Productions
Formats: Demo Tape
Year: 2026
Although nothing official has yet been announced about Amputorium, you don’t need to be a genius to piece things together regarding this new band. Not only does the logo bear certain similarities to those of Perverted Ceremony and Moenen Of Xezbeth, but they also share the same country of origin, label and musical style. It would take a real turn of events for Amputorium not to be the unofficial successor to those bands, which are more or less on the ropes or have even called it a day altogether. If not, then it certainly is a band that has drawn more than just a little inspiration from their compatriots…
Regardless of the “who”-question, Amputorium debuts with this very strong demo, a bass-heavy affair that gets you on the next available DeLorean ride to the late 80s and early 90s. The short little biography that was given by Nuclear War Now! Productions claims that this demo was set out to crank out some crunching and chugging riffs that would please the fans of bands like Goatlord, Samael, Asphyx and Pagan Rites. Honestly, I don’t hear much Asphyx in here, but the others are certainly present in every single second of this 20+ minute demo.
Bands in this very rotten, necro sort of Black Metal are usually citing bands like Goatlord, Samael, Mystifier, Demoncy, Profanatica, Varathron, Necromantia, Mortuary Drape and the likes as their main influences. And most of the cases that is heard and felt through slow and punishing riffs and an overall raw sound that brings back a truly horrifying atmosphere of mystique and darkness. But, Pagan Rites is not a band that is on everybody’s lips, but their early stuff in particular is something that you can rightfully call criminally overlooked. To this very day you can get their older records and 7” singles for only literally a handful of bucks, a crying shame! Just check out some of these tracks and you’ll hear that these Swedes had something unique going in a time that most bands were trying hard to sound like Marduk or Darkthrone. Amputorium is not only a paying an homage to Pagan Rites by mentioning them as one of their main influences, but also by including a cover song of ‘Satanic Sadist’, which was originally released on Pagan Rites’ ‘Bloodlust And Devastation’ 12” from 2000, released by Primitive Reaction – arguably the band’s best release ever.
But whatever you may or may not hear in it, and regardless of the label’s name-dropping, ‘Demo 2026’ is one of the most interesting releases currently available. When bands such as Forbidden Temple and the aforementioned Perverted Ceremony and Moenen Of Xezbeth entered the scene, some ten years ago now, they took off straight away and created an underground buzz that has actually persisted to this very day. It’s not inconceivable that something similar could happen to Amputorium; the quality of the material on offer is more than up to scratch, and the musical climate for this kind of Extreme Metal is now better than ever. Perhaps this makes them slightly less ‘special’, but the number of fans of ancient Black Metal is greater than ever before. We’ll see what the future holds for Amputorium, but I’m certainly already convinced.
