Tales From The Underground
Tales From The Underground
While in essence there is nothing wrong with so many other bands in the genres that claim to lean on the principles of paganism, the number of bands that really feel a deep connection to it is scarce. This becomes…
From one thing comes another. A while back I interviewed Blackstream, and like things sometimes go, you continue the conversation and other bands come up. Orgiastic Pleasures, in this case. Like Blackstream, this band also appears to have been around…
Black Metal and a certain form of mysticism and individualism are part of the same thing. The sinister-eyed gritty one-man bands are popping up like mushrooms, but rarely are these core values conveyed as convincingly as by Switzerland’s Aspaarn. Not…
Anthropomorphia has been among my favorite Dutch metal bands for years. The records the band released after their resurrection in 2009 are extraordinarily good, simply overwhelming. And when I saw them perform once at the Netherlands Deathfest years ago, the…
Mortem Agmen has made their presence felt in a fairly short time with a demo, a full-length album and most recently with a new EP. Although all three releases have a fairly distinct sound, it is clear that these four…
With ‘Demon Steel,’ Finnish Urn delivers its sixth album, for which Season Of Mist was exchanged for the also French Osmose Productions. Prior to this, most of the older albums were re-released by Osmose Productions as well as a compilation…
Despite both lads rightly claiming below that Hertogenwald is not a Belgian band per se, as two of the three band members are French, Hertogenwald is still considered part of the increasingly interesting and improving Belgian Black Metal scene. The…
Perhaps because ‘Tormented Souls’ has only been released on cassette tape via Hells Headbangers Records and on CD via the somewhat smaller Atolinga Records, it may be that this debut from Mercenario has been slightly less noticed. But based on…
Of the past year, we can certainly count Abhorration’s debut record, ‘Demonolatry’, as one of the best. In terms of originality, it may not be startling, but the execution of Morbid Angel-inspired Death Metal leaves nothing to complain about. The…
In the summer of 2024, this Canadian duo simultaneously released two cassette tapes, a demo and a rehearsal. The aesthetics of both tapes and the overall image surrounding the band hold pretty little mystery: with their Black/Death Metal laced with…
In the late summer of last year, there suddenly was Wrahha, the musical successor to Lihhamon (Nuclear War Now! Productions/Ván Records), that was put to rest in 2023. In the wake of compatriots like Prehistoric Warcult and Dungeon Keeper, Wrahha…
A year ago I was blown away by the first demo of the then totally unknown to me Haan Valar. Not because of its brutality, heaviness or speed, but because of the authenticity that ‘Devotion To Xemzara’ exhibited. Much closer…
Over 20 years ago I spoke with Acheron’s Vincent Crowley for Vampire-Magazine. Back then it was mainly in connection with the then just released ‘Tribute To The Devil’s Music’-album consisting solely of covers of bands like Kiss, Iron Maiden, Mercyful…
It may not be the most accessible Black Metal niche genre, nor is much of it really worthwhile, but occasionally something pops up that sparks my fascination with the more electronically-inclined Black Metal. Although Blackstream was formed back in 2005,…
Obviously, it is no longer the case that for good Black Metal you necessarily have to go to Norway. Over the past few years, Chile, for example, has claimed an increasingly prominent place in the international Black Metal scene. One…
Some things are worth waiting for. You can use some clichés here about cheese and wine that get better if you leave them for a while, but we are talking about Australian Black/Death Metal with a touch of Thrash: Destruktor.…
About two years ago I accidentally stumbled upon the Mexican band Necrohammer, because I have a deeply rooted adoration for old and ramshackle 80’s metal, from Venom and Hellhammer to Living Death and Sodom, it was love at first sight.…
Anyone who has ever put an ear to the Finnish buddies of Concrete Winds knows that things are not done in a gentle way. The latest, untitled album is no exception: the duo smashes everything they come across. I spoke…
Greece’s Likno recently released its self-titled album via WolfKult Religion on cassette tape, and while this undoubtedly looks somewhat like shameless self-promotion, I think Likno’s music stands on its own. With their strong sense of melody, the duo mercilessly weaves…
More and more interesting bands are emerging from the ever-expanding German Extreme Metal scene. Although Sadistic Goatmessiah have been around for more than a decade, their name is popping up with increasing frequency. Following the recently released compilation CD containing…
Despite, or rather because the band is rarely in action, there is all the more reason to take a good look at a new album from Norway’s Shaarimoth. With ‘Devidom’, the Death Metal band has delivered another stellar piece of…
Among the many releases hurled into the world via Germany’s renowned Iron Bonehead Productions, you would almost miss out on Ophidian’s ‘Descent into the Labyrinth’, which appeared only on cassette tape last summer. And that would be more than a…
A new Deceased album is always something to be excited about. Although Deceased has long since ceased to be a pure Death Metal or Death/Thrash Metal band and an increasing amount of Heavy Metal has gradually crept into the band’s…
When I came across the two Hearse demos in my never-ending search for new obscure music in the early 00’s, they left a lasting impression. To my youthful ears, those sluggish and eerie riffs on those raw recordings connected both…
Although ‘Fuck Christ’ is not the long-awaited second album, we can still say that this nearly 20-minute new EP can be seen as a prelude to what should be the successor to 2015’s ‘Ego Svm Satana’. I spoke to founder…
A lot of metal hearts beat faster when Kawir arrives at the front with a new album under its arm. The band has been at the top of Greek Black Metal for about three decades, but unlike many of its…
Despite moving to Sweden a few years ago, Volc Vermaledide can still be seen as a Dutch Black Metal band. After all, already formed in 2001, the band has existed on Dutch soil for the most part. Despite now slowly…
Released via Sweden’s I Hate Records this summer, Abysmal Winds’ debut album, ‘Magna Pestiencia’ followed up the ‘Doom Prayer’-demo tape from two years earlier. Those who had the band on their radar back then may have already realised that we…
Despite the Belgian Black Metal scene having set my heart racing more than once in recent years, those bands were mostly roughly in the same category. Bands such as Forbidden Temple, Moenen Of Xezbeth, Perverted Ceremony, Walghinge, Crypts Of Wallachia,…
With ‘Diabolatry’, released at the end of 2023, one of the standard bearers of Singapore’s Extreme Metal scene made itself heard again. While a new album from Infernal Execrator always guarantees quality and musical integrity, recent years have seen an…
Of course, when talking about Austrian Death Metal, it is very easy to mention only bands like Disharmonic Orchestra, Pungent Stench, Disastrous Murmur, Miasma or maybe even Belphegor. While these bands have, of course, inevitably left their mark on the…
Although I missed out on both 2021 released demos, ‘Arcane Diabolism’, released through Iron Bonehead Productions on LP and Unpure Records on tape, definitely piqued my interest. Cursed Excruciation blends all the best elements of those great occult sounding Black…
From the category of underrated and overlooked bands: Thornspawn. That fact in itself would be enough to put the band in the limelight for once, but in addition, the band recently came up with their fifth long-player, the first since…
With two good demo tapes under their belt, Spanish outfit Vomit Messiah have proven, as far as I am concerned, to be a more than worthy continuation of what we can safely call the “Spanish Tradition” in Bestial Black/Death Metal.…
Much like the artwork of ‘Heavenly Down’ suggests, the new album by Sear Bliss is a grand return to its majestic sound of old. Yet, just like the band never was easy to catch under a single moniker, they are…
I was pointed out by my The Whispering Darkness companion on a demo I should check out, it was also available on cassette tape, but only in 13 copies. In other words: hurry up or you’ll be too late. Fortunately,…
Funeral Storm’s second album, ‘Chthonic Invocations’ is another triumphant display of the Greek Black Metal sound, delving deep into the mystique of that distinctly recognizable atmosphere with its sinister and incantatory melodies and rhythms. This way the band is, slowly…
Although Korpituli had already put out some good quality releases, it was with the recently released ‘Pohjola’ that things got really interesting. Whereas the first two albums consisted of fairly well-executed, but perhaps a bit on the safe side Melodic…
Although only formed fairly recently, in 2016 to be precise, Deathwalker, the sole being behind Nihil Invocation has not exactly been sitting still. The band’s discography is impressive not only on volume, but mainly because of its down-to-earth and raw…
The Extreme Metal maniacs of Witchfukker are set to unleash their debut album ‘Tapestry of Unspeakable Horrors’ through De Pankraker Records and Destruktion Records. Fed by the aesthetics and primitive force of the 80’s and early 90’s, their mix of…
Of course, you can’t keep track of everything, even if you try hard. For instance, out of nowhere I was surprised and completely blown over by ‘Hohenbaden’ by Markgraf, a German band that ingeniously manages to mix unorthodox Black Metal…
The Dutch Heidens Hart Records simultaneously released two strong Pagan Black Metal albums earlier this year, ‘Tir Nan Og’ being one of them: the latest album by the one-man band Drunemeton, originally from Russia. Although the album is overtly based…
Everyone of a certain age who reads this has some kind of starting point somewhere, a few months in his or her life that determined the development of musical taste and perspective on the cultural phenomenon of “Extreme Metal”. Mine…
Although the band itself does not like to be categorised very much by their origins, their Kyrgyz ancestry does play a big role in the way Darkestrah shapes their music. Not only in the music itself does their Central Asian…
Formed in 2021, Hekseblad have used their first few years to flesh out and further perfect their musical formula of melodic and even symphonic Black Metal. While perhaps not all initial recordings have turned out equally well, it is clear…
At the very end of summer 2023, more or less out of the blue, came Flesher. A new Death Metal band from the USA that doesn’t only play an obvious tribute to the Death Metal gods of their home country,…
Overall, when you talk about Finnish Black Metal, you are always in for a surprise. It can be as regressive as Azazel or Barathrum, but also as progressive as …And Oceans or genre-defining as Beherit or Horna. But then you…
One of the longest-running and most consistent French Black Metal bands is undoubtedly Merrimack. The band’s founding dates back as far as 1994, so guitarist Perversifier has seen all the trends and hypes come and go but has always stayed…
For almost a quarter of a century, Nikolaos ‘Wrath’ Spanakis has been hammering away at his creation, Dødsferd. Although he has obviously become a much better musician and grown as a person in that time span and his early works…
While nobody would really claim that Brazilian Death Metal band Infamous Glory will be the next big thing, with ‘Algor Mortis’ they have definitely delivered a worthy piece of massive and heavy Death Metal. The album has a distinct echo…