Tales From The Underground
Tales From The Underground
Artist: LureCountry: FranceLabel: Amor Fati ProductionsFormats: LPYear: 2023 In some artists, creativity flows in many shapes and forms. The name of Pierre Perichaud may ring a few bells, but it’s especially the pseudonym Business for Satan (or B.F.S.) that probably…
Artist: Miscreance Country: Italy Label: Season Of Mist Formats: LP / CD Year: 2023 Although I came across the debut of this Italian Miscreance last summer, I did not get around to giving it a few words at the time.…
Artist: Worm Altar Country: USA Label: Gurgling Gore Formats: Cassette EP Year: 2023 Last year, one-man formation Worm Altar already delivered a very attractive piece of Doom/Death Metal with a self-titled demo. Although that particular genre has been troubled by…
Artist: DenevérCountry: HungaryLabel: Metal Ör Die RecordsFormats: CDYear: 2023 ‘Vampír’ was a striking debut by the Hungarian band Denevér. On that album Tibor Terebesi paid homage to his Hungarian heritage, both in telling the story of the blood countess Báthory Erzsébet, as well…
Artist: Sacred OutcryCountry: GreeceLabel: No Remorse RecordsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2023 Sometimes you have to trust your gut and you have to give in to that irresistible urge to buy a record just off of some quick listens. Or maybe…
Artist: Helleruin Country: The Netherlands Label: New Era Productions Formats: LP / Cassette tape / CD Year: 2023 Even for many a seasoned connoisseur, Helleruin’s sudden rising star must have come as a surprise. If I may speak for myself:…
Artist: Sammath Country: The Netherlands Label: Hammerheart Records Formats: LP / CD Year: 2023 The award for most persistent Dutch Black Metal band goes to Sammath without question; ever since their formation in 1994, the band has stuck (for the…
Artist: ShadowsCountry: ChileLabel: Sentient Ruin LaboratoriesFormats: LP / Cassette / CDYear: 2023 Sentient Ruin has struck some pure gold here. Shadows hails from Chile, a country with a small but exceptionally high in quality metal scene. This time it’s not…
Artist: Imperishable Country: Sweden Label: Hammerheart Records Formats: LP / CD Year: 2023 When I stumbled upon Imperishable’s ‘Deathspawn’ demo I was really very much intrigued by the fact that it had been able to get under my radar for…
Artist: Miserere LuminisCountry: CanadaLabel: Sepulchral ProductionsFormats: CDYear: 2023 Miserere Luminis is a band with a bit of a mythical status in the Québécois Metal scene. Formed in 2008, it represented the collaboration of Neptune and Icare of the band Gris…
Artist: Verhinderer Country: Germany Label: Self-Released Formats: Digital demo Year: 2023 With ‘Groschenroman’, we already have Verhinderer’s third demo/EP in our hands, and that in less than a few months, as the band was only started in 2023. This one-man…
Artist: TrépasCountry: CanadaLabel: Sepulchral ProductionsFormats: CDYear: 2023 While some of the members of Trépas have dabbled in Black Metal with their other bands, most people will more likely recognize them from their involvement in the Death Metal acts Outre-Tombe and…
Artist: SacrenoirCountry: CanadaLabel: Sepulchral ProductionsFormats: CDYear: 2023 While both are considered amongst the frontrunners of the Métal Noir Québécois scene, it has been a while since we last saw an album by either Forteresse or Monarque. Forteresse’s fantastic fifth record…
Artist: Cattle Decapitation Country: Terrasite Label: Metal Blade Records Formats: LP / CD Year: 2023 Apart from maybe the very first outings (of which some were reissues on 2018’s ‘Medium Rarities’ compilation), Cattle Decapitation were never much of your regular…
Artist: Drowning The Light / Ghosts Of Oceania Country: Australia Label: Dark Adversary Productions Formats: Split CD Year: 2023 Those of you who tend to follow Azgorh’s musical steps in general and that of Drowning The Light in particular, will…
Artist: Moonlight Sorcery Country: Finland Label: Avantgarde Music Formats: 7″ EP Year: 2023 Admittedly, I felt a little let down by Moonlight Sorcery’s second EP, ‘Nightwind: The Conqueror From The Stars’ from December 2022. Although having largely the same ingredients…
Artist: Mournful Congregation Country: Australia Label: Osmose Productions / 20 Buck Spin Formats: LP / Cassette tape / CD Year: 2023 We live in a time where everything happens so fast, where all contacts seem fleeting and there seems to…
Artist: Vomitory Country: Sweden Label: Metal Blade Records Formats: LP / CD Year: 2023 Vomitory is such a band that is hard to dislike if you are into extreme metal in general or Death Metal in particular. Although it might…
Artist: Sól Án VarmaCountry: IcelandLabel: Ván RecordsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2023 I’m not sure if anyone, including the bands themselves and the label behind their first albums, saw it coming that the debut albums of the Icelandic bands Svartidauði, Misþyrming…
Artist: TsjuderCountry: NorwayLabel: Season Of MistFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2023 Even though the band has existed since 1993, right at the peak years of the second wave of Black Metal, Tsjuder’s sound came to fruition a little…
Artist: RuïmCountry: Norway / PortugalLabel: Peaceville RecordsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2023 Mayhem has left Black Metal fans divided for decades. Still followed and revered by legions, there are plenty that swear the band died with the murder of Øystein “Euronymous”…
Artist: KvadCountry: NorwayLabel: Purity Through FireFormats: CDYear: 2023 A raw and suffocating type of Black Metal with a cold atmosphere that mixed classic American Black Metal with an Eastern European sound. That is the description that my writing partner in…
Artist: SarvekasCountry: FinlandLabel: Soulseller RecordsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2023 On the debut of Sarvekas, melodies with an epic undertone combined with a crushing rhythm guitar sound and overall pace made up the majority of the material. Comparisons with both Finnish…
Artist: EneveldeCountry: NorwayLabel: Terratur PossessionsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2023 The flow of creativity streaming through the veins of B. Kråbøl seems endless. While his work with Misotheist has left a deep impression upon the admirers of the Black Metal brewing in the…
Artist: Terrifier Country: Canada Label: Empire Records Formats: LP / CD Year: 2023 Although the darkness and violence of Black Metal and Death Metal makes up the majority of our TWD content, we are certainly up for a good serving…
Artist: Nattehimmel Country: Norway Label: Hammerheart Records Formats: LP / CD Year: 2023 From the ever-fertile and imaginative soil of Norway, many bands emerged at the beginning of the 1990s that gave colour and new impetus to the Black Metal…
Artist: DioneCountry: PolandLabel: Self-releasedFormats: 10″ EP / CD EPYear: 2023 The seeds of Dione, a Polish one-man project consisting of Krystian Łukaszewicz, must have been sown some time ago. It almost has to be, to pull of an EP of…
Artist: ImmortalCountry: NorwayLabel: Nuclear Blast RecordsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2023 With ‘War Against All’ the Norwegian Black Metal institute Immortal brings forth its 10th instalment. A new album alone is enough to revisit this monumental band, but a tenth album…
Artist: Perdition windsCountry: FinlandLabel: Hellthrasher ProductionsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2023 ‘Transcendent Emptiness’, the second record by the Finnish Black Metal band Perdition Winds, was a ripper of a record. But maybe that wasn’t all that surprising, as the band features…
Artist: Spirit Possession Country: USA Label: Profound Lore Records Formats: LP / CD Year: 2023 Take Black Metal with a strong Heavy Metal riff base that features a cacophony of sliding and tapping guitar notes best known to Black Metal…
Artist: SkuggeheimCountry: NorwayLabel: Terratur PossessionsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2023 After the explosive 90’s of Norwegian Black Metal, not much of that bustling prolific and high-quality scene was still intact by the mid 2000’s. Sure, bands like Mayhem, Darkthrone, Satyricon and…
Artist: StutyrCountry: FinlandLabel: Wolfspell RecordsFormats: Cassette EP / CD EPYear: 2023 One of my favorite demos of 2022 was the first release by the Finnish Herugrim, whose ‘Demo XXMMII’ featured a stunning mix of raw Black metal with epic Heavy Metal…
Artist: ThulcandraCountry: GermanyLabel: Napalm RecordsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2023 Admittedly, I only got hooked on the Thulcandra phenomenon quite recently. In the past, I had heard some individual songs, but then ultimately chose not to delve further into it. Reason?…
Artist: Devil MoonCountry: FinlandLabel: Signal Rex / Old Forest ProductionFormats: Cassette EP / CD EPYear: 2022 A bondage ritual on the front cover, a pentagram in the band logo and a member of Morgal in the line-up: Devil Moon ticks…
Artist: DeimhalCountry: FinlandLabel: Self-releasedFormats: Digital EPYear: 2023 In a time where melodic Dissection-inspired Black Metal and symphonic Black Metal were at the height of their popularity, bands like the Finnish Catamenia fit right in. Perhaps never the most original or…
Artist: NoirceurCountry: FranceLabel: Self-ReleasedFormats: Digital demoYear: 2023 Anyone with any interest in the underground Black Metal of the 1990’s must undoubtedly have stumbled across one of the bands from the illustrious Les Legions Noires at least once. This collective comprised…
Artist: ManiakCountry: SwedenLabel: Self-ReleasedFormats: Digital EPYear: 2023 Maniak, not to be confused with the Filipino band of the same name (and even a somewhat similar logo), releases their debut EP with ‘Speed Metal Terrorist’, a more than fitting follow-up to…
Artist: Impetuous RitualCountry: AustraliaLabel: Profound Lore RecordsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2023 It was 2009’s ‘Relentless Execution Of Ceremonial Excrescence’, initially released by Profound Lore Records on CD and later in 2011 on vinyl by Blood Harvest, that put Australia’s Impetuous…
Artist: Norrhem / SielunvihollinenCountry: FinlandLabel: Hammer Of Hate RecordsFormats: Split CDYear: 2023 Norrhem and Sielunvihollinen have a bit of history together. Not only are they both from Finland, Sielunvihollinen mastermind Ruttokieli was part of the live lineup of Norrhem and…
Artist: Gärgäntuäh / KastijderCountry: The NetherlandsLabel: New Era ProductionsFormats: Split LPYear: 2023 With the demos ‘Dödenlicht’ and ‘Kastijder’, New Era Productions had released two gems from the Dutch Black Metal underground courtesy of the bands Gärgäntuäh and Kastijder respectively. Both…
Artist: Sněť / Grave InfestationCountry: Czechia / CanadaLabel: Me Saco Un OjoFormats: Split 7″ EPYear: 2023 Two of the current scene’s most revered underground Death Metal bands are sharing this piece of black wax of 7 inches in diameter, released by Me Saco Un Ojo.…
Artist: ProfeciCountry: PolandLabel: Godz Ov War ProductionsFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2023 When the previous Profeci album ‘Aporia’ was recommended to me a few years ago, it didn’t take long to see what had gotten my referrer excited…
Artist: Niteris / КрюкокрестCountry: Bosnia and Herzegovina / RussiaLabel: New Era Productions / Horrible RoomFormats: Split LP / Split cassette tape / Split CDYear: 2022 The Black Plague Circle versus the Pleskau Brethren, or more precisely, Niteris from Bosnia and…
Artist: GrotCountry: USALabel: Self-releasedFormats: CDYear: 2023 Seemingly inspired by forest, woodlands, and nature as a whole, US Black Metal band Grot gained quite some positive feedback for their 2021 released ‘Hymns of the Woodland’ EP. And for a good reason.…
Artist: Anal BlasphemyCountry: FinlandLabel: Spread Evil ProductionsFormats: 7″ EP / CD EPYear: 2023 With ‘Lust Of The Evil Witches’ Finland’s finest, Anal Blasphemy, makes its return after what ultimately turned out to be a five-year hiatus. After the Iron Bonehead Productions released ‘Western Decadence’-album from…
Artist: The KryptikCountry: BrazilLabel: Purity Through FireFormats: CDYear: 2023 In a genre where nostalgia reign supreme, bold statements can set things off on the wrong foot. It’s at the very least a striking claim to suggest an album might be…
Artist: ZiminiarCountry: UnknownLabel: Azermedoth Records / Bitter Misery Records / Victims Of FateFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2023 When literally nothing is known about a band and their origins it all comes down to the bare musical essence.…
Artist: Acid MassCountry: USALabel: Self-ReleasedFormats: Digital EPYear: 2023 Acid Mass is a new one-man band from Cincinatti, Ohio, USA that throws its first feat on the table with ‘Lust For Violence’. There are records that through a well-chosen title and…
Artist: Galvanizer / MorbificCountry: FinlandLabel: Iron CorpseFormats: Split cassette tapeYear: 2023 To add some lustre to their joint tour, these Finnish bands are releasing a split tape where, in a pretty pink and yellow cover, they want to show off…
Artist: BotulistumCountry: The NetherlandsLabel: New Era RecordsFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2023 It has taken a while, but this band, founded in 1998, has finally arrived at its debut album in 2023. Like some kind of nocturnal animal…