Tales From The Underground
Tales From The Underground
Artist: EncryptmentCountry: SwedenLabel: Nuclear Winter RecordsFormats: Cassette tape / CDYear: 2022 Those already familiar with Encryptment via their 2015 EP ‘Suktar Efter Luft’ and the subsequent 2019 ‘Mangel Från Söderort’-demo have been able to hear the intention with which the…
Artist: Rotpit Country: Germany / Sweden Label: Self-Released Formats: Digital Single/Demo Year: 2022 The German/Swedish band Rotpit, with Jonny Pettersson (of Wombbath fame, amongst many others) and Henrik Poisingis and Ralf Hauber (both of Revel In Flesh), returns with a…
Artist: TotholzCountry: GermanyLabel: Self-releasedFormats: Demo tapeYear: 2021 Wow, this is quite a trip down memory lane. I am not sure whether the two in this German Black Metal band actually meant their title (which translates to ‘Wake-up call to old…
Artist: Embryonic SlumberCountry: FinlandLabel: Werewolf RecordsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2021 When doing background research for the review of the Olio Tähtien Takana album ‘Spectral Katharsis’ I stumbled upon the band Embryonic Slumber. Like Olio Tähtien Takana, Embryonic Slumber consists of…
Artist: Ninkharsag Country: United Kingdom Label: Vendetta Records Formats: LP / Cassette Tape / CD Year: 2021 The UK Black Metal band Ninkharsag was founded by Paul Armitstead in 2009, after his former band Unsanctum was carried to its grave.…
Artist: Gorgon Vomit Country: United Kingdom Label: Self-Released Formats: Digital Demo Year: 2022 This ugly creature crawled straight out of the London Dungeons and calls itself Gorgon Vomit. Named after the vomit of the gorgons, the three daughters (of which…
Artist: Void ColumnCountry: CanadaLabel: Mouth Of MadnessFormats: Demo tapeYear: 2022 Last year our VM-Underground Chief Editor Ricardo was very excited about Void Column’s first demo tape, ‘The Chasmic Death’. Now this anonymous entity returns with its second demo tape, ‘Quiescence…
Artist: FertilizerCountry: CanadaLabel: Self-ReleasedFormats: Digital demoYear: 2022 As of late Canadian Black Metal is best known for the somewhat more refined and at the same time furious Black Metal scene, bands like Sorcier Des Glaces, Forteresse, Cantique Lepreux, Monarque and…
Artist: DjevelCountry: NorwayLabel: Aftermath Music / Impure Wedding Productions / Tour de GardeFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2021 With our apologies, this review comes to you somewhat late, but I should also add right away that I was…
Artist: AtaraxyCountry: SpainLabel: Dark Descent Records / Me Saco un Ojo Records Formats: LP / CDYear: 2022 Anyone who has followed the development of this Spanish Death Metal band will speak confidently of a particularly successful transformation. On 2010’s 5-track ‘Rotten Shit’ demo, the band…
Artist: Ultra SilvamCountry: SwedenLabel: Shadow RecordsFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2022 That Ultra Silvam was a band to watch out for was immediately clear after first hearing their self-titled demo. The band effortlessly combined a ferocious untamed Black Metal…
Artist: Necrohammer Country: Mexico Label: Self-Released Formats: Digital EP Year: 2022 Old School bestial Blackened Speed Metal fans of the world, rejoice! After a 2020 demo tape and a split CD (Bestial Possession, Profanación Sepulcral and Goatslaught) a year later,…
Artist: Rotpit Country: Germany / Sweden Label: Selfmadegod Records / Seven Inches Of Metal Records Formats: 7″ EP / Cassette EP Year: 2021 Rotpit is one of the many projects led by Jonny Pettersson, best known for his work in…
Artist: VampirblutCountry: USALabel: Self-releasedFormats: Digital demo, SingleYear: 2022 American one-man Black Metal act Vampirblut releases one demo and single/EP after another with dizzying speed. So many that even Metal-Archives is struggling to give a complete picture, various demos are circulating…
Artist: BlackdeathCountry: RussiaLabel: End All Life ProductionsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2021 With their roots as deep as 1995, Blackdeath went through several name changes and an impressive discography to develop into one of Russia’s longest running and most valuable underground…
Artist: IncantationCountry: USALabel: Relapse RecordsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2022 What is dead may never die. Sometimes it feels like yesterday that Death Metal arose from the graves of the underground to take the world by storm. But of course, the…
Artist: Dracul’s GraspCountry: CanadaLabel: Extinctionist RecordsFormats: Demo tapeYear: 2022 Dracul’s Grasp is one of the latest outings of the illustrious figure of Darghul, who also goes under the name of Extinctionist and runs the Extinctionist Records label and has well over 20 active bands…
Artist: Grimdusk Country: France Label: Self-Released Formats: Digital EP Year: 2022 Out of the wild and dark French forests comes this Black Metal duo that goes under the name of Grimdusk. They are a part of a local Black Metal…
Artist: Infester Country: USA Label: Nuclear Winter Records Formats: LP / CD Year: 2022 Infester is one of the ‘hidden gems’ from the underground American Death Metal scene. They achieved a certain cult status with relatively little materialised legacy. 1992’s…
Artist: CalufraxCountry: CanadaLabel: Self-ReleasedFormats: Digital demoYear: 2022 Calufrax is quite a mysterious Black Metal act from Toronto, Canada. It is led by someone who goes under the name of Peon and released some demos and one full-length in the past,…
Artist: KorgonthurusCountry: FinlandLabel: Woodcut RecordsFormats: 12″ EP / CD EPYear: 2021 The origin of Korgonthurus goes back to 2000, with the band releasing two demos before splitting up in 2001. It wouldn’t take long before the two core band members,…
Artist: Chevallier Skrog / Dracul’s GraspCountry: Sweden / CanadaLabel: Pant Y MeddygonFormats: Cassette split tapeYear: 2022 The fairly large flow of releases indicates the healthy work ethics of the Czech/Swedish Chevallier Skrog. We have covered this intriguing one-man act before…
Artist: Fumes Country: Mexico Label: MVIRecs / Sentenced In Hellfire Records Formats: Cassette EP Year: 2022 From Mexico City comes this new four-piece Death/Black Metal band who are releasing their first EP with ‘Stellar Murders Upwards’. However, the four musicians…
Artist: Dwellers Of The Twilight VoidCountry: USALabel: PromulgatorFormats: Demo tapeYear: 2022 This three-pieces Death Metal act from Tampa, Florida is presenting their first demo to the world, which you might’ve guessed by the title of this three-tracker. But when listening these songs, it doesn’t sound…
Artist: VampirblutCountry: USALabel: Self-releasedFormats: Digital EPYear: 2022 When I think of Black Metal Punk, my thoughts automatically turn to the Darkthrone records of a few years ago. Not all fans were equally happy with those albums, for that matter, some…
Artist: TheotoxinCountry: AustriaLabel: Art Of PropagandaFormats: LP / CDYear: 2022 After some changes in their sound on the first few albums, Theotoxin seemingly found their style of Black Metal on the album ‘Fragment : Erhabenheit’. Eager to bring this to…
Artist: TheotoxinCountry: AustriaLabel: Art Of PropagandaFormats: LP / CDYear: 2020 Austria’s Theotoxin have upheld a steady pace of releasing albums since its formation in 2016. The sound varied a bit from one album to the other, however. On the 2017…
Artist: Sexmag Country: Poland Label: Dying Victims Productions Formats: Demo Tape Year: 2022 After their “tasteful” debut EP ‘Sex Metal’ from 2021, these Poles returned last summer with this new demo tape, which, like the EP, was also released by…
Artist: Torturer’s LobbyCountry: USALabel: PromulgatorFormats: 7″ EPYear: 2022 Death Metal has a rich history when it comes to themes and musically elaborated concepts. The most well-trodden paths are death and destruction on one side and the anti-Christian on the other.…
Artist: Necrom Country: Ukraine Label: Osmose Productions Formats: LP / Cassette Tape / CD Year: 2022 Ladies and gentlemen, we’ve got ourselves a Nostradamus! VM-Underground’s very own chief editor Ricardo already predicted in May 2019 that Necrom would be picked…
Artist: Corpse DesecrationCountry: USALabel: Self-ReleasedFormats: Demo CDYear: 2022 Corpse Desecration is a Cleveland, Ohio based Death Metal crew and released their first demo only a couple of days ago. Apart from their origin, no further information about the band is…
Artist: KathaariaCountry: GermanyLabel: End All Life ProductionsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2022 To be completely honest, I hadn’t heard of the band Kathaaria before the cover art for their 2022 release, ‘To Be Shunned by All... As Centres of Pestilence’, caught…
Artist: Necrohell Country: Greece Label: Christhunt Productions Formats: CD Year: 2022 Greek Black Metal has always had a special place in the scene. Without bringing up the widely known history and naming the celebrated bands once again, we can safely…
Artist: Perverted Ceremony Country: Belgium Label: Medieval Prophecy Records Formats: 7″ EP Year: 2021 We at VM-Underground have given ourselves quite a bit of Belgian Black Metal to review over the past few months, not infrequently I have personally stood…
Artist: DoedsvangrCountry: NorwayLabel: Devilry ProductionsFormats: 12″ EPYear: 2022 Straight after the release of their 2021 sophomore album ‘Serpents ov Old’, Doedsvangr didn’t rest on their laurels and quickly followed it up with an EP entitled ‘Koinonia’. The EP, available digitally…
Artist: DoedsvangrCountry: Finland / France / NorwayLabel: Debemur Morti ProductionsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2021 In the Black Metal collective called Doedsvangr we find experienced musicians from Norway, Finland and France. The Norwegian nation is represented by drummer AntiChristian (Grimfist, ex-Tsjuder…
Artist: Phlegethon’s Majesty / Gouffre Country: Belgium Label: Medieval Prophecy Records Formats: Split 7″ EP Year: 2022 Belgian Black Metal has been on the rise in recent years. The times when we could only name Ancient Rites and Enthroned are…
Artist: Sexmag Country: Poland Label: Dying Victims Productions Formats: 12″ EP / Cassette EP / CD EP Year: 2022 A band with such a name immediately draws attention, add to that this fantastic cover artwork and you have yourself a…
Artist: Self Execration / Suicidechain Country: USA Label: War Ritual Records Formats: Digital Demo Year: 2022 I recently encountered Self Execration’s first demo, released last September, and that’s also how I came upon this split release that saw the light…
Artist: Self Execration Country: USA Label: War Ritual Records Formats: Digital Demo Year: 2022 What we have here is yet another one-man Black Metal act from America. Self Execration is the brainchild of the somewhat misogynistic character of Slutslaughterer who…
Artist: Grave Troll Country: USA Label: Narbentage Produktionen Formats: Cassette EP Year: 2023 Though having released two demo tapes in 2020 and a split tape with Drug Darkness last year, the anonymous entity of Grave Troll returns this year with…
Artist: Anatomia / MorbificCountry: Japan / FinlandLabel: Lycanthropic ChantsFormats: Split 7″ EPYear: 2022 This 7” EP, released by German-based Lycanthropic Chants, is yet another chapter in the ever-expanding discography of Anatomia. This time these prolific Japanese Death Metallers team up…
Artist: Cosmic ChurchCountry: FinlandLabel: KuunpalvelusFormats: LPYear: 2022 While Cosmic Church is mostly known as the one-man band of Luxixul Sumering Auter, a few of their releases were actually recorded as a two-piece. On the very first Cosmic Church demo, ‘The…
Artist: Sadistic Drive Country: Finland Label: Headsplit Records / SelfMadeGod Records Formats: Cassette Tape / CD Year: 2022 Anyone who has heard Sadistic Drive’s 2018 ‘Street Cannibal Gluttony’ demo/EP and then also 2020’s first album, ‘Anthropophagy’, has already noticed a…
Artist: Abysmal SpiteCountry: USALabel: Cult Of Oblivion RecordingsFormats: Demo tapeYear: 2022 With ‘Demo MMXXII’ this American Black Metal duo releases their first feat under their collective name of Abysmal Spite. On this firstling Antaeus is responsible for all the instrumentation…
Artist: WombbathCountry: SwedenLabel: Self-releasedFormats: Digital EPYear: 2022 Pretty soon after the Russian unprovoked invasion of Ukraine last February 24th, many labels and bands expressed their support for Ukraine and its many metal bands. Benefit concerts were organised and special editions…
Artist: Sadistic Drive Country: Finland Label: Blood Harvest / Headsplit Records / La Caverna Records Formats: LP / Cassette Tape / CD Year: 2020 When I was immersing myself in this Finnish Death Metal band for a review for their…
Artist: Strigoi Country: United Kingdom Label: Season Of Mist Formats: LP / CD Year: 2022 If I am sufficiently informed, Vallenfyre was founded by Greg Mackintosh, best known as Paradise Lost guitarist, as a vehicle to help him cope with…
Artist: MānbryneCountry: PolandLabel: Malignant Voices / Terratur PossessionsFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2021 Although the focus tends to go to Norway, at the dawn of the 90’s Black Metal scenes started sprouting all over the world. One such…
Artist: KêresCountry: FinlandLabel: Terratur PossessionsFormats: 12″ EP / CD EPYear: 2021 Kêres is one of the many vessels that the multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and Kuunpalvelus label boss Rauta (in the case of Kêres performing under the name of Atvar) uses to…