Bekëth Nexëhmü – De Evigas Gravrit

Artist: Bekëth NexëhmüCountry: SwedenLabel: Purity Through FireFormats: LP / CDYear: 2022 The full-length albums of Swedish Black Metal act Bekëth Nexëhmü follow each other in rapid succession. Just after the previous work, the one filled with mostly old demo material,…

Pharmacist – Carnal Pollution [EP / Re-Release]

Artist: Pharmacist Country: Japan Label: Bizarre Leprous Production / Black Hole Productions / Grindfather Productions / Gurgling Gore / Sevared Records Formats: 10″ EP / Cassette EP / CD EP Year: 2022 Over the past two plus decades I have…

Wanklank – Waar Klanken De Ruimte En Tijd Verbinden

Artist: WanklankCountry: The NetherlandsLabel: Heidens Hart RecordsFormats: LPYear: 2021 Put in a plain sleeve, black with only the somewhat scratchy logo on it very large, with no info or extras, this vinyl-only album by the obscure Black Metal band, Wanklank…

Vital Remains – Excruciating Pain [Demo / Re-Release]

Artist: Vital RemainsCountry: USALabel: Xtreem MusicFormats: 10″ EPYear: 2021 One of the most underrated American Death Metal bands might be Vital Remains. Sure, they have a loyal fan base, but I’ve always felt that the band never reached their full…

Apogeion – Astrolatria I: Initiatio

Artist: ApogeionCountry: FinlandLabel: Northern Heritage RecordsFormats: CDYear: 2022 It’s hard to imagine Finnish Black Metal as we know it without Beherit. But while the pioneering band inspired countless of musicians during the early wave of Black Metal, bands that closely…

Sacrifice – Torment In Fire [Re-Release]

Artist: Sacrifice Country: Canada Label: High Roller Records / Shadow Kingdom Records Formats: LP / Cassette Tape / CD Year: 2022 While Germany had their Big 3 (Sodom, Destruction, Kreator) and the USA had their Big 4 (Slayer, Metallica, Megadeth…

Sacrifice – Forward To Termination [Re-Release]

Artist: Sacrifice Country: Canada Label: High Roller Records, Shadow Kingdom Records Formats: LP / Cassette Tape / CD Year: 2022 A much heard criticism upon the release of Canadian Thrash Metal band Sacrifice’s debut album, ‘Torment In Fire’ (1986), was…

Ruttokosmos – Kärsimys [Compilation]

Artist: Ruttokosmos Country: Finland Label: Werewolf Records Formats: CD Year: 2021 Finnish Black Metal bands, more often than not, tend to have miraculous sort of stories to tell. Sometimes they were very short lived but with a remarkably big influence…

Inferno Requiem – Wolf, Blood, Sword! [Compilation]

Artist: Inferno Requiem Country: Taiwan Label: Elder Blood Productions Formats: CD Year: 2021 Taiwan’s Inferno Requiem began forging a tetralogy with 2019’s ‘Wolf From Onon’ Realm’ EP and finished it with 2021’s ‘Vultures’ EP, now Elderblood Productions scraped all of…

Inferno Requiem – Vultures [EP]

Artist: Inferno Requiem Country: Taiwan Label: Death Kvlt Productions / Death Prayer Records Formats: Cassette EP Year: 2021 Maybe origin plays a role, Taiwanese Black Metal is not something that will be on everyone’s lips right now. But whatever the…

Niaisny – U Zmroku I Cieniu Śmiarotnym [Demo]

Artist: Niaisny Country: Belarus Label: Medieval Prophecy Records Formats: Demo Tape Year: 2022 The Belarussian band Niaisny released their first demo tape in 2021, just like this second one also through Medieval Prophecy Records. On that first offering they presented…

Vulture Lord – Desecration Rite

Artist: Vulture LordCountry: NorwayLabel: Bylec-Tum Productions / Odium RecordsFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2021 Even though the band formed in the mid 90’s, Vulture Lord’s career hasn’t been all too prolific. In fact, apart from a debut album…

Drowning The Light – Lurker Of The Void [EP]

Artist: Drowning The LightCountry: AustraliaLabel: Dark Adversary ProductionsFormats: CD EPYear: 2023 Very hot on the heels of Drowning The Light’s latest offering, Azgorh’s seventeenth full-length album with Drowning The Light ‘Haunter Of The Deep’, he returns with the already announced first of a…

Megaslaughter – Calls From the Beyond [Reissue]

Artist: MegaslaughterCountry: SwedenLabel: To The Death RecordsFormats: CDYear: 2022 In the midst of the booming Swedish Death Metal scene, legends were born that colored the early days of the much beloved buzz-saw sound. With one release after another, bands sprouted…

Coscradh – Crá Aosta [Compilation]

Artist: CoscradhCountry: IrelandLabel: Invictus ProductionsFormats: LPYear: 2022 Earlier in 2022, the Dublin-based Coscradh released their debut album ‘Nahanagan Stadial’ on Invictus Productions. That debut followed closely on the 2021 released 7″ EP ‘Mesradh Machae’. Before that, the Irish had released…

Necrodeath – Singin’ In The Pain

Artist: Necrodeath Country: Italy Label: Time To Kill Records Formats: LP / CD Year: 2023 We’re writing early 2023 and I think we already have a strong contender for the corniest album title of the year. Seriously, what were they…

Morbid Stench – The Rotting Ways Of Doom

Artist: Morbid Stench Country: Costa Rica / El Salvador Label: Alkolik Holocaust Records / El Conjuro Records / Nuclear Winter Records / Putrid Cult Formats: LP / Cassette Tape / CD Year: 2022 Morbid Stench is a collaboration of musicians…

Morbid Stench – Opus Doom I [Compilation]

Artist: Morbid Stench Country: Costa Rica / El Salvador Label: Ablaze Productions Formats: CD Year: 2022 Just behind the release of Morbid Stench’s second full-length album, the band also comes out with this collector which features all the material they…

Toughness – The Prophetic Dawn

Artist: ToughnessCountry: SwedenLabel: Godz Ov War ProductionsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2022 ‘The Prophetic Dawn’ is the first album of a new band from Poland, founded in 2020 by a group of young musicians who were eager to play some Old School…

Chaos Invocation – Devil, Stone & Man

Artist: Chaos InvocationCountry: GermanyLabel: W.T.C. ProductionsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2022 My first introduction to the music of the German band Chaos Invocation was their 2017 split with fellow W.T.C. Productions label mates Thy Darkened Shade. I remember seeing the excellent…

Necrogod – In Extremis

Artist: Necrogod Country: Costa Rica / Sweden Label: Transcending Obscurity Records Formats: LP / CD Year: 2021 A few years ago Swedish jack-of-all-trades Rogga Johansson and Costa Rican Ronald Jimenez (also known as ‘The Master Butcher’) of bands like Morbid…

Felvum – Fullmoon Mysticism [EP]

Artist: FelvumCountry: UkraineLabel: Out Of SeasonFormats: Cassette EPYear: 2022 Founded at the very beginning of 2022, the Ukranian Black Metal band Felvum was already able to spawn its first EP, ‘Fullmoon Mysticism’, in early April. The current status of the…

Catacombs – Materialized In Agony

Artist: CatacombsCountry: ColombiaLabel: War March RecordsFormats: CDYear: 2022 After a promo CDR that the band spread around at the very end of 2021, the Colombian Death Metal band Catacombs were able to strike a deal with War March Records for a release of…

Muert – Haeresis

Artist: Muert Country: Spain Label: Immortal Frost Productions Formats: CD Year: 2022 Though most people know the Spanish Canary Islands only from their nice sunny holidays, the islands too have a very dark side. Its unpredictable and evil, volcanic character…

Houle – Houle [EP]

Artist: HouleCountry: FranceLabel: Les Acteurs de l’Ombre ProductionsFormats: 12″ EP / CD EPYear: 2022 From Paris, France hails the five-piece Black Metal band Houle. Formed in 2021, the band soon found their debut EP ‘Houle’ released on the esteemed label…

Vas Satanas – Vas Satanas [Demo]

Artist: Vas SatanasCountry: FinlandLabel: Werewolf RecordsFormats: Demo tapeYear: 2022 Vas Satanas is a Finnish band consisting of Exxxiler (Morgal and Bergilmir) on drums and Vorr (Daemonlust, Nefarious Rites, Nocturnal Sorcery and Persekution) on vocals and guitars. Their self-titled demo was…

Abysmal Lord – Bestiary Of Immortal Hunger

Artist: Abysmal LordCountry: USALabel: Hells Headbangers RecordsFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2022 Do you remember those years when it was your birthday and that you sneaked down the stairs very early to see the decorated living room and,…

Heads For The Dead – The Great Conjuration

Artist: Heads For The Dead Country: International Label: Transcending Obscurity Records Formats: LP / Cassette tape / CD Year: 2022 For those who missed the previous two full-length albums (and EP) of Heads For The Dead, it is yet another…

Drowning The Light – Haunter Of The Deep

Artist: Drowning The LightCountry: AustraliaLabel: Dark Adversary ProductionsFormats: CDYear: 2023 As a fan of Australian Black Metal act Drowning The Light, it is not hard to get spoilt, in fact, you only have to blink a few times or Azgorh already has something…

Malignament – Hypocrisis Absolution

Artist: MalignamentCountry: FinlandLabel: Primitive ReactionFormats: LP / CDYear: 2021 Formed in 2019 by Grond of White Death and P.J. of Morgal and ex-Armour, Finland’s Malignament released their first demo in the same year. Most reviews, including the one on this…

Assumption – Hadean Tides

Artist: AssumptionCountry: ItalyLabel: Everlasting Spew RecordsFormats: LP, CDYear: 2022 The 2018 released album ‘Absconditus’ from the Italian Doom/Death Metal band Assumption was described by a VM-Underground colleague as Doom/Death effort that has a lot to offer and compared it to bands like diSEMBOWELMENT, Winter and…

Xeper – Ad Numen Satanae

Artist: XeperCountry: ItalyLabel: Soulseller RecordsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2021 Xeper, now operating out of Stavanger, Norway, but originally founded in Italy, released their fourth album last year through Dutch Soulseller Records. Though ‘Ad Numen Satanae’ is indeed the band’s fourth…

Gorgasm – 96 [Demo / Re-Release]

Artist: Gorgasm Country: USA Label: Brutal Mind Formats: CD Year: 2022 When it comes to the more brutal sort of Death Metal with a distinct technical slant, there are very few bands that come close to the ingenuity of Gorgasm…

SubOrbital – Planetary Disruption

Artist: SubOrbital Country: Germany Label: War Anthem Records Formats: CD Year: 2022 Besides those classic gory and anti-religious themes, there’s more and more bands choosing a different path. Cosmic-themed Death Metal is no longer something that can be considered a…

Graveater – .​.​. Of Harrowing Remains [Demo]

Artist: Graveater Country: Estonia Label: Filth Junkies Records / Headsplit Records Formats: Cassette EP Year: 2022 Graveater is a new band from Estonia consisting of two members that gained their experience in bands such as Sküllfükk SS, Degeneratör and Ziegenhorn.…

Nazghor – Seventh Secular Crusade

Artist: Nazghor Country: Sweden Label: The Wild Hunt Formats: CD Year: 2022 Swedish Black Metal band Nazghor was founded in 2012 and have been releasing six albums from 2013 to 2017, which made them one of the most prolific Swedish…

Pure – Seeds of Despair

Artist: PureCountry: SwitzerlandLabel: Obscure Abhorrence Productions / Onism Productions / Satanath RecordsFormats: Cassette tape / CDYear: 2021 Despite a fairly lengthy history that started in 2013 and brought forth four full-length albums, the Swiss one-man band Pure mostly spent the early years of its existence…

Order – The Gospel

Artist: OrderCountry: NorwayLabel: Listenable RecordsFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2021 A superficial glance at the band Order shows an entity that was founded in Norway in 2013. It also reveals that their 2021 album ‘The Gospel’ is their second album, following a 2016…

Askeregn – Brennende Åkres Grøde

Artist: AskeregnCountry: NorwayLabel: Terratur PossessionsFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2022 Some years ago, it felt like a true achievement to obtain Terratur Possessions releases. Not because they were limited in quantities or because they lacked distribution. Simply because…

Mimorium – The Route of Haeresis

Artist: MimoriumCountry: FinlandLabel: Korpituli Productions / Spread Evil ProductionsFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2022 In 2022, the Finnish band Mimorium was ready to unleash it’s third opus unto the world. The second album, ‘Blood of Qayin’, received quite…

Blodt​å​r – Blodt​å​r [EP]

Artist: Blodt​å​rCountry: SwedenLabel: Nordvis ProduktionFormats: 12″ EP / CD EPYear: 2021 Around the turn of the year, the Swedish Black Metal band Blodt​å​r released their self-titled debut EP, with the CD version by the very end of last year and…

Sepulchral Rites – Death And Bloody Ritual [EP]

Artist: Sepulchral Rites Country: Chile Label: Dunkelheit Produktionen Formats: 12″ EP / CD EP Year: 2022 Last year the Chilean, all-female Sepulchral Rites released their debut EP ‘Death And Bloody Ritual’ through Germany’s Dunkelheit Produktionen, and with their regressive sort…

Alburnum – Buitenlucht

Artist: AlburnumCountry: The NetherlandsLabel: Babylon Doom Cult RecordsFormats: Cassette CD / CD EPYear: 2022 The Dutch band Alburnum is a relatively new act from the ever-fertile Black Metal scene of the city of Utrecht. Like many (very) local scenes, a…