Tales From The Underground
Tales From The Underground
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,…
Artist: Crucifixation Country: USA Label: Down With The Most High Formats: LP / Cassette Tape Year: 2024 The mind of the ever-prolific Tom, who goes under various pseudonyms, spawned this old style Black/Death Metal project called Crucifixation that debuted with…
Artist: Falsum Country: USA Label: Self-Released Formats: Digital Demo Year: 2025 If I am well informed, this new one-man band is helmed by the drummer of Black Hurst, a band that I have been following because of their original and…
Artist: Atavistic Passage Country: United Kingdom Label: Self-Released Formats: Digital Demo Year: 2024 Introducing a new band with zero info is not the easiest task. Other than that this anonymous entity hails from somewhere in the North West of England…
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…
Artist: Nocturnal Deviancy Country: USA Label: Self-Released Formats: Digital Demo Year: 2024 Just before the band’s split with Drowning The Light, Nocturnal Deviancy released this little demo, made available as a digital stream only (at least so far). With the…
Artist: Annihilation Cult Country: USA Label: Profaner Records / Unpure Records Formats: Cassette Tape / CD Year: 2025 At the end of 2023 Annihilation Cult came up with a digital demo of just over 15 minutes of merciless Black/Death Metal…
Artist: Gnipahålan Country: Sweden Label: Purity Through Fire Formats: CD Year: 2024 At the very frayed ends of 2024 the overly-prolific Swartadauþuz comes with yet another record. I haven’t really counted his work this year, but at the beginning of…
Artist: Ancient Torment Country: USA Label: Old Pain Records Formats: Cassette EP Year: 2025 Although this freshly released new EP was preceded by an EP, a demo, a split cassette and a compilation tape, the band never really caught enough attention…
Artist: Dryas Country: Portugal Label: Altare Productions Formats: Demo Tape Year: 2024 Although Dryad could have several meanings, based on the song titles and mainly the wintry music, it seems to be derived from the term that divides the last…
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.…
Artist: Mystic Veil Country: USA Label: Altare Productions Formats: Cassette Tape Year: 2024 After the one-track ‘What Misery Thou Art Fallen’-demo from 2022 and a split tape with one of their other bands (Erstwhile) the American duo that together make…
Artist: Necrosorcery Country: Sweden Label: Self-Released Formats: Digital Year: 2024 As a jaded old fart, you rarely get truly impressed by new music (that’s different from enjoying good stuff!), so it’s extra pleasing to come across something that really opens…
Artist: Throne Of Charlemagne Country: USA Label: Diabolical Vitriol Formats: Demo Tape Year: 2024 Charlemagne’s name obviously resonates through history as one of the most powerful rulers of ancient Europe, the grand emperor of the post-Roman Empire-era. When choosing a…
Artist: Evokthum Country: Brazil Label: Self-Released Formats: Digital Demo Year: 2024 Someone even half-versed in the wonderful world of the Bestial Black/Death Metal scene will have no difficulty in already getting some idea of where this is going to, simply…
Artist: A Dead PoemCountry: BrazilLabel: Personal RecordsFormats: CDYear: 2024 You can’t accuse the Brazillian band A Dead Poem of hiding their inspirations. And indeed, it was Marlon Combat’s aim all along when he formed the band in 2023 to create…
Artist: Barathrum Country: Finland Label: Hammer Of Hate Records Formats: LP / CD Year: 2024 There was a time in history where Barathrum was a band that was only looked down upon. Its primitive and unpolished character was something that…
Artist: Satanic WarmasterCountry: FinlandLabel: Werewolf RecordsFormats: CDYear: 2024 No announcements, no preview tracks, nothing: like a bolt from the blue, Werwolf just dropped the newest Satanic Warmaster full-length. Created in total isolation, ‘Exultation of Cruelty’ is meant as a return…
Artist: Evil Deceiver Country: USA Label: Self-Released Formats: Demo Tape Year: 2024 Released in just 15 copies and only distributed to people within the close circles around the band… You can definitely say that this self-titled debut demo of Evil…
Artist: Rotten Moon Country: Finland Label: Ancien Culte Formats: Demo Tape Year: 2024 2022’s ‘The Endless Church’ demo by Finnish one-man Black Metal band intrigued me quite a bit, the Lo-Fi production and the rough-edged guitars matched perfectly with the…
Artist: Cursed Penetrator Country: Finland Label: Unpure Records Formats: Demo Tape Year: 2024 Early this year I reviewed Cursed Penetrator’s first digital demo, a solid and entertaining exercise of primal and rotten First Wave Black Metal, pretty much in the vein of early…
Artist: Order Of Nosferat Country: Finland / Germany Label: Purity Through Fire Formats: LP / Cassette Tape / CD Year: 2024 In good Order Of Nosferat tradition, 2024 also brings us two full-length albums, albeit narrowly. ‘The Absence Of Grace’…
Artist: DjevelCountry: NorwayLabel: Aftermath MusicFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2024 Ever since their beginning, Djevel has brought an ode to the Norwegian Black Metal of the 90’s, and in particular the more atmospheric likes of Gehenna, Ulver, Borknagar…
Artist: Salacious GodsCountry: The NetherlandsLabel: Wolfkult ReligionFormats: Cassette tape / CDYear: 2024 Thirty years of Salacious Gods. In that time, the band brought us four full-length albums, most of which were released in the late 90’s and early 00’s before…
Artist: Efermus Country: Portugal Label: Altare Productions Format: Demo tape Year: 2024 Just a few months after the release of the band’s first full-length album, ‘A Ira Do Tempo’ (Altare Productions), Efermus returns with something new. This time it is…
Artist: GrafjammerCountry: The NetherlandsLabel: Zwaertgevegt / Black Tapes / Folter RecordsFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2025 Necrorock returns! The Dutch perverts of Grafjammer are back in early 2025 with full-length number four, ‘De Tyfus, de Teerling’. It took…
Artist: Ancient North Country: USA Label: Self-Released Formats: Digital Year: 2024 With ‘Winter Holocaust’ the prolific Ancient North arrives at its 5th full-length album and second one in 2024. That in itself is not even that unique these days, but…
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.…
Artist: Itxinako Atxak Country: Spain Label: Altare Productions Format: Demo tape Year: 2024 From the ever-elusive stables of Altare Productions comes this new Spanish acts Itxinako Atxak. Although I believe they prefer to be seen as Basques, an issue that…
Artist: Levifer Country: Peru Label: Werewolf Records Formats: LP / Cassette Tape / CD Year: 2024 That Werewolf Records is no longer looking within its own Finnish borders seems more and more a fact, in recent years we have already…
Artist: Hail Conjurer Country: Finland Label: Bestial Burst Formats: CD Year: 2024 In between 2021’s ‘Sinister’ and ‘Earth Penetration’, released in 2022, the prolific one-man unit Hail Conjurer released two demo tapes with the titles ‘Anti-Dualist’ and ‘Lunar Action’. Both…
Artist: House Spirit Country: USA Label: Altare Productions Formats: Cassette Tape Year: 2024 With a title like this, especially in combination with the band’s name, it was not quite hard to guess the concept of this band’s first full-length album.…
Artist: Templum Supra Country: Portugal Label: Altare Productions Formats: Demo Tape Year: 2024 Although ‘Criptam Ostium’ is the debut demo tape from this new Portuguese Black Metal band Templum Supra, there is a bit of a background story to tell.…
Artist: Repúdio Country: Portugal Label: Altare Productions Formats: Demo Tape Year: 2024 Over the past decade or so the Portuguese Black Metal scene has spawned an incredible amount of quality Black Metal, Raw Black Metal to be exact. Without wanting…
Artist: Regnum Tenebrarum / Hertogenwald Country: Belgium Label: Medieval Prophecy Records Formats: Split LP / Split CD Year: 2024 As a part of the batch of the Medieval Prophecy Records releases from October 2024, came this split LP between two…
Artist: Sabbat / Gruesome Country: Japan / USA Label: Doomentia Records Formats: Split 7″ EP Year: 2024 To add extra lustre to last summer’s European tour, a split 7” EP between Sabbat and Gruesome was released by Doomentia Records. The…
Artist: Razör Forge Country: United Kingdom Label: Self-Released Formats: 7″ EP Year: 2024 Although this sort of music is not featured on these pages, it doesn’t mean that we are not fond of a good portion of rough Heavy Metal.…
Artist: Nameless Tomb / Witchcraft Country: Germany / Finland Label: Escafismo Records Formats: Split 7″ EP Year: 2023 Virtually simultaneously with the split 7” EP with Behalf Fiend there is also this Witchcraft split 7” EP with Nameless Tomb from…
Artist: Witchcraft / Behalf Fiend Country: Finland / Brazil Label: Brazilian Ritual Records Formats: Split 7″ EP Year: 2023 Although I more or less abide by an unwritten rule that keeps me from reviewing releases older than, say, six months,…
Artist: Necromantical Invocation Country: Greece Label: Zombi Danz Records Formats: 7″ EP Year: 2024 The ‘Dogme Et Rituel De La Haute Magie’-demo by Necromantical Invocation, originally released in 2021, can definitely be considered a resounding triumph. Not only because it…
Artist: Putridarium / Trollcave Country: Germany / Spain Label: Seven Metal Inches Records Formats: Split 7″ EP Year: 2024 ‘Swallowed By Rottenness’ brings together two of today’s emerging death metal acts. Both Putridarium from Germany and Spanish Trollcave have been…
Artist: Opus Magorum Country: Greece Label: Zombi Danz Records Formats: 7″ EP Year: 2024 In a review for a vinyl reissue of an older Opus Magorum demo I already cited that with only releasing demos in rather small quantities the…
Artist: Perfidious Country: Malaysia Label: Zombi Danz Records Formats: 7″ EP Year: 2024 The cover artwork alone of this 45RPM 7’ EP released by Zombi Danz Records is already worth a look for those who like Southeast Asian Black/Death Metal.…
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…
Artist: Necromaniac Country: United Kingdom Label: Invictus Productions / The Ajna Offensive Formats: LP / CD Year: 2024 With the band’s 2015-released ‘Morbid Metal’ demo tape and the ‘Subterranean Death Rising’ 7” EP from 2018 Necromaniac already released some snippets…
Artist: Vindalf Country: Chile Label: Signal Rex Formats: LP / Cassette Tape / CD Year: 2024 Although Lord Valtgryftåke, with several albums and other output per year, might be Chile’s most prolific Black Metal musician the award for most intriguing…
Artist: Nocturnal Deviancy / Drowning The Light Country: USA / Australia Label: Dark Adversary Productions Formats: Split CD Year: 2024 Besides Drowning The Light’s split CD with Azgorh’s own Harvest, there’s also this split release with Nocturnal Deviancy. Although Azgorh…
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…