Tales From The Underground
Tales From The Underground
Artist: Putrifier Country: Chile Label: Iron Bonehead Productions Formats: Cassette EP Year: 2023 This EP, that clocks just under the 18 minute mark, is the debut for Chilean Black/Death Metal band Putrifier. The first thing I thought of when I…
Artist: Øde Country: Germany Label: Self-Released Formats: Digital Year: 2023 This new band, which emerged from the German Black Metal scene in 2022, is formed by a pair who have already gained some experience in a number of other Black…
Artist: WiltCountry: GermanyLabel: Self-releasedFormats: LP / CDYear: 2023 Just like the band’s 2018’s debut album ‘Faces Of The Grave’, Wilt took things in their own hands. That means that this sophomore album, ‘Into Nothingness’, is again a self-released product, available…
Artist: Dawn’s ReflectionCountry: USALabel: Cryptic Shield VaultFormats: Demo tapeYear: 2023 ‘Demo MMXXIII’ is not only the first demo of this Richmond, Virginia, USA based Black Metal band, but also for its label, Cryptic Shield Vault. Of both entities there is…
Artist: ConcilivmCountry: ChileLabel: Iron Bonehead ProductionsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2022 With their ‘The Veiled Enigma’ EP, the duo that together form the Death Metal band Concilivm came up with their first achievement after their formation in 2017. However, it took…
Artist: VoidhandCountry: UnknownLabel: Self-releasedFormats: Digital demoYear: 2023 There is exactly nothing at all on the internet about this new Black Metal act. It is completely unknown where it comes from and its musical origins. What is clear though, given the…
Artist: Fourth Monarchy Country: Italy Label: Self-Released Formats: Digital Year: 2023 The history of this Italian Black Metal band dates back all the way to 2002, when the band was founded. In the very first years of their existence they…
Artist: Mystic Veil Country: USA Label: Self-Released Formats: Digital Demo Year: 2022 With ‘What Misery Thou Art Fallen’ the duo behind the American Raw Black Metal band Mystic Veil reveal their first offering, a one-track demo with a total playing…
Artist: Mortify Country: Japan Label: Obliteration Records Formats: CD EP Year: 2022 The year 2022 saw Mortify’s ‘Grotesque Buzzsaw Defilement’ EP being reissued on various formats, but it was also the year that this (very) short new EP saw the…
Artist: Metuzalem Country: Croatia Label: Tanatofobia Productions Formats: CD Year: 2023 From Croatia comes this new Death Metal band that released their debut album at the beginning of this month. ‘Infra’ might be the first album for these five musicians…
Artist: Paimon Gate Country: USA Label: Nuclear War Now! Productions Formats: LP / Cassette Tape Year: 2022 Last year the debut EP for Paimon Gate was released through Nuclear War Now! Productions on the three most popular physical formats, showing…
Artist: WolvëinCountry: USALabel: Self-releasedFormats: Digital demoYear: 2022 Observing the red/black aesthetic of the cover and adding the Dungeon Synth intro, there is really nothing else to expect but Raw Black Metal in the late 90s tradition with a penchant for…
Artist: AzgarathCountry: FranceLabel: ChaoscibelFormats: CD EPYear: 2023 Azgarath’s first EP and debut album were released by France d’Oil Productions, a label run by Dunkel, an active figure in the French Black Metal underground, known among others for Sale Freux, Drakonhail…
Artist: Furnace Country: Sweden Label: Obelisk Polaris Productions Formats: CD Year: 2023 Out of the many Rogga Johansson bands, which are frankly quite a bit too many, I think that Furnace is one of the least impressive ones. Not only…
Artist: VindalfCountry: ChileLabel: Signal RexFormats: CDYear: 2022 After having released a couple of singles/EP’s Vindalf released its debut album in 2021 and sees its return a year later with no less than two albums that saw the dark of night…
Artist: FaithxtractorCountry: USALabel: Redefining Darkness RecordsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2023 With ‘Contempt For A Failed Dimension’ American Death Metal combo Faithxtractor have already arrived at their fourth album. Although each album saw the light of day via a different label…
Artist: Reflet Crépusculaire Country: France Label: Canti Eretici Formats: Cassette Tape Year: 2023 The name says it all, of course, but on ‘The Tormented Wanderer Trilogy’, the three separate chapters from the trilogy of ‘The Tormented Wanderer’ are brought together…
Artist: Mortify Country: Japan Label: Headsplit Records / Horror Pain Gore Death Productions / Obliteration Records / Psychocontrol Records / Red Truth Production / Septic Aroma Of Reeking Stench Formats: CD EP Year: 2022 Mortify’s ‘Grotesque Buzzsaw Defilement’, originally released…
Artist: Ieschure Country: Ukraine Label: Self-Released Formats: Cassette single Year: 2023 Hot on the heels of Ieschure’s ‘The Mystic Fields’ EP from early January of this year, Lilita Arndt treats us with yet another new release. This time it is…
Artist: BurialkultCountry: CanadaLabel: Drakkar ProductionsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2022 It has been over a decade since I first and last heard of the Canadian Black/Death Metal band Burialkult. The band released an EP and full-length album in 2012 and 2013…
Artist: Slugathor Country: Finland Label: Drakkar Records Formats: LP / CD Year: 2022 Slugathor’s latest offering, ‘Crypt Of The Ancient Fire’ was already unleashed just before summer last year, but its vinyl issue only saw the light of day a…
Artist: Profanatica Country: USA Label: Hells Headbangers Records Formats: 7″ EP Year: 2022 When it comes to American Black Metal or Black Metal of the most depraved kind, Profanatica is a band to be reckoned with. Ever since their first…
Artist: Funeral WindsCountry: The NetherlandsLabel: Osmose ProductionsFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2023 One of the most important bands in the development of Dutch Black Metal is without a glimmer of a doubt Funeral Winds. Though now operating out…
Artist: Desolate GraveCountry: SwedenLabel: Grind To Death RecordsFormats: Digital EPYear: 2022 Desolate Grave is the name of this solo-project by David “Pos” Mauritzon, who has also been in a few other bands, of which the oddly named Belarus Beaver, despite…
Artist: Empire of TharaphitaCountry: FinlandLabel: Out Of The DungeonFormats: LPYear: 2022 Before Mooncitadel there was Empire Of Tharaphita. From 2007 until 2014, Finnish instrumentalist and vocalist Stormheit operated under this band name, releasing two demos and a split with Drowning…
Artist: Vengeance HammerCountry: USALabel: Self-releasedFormats: Digital demoYear: 2022 You can just take the band name, Vengeance Hammer, add to that the gruesome cover art, and if you also keep in mind that the lyrics deal with nuclear war, diseases and…
Artist: Defy The CurseCountry: The NetherlandsLabel: Hammerheart RecordsFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2023 This Dutch band, Defy The Curse, is a new collective formed by a couple of scene veterans. With ‘Horrors Of Human Sacrifice’, released on all…
Artist: Re-Buried Country: USA Label: Translation Loss Records Formats: LP / Cassette Tape / CD Year: 2023 With artwork as beautiful as it is gruesome, attention is drawn to this latest work from Seattle, USA-based Death Metal quintet Re-Buried. After…
Artist: Sonic Poison Country: Finland Label: Caligari Records / Me Saco un Ojo Records / Pulverised Records Formats: LP / Cassette Tape / CD Year: 2023 When can argue that life is a bitch, life can be difficult, a struggle…
Artist: Feral HowlCountry: NorwayLabel: Breath Of Pestilence / Night Rhythms RecordingsFormats: Demo tape / Demo CDYear: 2023 Feral Howl is a relatively new Black Metal act from Norway of which quite little is known. It seems to be a one-man…
Artist: Krusifoitu Country: Finland Label: Self-Released Formats: Digital Demo Year: 2023 With ‘Demo ‘23’ the four-piece Death Metal band from the Finnish capitol of Helsinki brings forth their first recording. The six tracks clock in at a total playing time…
Artist: BræCountry: Belgium / SwedenLabel: Amor Fati ProductionsFormats: LPYear: 2023 The debut album of Bræ entitled ‘A Thousand Ways to End it all’ was released in 2021 without any background information about the band. For the follow-up ‘Av Vålnader Bortom…
Artist: BræCountry: Belgium / SwedenLabel: Amor Fati ProductionsFormats: LPYear: 2021 When the new Bræ album caught my eye, the boss of VM Underground was kind enough to point out that the review material of their debut album ‘A Thousand Ways…
Artist: Sigils Of Ruin Country: Indonesia Label: Self-Released Formats: Demo Tape Year: 2023 This four-piece Death Metal band from Indonesia offers their first demo tape, aptly titled ‘Demo I’ at the very start of February of this year. Yet, while…
Artist: Bastard GraveCountry: SwedenLabel: Pulverised RecordsFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2023 With ‘Vortex Of Disgust’ the Old School Swedish Death Metal combo of Bastard Grave delivers their third album. And anyone who has heard some of the band’s…
Artist: Haunting Figure Country: USA Label: Primitive Propaganda Formats: Demo tape Year: 2023 Haunting Figure is a new band from Providence, Rhode Island, USA. That is pretty much all the information available about this act, otherwise it shrouds itself in…
Artist: Sulphuric NightCountry: Bosnia and HerzegovinaLabel: Black Gangrene ProductionsFormats: 7″ EPYear: 2023 Evil is stirring in the country of Bosnia and Herzegovina. A Black Metal community called the Black Plague Circle has been surfacing over the last few years, releasing…
Artist: Stench Collector / Seep Country: USA Label: Gurgling Gore Formats: Split Cassette Year: 2023 This very short split EP, released on cassette tape, is the latest offering of both Stench Collector and Seep. Two bands haunting the gurgling and…
Artist: Vital SpiritCountry: CanadaLabel: Hidden Tribe / Vendetta RecordsFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2022 Canadian Black Metal is getting more and more popular, and rightfully so, as their quite sophisticated approach to the genre is offering the listener…
Artist: ArborCountry: USALabel: Self-ReleasedFormats: Demo tapeYear: 2023 ‘In Starless Night… We Follow A River Of Blood’ is the fifth demo of Arbor, a one-man Black Metal act from New York, USA which is helmed by Taurus, who is also active in Fellwinter and Gauntlet Ring.…
Artist: KiiraCountry: FinlandLabel: Amor Fati Productions / Out Of The DungeonFormats: LP / CDYear: 2023 With the release of their debut album ‘Tulkoon Yö / Talviyö’, Kiira performed a work based on the contemplation of Bláinn, who was perceived as…
Artist: Kiira / SvartsejdCountry: Finland / SwedenLabel: AvgrundsklangerFormats: Split cassette tape Year: 2022 The bands Svartsejd and Kiira are far from strangers from each other. Although they were formed separately in 2010 and 2011 respectively and even originate from different…
Artist: Dungeon KeeperCountry: GermanyLabel: Kellerassel RecordsFormats: Demo tapeYear: 2023 I remember when I first got into extreme metal and starting jamming out the tunes of Hellhammer’s ‘Apocalyptic Raids’ somewhere at the end of the 90’s, my two younger brothers were playing video games. One of…
Artist: GrieveCountry: FinlandLabel: Werewolf RecordsFormats: CDYear: 2023 In 2022, Grieve appeared to have drawn their last breath. The band, consisting of Finnish Black Metal icons Werwolf (Satanic Warmaster and many more) and v-Khaoz (Vargrav and numerous others) had announced that…
Artist: TetrasigilCountry: FinlandLabel: Amor Fati Productions / KuunpalvelusFormats: LP / CDYear: 2023 When Luxixul Sumering Auter put an end to Cosmic Church in 2017 it opened room for him to focus on some of his other projects. Frozen Graves released…
Artist: MistcavernCountry: HungaryLabel: A Fine Day To Die Records, Iron Bonehead ProductionsFormats: 12″ EP / Cassette EP / CD EPYear: 2022 The Hungarian four-piece band Mistcavern was formed in 2019, and straight away released a pretty phenomenal demo called ‘Winds…
Artist: BjesCountry: Czech RepublicLabel: Self-releasedFormats: Digital EPYear: 2023 For the Czech band Bjes, the self-released EP ‘Prázdnota’ is their first release. With a release title that translates to ‘Emptiness’ you might be tempted to think the tone of the band’s…
Artist: Genocidal Rites Country: USA Label: Hells Headbangers Records Formats: Cassette EP Year: 2023 With one demo and one EP, both originally only released digitally by the band themselves and the latter one also been issued on cassette tape by…