Tales From The Underground
Tales From The Underground
Artist: LaereCountry: GermanyLabel: Self-releasedFormats: 7″ EPYear: 2020 The band name Laere represents a combination of the German word for empty, leer, and the Norwegian word Laere, which means to teach or learn. Empty learning: the unison of two meanings of…
Artist: Khazad-Dûm Country: United Kingdom Label: Avantgarde Music Formats: LP Year: 2022 Deep down under the Misty Mountains lies an ancient kingdom of the dwarfs of Durin’s Folk, that kingdom is also known as Moria or Khazad-Dûm. That hidden and…
Artist: Sacrifice Country: Canada Label: High Roller Records / Shadow Kingdom Records Formats: LP / Cassette Tape / CD Year: 2022 After a raw and musically slightly naïve start with ‘Torment In Fire’ (1986), which basically featured all of those…
Artist: Sacrifice Country: Canada Label: Daymare Recordings Formats: CD Year: 2022 Halfway through the first half of the 90s can be seen as the time when the Death Metal genre was already on its way out and Thrash Metal with…
That a demo tape does not always have to be spectacular in the sense of originality or extremely good musicianship, German Black Metal band Totholz proved with their only demo tape from 2021. I reviewed that demo tape earlier last…
Artist: Irae Country: Portugal Label: Signal Rex Formats: LP / CD Year: 2022 Last year marked the 20th anniversary of the Portuguese Black Metal act Irae, the brainchild of its sole member, Vulturius. In those two decades he has been really…
Artist: LifvsledaCountry: SwedenLabel: Norma Evangelium DiaboliFormats: LP / CDYear: 2022 Shortly before the release of the sophomore album of the Swedish Lifvsleda, a small teaser was released premiering the track ‘Lifvspänn’. On this, the band continued the path set out…
Artist: LifvsledaCountry: SwedenLabel: Norma Evangelium DiaboliFormats: 7″ EPYear: 2022 After the release of their debut album ‘Det Besegrade Lifvet’, Lifvsleda didn’t rest on their laurels and started working on the follow-up record. With that came a move to a new…
Artist: LifvsledaCountry: SwedenLabel: Shadow RecordsFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2020 Lifvsleda was formed in 2019, but apart from the fact that the two members were veterans of the Swedish Black Metal scene, not much was known. Later, it…
Artist: Nihil Invocation / Irae Country: USA / Portugal Label: Self-Released Formats: Digital Year: 2023 ‘Evil Storm Of Haunting Recollections’ is a collaboration of two individuals who have drilled down the Black Metal genre to its very primal essentials. Both…
Artist: CutCountry: ChinaLabel: Gespenst RecordsFormats: Cassette tape / CDYear: 2022 That disgusting and totally depraved Black/Death Metal is no longer limited to a few of those early bands like Blasphemy, Naked Whipper and Archgoat is not quite a secret, yet…
Artist: Obituary Country: USA Label: Relapse Records Formats: LP / Cassette Tape / CD Year: 2022 Though a new Obituary record is commonly regarded as a moment of joy to all Old School Death Metal aficionados, I kind of lost…
Artist: SelvhatCountry: NorwayLabel: Terratur PossessionsFormats: LPYear: 2022 Before releasing his sole album, ‘Gjennom Mørket Famlende’ in 2008 and the ‘Einsam In Ewigkeit’ 7” EP from 2007, Steingrim Torson recorded a bunch of demos and rehearsal tapes, of which only a…
Artist: SelvhatCountry: NorwayLabel: Nordkult Rituals / Terratur PossessionsFormats: LPYear: 2022 On a tragic April night in 2009, Steingrim Torson left this mortal coil. The highly talented Norwegian musician had made his mark in several bands from the Trondheim scene, including…
Artist: EvilspellCountry: ItalyLabel: Blasphemous RecordsFormats: CDYear: 2021 Seven years after their last sign of life, the Italian Black/Thrash Metal band Evilspell returned to the front in 2021, with their third full-length ‘Padre Vostro’, which, if Google Translate is not fooling…
Artist: Sigh Country: Japan Label: Deathheadz Formats: Cassette EP Year: 2022 From such a populous country as Japan, there are remarkably few extreme metal bands. Yet a lively metal scene has existed there since the 1980s, at least, it seems.…
Artist: EncabulosCountry: AustraliaLabel: Nuclear Winter RecordsFormats: CDYear: 2022 Under the fitting title of ‘Exhumed Abominations’ Nuclear Winter Records unearthed an almost forgotten piece of underground Death Metal history: Encabulos. They were a Death Metal band from Australia that released six…
Artist: DevilpriestCountry: PolandLabel: Odium Records / Spreading The Pest ProductionsFormats: CDYear: 2022 ‘In Repugnant Adoration’ is the sophomoric album of the Polish Black Metal band Devilpriest, a band formed back in 2015 by Tom Hermies (also known for his work…
Artist: PiołunCountry: PolandLabel: Malignant VoicesFormats: CDYear: 2022 The band Piołun from Lublin, Poland was created in 2019 by Sorh of Blaze of Perdition and Oremus on guitar and vocals, and shortly after was joined by Vitor on drums. Sorh envisioned…
Artist: Hellfire Deathcult Country: USA Label: Helter Skelter Productions Formats: LP / CD Year: 2022 My VM-Underground colleague already commented quite aptly on these American’s debut album that the music of Hellfire Deathcult would appeal to fans of Teitanblood, Adversarial…
While the real boom of Old School Death Metal bands has passed and, with the knowledge of today, the peak of that revival does seem to have been in the years 2010-2013, all that remains now are bands that are…
Artist: Haunter Country: USA Label: Profound Lore Records Formats: LP / Cassette tape / CD Year: 2022 Though Haunter has been around for about a decade now, they have remained under my radar up to this last album, ‘Discarnate Ails’.…
Artist: The Antichrist ImperiumCountry: United KingdomLabel: Apocalyptic Witchcraft RecordingsFormats: Cassette / CDYear: 2022 When I first heard Akercocke it was with their ‘Choronzon’ album, back in 2003, it left me amazed, baffled and intrigued. The band blended so many ideas…
Artist: Flames Country: Greece Label: No Remorse Records Formats: LP / CD Year: 2022 When it comes to the Greek metal scene, one of the earliest and most important bands that helped shape the lively scene that we know today,…
Artist: Flames Country: Greece Label: Self-Released Formats: Digital EP Year: 2022 Hot on the heals of their first album in over a quarter of a century, the Greek Thrash Metallers of Flames self-released this 2-track rehearsal EP. So, people who…
Artist: Carnal SavageryCountry: SwedenLabel: Moribund RecordsFormats: Cassette tape / CDYear: 2022 With only six months between this new album and the previous one, ‘Scent Of Flesh’, Carnal Savagery’s Swedes have the momentum going well. The only question is whether it might not be a bit…
Artist: Carnal SavageryCountry: SwedenLabel: Huangquan Records / Moribund RecordsFormats: Cassette tape / CDYear: 2022 The Swedish Death Metallers of Carnal Savagery are returning to their one-album-each-year formula with their third album, ‘Scent Of Death’. Although, an album a year? I guess the COVID-19 pandemic was…
Artist: Dead SunCountry: SwedenLabel: MDD RecordsFormats: CDYear: 2021 This awkward release of Dead Sun, one of the many Rogga Johansson featured bands, is actually a re-release of a compilation tape which originally was some sort of collection of four different…
Artist: AshesCountry: PolandLabel: Malignant VoicesFormats: CDYear: 2022 The tremendous level of musicianship and creativity within the Polish Black Metal scene has been highlighted several times already. This obviously hasn’t gone unnoticed, with foreign labels such as Terratur Possessions, Northern Heritage…
Artist: Soul Grinder Country: Germany Label: Kernkraftritter Records / MDD Records Formats: CD Year: 2022 While we were thrown an EP in the form of ‘Lifeless Obsession’, German Death Metal band Soul Grinder returns with a full-length album two years…
Artist: Severance Country: USA Label: Xtreem Music Formats: 10″ EP / Year: 2021 Xtreem Music offers another dive into the deepest underground Death Metal of the early 90’s with the reissue of Severance’s ‘Afterbirth Of Infamy’ demo from 1991. It…
Artist: Sarcasm Country: Sweden Label: Hammerheart Records Formats: LP / CD Year: 2022 Uppsala, Sweden based Sarcasm is a band with a story. When they started out in 1990 they were basically a rather standard Death Metal band, which, like…
Artist: Forgotten SwordCountry: USALabel: Elderblood ProductionsFormats: Digital DemoYear: 2022 Forgotten Sword is a Dungeon Synth artist from Russia, having released quite a number of releases in that style since 2020. But the ties between Dungeon Synth and Black Metal are…
Artist: Ravenoir Country: Czechia Label: Gothoom Productions Formats: CD Year: 2022 Ravenoir from the Czech Republic was founded in 2020 by two members who were then still part of the legendary Root. Their new band was supposed to fill the…
Artist: Obituary Country: USA Label: Relapse Records Formats: LP / Cassette Tape / CD Year: 2022 Anyone who has ever seen an Obituary live show will agree that these veterans of American Death Metal sure know how to put on…
Artist: Obituary Country: USA Label: Relapse Records Formats: LP / Cassette Tape / CD Year: 2022 Like the simultaneously released ‘Slowly We Rot – Live & Rotting’ live record, this ‘Cause Of Death – Live Infection’ is also a recorded…
Artist: Sax Country: Czechia Label: I Hate Records Formats: CD Year: 2022 Those who dig deeper and look beyond the usual names from the glossy metal magazines will know that in the mid- to late 80’s and early 90’s there…
Artist: Bekëth NexëhmüCountry: SwedenLabel: Amor Fati ProductionsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2021 About a year ago the multi-talented and multi-instrumentalist Swartadauþuz presented a new album with Bekëth Nexëhmü, one of his most prolific projects. And if he does something, he does…
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,…
Artist: Bekëth NexëhmüCountry: SwedenLabel: Amor Fati ProductionsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2022 With this third chapter in the (closing?) book of Bekëth Nexëhmü, mastermind Swartadauþuz again serves us with an overly long record. This time with a playing time of well…
Artist: Pharmacist Country: Japan Label: Bizarre Leprous Production / Hells Headbangers Records / Sevared Records Formats: LP / Cassette Tape / CD Year: 2022 Formed in 2020, these Japanese Carcass-worshippers have been really prolific, with this second album, ‘Flourishing Extremities…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…