Tales From The Underground
Tales From The Underground
Artist: AngmodnesCountry: The NetherlandsLabel: Black Lion RecordsFormats: CD EPYear: 2022 Sometimes there’s just too much Doom Metal in you. This is the case for Y.S and M.V, two members of the Dutch Doom Metal band Apotelesma, who needed a vessel…
Artist: Scorching Tomb Country: Canada Label: Dismal Fate Records Formats: Cassette EP Year: 2022 Canadian Death Metal will mainly evoke associations with the mainly technical flank of the genre, bands like Cryptopsy, Gorguts, the more modern Archspire or maybe even…
Artist: Затемно (Zatemno)Country: RussiaLabel: Heidens HartFormats: CDYear: 2022 After its debut EP via Russian Death Knell Records, this avant-garde ensemble found shelter with the never-conventional Aesthetic Death on which the first full-length album, ‘В петле’ (‘In The Noose’), was released…
Artist: CentinexCountry: SwedenLabel: Agonia RecordsFormats: 12″ EP / Cassette EP / CD EPYear: 2022 You can accuse the Swedes of Centinex of anything, except a lack of underground aesthetics. Despite taking a few years off (from 2006 to 2014), they have been tenacious…
Artist: AzazelCountry: FinlandLabel: Primitive ReactionFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2021 When you list the originators of the Finnish Black Metal scene, names like Beherit, Impaled Nazarene, Archgoat and Barathrum are inevitable. You would almost forget Azazel was right…
Artist: Lunar Spells Country: Greece Label: Northern Silence Productions Formats: CD Year: 2022 Anyone who follows the Black Metal scene a bit will have noticed that Melodic or Symphonic Black Metal is on the rise and is being widely embraced…
Artist: Liminal Shroud Country: Canada Label: Willowtip Records Formats: CD Year: 2022 ‘All Virtues Ablaze’ is the second album by Canadian Black Metal band Liminal Shroud, the first album, ‘Through The False Narrows’ (2020, Hypnotic Dirge), had escaped my attention,…
Artist: AnathemaCountry: UKLabel: Peaceville RecordsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2022 When Anathema embarked on their 1996 tour supporting their then new ‘The Silent Enigma’ record they were captured live in Krakow, Poland. That footage ended up at the VHS which was…
Artist: Haradrim Country: Sweden Label: Self-Released Formats: Digital demo Year: 2022 For the non-Lord of the Rings aficionado among us: The Haradrim were the race of Men from Harad in the region of Middle-Earth, directly south of Gondor. These people…
Artist: AncientCountry: NorwayLabel: Soulseller RecordsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2022 Earlier this summer, Dutch label Soulseller Records released a collection of old recordings by Ancient. A band that was hardly taken seriously in the past, at least, after their debut album.…
Artist: Severe Torture Country: The Netherlands Label: Season Of Mist Formats: CD EP Year: 2022 Dutch Death Metal is mainly linked to the more classic bands from around the 90’s. Of course, bands like Pestilence, Sinister and Gorefest have been…
Artist: Myrsky Country: Finland Label: Nocturnal Mourning Records Formats: Cassette Tape / CD Year: 2022 From the always musically fertile Finland comes this new Black Metal act Myrsky. At the time of writing, very little is known about the band’s…
Artist: Olio Tähtien TakanaCountry: FinlandLabel: Avantgarde MusicFormats: LP / CDYear: 2021 The first band that people are most likely to recognize from the list of acts that v-KhaoZ features in is Vargrav, whose stellar debut `Netherstorm’ caused quite a stir upon release (not in the…
Artist: Niden Div. 187Country: SwedenLabel: Dawnbreed Records / De:Nihil RecordsFormats: Vinyl BoxsetYear: 2021 While both the Black and Death Metal genres were producing one groundbreaking record after another in the early nineties, the scenes exploded in volumes in the second…
Artist: VermisstCountry: PolandLabel: Esfinge de la CalaveraFormats: Cassette tape / CDYear: 2022 Polish Black Metal band Vermisst has been around for a while and already has quite a discography, a handful of demos and (split) EPs via various underground labels,…
Artist: Fall Of SeraphsCountry: FranceLabel: Memento MoriFormats: CDYear: 2022 The first thing I thought of when I saw the band name was the Mayhem song from their 1997 ‘Wolf’s Lair Abyss’ mini LP, but clear enough, this French Death Metal…
Info Artist: Vel’HarCountry: GermanyLabel: Sentient Ruin LaboratoriesFormats: 10″ EPYear: 2022 Although the band denies it, Vel’Hal was part of Chile’s Black Metal underground elitist circle that goes under the name of ‘Pure Raw Underground Black Metal Plague’. Whether that is…
Artist: BelphegorCountry: AustriaLabel: Nuclear BlastFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2022 Admittedly, I had lost sight of Belphegor for a while. After the 2000 release of ‘Necrodaemon Terrorsathan’, I somewhat lost interest in the band. I did hear some…
Artist: Amorphous DominionCountry: ThailandLabel: Self-releasedFormats: Demo tapeYear: 2022 This Bangkok, Thailand based Black Metal band Amorphous Dominion started in 2018 from the spirited soul of ‘Sunrize Eclipse’, who after some time realised that he could only realise his black visions…
Artist: Hulder Country: USA Label: 20 Buck Spin Formats: 12″ LP / Cassette EP / CD EP Year: 2022 EP’s are often used by bands as a taster for a new album, a sort of sop, but it also happens…
Artist: Worm Altar Country: USA Label: Self-Released Formats: Digital demo Year: 2022 When I think of the state of Maine (USA), which I have never visited, my thoughts mainly consist of the imaginary and gloomy images I have acquired while…
Artist: KvadCountry: NorwayLabel: Forbidden Keep Records / TormentRexFormats: Cassette / CDYear: 2022 This Norwegian act has chosen a cover for its debut-album that is very much in the same vein as many of their fellow countrymen, it depicts a cold…
Artist: KvadCountry: NorwayLabel: Self-releasedFormats: Digital EPYear: 2022 The debut album ‘Cold & Dark, As Life’, released on cassette via Forbidden Keep Records, was my first introduction to the Norwegian Black Metal band Kvad. The album brought an interesting mix of…
Artist: Funeral Country: Chile Label: Burning Coffin Records Formats: Cassette Year: 2022 Although I don’t know exactly how old this Chilean Black Metal band is, I always wonder how it is possible that the creative minds of musicians can’t come…
Artist: Norfulthing Country: Finland Label: Frozen Screams Imprint Formats: Demo Tape Year: 2022 Helsinki based Death Metal band Norfulthing released two digital single tracks before this same-titled full demo, of which the revenues are donated to a charity that focusses…
Artist: ExhumationCountry: SpainLabel: Pesta Negra RecordsFormats: Demo tapeYear: 2022 For many listening to a Funeral Doom Metal record is, and fair enough, a gruelling ride; it may even seem a form of self-flagellation. To fully grasp the painfully slow music,…
Artist: IssoleiCountry: NorwayLabel: Terratur PossessionsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2021 Unconventional was the term used earlier to describe pretty much everything about Issolei. Fascinating would be another. While the `Devouring Current’ EP’s spent a lot of time disorienting the listener, only…
Artist: IssoleiCountry: NorwayLabel: Terratur PossessionsFormats: 12″ EP / CD EPYear: 2021 Considering that the intention of Issolei once was to create a singular `Devouring Current’ album, it may not come as a shock that `Devouring Current, Pt. 2: Treacherous Ascent’…
Artist: IssoleiCountry: NorwayLabel: Terratur PossessionsFormats: 12″ EP / CD EPYear: 2021 Releasing not one, not two, but three releases simultaneously is not something we often see, especially when a band has no previous releases whatsoever and the members or composition…
Artist: Hekseblad / Vér / Nachtheir Country: USA / USA/ Canada Label: Wilt-Shine Formats: Split Cassette Year: 2022 Last year the American underground label Wilt-Shine released a three-way split tape with the name ‘Abattoir Dust Vol. 1’ and had Oppressive…
Artist: Hekseblad Country: USA Label: Self-Released Formats: Digital EP Year: 2022 With the Woods Of Ypres-tribute EP as some sort of an interlude, the American Black Metal duo continues with this 1-track EP/single where they left off: the musical narration…
Artist: Hekseblad Country: USA Label: Self-Released Formats: Digital Demo Year: 2021 This is the first 1-track demo of this American Black Metal duo, consisting out of Frosk who is responsible for all instrumentation and Bruxa who contributes the vocals. When…
Artist: Hekseblad Country: USA Label: Fólkvangr Records / Grime Stone Records Formats: Cassette EP / CD EP Year: 2022 After a first 1-track demo, ‘The Night Of The Long Fangs’, the American duo of Hekseblad (which is actually Dutch for…
Artist: Hekseblad Country: USA Label: Self-Released Formats: Digital EP Year: 2022 After the release of ‘The Fall Of Cintra’ on last years’ Halloween, the American Black Metal combo of Hekseblad released another EP by the end of that same year…
Artist: Kūka’ilimoku / AarkanneCountry: USA / ChileLabel: Inferna Profundus RecordsFormats: Split LPYear: 2022 ‘Ele’abyssus’ is the title of a split LP between two rather stripped down Black Metal acts, Kūka’ilimoku from the USA and Aarkanne from Chile. Earlier releases by…
Artist: Klaaromstesterven Country: United Kingdom Label: Self-Released Formats: Digital demo Year: 2019 The Bandcamp-page of this one-man act says that it is from the UK, something I do not dispute, but judging from the Dutch band name it is a…
Artist: StormkeepCountry: USALabel: Ván RecordsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2021 In the wake of the popular `Galdrum’ EP, Stormkeep released their first full length album `Tales of Othertime’ in late 2021. Members from amongst others Wayfarer, Blood Incantation, Lord Dahthar and…
Artist: Königreichssaal Country: Poland Label: Self-Released Formats: CD EP Year: 2022 This odd Polish trio released its debut-album ‘Witnessing The Dearth’ in 2020 and returns with a self-released EP called ‘Loewen (Podróż Przez Dziesiąty Krąg Piekła)’. Since my Polish isn’t…
Artist: Orewoet Country: The Netherlands Label: Amor Fati Productions / Heidens Hart Records Formats: LP Year: 2021 Originally released in 2016, it took the band and labels up to 2021 to get this album out on vinyl as well. But…
Artist: WatainCountry: SwedenLabel: Chaos Reigns / Darkness Shall Rise Productions / His Master’s Noise / Nuclear Blast / Soyuz MusicFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2022 Originally released on April 29th, I am a little late with this review…
Artist: Mystic Circle Country: Germany Label: Atomic Fire / Chaos Reigns Formats: LP / CD Year: 2022 It sometimes happens that even though you think you are prepared for everything, life surprises you. Who, for example, was thinking of a…
Artist: InfernoCountry: Czech RepublicLabel: Bile Noire / Debemur Morti ProductionsFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2021 Those only familiar with the earliest Inferno albums might be surprised at how the band sounds anno 2021. The Czechs released numerous albums…
Artist: Oppressive Descent / HellGoat Country: USA / Sweden Label: Corrupted Flesh Records / Feral Age Records / Jems Label / TormentRex Formats: Split LP / Split CD Year: 2021 ‘Death Knell Of A Dying World’ is a split LP…
Artist: Diabolical OathCountry: USALabel: Sentient Ruin LaboratoriesFormats: 12″ EP / Cassette EP / CD EPYear: 2022 After Shroud Of The Heretic went on a indefinite hiatus by the end of the 10’s some members went on to form this Diabolic…
Artist: Anal VomitCountry: PeruLabel: Black Legion RecordsFormats: Demo tapeYear: 2022 It was about 17 years ago when I reviewed Anal Vomit’s ‘Demonic Flagellations’ (From Beyond Productions) for VM-Underground’s predecessor and also conducted an interview with the band about these early…
Artist: SyningCountry: NorwayLabel: Cloven Hoof Brewing & Releasing / Terratur PossessionsFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2021 Syning is the union of members of some of the finest acts on the Terratur Possessions roster: V. Einrede of Whoredom Rife…
Artist: KastijderCountry: The NetherlandsLabel: Dark Adversary Productions / New Era ProductionsFormats: 12″ Demo / Demo tape / Demo CDYear: 2021 The Dutch Black Metal scene is buzzing. After years where it was only a few bands like Countess, Funeral Winds,…
Artist: Imha TarikatCountry: GermanyLabel: Lupus Lounge / Prophecy ProductionsFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2020 Although the 2017 ‘Kenoboros’ 12″ EP on Terratur Possessions was well received amongst the followers of the flourishing Black Metal scene, I always kept…