Tales From The Underground
Tales From The Underground
Artist: Axewielder Country: Germany Label: Metal Coven Records Formats: LP Year: 2009 After releasing a split 7” with Heathen Hoof and a picture 10” with the great title “Heavy Metal Law”, Axewielder now returns with their first full-length album. This…
Artist: Realmbuilder Country: USA Label: I Hate Records Formats: LP Year: 2009 While reading through the bands on the inlay that are thanked for their influence expectations run sky-high. A nice blend of all kinds of heroic and epic metal…
Artist: Syphilitic Vaginas Country: Sweden Label: RFL Records Formats: 7″ EP Year: 2008 Syphilitic Vaginas have been releasing quite a pile of obscure vinyls and tapes over the last three-or-so years. And though it might come as they are from…
Artist: AutopsyCountry: USALabel: Peaceville RecordsFormats: 7″ EPYear: 2009 These are actually the most critical releases. Bands that always claimed not to go for any reunion and then … out of the blue, come up with new material. Still it is…
Artist: In Solitude Country: Sweden Label: High Roller Records / Pure Steel Records Formats: LP / CD Year: 2008 This Swedish band with members from death metal band Katalysator (hailed in the Daniel Ekeroth’s book on Swedish Death Metal) and…
Artist: Sardonis Country: Belgium Label: Electric Earth Records Formats: 7″ EP Year: 2008 Sooner or later every review will mention that Sardonis is a two-man band that play instrumental doom/sludge songs – as they say, ‘4 skins and 6 strings’.…
Artist: Kivimetsan Druidi Country: Finland Label: Century Media Formats: CD Year: 2008 In every scene that gets more popular by the day the record labels tend to sign every fart recorded that might sell. We saw that happening over two…
Artist: DoomVSCountry: SwedenLabel: Firedoom MusicFormats: CDYear: 2008 Since 2004 the rather strangely named project Doom:VS is Johan Ericson’s way to keep himself busy. Besides his main band, Draconian, he finds the time to get his solo project going as well. And with “Dead Words…
Artist: TangorodrimCountry: IsraelLabel: Doomentia Records / Southern Lord RecordsFormats: LPYear: 2007 The name of this extreme raw black metal outfit from Israel (though the members are from Russian origin) translates to “Mountains Of Oppression”, taken from JRR Tolkien’s Lord Of…
Artist: In Solitude Country: Sweden Label: Swedish Metal Productions Formats: 7″ EP Year: 2008 Once in a while there are some new bands that sound so much like those old metal LP’s you might/should have that it is almost hard…
Artist: UngodCountry: GermanyLabel: Kneel Before The Master’s Throne RecordsFormats: 12″ EP / CD EPYear: 2008 Originally released as a mini CD and tape back in 1996 with rather ugly artwork, this EP got its re-release twelve years later on vinyl…
Artist: Nocturnal / Pagan Rites Country: Germany / Sweden Label: Hells Headbangers Records Formats: Split 7″ EP Year: 2008 This is, of course, one of those 7” EP’s that can’t be missed and is a definite must-have for anyone into…
Artist: Godless Country: Chile Label: Blood Harvest Formats: Double 7″ Year: 2008 This band, Godless, is another great addition to the, again, evergrowing amount of bands that try to recreate the vibe of old school, evil sounding, metal. Some people…
Artist: Hooded Menace Country: Finland Label: Doomentia Records Formats: 7″ EP Year: 2008 It was about a year ago when I first heard from Hooded Menace through Razorback Records, one of the most important players in the market of filthy…
Artist: Trench HellCountry: AustraliaLabel: Hells Headbangers Records / Home Taping CrueltiesFormats: 12″ EP / Cassette EP / CD EPYear: 2008 After the great “Alcoholic Disaster” EP from four years back, these Australians are back with a 12” consisting of six ultra…
Artist: Bestial Summoning / HereticCountry: The NetherlandsLabel: Deathstrike RecordsFormats: Split 12″ EP Year: 2008 The Dutch underground black metal scene, as with any other country, has had its ups and downs over the last two decades. Some bands seems to…
Artist: DarkthroneCountry: NorwayLabel: Peaceville RecordsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2008 After the last Darkthrone album many of their early fans dropped off, saying that this is punk and has nothing to do with metal anymore. That may be, but didn’t Darkthrone…
Artist: Agathocles Country: Belgium Label: Displeased Records Formats: CD Year: 2008 Second album from these longlasting Belgians on Displeased Records, which means that Agathocles is, for the first time in their twenty-year-plus career, widely available in record stores and almost…
Artist: Frailty Country: Latvia Label: Solitude Productions Formats: CD Year: 2008 Doom metal was always celebrated as a kind of ‘elitist’ genre, as it has always been a very small and rather narrow-minded genre. Over the years many bands have…
Enslaved has never been the band to stand still in their development, and with the newest album “Vertebrae” they have just released their best album to date. Plenty of reasons to discuss the outcome of the latest album with founding…
Artist: Bloody SignCountry: FranceLabel: Blood HarvestFormats: 7″ EPYear: 2008 Though I always thought that these French guys of Bloody Sign weren’t the best in their genre, they still know how to get their music spread. Numerous splits and underground releases are available and are actually…
Artist: Nunslaughter Country: USA Label: Autopsy Kitchen Records / Battle Kommand Records Formats: 7″ EP Year: 2008 This is another one from the ‘Hell On…’-series, it is rumoured that this is the last one to be released, so, finally the…
Artist: Earthride Country: USA Label: Doomentia Records Formats: LP Year: 2008 Once in a while a new labels stands up and dedicates itself on releasing great vinyl records only, recently one of those labels is Doomentia Records, based in the…
Artist: Obituary Country: USA Label: Candlelight Records Formats: CD EP Year: 2008 Obituary’s new one is a four-track EP (not counting the video-track for ‘Evil Ways’, taken from their last album) which will most likely closes the gap between the…
Artist: The Puritan Country: Finland Label: I Hate Records Formats: 12″ EP Year: 2008 This Finnish band was quickly started after the folding of one of doom’s greatest, Reverend Bizarre. Albert Witchfinder, here under his own name, brought back his…
Artist: The Devil’s Blood Country: The Netherlands Label: Ván Records Formats: 7″ EP Year: 2008 Out of the blue, really out of the blue there was this band from Eindhoven, Holland. Not quite announced by anything or anyone, they were…
Artist: CobaltCountry: USALabel: Profound Lore RecordsFormats: CD EPYear: 2008 Last year’s “Eater Of Birds”-album was very well received by press and public alike, and was pretty much a surprise to both parties. The well crafted black metal fits well in…
Artist: Funeral Moth Country: Japan Label: Weird Truth Productions Formats: CD EP Year: 2022 Already released as a two-track demo-tape, this Japanese ultra-slow funeral doom act got its first official release with this two-tracks mini CD. Though Japan is not…
Artist: God Macabre Country: Sweden Label: Blood Harvest Formats: LP Year: 2008 As with many other great Swedish death metal releases, “The Winterlong” by God Macabre was a bit overlooked at the time of its release and failed to get…
Artist: BloodstoneCountry: SwedenLabel: Blood HarvestFormats: LPYear: 2008 As every death metal fan from the very first days or any vinyl collector would confirm, old school Swedish death metal is be experienced on vinyl exclusively. But, unfortunately not all great albums have been issued on the…
Trinacria from Norway is a new band that was founded by Enslaved mastermind Ivar Bjørnson and Fe-Mail members Hild Sofie Tafjord and Maja S. K. Ratkje seemingly with the aim of creating some unsettling, unorthodox and wildy frantic Black Metal.…
Artist: Magnus Country: Poland Label: Blood Harvest Formats: LP Year: 2007 Sometimes you walk into something that you never heard of and surprises you in a pleasant way. This was the case when I got a package through the post…
Artist: Trinacria – Travel Now Journey InfinitelyCountry: Chile / GermanyLabel: Indie RecordingsFormats: CDYear: 2008 What do you get when you put three members of Enslaved in the same room with people from a noise band and various other projects? A…
Artist: Jex Thoth Country: USA Label: I Hate Records Formats: CD Year: 2008 Last year around the same time as the release date of this album (April 28th, 2008) I got a mini CD that left me in a state…
Artist: Necrovation Country: Sweden Label: Blood Harvest Formats: LP / CD Year: 2008 For the true followers of the Swedish death metal scene the name of Necrovation will definitely ring a bell. The band already released a cool demo-tape, a…
Artist: Jumalhämärä Country: Finland Label: Hammer Of Hate Records Formats: LP / CD EP Year: 2007 This band with its unpronounceable name (for non-Finnish people though) from Finland has been moving through the underground pretty much unnoticed. Which is actually…
Out of nowhere, there was suddenly a split LP between two new heavy metal bands: Vestal Claret and Atlantean Kodex. That Metal Coven Records has a knack for good heavy metal and epic doom metal is of course no secret,…
Artist: Japanische Kampfhörspiele Country: Germany Label: Bastardized Recordings Formats: LP / CD Year: 2007 Though this German band has one of the least inviting band names ever, they are not as bad as their name would suggest. But, that means…
Artist: Enforcer Country: Sweden Label: Iron Pegasus Records Formats: 7″ EP Year: 2007 Enforcer from Sweden are far from an original band, in fact, they are a band that are knee-deep in the 80’s. Their old fashioned, yet fresh sounding,…
After a very prolific year, unleashing no less than 3 releases upon mankind, it was about time to again catch up with Ragnar (R.U.) again. This second interview goes into all three of those recent releases, the involved labels as…
Artist: Sworn Country: Norway Label: Twilight Vertrieb Formats: CD Year: 2007 This melodic black metal band is from Norway’s second city, Bergen, a region that brought us bands like Immortal, Burzum, Gorgoroth and the famous composer Edvard Grieg. Yet, Sworn…
Artist: Misery Index / Mumakil Country: USA / Switzerland Label: Power-It-Up Records Formats: Split 7″ EP / Split CD Year: 2008 Misery Index seems to have a very nice and productive year, 2007 have brought them several releases and a…
Artist: Malfeitor Country: Italy Label: Scarlet Records Formats: CD Year: 2007 Malfeitor is the brainchild of M. Fabban who has been a member of the industrialized black metal band Aborym for many years. Aborym changed quite a bit over the…
Artist: ColosseumCountry: FinlandLabel: Firedoom MusicFormats: CDYear: 2007 With Colosseum Firebox seem to have returned to their heaviest roots, and that is something that I embrace with pure joy – as far doom goes hand-in-hand with such a word. Though the…
Artist: Nunslaughter / Destructor Country: USA Label: Hells Headbangers Records Formats: Split 7″ EP Year: 2007 The old school death metallers of Nunslaugther are slowly going to end up like Japanese Unholy Grave or Sabbat and Belgian Agathocles in terms…
Artist: DesasterCountry: GermanyLabel: Iron Pegasus Records / Metal Blade RecordsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2007 Though they are certainly some kind of worship/’tribute to the gods’ band, Desaster is, in the meantime, one of the longest running German thrash bands. It…
Artist: DenialCountry: MexicoLabel: Blood HarvestFormats: 7″ EPYear: 2007 This Mexican band are definitely different from the ongoing, rather crappy, grindcore scene over there. The cover of this 7” EP already shows they are digging from the old school death metal…
Artist: Bone AwlCountry: CanadaLabel: Nuclear War Now! ProductionsFormats: 7″ EPYear: 2007 This American band is veiled in mysticism, as there is hardly any information available on them. Yet, from the very start there has been a constant flow of releases,…