Tales From The Underground
Tales From The Underground
Artist: VesthangarthCountry: ChileLabel: Self-releasedFormats: Digital demoYear: 2022 That Chilean metal is on the rise is something we have known for years. After an impressive rise of Chilean Death Metal, in recent years the Black Metal scene has also been flooded…
Artist: XegrenCountry: USALabel: WitchCult RecordsFormats: Cassette tapeYear: 2022 After a self-titled and self-released demo-tape earlier this year and another (digitally released) demo-track, Mina, the lonesome figure behind Xegren, felt it was time for a full-length album. She needed only about…
Artist: XegrenCountry: USALabel: Self-releasedFormats: Demo tapeYear: 2022 This one-woman Black Metal act from Portland, Oregon recorded quite an impressive output with her other solo-project Mortal. If I counted well, Mortal’s back-catalogue consists out of no less than 34 titles, all…
Artist: XegrenCountry: USALabel: Self-releasedFormats: Digital demoYear: 2022 The advantage of making and releasing music on your own is that you are not tied to others for the times when you want to or can work on the music. This also…
Artist: XegrenCountry: USALabel: Self-releasedFormats: Digital demoYear: 2022 A mere three weeks after Xegren’s first and self-titled demo tape Mila returns with a digital new (rather short) 1-track demo. The new track that just runs over 2 minutes and is not…
Artist: Mezexis Country: Chile Label: Self-Released Formats: Demo Tape Year: 2022 After the Big Wave Of Chilean Death Metal that started about 15 years ago, it now seems there’s coming more and more Black Metal from this South American hotspot…
Artist: TómarúmCountry: USALabel: Prosthetic RecordsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2022 Sometimes you wonder how an algorithmic recommendation ends up with, when Netflix recommends a romcom while you only watch action or horror, or vice versa. But sometimes it can also be spot…
Artist: Necroplanet Country: USA Label: Self-Released Formats: Digital Year: 2022 This duo, who have already gained quite a bit of experience with various other bands, bring on their first, self-released work: an impenetrable sonic assault on everything cheerful and happy.…
Artist: MisotheistCountry: NorwayLabel: Cloven Hoof Brewing & Releasing / Terratur PossessionsFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2021 When Terratur Possessions teased the preview track `Beast and Soil’, a song that would later appear on Misotheist’s self-titled debut release, I…
Artist: AldorfreaCountry: UKLabel: Matriarch RecordsFormats: DigitalYear: 2022 Oh, celebrate this Unholy Force Of Evil with me, you feeble earthlings. After many prayers to the Blizzard Beasts at The Gates Of Blashyrkh we are finally Frozen By Ice Winds again. The…
Artist: WolfswutCountry: ItalyLabel: ASRAR / Atrocity Altar / Signal RexFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2021 It can be me, but it seems like there’s getting more and more one-man acts in Black Metal these days. The American Wolfswut,…
Artist: Funeralizer Country: Japan Label: Self-Released Formats: Digital demo Year: 2022 We’ve known for years that Swedish Death Metal doesn’t necessarily have to be Swedish. In the meantime, some pretty good clones have come out of all parts of the…
Artist: Ancient NorthCountry: USALabel: Self-ReleasedFormats: Digital Year: 2022 There were only two weeks between the release of this American one-man act’s debut, ‘The Gates’, and the ‘Berzerker’ EP. And now, just two months after that EP it is already coming…
Artist: Ancient NorthCountry: USALabel: Iron Bonehead ProductionsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2022 This American one-man act Ancient North gives away what to expect even without having heard a single note. One look at the cover of ‘The Gates’ and the comparison…
Artist: Ancient NorthCountry: USALabel: Self-ReleasedFormats: Digital EPYear: 2022 Only two weeks after the release of Ancient North’s debut album through Iron Bonehead Productions, the one-man Black Metal act is already back with a new release. This time Forlorn, the young…
Artist: CoscradhCountry: IrelandLabel: Invictus ProductionsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2022 Leave it to Invictus Productions to present us with the finest of the savage Black/Death Metal bands the world has to offer. Among these underground gems are the fellow Irish lads…
Artist: Lord Valtgryftåke Country: Chile Label: Mahamvantara Arts Formats: Demo Tape Year: 2022 Under various different names the music of Lord Valtgryftåke could have already reached you, as he has been a very active figure in the Chilean underground Black…
Artist: Lord Valtgryftåke Country: Chile Label: Inferna Profundus Records Formats: CD Year: 2022 Not long after the release of Lord Valtgryftåke’s ‘Renaissance From A Bitter Twilight’-demo, digital and on tape-format through Mahamvantara Arts Records, the Lithuanian Inferna Profundus Productions picked…
Artist: NahtrunarCountry: AustriaLabel: Altare Productions / Symbolismus WerkeFormats: LP / CDYear: 2022 Insiders might know Austria’s Nahtrunar from the excellent debut album `Symbolismus’, a work that was heavily inspired by the spirit of 90s Norwegian Black Metal. Follow-up `Existenz’ mostly…
Artist: Malevolent Creation Country: USA Label: Xtreem Music Formats: 10″ EP Year: 2021 Ever since Death Metal band Malevolent Creation formed in 1986 and despite the many ups and downs in their three-and-a-half decade career, the band has always been…
Artist: Satanic WarmasterCountry: FinlandLabel: Werewolf RecordsFormats: CD singleYear: 2022 Since Satanic Warmaster’s formation, now almost a quarter of a century ago, the band has been one of the leading Black Metal acts from Finland. With each new album, Werwolf, for…
Artist: MortuusCountry: SwedenLabel: W.T.C. ProductionsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2022 Sometimes an album just leaves a lasting impression. You don’t have to listen to it weekly, monthly, or even yearly; it somehow remains flawless in your mind. I never played Mortuus’…
Artist: BeenkerverCountry: The NetherlandsLabel: Vendetta RecordsFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CD Year: 2022 From the ever-fertile Dutch underground comes this new act, Beenkerver. And although the band name may not instantly ring a bell, the name of the man…
Artist: BottenbergCountry: The NetherlandsLabel: Heidens Hart RecordsFormats: Demo tapeYear: 2022 Unearthed from the soil of the Dutch Twente-region comes Bottenberg. A new one-man Black Metal band, led by the illustrious figure who calls himself De Bottenboer. For non-Dutch readers: Bottenberg…
Artist: Krisiun Country: Brazil Label: Century Media Formats: LP / CD Year: 2022 Some certainties make life easy and enjoyable, that’s how you know that in addition to the sun rising every day, there is a political crisis in Italy…
Artist: Torture KillerCountry: FinlandLabel: The Other RecordsFormats: 12″ EP / CD EPYear: 2022 The Finnish counterpart of Six Feet Under strikes back, this time with a 3-track EP released on both CD and 12″ vinyl (with the same tracks on…
Artist: Runespell Country: Australia Label: Iron Bonehead Productions Formats: 12″ / CD EP Year: 2022 Nightwolf, the man behind Black Metal act Runespell, keeps up a healthy work ethic. The first feat dates back to 2017, the ‘Aeons Of Ancient…
Artist: Nordgeist Country: Russia Label: Escafismo Records / Kunsthall Produktionen Formats: LP / Cassette Tape / CD Year: 2021 Black Metal always had something to do with cold and wintery themes. Many band names, song titles and album covers have…
Artist: Saor Country: United Kingdom Label: Season Of Mist Formats: LP / Cassette Tape / CD Year: 2022 With Saor celebrating its tenth anniversary this year, it’s safe to say that Andy Marshall has (much) more to offer than just…
Artist: Graveland Country: Poland Label: New Era Productions Formats: 10″ EP Year: 2021 Originally released on a 7″ EP in 2002 on Vinland Winds Records, which was run by Grimnir Wotansvolk (Grand Belial’s Key), ‘Blood Of Heroes’ has seen a…
Artist: Naked Whipper Country: Germany Label: Iron Bonehead Productions Formats: LP / CD Year: 2022 Once in a while Iron Bonehead Productions digs up something from the German underground, earlier we saw for example Ungod, Baxaxaxa, Moonblood and Fulgor. With…
Artist: Naked Whipper Country: Germany Label: Iron Bonehead Productions Formats: LP / CD Year: 2022 Together with the re-issue of the bands’ first and only album, ‘Painstreaks’, Iron Bonehead Productions releases this compilation of both the ‘Moloch-Acid Orgy’ 12″ (1995,…
Artist: AtlatCountry: MexicoLabel: CDFormats: DigitalYear: 2022 Metal has always been a genre that has been heavily involved in (local) historical topics. Already in the early days of Iron Maiden, the genre has skilled amateur historians, but it is mainly the Black Metallers who have…
Artist: Bloodlet ThroneCountry: USALabel: Nocturnal DissonanceFormats: Cassette tapeYear: 2022 The American musician behind Bloodlet Throne, who goes by the name of Malacath, comes out with ‘Sovngarde’, his debut album, released on cassette tape on the obscure Nocturnal Dissonance in only 25 hand-numbered copies. It’s not…
Artist: Vampiric SolitudeCountry: USALabel: Self-releasedFormats: Digital demoYear: 2022 Vampiric themes have been all the rage in recent years, indeed, within underground Black Metal it is currently the most popular subject. The times that only Black Funeral was involved in this…
Artist: Serpent Noir / SargeistCountry: Greece / FinlandLabel: W.T.C. ProductionsFormats: Split LP / Split CDYear: 2022 While split releases can be stellar, they often lack a sense of coherence when two bands just do their thing on their respective sides…
Artist: Caustic PhlegmCountry: United KingdomLabel: Self-ReleasedFormats: Digital DemoYear: 2022 These days gnarly and cavernous Death Metal seems to be incredibly popular. Labels like Me Saco Un Ojo and Dark Descent Records seem to be caught up in a kind of race in which…
Artist: BogatyrCountry: RussiaLabel: Self-ReleasedFormats: Digital demoYear: 2022 Black Metal is pre-eminently the genre for one-man bands and projects. I can’t even count how many of those I’ve come across over the years. But it is something that very often seems…
Artist: BegravCountry: SwedenLabel: Self-ReleasedFormats: Digital EPYear: 2022 Begrav is a one-man Black Metal act from Gävle, Sweden and released something under his ‘own’ name of Äbaddohn already, but this ‘Black Art & Magick’ is the first offering under the moniker…
Artist: Firunwinta Country: Austria Label: Self-Released Formats: Digital EP Year: 2022 Austrian one-man act Firunwinta presents their first offering: a 23-minute EP of bleak Black Metal in old school fashion. The cover to this digital EP shows a forest in…
Artist: Destruction RitualCountry: France / USALabel: End All Life Productions / Norma Evangelium DiaboliFormats: LP / Cassette tape Year: 2021 The last time we heard any new material featuring French Black Metal vocalist MkM was the release of Antaeus’ relentless…
Artist: KrolokCountry: SlovakiaLabel: Osmose ProductionsFormats: LP / Cassette Tape / CDYear: 2021 Krolok’s debut album, `Flying Above Ancient Ruins’, was an impressive release of Eastern European Black Metal that left me excited for follow-up material. The Slovakian band, whose members…
Artist: Painsaw Country: Canada Label: Self-Released Formats: Digital EP Year: 2022 Ahh, great! Canadian Thrash Metal. Yes, please! Painsaw hail from Fredericton, New Brunswick and presents their first offering: ‘Infinite Violence’. That promises a nice piece of uncompromising Thrash Metal.…
Artist: Grond Country: Germany Label: Rotting Misery Formats: LP Year: 2021 Originally released on CD in 2000 through Folter Records, this is the long overdue vinyl reissue of a German Black Metal album that can easily be considered overlooked and/or…
Artist: Headless Dawn Country: The Netherlands Label: Into It Records / Meat 5000 Records Formats: Cassette tape / CD Year: 2022 “16 Tearjerkers For The Woke Generation” is what the promo sheet accompanying this EP says. That does not promise…
Artist: Hellevaerder Country: The Netherlands Label: Zwaertgevegt Formats: LP / Cassette tape / CD Year: 2022 ‘Je bent niks waard!’, screams vocalist Miranda Visser in the very first second of this album. It translates to ‘You are worthless’ and sets…
Artist: I, Of The Trees And Wind Country: Sweden / United Kingdom Label: Self-Released Formats: Digital Demo Year: 2022 This oddly named new band is a collaboration of Swedish and British musicians, who put together this 2-track demo of cold…
Artist: Lord Ov Chaos Country: USA Label: Self-Released Formats: Digital EP Year: 2022 Lord Ov Chaos is one of the two solo-projects of this creative creature, Caleb Bernatchez. A musician from Amqui, Quebec, Canada. He uses this vehicle to reflect…