Tales From The Underground
Tales From The Underground
Artist: Cantique LépreuxCountry: CanadaLabel: EisenwaldFormats: 12″ EP / CD EPYear: 2022 Our loyal readers have already seen many a Canadian Black Metal release pass by, it is a scene that is developing rapidly and producing a good number of, often exceptionally good, acts. In particular,…
Artist: Morbus Grave Country: Italy Label: Chaos Records Formats: CD Year: 2022 After having released a handful of demos and two split releases, the Italian Death Metal band Morbus Grave felt ready for a full-length album, which was recently released…
Artist: Meslamtaea Country: The Netherlands Label: Babylon Doom Cult Records Formats: LP / CD Year: 2022 Formed in 1998, Meslamtaea may be considered one of the longest-running Dutch Black Metal acts, but in that almost quarter-century of its existence, main…
Artist: Blood Of The WolfCountry: USALabel: Horror Pain Gore Death ProductionsFormats: CDYear: 2022 The title of ‘IV: The Declaration Of War Eternal’ implies that there were (at least) three chapter preceding this latest album by American Death Metallers Blood Of The Wolf. And while I…
Artist: HelwettiCountry: FinlandLabel: Northern Heritage RecordsFormats: CDYear: 2022 It was quite a surprise that 2021 saw the release of the debut album of the Finnish band Helwetti. Outside some involvement in (live) activities of the cult band Warloghe, the members…
Artist: ConsumptionCountry: SwedenLabel: Hammerheart RecordsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2022 Consumption is a band that was formed two years ago by Håkan Stuvemark of Wombbath fame and two fellow musicians with experience in a wide range of different bands. They didn’t…
Artist: Blood / IncantationCountry: Germany / USALabel: Hells Headbangers Records / VIC RecordsFormats: Split LP / Split CDYear: 2022 This is a split that you knew that would happen one day. Both bands never made a secret for their mutual…
Artist: Godsend Country: Norway / Sweden Label: Petrichor Formats: LP / CD Year: 2020 Though officially formed in Norway, Godsend is definitely best known to feature multi-instrumentalist and jack of all trades Dan Swanö. The band released demo tapes before…
Artist: Necromaniac Country: United Kingdom Label: Invictus Productions Formats: Demo Tape Year: 2021 Originally released in 2015 by Me Saco Un Ojo Records (and already reissued a year later) Invictus Productions thought it was about time to give this demo…
Artist: Last Retch Country: Canada Label: CDN Records Formats: CD Year: 2022 Following the bands’ demo, simply named ‘Demo’, released last year, these Canadian Death Metallers return with their first full-length album that was brought to us by the long-running…
Artist: BloodCountry: GermanyLabel: VIC RecordsFormats: CDYear: 2022 When talking about Blood, you are talking about German cult metal. I remember collecting all of their 7” EP during the late 90’s and early 00’s, digging through distros and mailing lists to…
Artist: Drawn And QuarteredCountry: USALabel: Krucyator Productions / Nameless Grave RecordsFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2021 You know them. Those bands that you’re always surprised they still exist when they release a new album. Actually always good, but which somehow mysteriously…
Artist: HerugrimCountry: FinlandLabel: Escafismo RecordsFormats: Demo tapeYear: 2022 “This might be something for you to review”, said TWD’s own FelixS when he forwarded me the first demo of the Finnish band Herugrim. He’s right, if it’s Black Metal and comes…
Artist: AteiggärCountry: SwitzerlandLabel: EisenwaldFormats: LP / CDYear: 2022 With the band’s first offering, the ‘Us d’r Höll Chunnt Nume Zyt’ EP from 2019, Switzerland’s Ateiggär surprised us with a fiery brand of Black Metal with its roots firmly in the Norwegian scene from the mid…
Artist: ApostasyCountry: ChileLabel: Hammerheart Records / Sentient Ruin LaboratoriesFormats: LP, CDYear: 2022 First appeared in 2021 on both cassette tape and CD formats (by Cabalist Records and Fallen Temple respectively), this third album by Chilean cult thrashers got another run of releases in 2022 by…
Artist: A Different CloudCountry: PolandLabel: Self-releasedFormats: DigitalYear: 2022 A Different Cloud is the solo project of the Polish artist Demian, but other than that not much is known about the band. What is known is that with ‘Sult’, the first…
Artist: Rogga Johansson Country: Sweden Label: Iron, Blood and Death Corporation Formats: CD Year: 2022 Unbelievable. I said it before and I probably will say it again (many times), but how in Satan’s name is it possible that Rogga Johansson,…
Artist: Last Retch Country: Canada Label: Self-Released Formats: Demo Tape / Demo CD Year: 2021 Last Retch is a Hamilton, Ontario, Canada based Death Metal band consisting of five people that have no big or noteworthy history in other bands,…
Artist: Departure ChandelierCountry: CanadaLabel: Nuclear War Now! Productions / Obliteration RecordsFormats: 10″ EP / CD EPYear: 2022 Originally an independently released demo, ‘Dripping Papal Blood’ got a proper CD release earlier this year through USA’s top purveyors of all things…
Artist: NyrakCountry: BelgiumLabel: Self-releasedFormats: CDYear: 2022 Featuring members that are involved in bands such as Gotmoor, Serpent’s Oath, Wound Collector and Scarificator, the Belgian band Nyrak formed in 2021. Within a year they were ready to release their first release,…
Artist: Casket GrinderCountry: ColombiaLabel: Awakening RecordsFormats: CDYear: 2022 Before listening to ‘Sepulchral Trip’ I had never heard of Casket Grinder, but I was intrigued by the album cover, the band name and the band picture in which the band members are wearing shirts…
Artist: Morbus Grave Country: Italy Label: Self-Released Formats: Demo Tape Year: 2021 At VM-Underground we already shined our light on Morbus Grave’s compilation of two of the band’s early demos (‘Throne Of Disgust’ from 2016 and ‘Awakening Of The Dead’…
Artist: Hammer Of Gore Country: Germany Label: Brutal Insanity Records Formats: Demo tape Year: 2022 About a year after the release of their ‘Mutilated And Forgotten’-demo, German Death Metal combo Hammer Of Gore returns with a new demo. This 3-tracker…
Artist: Abysmal LordCountry: USALabel: Blackseed Productions / Serpents Head ReprisalFormats: 7″ EP, Cassette EPYear: 2020 In 2019 we at VM-Underground reviewed Abysmal Lord’s second album, ‘Exaltation Of The Infernal Cabal’ and claimed that the band was able to stand shoulder…
Artist: Hellish Country: Chile Label: Self-Released Formats: Digital EP Year: 2022 As an appetizer for their upcoming album, ‘The Dance of the Four Elemental Serpents’ which is set for a release on December 16th of this year through Dying Victims Records,…
Artist: MooncitadelCountry: FinlandLabel: Out Of The DungeonFormats: 12″ EP / CD EPYear: 2021 Quite soon after the release of their debut album ‘Night’s Scarlet Symphonies’, the Finnish Black Metal band Mooncitadel were ready to strike again with a new release.…
Artist: MooncitadelCountry: FinlandLabel: Werewolf RecordsFormats: LPYear: 2020 The origins of Mooncitadel date back to 2007, when multi-intrumentalist and vocalist Stormheist formed the band Empire of Tharaphita. After two demos and a split with Drowning the Light, Stormheit decided to change…
Artist: Ritual DeathCountry: NorwayLabel: Shadow RecordsFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2022 The first years of Ritual Death were quite productive. The band was formed in 2016 as yet another product of the phenomenal Trondheim Black Metal scene by…
Artist: DaevaCountry: USALabel: 20 Buck SpinFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2022 Back in 2019, our chief-editor reviewed Daeva’s first EP, and although he appreciated the offering, it wasn’t all too special for him. Now, a few years ahead…
Artist: Der TrauerschwanCountry: SwedenLabel: Soulseller RecordsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2022 When the Chilean band Hetroertzen relocated to the Swedish town of Västerås, they quickly recruited members from the local scene to complement their live line-up. One of the members that…
Artist: Deus MortemCountry: PolandLabel: Malignant Voices / Terratur PossessionsFormats: 12″ EP / CD EPYear: 2020 Although both Malignant Voices and Terratur Possessions usually are pretty much the epitome of quality Black Metal, the Polish Deus Mortem had not quite fully…
Artist: Kawir Country: Greece Label: Pagan Records Formats: LP / CD Year: 2022 When talking about Greek Black Metal, the conversations will most likely be first about Rotting Christ, Varathron, Septicflesh, Thou Art Lord and Necromantia, only then about the…
Artist: ConvulsiveCountry: BrazilLabel: Self-ReleasedFormats: Digital EPYear: 2022 The Brazilian four-piece of Convulsive released a pretty convincing Death Metal album at the very start of this year, but already returns this fall with a self-released digital demo. If I am correctly…
Artist: Tenebro Country: Italy Label: Xtreem Music Formats: Digital EP Year: 2022 About six months after this Italian horror-drenched Death Metal combo released their debut full-length, they return with a new digital EP. While I did like that first album…
Artist: Sépulcre Country: France Label: Invictus Productions Formats: CD EP Year: 2022 Not long after having their name changed from Demonic Oath to Sépulcre, this four-piece came out with their first demo, ‘Ascent Through Morbid Transcendence’, which grabbed the attention…
Artist: AdaestuoCountry: USALabel: W.T.C. ProductionsFormats: CD EPYear: 2022 Formed in 2014, this three-piece band with bandmembers living on different places on earth (Finland, Poland and the USA), surprised with their first EP in 2016 through W.T.C. Productions, which they followed…
Artist: DarvazaCountry: Italy / NorwayLabel: Terratur PossessionsFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2022 Darvaza, formed back in 2015 by two elusive figures in the international Black Metal scene, released three critically acclaimed EP’s through Black Metal elitist label Terratur…
Artist: HelwettiCountry: FinlandLabel: Illuminating Void ProductionsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2021 Over the years, the Finnish Black Metal scene has created quite the name for itself, spreading their unique take on Black Metal to the far reaches of the world. However,…
Artist: Umbra ConscientiaCountry: Costa Rica / GermanyLabel: Cloven Hoof Brewing & Releasing / Terratur PossessionsFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2022 Somewhat out of the blue came this international combo of Umbra Conscientia, releasing their debut album by the…
Artist: TheriomorphCountry: FinlandLabel: Terratur PossessionsFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2022 Finnish multi-instrumentalist Vainaya has been in several bands over the past two decades. Among them were underground stalwarts like Neutron Hammer and Horna, but he also had a…
Artist: Exordium MorsCountry: AustraliaLabel: Praetorian Sword RecordsFormats: LPYear: 2022 When New Zealand is mentioned many people think of those great mountain landscapes in which Peter Jackson filmed his Lord Of The Rings trilogy. But it also has a small but…
Artist: JammerskrikCountry: NorwayLabel: Nordkult Rituals / Terratur PossessionsFormats: LP / Cassette tapeYear: 2021 Anyone remotely interested in underground Black Metal must at least have stumbled once upon a band out of Norways Trondheim scene. They have been dominating the underground…
Artist: ChasmdwellerCountry: CanadaLabel: Life After DeathFormats: Cassette EP / CD EPYear: 2022 Having started out as Doom/Death Metal band, Chasmdweller developed into a full-on, hard hitting yet quite raw Death Metal of the filthiest kind. The band consists out of…
Artist: ChasmdwellerCountry: CanadaLabel: Chaos Records / Self-ReleasedFormats: Cassette tape / CDYear: 2021 The Canadian duo keeps a punishing work pace, not long after releasing their ‘Fossilised’ EP, the band arrives with another full-length album, its third by now. On the…
Artist: AkitsaCountry: CanadaLabel: Tour De GardeFormats: Cassette TapeYear: 2023 Akitsa is one of the longest running Black Metal bands from Canada, already formed in 1999 they have released a commendably large discography. They have spawned six full-length albums and about…
Artist: WarlogheCountry: FinlandLabel: Northern Heritage RecordsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2022 Warloghe, whose name can be interpreted in several ways as an oathbreaker, is what you could call one of the cult bands that spawned in the blossoming Finnish Black Metal…
Artist: Grave Miasma Country: United Kingdom Label: Black Hearts Records / Dark Descent Records / Sepulchral Voice Records Formats: LP / Cassette tape / CD Year: 2021 In the Death Metal scene of the recent years, one of the most…
Artist: Cryptic BroodCountry: GermanyLabel: Bitter Loss Records / Burning Coffin Records / Lycanthropic Chants / Necrolatry Records / Rotted Life RecordsFormats: 7″ EPYear: 2022 While Cryptic Brood by no means is the crème de la crème of todays Death Metal…