Tales From The Underground
Tales From The Underground
Artist: MānbryneCountry: PolandLabel: Malignant Voices / Terratur PossessionsFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2021 Although the focus tends to go to Norway, at the dawn of the 90’s Black Metal scenes started sprouting all over the world. One such…
Artist: KêresCountry: FinlandLabel: Terratur PossessionsFormats: 12″ EP / CD EPYear: 2021 Kêres is one of the many vessels that the multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and Kuunpalvelus label boss Rauta (in the case of Kêres performing under the name of Atvar) uses to…
Artist: Oxalate Country: USA Label: Dawnbeed Records Formats: Cassette EP Year: 2022 Originally released in 2019, American Oxalate’s ‘Infatuating Sickness’ EP now sees a re-release on cassette tape via Dutch label Dawnbreed Records. Previously, it had been released digitally by…
Artist: Sepulchral Triumph Country: Argentina Label: His Wounds Formats: LP Year: 2022 Argentina-based Sepulchral Triumph is ruled by a single soul, someone who calls himself Beulenpest. When you add this to that the enigmatic cover, you know you are dealing…
Artist: Cryptic DissolutionCountry: RussiaLabel: Dismal Fate RecordsFormats: Cassette tapeYear: 2022 From Moscow, Russia comes this new trio playing Old School and Grinding Death Metal. Their first full-length album (although just clocking over 20 minutes), ‘Morbific Reminiscences In Physical Forms’ will…
Artist: Putrescine Country: Germany Label: Self-Released Formats: Demo Tape Year: 2021 From Berlin, Germany comes this three-piece Death Metal band. In 2020 they released their first demo tape ‘Putrescent Utterance’ through the Italian Unholy Domain label – with an extra…
Artist: Whoredom RifeCountry: NorwayLabel: Cloven Hoof Brewing & Releasing / Terratur PossessionsFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2021 Whoredom rife, the Norwegian band consisting of K.R. (ex-Bloodthorn) on vocals and V. Einride (Syning, ex-Keep of Kalessin) playing all instruments,…
Artist: Tírad Dûr Country: USA Label: Night Of The Palemoon Formats: Demo Tape Year: 2022 After reviewing some of Kūka’ilimoku’s releases, a look at its spiritual father’s other projects was, of course, inevitable. Although Kūka’ilimoku is Kūwāha’ilo’s main musical vehicle,…
Artist: Mayhemic Country: Chile Label: Awakening Records Formats: CD Year: 2022 This Chilean Thrash Metal band, formed in 2018, released several demos and EP’s over the past few years. However, none of these releases reached my ears before, so for…
One of this years’ musical highlights for me is definitely this Finnish band Moonlight Sorcery. They had digitally released their EP in February this year, after which Avantgade Music was the chosen label to release this pretty little gem of…
Artist: EneveldeCountry: NorwayLabel: Terratur PossessionsFormats: Cassette EPYear: 2021 In the review of Enevelde’s debut record I already highlighted the bright current Nidrosian Black Metal scene that Trondheim has been enlightening the world with. But that Black Metal history is more…
Artist: EneveldeCountry: NorwayLabel: Cloven Hoof Brewing & Releasing / Terratur PossessionsFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2020 Located at the Trondheimfjord lies the city of Trondheim. Once the capitol of Norway and the centre of the Norwegian Vikings, Trondheim…
Artist: DefleshedCountry: SwedenLabel: Regain RecordsFormats: 7″ EPYear: 2021 After a career of almost 15 years, Swedish Death/Thrash band Defleshed threw in the towel in 2005. Up to that point in their existence, the band had released five full-length albums and…
Artist: Human Corpse Abuse Country: USA Label: Caligari Records / Dark Descent Records / Obliteration Records / Selfmadegod Records Formats: Cassette tape / CD Year: 2022 Human Corpse Abuse is a new band hailing from, as they say themselves, the…
Artist: Herbstlethargie Country: Germany Label: Northern Silence Productions Formats: CD Year: 2022 It is a common phenomenon: with the leaves falling, the weather getting drizzly, the exchange of your summer coat for a waterproof one, the human psyche gets into…
Artist: Moonlight Sword Country: USA Label: Self-Released Formats: Digital Demo Year: 2022 From Greensboro, North Carolina, comes Moonlight Sword, a one-man Black Metal act. Or rather, a one-woman Black Metal act. The lady in question, who calls herself Carmilla II…
Artist: Moonlight Sword Country: USA Label: Self-Released Formats: Digital Demo Year: 2022 With ‘Elven Blood’ Carmilla II Dracul returns with a follow-up to her ‘Elvenwinter’-demo, released earlier this year. The demo gave a nice first taste of the music of…
Artist: Mortem Country: Russia Label: Coyote Records Formats: Cassette Tape / CD Year: 2022 Reviewing this treasure is a bit of a little party for myself. In the early years of my ‘metal career’, I was lucky enough to buy…
Artist: Frozen GravesCountry: FinlandLabel: KuunpalvelusFormats: LP / CDYear: 2022 Cosmic Church, the band whose later albums had iconic images of mastermind Luxixul Sumering Auter in a red robe on the cover, left quite an impression with their recordings. The release…
Artist: EucharistCountry: SwedenLabel: Regain RecordsFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2022 While some bands in the Swedish Death Metal scene seemed to be fighting for the title of who was the hardest, heaviest, nastiest, most vicious… Eucharist was already…
Artist: WombbathCountry: SwedenLabel: Transcending Obscurity RecordsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2021 When Wombbath announced their return in 2014, a sense of enthusiasm was my first emotion. Then quickly followed by scepticism. How many of the ‘old masters’ who returned years or…
Artist: Deströyer 666Country: AustraliaLabel: Burn RecordsFormats: 7″ EPYear: 2022 Seemingly out of the blue there is this new sign of life from one of the most iconic Black/Thrash bands. Although influential, Deströyer 666 has not been very productive in recent…
Artist: Thou Art LordCountry: GreeceLabel: The Circle MusicFormats: 7″ EPYear: 2022 Fans of Greek Black Metal will all have a soft spot for Thou Art Lord, one of the founders of the Greek Black Metal scene and partly responsible for…
Artist: DenevérCountry: HungaryLabel: Metal ör Die RecordsFormats: CDYear: 2022 At the turn of the 80’s, the Hungarian band Tormentor recorded a legendary demo entitled `Anno Domini’. The recording would end up influencing young souls far beyond the borders of Hungary…
Artist: WombbathCountry: SwedenLabel: Transcending Obscurity RecordsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2020 In their persuit for the desired sound and place in the Old School (Swedish) Death Metal scene, Wombbath released ‘Tales Of Madness’ by the end of 2020 – actually their…
A few weeks ago I came across this band from Thailand, Amorphous Dominion. Their first demo, simply named ‘Demo 2022’ is a pretty good example that on all corners of the world great Symphonic Black Metal is being made. Surprisingly…
Artist: WizardkeepCountry: USALabel: Canti Eretici / Spellcaster RecordsFormats: Demo tapeYear: 2022 Not too long ago I reviewed an album by a band named Daedric Armour and I had no idea what the band name actually meant, so I turned to…
Artist: Repulsive Mass Country: Sweden Label: Brutal Cave Productions / Noise Horde Productions Formats: Demo Tape / Demo CD Year: 2021 Patrik Tegnander, the man behind this one-man Death Metal act we have featured on the pages of VM-Underground before…
Artist: Hail Conjurer Country: Finland Label: Bestial Burst / Signal Rex Formats: LP / Cassette tape / CD Year: 2022 In case you have never heard of this illustrious one-man Black Metal act from Finland, in spite of the band’s…
Artist: Blessing LycanthropyCountry: SlovakiaLabel: Keepers Of The Flame / Pant Y MeddygonFormats: Demo tapeYear: 2022 From one of the oldest cities of Slovakia comes this new Black Metal act, Blessing Lycanthropy. The exact age of the city of Nitra is…
Artist: UnanimatedCountry: SwedenLabel: Century MediaFormats: LP / CDYear: 2021 With their demos, `In the Forest of the Dreaming Dead’ and `Ancient God of Evil’, Unanimated became one of the pioneers of the Swedish melodic Death/Black Metal scene that arose in the…
Artist: White RuneCountry: FinlandLabel: Hammer Of Hate RecordsFormats: CDYear: 2022 At the same time as the release of White Rune’s debut album, Hammer Of Hate also releases this compilation containing both demo tapes from 2021 (both originally released by Cycle…
Artist: White RuneCountry: FinlandLabel: Hammer Of Hate RecordsFormats: CDYear: 2022 From the ever impressive Finnish Black Metal scene comes this new band, formed in 2021. With two demos under their belt, their first full-length album has now been released via…
Artist: Necromantical Invocation Country: United Kingdom Label: Helter Skelter Productions / Medieval Prophecy Records / Regain Records / Zombi Danz Records Formats: LP / Cassette Tape / CD Year: 2021 Despite the fact that Necromantical Invocation saw the light of…
Artist: Chevallier SkrogCountry: SwedenLabel: Pant Y MeddygonFormats: Cassette tapeYear: 2022 Through the split tape with Kūka’ilimoku, I recently got to know Czech one-man Black Metal act Chevallier Skrog. This Swedish-based act had a few releases out before the aforementioned split…
Artist: Diabolical FullmoonCountry: PolandLabel: Medieval Prophecy RecordsFormats: 7″ EPYear: 2022 Contrary to what you might expect, this is not an Immortal cover band, nor does it have much to do musically with Norwegian Black Metal. For me, Diabolical Fullmoon’s previous…
Artist: EntrenchedCountry: PolandLabel: Self-ReleasedFormats: Demo CDYear: 2022 At the end of last year, our VM-Underground chief-editor Ricardo was very enthusiastic about the first demo of this Polish one-man Death Metal act. I know he loves that specific Boss HM-2 sound,…
Artist: Kūka’ilimoku / Chevallier SkrogCountry: USA / SwedenLabel: Pant Y MeddygonFormats: Cassette split tapeYear: 2022 This split tape is a collaboration between US-based Kūka’ilimoku, of which I have previously reviewed some releases and Czech Chevallier Skrog, who now operate out…
Artist: HetroertzenCountry: Chile / SwedenLabel: Listenable RecordsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2022 My first introduction into the art of the Chilean band Hetroertzen came upon the release of `Exaltation of Wisdom’. The band, that still features founding members Frater D and…
Artist: Skinless BrideCountry: The NetherlandsLabel: Brutal Insanity RecordsFormats: Cassette EPYear: 2022 Skinless Bride sounds like a mix of Skinless and My Dying Bride… no, musically they don’t actually sound like that at all, but I guess that would be an…
Artist: Forbidden Temple Country: Belgium Label: Medieval Prophecy Records Formats: 7″ EP Year: 2022 Formed in 2017, this Belgian Black Metal duo has already treated us to a fairly extensive discography; a large amount of demo and rehearsal tapes, a…
Artist: Imperishable Country: Sweden Label: Self-Released Formats: Digital demo Year: 2021 Recently, I reviewed a compilation by a forgotten band from the Swedish Death Metal scene. In doing so, I argued that we still reap all the tasty fruits of…
Artist: VilespawnCountry: ChileLabel: Noxious RuinFormats: Demo tapeYear: 2022 This new two-piece Death Metal band from Chile released their first three track-demo last summer independently via their digital platforms. Now it also got a physical release through the American-based Noxious Ruin…
Artist: Bitter LossCountry: RussiaLabel: Self-ReleasedFormats: Digital EPYear: 2022 From St. Petersburg, Russia, comes this five-piece Death Metal band. Last year they spawned a first EP, ‘Oblivion in Ceremonial Void’, which they released on CD themselves and got a cassette tape…
Artist: Incarnated Country: Sweden Label: Graveless Souls Records / Grind To Death Records Formats: Cassette tape / CD Year: 2021 From a world as vital, innovative and musically creative as the early Swedish Death Metal scene have sprung many bands…
Artist: GeistlichtCountry: GermanyLabel: Self-releasedFormats: DigitalYear: 2022 Sometimes I think about the good old days, when you wouldn’t know a thing about a band except for the appeal of the album cover, the excitement of discovering something based on a piece…
Artist: Daedric ArmourCountry: USALabel: Bitter Loss RecordsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2022 “Daedric Armour is the only true Elder Scrolls worship in the form of savagely fast and raw black metal.” Elder Scrolls? Hmmm… What the hell is that… something from…
Artist: EucharistCountry: SwedenLabel: Regain RecordsFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2021 The history of Eucharist is one filled with split ups and reunions before the band called it quits in 1998. Still, the band managed to record two albums…