Tales From The Underground
Tales From The Underground
Artist: Serpent Mass Country: Belgium Label: De Pankraker Records Formats: LP Year: 2025 Serpent Mass hails from Ghent, Belgium, and saw its formation in 2016. At that time, Kosmokrator members J. Witchfvkker and J. Deathhammerer joined forces in a different…
Despite both lads rightly claiming below that Hertogenwald is not a Belgian band per se, as two of the three band members are French, Hertogenwald is still considered part of the increasingly interesting and improving Belgian Black Metal scene. The…
Artist: MatavitatauCountry: BelgiumLabel: Self-releasedFormats: Digital DemoYear: 2025 From the fertile Black Metal grounds of Belgium hails Matavitatau, an entity that finds its origin in 2021. ‘Numen Nescio’ is their debut demo and contains four tracks of Black Metal, with a rather…
Artist: Regnum Tenebrarum / Hertogenwald Country: Belgium Label: Medieval Prophecy Records Formats: Split LP / Split CD Year: 2024 As a part of the batch of the Medieval Prophecy Records releases from October 2024, came this split LP between two…
Artist: Orkblut / Hertogenwald Country: Belgium Label: Medieval Prophecy Records Formats: Split 7″ EP Year: 2024 Out of the October 2024 batch of releases of the respected Medieval Prophecy Records, also comes this nice little piece of black wax that…
Artist: Phlegethon’s Majesty Country: Belgium Label: Medieval Prophecy Records Formats: CD Year: 2024 Simultaneously with the release of the eagerly awaited debut album of Phlegethon’s Majesty, the band also releases a compilation CD with both of the band’s demos as…
Artist: Phlegethon’s Majesty Country: Belgium Label: Medieval Prophecy Records Formats: LP / CD Year: 2024 This first full-length album of Phlegethon’s Majesty is undoubtedly one of the most anticipated Black Metal records out of the amazingly fertile Belgian soil. Through…
Artist: Ars VeneficiumCountry: BelgiumLabel: Immortal Frost ProductionsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2024 2024 sees the return of Ars Veneficium after a four years absence since their last album, ‘Usurpation of the Seven’ was released. Now S. and Ronarg return, accompanied by…
Despite the Belgian Black Metal scene having set my heart racing more than once in recent years, those bands were mostly roughly in the same category. Bands such as Forbidden Temple, Moenen Of Xezbeth, Perverted Ceremony, Walghinge, Crypts Of Wallachia,…
Artist: OerheksCountry: BelgiumLabel: Amor Fati ProductionsFormats: 10″ DemoYear: 2024 In many ways, this review for the fourth demo of Oerheks has been a while coming. Mastermind H. had already mentioned last year that he had recorded five demos for this…
With the self-titled album in 2007 and its follow-up from a year late, ‘Flandriae’, the Belgian band Taranis surprised with its authentic blend of Black Metal, Thrash Metal and Heavy Metal. For sure it didn’t bring anything new to the…
Artist: Taranis Country: Belgium Label: Iron Pegasus Records Formats: CD Year: 2023 Admittedly, I didn’t foresee this second coming of Belgium’s Taranis. Over a decade after having put the band to rest, Taranis-main man Björn Desmet apparently revived the band…
Artist: Nartvind Country: Belgium Label: Medieval Prophecy Records Formats: LP / CD Year: 2023 Nartvind is not quite the band that is firing away releases at Drowning The Light-speed, but when they do have something new for you, you can…
Artist: Gouffre Country: Belgium Label: Medieval Prophecy Records Formats: Demo Tape Year: 2023 After two great demo tapes released in 2019 and 2021 and the 2022-released split 7” EP with their compatriots of Phlegethon’s Majesty the band returned to the…
Artist: Bloedmaan Country: Belgium Label: Immortal Frost Productions Formats: LP / CD Year: 2023 From the increasingly interesting Belgian Black Metal scene comes this latest addition, Bloedmaan (Blood Moon when translated from Dutch). Named after the scarlet red colour of…
Artist: Neverlight Horizon Country: Belgium Label: Self-Released Formats: CD EP Year: 2023 Once upon a time… twenty years ago, almost 21 even… there was this young, juvenile little fellow that reviewed a fine demo from a Belgian Death Metal band…
Artist: Abrahamic Liars / Grafjammer Country: Belgium / The Netherlands Label: Smeerenburgh Grammofoon Formats: Split 7″ EP Year: 2023 Grafjammer, hailing from Utrecht, the Netherlands, is not a band that likes to sit still. Although formed back in 2007 and…
Artist: HerzogCountry: BelgiumLabel: Amor Fati ProductionsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2023 Once again the Belgian Black Metal scene and the German label Amor Fati Productions cooperate to bring us a new slice of darkness. And not for the first time, musical…
Artist: ChaînesCountry: BelgiumLabel: Amor Fati ProductionsFormats: LPYear: 2023 Just listing the names of the bands that Belgian musician Déhà is involved in would be enough to make for a hefty read, so for the purpose of brevity it suffices to…
Artist: OerheksCountry: BelgiumLabel: Amor Fati Productions / Babylon Doom Cult RecordsFormats: 12″ Demo / Demo tapeYear: 2023 Soaring, high above the tree lines, carried by the thermals, observing all that transpires far beneath. With ‘Valkengebed’, Oerheks takes us once more to…
Chaos; complete disorder, utter confusion, the property of a complex system whose behaviour is so unpredictable, it appears random. It will cause people to stop and look in fascination or run away in fear. There are those that are terrified…
Artist: DikasterionCountry: BelgiumLabel: Amor Fati ProductionsFormats: 12″ EP / CD EPYear: 2023 Dikasterion’s ‘Demo MMXVIII’ left an immediate mark once I first heard it; a raw fist from the Belgian Underground with its chaos-embodying Black Metal in the spirit of…
The combination of enchanting atmospheric Black metal and profound lyrics dealing with the Belgian area of Kaggevinne were just a few of the many obvious qualities of the band Oerheks. To delve into what moves the band and what lies…
De combinatie van de bezwerende atmosferische Black Metal en diepgaande teksten over de Belgische streek Kaggevinne waren slechts enkele van de in het oog springende kwaliteiten van de Belgische band Oerheks. Om verder te duiken in wat de band beweegt…
Artist: OerheksCountry: BelgiumLabel: Amor Fati Productions / Babylon Doom Cult RecordsFormats: 12″ Demo / Demo tapeYear: 2023 In the region of Cagghenvinna (currently known as Kaggevinne) in Belgium, a forest called the Prinsenbos once stood proud. Victim to the greed…
Artist: Schizophrenia Country: Belgium Label: Self-Released Formats: CD EP Year: 2023 Okay, admittedly. I have always kept some distance from this band. I always thought the name was terribly badly chosen. When you choose to name your Thrash Metal band…
Artist: Until Death Overtakes MeCountry: BelgiumLabel: Self-releasedFormats: CDYear: 2023 Although Until Death Overtakes Me’s spiritual father, Stijn van Cauter is slowly creeping up the mindblowing amount of no less than 100 solo albums, I have kind of lost contact with…
Artist: BræCountry: Belgium / SwedenLabel: Amor Fati ProductionsFormats: LPYear: 2023 The debut album of Bræ entitled ‘A Thousand Ways to End it all’ was released in 2021 without any background information about the band. For the follow-up ‘Av Vålnader Bortom…
Artist: BræCountry: Belgium / SwedenLabel: Amor Fati ProductionsFormats: LPYear: 2021 When the new Bræ album caught my eye, the boss of VM Underground was kind enough to point out that the review material of their debut album ‘A Thousand Ways…
Artist: Regnum Tenebrarum Country: Belgium Label: Medieval Prophecy Records Formats: 12″ EP / CD EP Year: 2023 After the 2020 ‘Des Enfers’ EP, also released via Medieval Prophecy Records, things went quiet for a while around Regnum Tenebrarum, who hail…
Artist: Forbidden Temple Country: Belgium Label: Gramschap Formats: LP / Cassette tape / CD Year: 2022 This is actually not the right order, because after this first full-length album by this downright fantastic Belgian Black Metal band, two more releases…
Artist: AnéantiCountry: BelgiumLabel: Death Prayer RecordsFormats: Cassette EP / CD EPYear: 2023 Formed in Brussels, Belgium in 2020, the Black Metal duo of Anéanti consists of Grafdelver on drums and backing vocals and Woudmeester on vocals, guitars and bass. Their…
Artist: Moenen Of Xezbeth Country: Belgium Label: Medieval Prophecy Records Formats: 12″ EP Year: 2023 Hot on the heals of the band’s debut 7” EP, ‘Forever Rotting Winter’ in 2017, Moenen Of Xezbeth also released this 5-track demo tape (including…
Artist: EnthronedCountry: BelgiumLabel: Medieval Prophecy RecordsFormats: LPYear: 2021 Enthroned is without a glimmer of a doubt one of the most important bands of the Belgian extreme metal scene. Though being formed back in 1993, in those very thriving formative years…
Artist: Serpents Oath Country: Belgium Label: Soulseller Records Formats: LP / CD Year: 2022 The Belgian Black Metal band Serpents Oath released their second album halfway last year, again through the Dutch Soulseller Records label. Though the band might not…
Artist: BonesCountry: BelgiumLabel: Invictus ProductionsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2022 Although the band has been around since 2010 and has already released several demos and EPs, Bones took plenty of time to come up with their debut album. Late last year…
Artist: Gouffre Country: Belgium Label: Medieval Prophecy Records Formats: LP Year: 2022 At the very end of 2022 Medieval Prophecy Records released this compilation LP that contains both Gouffre demos, 2019’s ‘1: Grim Spirit’ and ‘Crawling Death’ from 2021. The…
Artist: TheudhoCountry: BelgiumLabel: Heidens Hart RecordsFormats: CDYear: 2022 Founded as early as 2002, Theudho is currently one of the longest running Belgian Black Metal bands, and with its rather impressive output, the (now) one-man project left quite a mark on…
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: WalghingeCountry: BelgiumLabel: GramschapFormats: Cassette tapeYear: 2022 That Belgian Black Metal is on the rise should be obvious. Our loyal readers have seen several highlights pass by in recent months/years, we were treated to fantastic releases by bands such as…
Artist: Darkest MindCountry: BelgiumLabel: Immortal Frost ProductionsFormats: CDYear: 2021 This Belgian Black Metal band consists out of three more or less seasoned musicians who also have had some experience in various other Belgian (Black) Metal bands such as Gotmoor, Theudo,…
Artist: HeinousCountry: BelgiumLabel: New Era Productions / Nuclear War Now! ProductionsFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2022 My first introduction to Heinous came with their ‘Demo I’, initially released through Medieval Prophecy Records (cassette) and later by New Era…
Artist: Goat TormentCountry: BelgiumLabel: Season Of Mist Underground ActivistsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2021 I still vividly remember the first time I saw Goat Torment live. It was 2016, when a small one-time Black Metal festival called Odium Nostrum was held…
Artist: BokkerijdersCountry: BelgiumLabel: Babylon Doom Cult RecordsFormats: Demo tapeYear: 2022 For the Dutch and Belgians, the name ‘Bokkerijders’ is something that still evokes some magic. It is best translated as ‘Goatriders’. In folk belief, these were figures who rode through…
Artist: Forbidden Temple Country: Belgium Label: Self-Released Formats: Cassette tape Year: 2022 Last month the Belgium Black Metal horde of Forbidden Temple released yet another chapter in their ever-growing discography. The band has a tradition of releasing raw rehearsals and…
Artist: Perverted Ceremony Country: Belgium Label: Medieval Prophecy Records Formats: 7″ EP Year: 2021 We at VM-Underground have given ourselves quite a bit of Belgian Black Metal to review over the past few months, not infrequently I have personally stood…
Artist: Phlegethon’s Majesty / Gouffre Country: Belgium Label: Medieval Prophecy Records Formats: Split 7″ EP Year: 2022 Belgian Black Metal has been on the rise in recent years. The times when we could only name Ancient Rites and Enthroned are…
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: AerdrykCountry: BelgiumLabel: Amor Fati ProductionsFormats: LPYear: 2022 With label releases AFP199 and AFP200, Amor Fati Productions pays homage to the rich history of the Belgian region of Flanders through the narrations told by the bands Oerheks (which my colleague…
Artist: OerheksCountry: BelgiumLabel: Amor Fati Productions / Babylon Doom Cult RecordsFormats: 12″ Demo / Demo tapeYear: 2022 This Belgian Black Metal act Oerheks is the brainchild of H (Hans Cools) who we also know from bands such as Hypothermia, Silver…