Tales From The Underground
Tales From The Underground
Artist: Sarcasm Country: Sweden Label: Hammerheart Records Formats: LP / CD Year: 2022 Uppsala, Sweden based Sarcasm is a band with a story. When they started out in 1990 they were basically a rather standard Death Metal band, which, like…
Artist: Forgotten SwordCountry: USALabel: Elderblood ProductionsFormats: Digital DemoYear: 2022 Forgotten Sword is a Dungeon Synth artist from Russia, having released quite a number of releases in that style since 2020. But the ties between Dungeon Synth and Black Metal are…
Artist: Ravenoir Country: Czechia Label: Gothoom Productions Formats: CD Year: 2022 Ravenoir from the Czech Republic was founded in 2020 by two members who were then still part of the legendary Root. Their new band was supposed to fill the…
Artist: Bekëth NexëhmüCountry: SwedenLabel: Amor Fati ProductionsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2021 About a year ago the multi-talented and multi-instrumentalist Swartadauþuz presented a new album with Bekëth Nexëhmü, one of his most prolific projects. And if he does something, he does…
Artist: Bekëth NexëhmüCountry: SwedenLabel: Amor Fati ProductionsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2022 With this third chapter in the (closing?) book of Bekëth Nexëhmü, mastermind Swartadauþuz again serves us with an overly long record. This time with a playing time of well…
Artist: WanklankCountry: The NetherlandsLabel: Heidens Hart RecordsFormats: LPYear: 2021 Put in a plain sleeve, black with only the somewhat scratchy logo on it very large, with no info or extras, this vinyl-only album by the obscure Black Metal band, Wanklank…
Artist: ApogeionCountry: FinlandLabel: Northern Heritage RecordsFormats: CDYear: 2022 It’s hard to imagine Finnish Black Metal as we know it without Beherit. But while the pioneering band inspired countless of musicians during the early wave of Black Metal, bands that closely…
Artist: Ruttokosmos Country: Finland Label: Werewolf Records Formats: CD Year: 2021 Finnish Black Metal bands, more often than not, tend to have miraculous sort of stories to tell. Sometimes they were very short lived but with a remarkably big influence…
Artist: Inferno Requiem Country: Taiwan Label: Elder Blood Productions Formats: CD Year: 2021 Taiwan’s Inferno Requiem began forging a tetralogy with 2019’s ‘Wolf From Onon’ Realm’ EP and finished it with 2021’s ‘Vultures’ EP, now Elderblood Productions scraped all of…
Artist: Inferno Requiem Country: Taiwan Label: Death Kvlt Productions / Death Prayer Records Formats: Cassette EP Year: 2021 Maybe origin plays a role, Taiwanese Black Metal is not something that will be on everyone’s lips right now. But whatever the…
Artist: Niaisny Country: Belarus Label: Medieval Prophecy Records Formats: Demo Tape Year: 2022 The Belarussian band Niaisny released their first demo tape in 2021, just like this second one also through Medieval Prophecy Records. On that first offering they presented…
Artist: Vulture LordCountry: NorwayLabel: Bylec-Tum Productions / Odium RecordsFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2021 Even though the band formed in the mid 90’s, Vulture Lord’s career hasn’t been all too prolific. In fact, apart from a debut album…
Artist: Drowning The LightCountry: AustraliaLabel: Dark Adversary ProductionsFormats: CD EPYear: 2023 Very hot on the heels of Drowning The Light’s latest offering, Azgorh’s seventeenth full-length album with Drowning The Light ‘Haunter Of The Deep’, he returns with the already announced first of a…
Artist: CoscradhCountry: IrelandLabel: Invictus ProductionsFormats: LPYear: 2022 Earlier in 2022, the Dublin-based Coscradh released their debut album ‘Nahanagan Stadial’ on Invictus Productions. That debut followed closely on the 2021 released 7″ EP ‘Mesradh Machae’. Before that, the Irish had released…
Artist: Chaos InvocationCountry: GermanyLabel: W.T.C. ProductionsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2022 My first introduction to the music of the German band Chaos Invocation was their 2017 split with fellow W.T.C. Productions label mates Thy Darkened Shade. I remember seeing the excellent…
Artist: FelvumCountry: UkraineLabel: Out Of SeasonFormats: Cassette EPYear: 2022 Founded at the very beginning of 2022, the Ukranian Black Metal band Felvum was already able to spawn its first EP, ‘Fullmoon Mysticism’, in early April. The current status of the…
Artist: Muert Country: Spain Label: Immortal Frost Productions Formats: CD Year: 2022 Though most people know the Spanish Canary Islands only from their nice sunny holidays, the islands too have a very dark side. Its unpredictable and evil, volcanic character…
Artist: HouleCountry: FranceLabel: Les Acteurs de l’Ombre ProductionsFormats: 12″ EP / CD EPYear: 2022 From Paris, France hails the five-piece Black Metal band Houle. Formed in 2021, the band soon found their debut EP ‘Houle’ released on the esteemed label…
Artist: Aurora BorealisCountry: USALabel: Hammerheart RecordsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2022 Some bands just tend to never get going. I am sure everyone reading this have some of those in their collections. Bands that, despite their musical efforts being decent enough to at least attract…
Artist: Vas SatanasCountry: FinlandLabel: Werewolf RecordsFormats: Demo tapeYear: 2022 Vas Satanas is a Finnish band consisting of Exxxiler (Morgal and Bergilmir) on drums and Vorr (Daemonlust, Nefarious Rites, Nocturnal Sorcery and Persekution) on vocals and guitars. Their self-titled demo was…
Artist: Abysmal LordCountry: USALabel: Hells Headbangers RecordsFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2022 Do you remember those years when it was your birthday and that you sneaked down the stairs very early to see the decorated living room and,…
Artist: Drowning The LightCountry: AustraliaLabel: Dark Adversary ProductionsFormats: CDYear: 2023 As a fan of Australian Black Metal act Drowning The Light, it is not hard to get spoilt, in fact, you only have to blink a few times or Azgorh already has something…
Artist: MalignamentCountry: FinlandLabel: Primitive ReactionFormats: LP / CDYear: 2021 Formed in 2019 by Grond of White Death and P.J. of Morgal and ex-Armour, Finland’s Malignament released their first demo in the same year. Most reviews, including the one on this…
Artist: XeperCountry: ItalyLabel: Soulseller RecordsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2021 Xeper, now operating out of Stavanger, Norway, but originally founded in Italy, released their fourth album last year through Dutch Soulseller Records. Though ‘Ad Numen Satanae’ is indeed the band’s fourth…
Artist: Nazghor Country: Sweden Label: The Wild Hunt Formats: CD Year: 2022 Swedish Black Metal band Nazghor was founded in 2012 and have been releasing six albums from 2013 to 2017, which made them one of the most prolific Swedish…
Artist: PureCountry: SwitzerlandLabel: Obscure Abhorrence Productions / Onism Productions / Satanath RecordsFormats: Cassette tape / CDYear: 2021 Despite a fairly lengthy history that started in 2013 and brought forth four full-length albums, the Swiss one-man band Pure mostly spent the early years of its existence…
Artist: OrderCountry: NorwayLabel: Listenable RecordsFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2021 A superficial glance at the band Order shows an entity that was founded in Norway in 2013. It also reveals that their 2021 album ‘The Gospel’ is their second album, following a 2016…
Artist: AskeregnCountry: NorwayLabel: Terratur PossessionsFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2022 Some years ago, it felt like a true achievement to obtain Terratur Possessions releases. Not because they were limited in quantities or because they lacked distribution. Simply because…
Artist: MimoriumCountry: FinlandLabel: Korpituli Productions / Spread Evil ProductionsFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2022 In 2022, the Finnish band Mimorium was ready to unleash it’s third opus unto the world. The second album, ‘Blood of Qayin’, received quite…
Artist: BlodtårCountry: SwedenLabel: Nordvis ProduktionFormats: 12″ EP / CD EPYear: 2021 Around the turn of the year, the Swedish Black Metal band Blodtår released their self-titled debut EP, with the CD version by the very end of last year and…
Artist: AlburnumCountry: The NetherlandsLabel: Babylon Doom Cult RecordsFormats: Cassette CD / CD EPYear: 2022 The Dutch band Alburnum is a relatively new act from the ever-fertile Black Metal scene of the city of Utrecht. Like many (very) local scenes, a…
Artist: Godkiller Country: Monaco Label: Debemur Morti Productions Formats: LP / CD Year: 2022 With its first two demo tapes the one-man act Godkiller from Monaco caused quite a stir in the Black Metal underground. Not only did it leave…
Artist: Nocturnis Country: Greece Label: Black Sunset Formats: CD Year: 2022 After an independently released EP in 2020, the young German band Nocturnis returns with a full-length album released through Black Sunset, a division of the German MDD Records label.…
Artist: OrphiqueCountry: CanadaLabel: Sepulchral ProductionsFormats: CDYear: 2022 The Black Metal scene in Québec, Canada, has grown out to be one of the most respected, high quality scenes to spawn across the globe. Owing its name to a Forteresse album, the…
Artist: Caedes CruentaCountry: GreeceLabel: Helter Skelter RecordsFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2021 The Greek Black Metal scene has never been as flooded by bands and releases as the Norwegian or Swedish scenes. Those Scandinavian scenes had so many…
Artist: Blut Aus NordCountry: FranceLabel: Debemur Morti ProductionsFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2022 One of the longest running French Black Metal bands definitely is Blut Aus Nord. Having its roots way back in 1993, then initially formed as Vlad and released two really…
Artist: Owls Woods GravesCountry: PolandLabel: Malignant VoicesFormats: LP / CDYear: 2022 The Polish band Owls Woods Graves was established in 2015 by E.V.T. and The Fall. At that time, both members were part of Medico Peste, but anno 2022 both…
Artist: OrlokCountry: FinlandLabel: Werewolf RecordsFormats: CDYear: 2021 Werewolf Records presents the second album of the band Orlok entitled ‘The Dark Knell’. Formed in Lappeenranta, Finland in 2008, the band is a solo-project by none other than Grav Werwolf. You may…
Artist: Protector Country: Germany Label: High Roller Records Formats: LP / Cassette Tape / CD Year: 2022 The history of Protector is a rather messy one, with lots of band members getting in and out of the band and also…
Artist: KrolokCountry: SlovakiaLabel: Osmose ProductionsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2022 I remember the artwork for ‘Flying Above Ancient Ruins’ catching my eye in one of the distros that I regularly check. As if that wasn’t enough, finding out that the band…
Artist: KrolokCountry: SlovakiaLabel: Osmose ProductionsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2022 With the signing of the Slovakian band Krolok to Osmose Productions for their new album ‘Funeral Winds & Crimson Sky’, both parties also decided to re-release a large part of the…
Artist: Imha TarikatCountry: GermanyLabel: Lupus LoungeFormats: LP / CDYear: 2022 In the review for ‘Sternenberster’, the previous Imha Tarikat album, from 2020 I already explained that I had the feeling the band never really got the attention the band deserves.…
Artist: Nightfall Country: Greece Label: Season Of Mist Formats: Digital EP Year: 2022 Last summer the Greek Melodic Black/Death Metal band released this digital 2-track EP which they recorded live at the Gagarin Club in Athens in November 2021. Both…
Artist: Nightfall Country: Greece Label: Season Of Mist Formats: LP / CD Year: 2021 Within the enigmatic Greek Black Metal scene Nightfall has always been a little of an outcast, both in terms of personnel as in the way they…
Artist: Hate ForestCountry: UkraineLabel: Osmose ProductionsFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2022 Out of nowhere, Hate Forest returned from the dead in 2020 with ‘Hour of the Centaur’, another showcase of the typical untamed Black Metal aggression bottled up…
Artist: AgathodaimonCountry: GermanyLabel: Napalm RecordsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2022 From the mid 90’s to the first few years of the new millennium, the German Melodic (or Symphonic, if you prefer) Black Metal band released some decent albums, of which especially…
Artist: GrafjammerCountry: The NetherlandsLabel: Black Tapes / Folter Records / RabauwFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2020 Sometimes things get lost. But some things that are too old and too cold should not be forgotten… no, I’m not talking…
Artist: Stormruler Country: USA Label: Napalm Records Formats: LP / CD Year: 2022 While I will forever respect Napalm Records for their amazing pioneering work for the development of (extreme) metal, I also regularly scratch the back of my head…
Artist: Grymmstalt Country: Chile / Ecuador Label: Mahamvantara Arts Formats: Demo tape Year: 2022 Grymmstalt is yet another band of the ever-prolific Lord Valtgryftåke. This time the Chilean multi-instrumentalist teamed up with Ecuadorian vocalist Wampyric Strigoi, who also tends to…
Artist: Grymmstalt Country: Chile / Ecuador Label: Signal Rex Formats: LP / Cassette tape / CD Year: 2022 Not too longer after the release of the band’s single demo tape, they are presenting their first full-length album through Signal Rex.…