Kjeld – Ôfstân

Artist: Kjeld Country: The Netherlands Label: Heidens Hart Records Formats: LP / CD Year: 2021 Northern Netherlands-based Kjeld is not a band in a big hurry. On the contrary. The band was formed back in 2003, but it took them…

Perversion – Dies Irae

Artist: Perversion / Pyromancer Country: USA Label: Hells Headbangers Records Formats: LP / Cassette Tape / CD Year: 2022 “Dies irae, dies illa. Solvet saeclum in favilla“. The first words in the Latin Dies Irae, the Day Of Wrath, they…

Firtan – Marter

Artist: FirtanCountry: GermanyLabel: Act Of PropagandaFormats: LP / CDYear: 2022 Black Metal has always been a genre in flux and development. If you look at the First Wave Black Metal in which bands like Hellhammer, Bathory and Venom ruled the…

Drowning The Light – Abyssic Tides

Artist: Drowning The LightCountry: AustraliaLabel: Dark Adversary ProductionsFormats: CDYear: 2022 When it comes to highly prolific Black Metal bands, I think anyone who is deep enough into the scene will mention Australian Black Metal trailblazer Drowning The Light as one of those bands…

Nocturnal Depression – When My Time Has Come [EP]

Artist: Nocturnal Depression Country: France Label: Ars Macabra Audio Formats: CD EP Year: 2022 When I first encountered Nocturnal Depression, a Depressive Black Metal band from France, I was not quite impressed. I have always thought that the term of…

Angrrsth / Czort – W Czeluść [Split]

Artist: Angrrsth / CzortCountry: PolandLabel: Godz ov War ProductionsFormats: Split CDYear: 2022 Once again through the power of eye-catching artwork I stumbled upon a split by the two Polish bands Angrrsth and Czort. I hadn’t heard of Igor Datkiewicz &…

Angrrsth – Donikąd

Artist: AngrrsthCountry: PolandLabel: Godz ov War ProductionsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2021 Angrrsth was formed in Toruń, Poland in 2018. After the release of an EP in their year of formation they took the next three years to work on their…

Czort – Apostoł

Artist: Angrrsth / CzortCountry: PolandLabel: Under the Sign of Garazel ProductionsFormats: Split CDYear: 2020 Czort is a Polish band from the Silesian Voivodeship, a province of which Katowice is the capital. The band, who shares their name with a horned,…

Deathhammer – Electric Warfare

Artist: DeathhammerCountry: NorwayLabel: Hells Headbangers RecordsFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2022 Norway’s Deathhammer have taken the Metal world by storm, crushing the masses with their intense Thrash/Speed Metal mix that blends in some of their Norwegian Black Metal…

Weregoat – The Devil’s Lust [EP]

Artist: Weregoat Country: USA Label: Iron Bonehead Productions Formats: 12″ EP / Cassette EP / CD EP Year: 2022 Upon seeing this new EP, put in a subtle cover by Sadistik Exekution’s Rok, I had dived into my own collection.…

Gärgäntuäh – Dödenlicht [Demo / Reissue]

Artist: GärgäntuähCountry: The NetherlandsLabels: GoatowaRex / New Era Productions / Tour de GardeFormats: 12″ Demo / Demo tapeYear: 2021 This first demo by Dutch band Gärgäntuäh has already been released back in 2020 by the highly revered labels of New…

Svor – Demo I

Artist: Svor Country: Czechia / United Kingdom Label: Legion Blotan / Pant Y Meddygon Formats: Demo Tape Year: 2022 Svor is a new international band by G.P. (George Proctor) from the UK and MBN from the Czech Republic but residing…

Goat Torment – Forked Tongues

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…

Suicidal Solitude – Život Nikdy Nebol [Demo]

Artist: Suicidal Solitude Country: Slovakia Label: Pant Y Meddygon Formats: Demo Tape Year: 2022 With a band name like Suicidal Solitude you might not expect the brightest and most uplifting music. And… guess what, you are right. Although I am…

Ofermod – Mysterium Iniquitatis

Artist: OfermodCountry: SwedenLabel: Shadow RecordsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2021 In the review for ‘Pentagrammaton’ on our pages, my colleague already spent a few words on Ofermod. It is hard to introduce a band with such a valuable legacy, but the…

Plaguefever – Crude Implements [EP]

Artist: Plaguefever Country: USA Label: Elvte Kvlt Recvrds Formats: 12″ / Cassette EP / CD EP Year: 2021 This trio from Richmond, Virginia, USA released their debut EP late last year and was picked up not long after by Elvte…

Lore Liege – Dreams Of A Forgotten Curse [EP]

Artist: Lore Liege Country: USA Label: Fólkvangr Records Formats: Cassette EP Year: 2022 When bands sound very much like their great examples, it always generates debate. Is it worship or copycat? Or, in some cases, even scavenging? In all styles…

Imprecation – In Nomine Diaboli

Artist: ImprecationCountry: USALabel: Dark Descent RecordsFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2022 Although Imprecation’s history goes all the way back to the heyday of (American) Death Metal of the early 90’s, the band has always remained a bit more in the background. An underground…

Ceremoniële Walging – Ingekankerd

Artist: Ceremoniële WalgingCountry: The NetherlandsLabel: Babylon Doom Cult RecordsFormats: Cassette tapeYear: 2022 After last year’s scorching ‘Vergeet De Eeuwenoude Haat Nooit’ demo (which was also released on cassette tape by Babylon Doom Cult Records early this year), the anonymous Ceremoniële…

Weathered Crest – Dust Vessel [EP]

Artist: Weathered CrestCountry: AustriaLabel: Fallow FieldFormats: Cassette tape EPYear: 2022 On their first EP and debut album, we were already introduced to Weathered Crest, a Raw Black Metal band from Austria that sprung from the brain of Vritra of Kringa…

Weathered Crest – Blossoming Of The Paths

Artist: Weathered CrestCountry: AustriaLabel: Into Endless Chaos Records / Tour de GardeFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2021 Earlier in 2021, Weathered Crest, the project started by Vritra from Brånd and Kringa, released the ‘Broken Column’ debut EP. Which…

Weathered Crest – Broken Column [EP]

Artist: Weathered CrestCountry: AustriaLabel: Födweg / Into Endless Chaos RecordsFormats: 7″ EPYear: 2021 Early last year, the world saw Weathered Crest’s first born, the ‘Broken Column’ EP. Weathered Crest is a side-project of Vritra who continues to kill his time…

Daemoniac Ecstasy – Promo MMXXII [Demo]

Artist: Daemoniac EcstasyCountry: USALabel: Self-ReleasedFormats: Demo tapeYear: 2022 Having been quite impressed by the ‘Crescendos Of Ululation’ demo-tape from earlier this year, I now throw myself at this 1-track promo, simply christened ‘Promo MMXXII’. This promo was released in an…

Tundra – Eclipse Of Blood [EP]

Artist: TundraCountry: ItalyLabel: Staring Into DarknessFormats: Cassette EPYear: 2022 It might be the COVID-19 pandemic, or maybe something else, but for the Italian Black Metallers of Tundra 2021 was a striking prolific year, with no less than seven singles and…

Opiumortem – Opiumortem [Demo]

Artist: Opiumortem Country: Bulgaria Label: Self-Released Formats: Demo Tape Year: 2022 This self-titled demo is the follow-up of the ‘Lethargia’-demo tape that was released last summer. That short little demo had three tracks of interesting and dismal Lo-Fi Black Metal…

Smyrtonos – Endless Fury [Demo]

Artist: Smyrtonos Country: Bulgaria Label: Narbentage Produktionen Formats: Demo Tape Year: 2022 ‘Endless Fury’ is Smyrtonos’ swansong as it was released posthumously after the project’s disbanding last summer. At least, Todorac had it released digitally only 4 days prior throwing…

Necromutilator – Oath Of Abhorrence

Artist: Necromutilator Country: Italy Label: Osmose Productions Formats: LP / Cassette Tape / CD Year: 2022 In the 1968 Hammer Horror movie ‘The Devil Rides Out’, Duc Richleau tries to rescue his late friend’s son and his girlfriend from the…

Bokkerijders – Bokkerijders [Demo]

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…

Opiumortem – Lethargia [Demo]

Artist: Opiumortem Country: Bulgaria Label: Self-Released Formats: Demo Tape Year: 2022 From Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria comes this one-man act Opiumortem, run by someone who goes under the name of Todorac who is also active in a few other…

Daemoniac Ecstasy – Crescendos Of Ululation [Demo]

Artist: Daemoniac EcstasyCountry: USALabel: Realm And RitualFormats: Demo tapeYear: 2022 What we have here is another fantasy-drive one-man act from the USA, Pennsylvania in this case. It is astonishing to realise that I am reviewing multiple American one-man acts each…

Szmej – Ormkull I [Demo]

Artist: Szmej Country: Czechia Label: Pant Y Meddygon Formats: Demo Tape Year: 2022 The Pant Y Meddygon-stables only produce intriguing acts, in which the musical boundaries fade somewhat and actually turn out to be of little importance. Several releases from…

Windhelm – Au Crépuscule de l’existence

Artist: WildhelmCountry: FranceLabel: Death Eternal / Drakkar ProductionsFormats: Cassette tape / CDYear: 2022 Windhelm is the solo project of Aldric, who is also active in Grimdusk and Kaldt Helvete. And under this moniker Aldric has already built up a respectable…

Forbidden Temple – Baphohearsals [Demo]

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…

Embrace Of Thorns – Entropy Dynamics

Artist: Embrace Of ThornsCountry: GreeceLabel: Nuclear Winter RecordsFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2022 It was at the German Doom Shall Rise festival (of all places), sometime in the mid-00’s, that I first heard of Embrace Of Thorns. Walking…

Grafskymf – Dräpt Af Myrens Rå [Demo / Re-Release]

Artist: Grafskymf Country: Sweden Label: His Wounds / Nihilistic Noise Propaganda/ Nithstang Productions Formats: LP / Cassette tape / CD Year: 2020 In October 2020, Afskum, the only soul behind this Swedish Black Metal project, wrote and recorded this first…

Embrace Of Thorns – A Night Of Promethean Blasphemy

Artist: Embrace Of ThornsCountry: GreeceLabel: Self-ReleasedFormats: DigitalYear: 2022 Right in between ‘The Pantheon I’ 7″ EP (Iron Bonehead Productions) and the just released new album, ‘Entropy Dynamics’ (Nuclear Winter Records), Embrace Of Thorns came up with a self-released studio rehearsal…

Brotthogg – Epicinium

Artist: BrotthoggCountry: NorwayLabel: Self-ReleasedFormats: DigitalYear: 2022 Back in 2020 one of my colleagues here at VM-Underground labelled Brotthogg as the most promising newcomers out of the Norwegian metal scene. That is quite a bold statement and one that might put…

Beyond Man – Beyond Man

Artist: Beyond ManCountry: NorwayLabel: The Sinister FlameFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2021 From the ashes of Vordrinn arose Beyond Man, a constellation consisting of members of the Trondheim Black Metal scene. But the band members soon turned their…

I Am The Night – While the Gods are Sleeping

Artist: I Am The NightCountry: FinlandLabel: Svart RecordsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2022 In the mid 90’s, Markus Vanhala (Insomnium, Omnium Gatherum) and Janne Markkanen (ex-Omnium Gatherum) dreamt of once starting a melodic Black Metal project. In the end, that never…

Totholz – Weckruf Der Alten Zeit [Demo]

Artist: TotholzCountry: GermanyLabel: Self-releasedFormats: Demo tapeYear: 2021 Wow, this is quite a trip down memory lane. I am not sure whether the two in this German Black Metal band actually meant their title (which translates to ‘Wake-up call to old…

Embryonic Slumber – In Worship Our Blood Is Buried

Artist: Embryonic SlumberCountry: FinlandLabel: Werewolf RecordsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2021 When doing background research for the review of the Olio Tähtien Takana album ‘Spectral Katharsis’ I stumbled upon the band Embryonic Slumber. Like Olio Tähtien Takana, Embryonic Slumber consists of…

Ninkharsag – The Dread March Of Solemn Gods

Artist: Ninkharsag Country: United Kingdom Label: Vendetta Records Formats: LP / Cassette Tape / CD Year: 2021 The UK Black Metal band Ninkharsag was founded by Paul Armitstead in 2009, after his former band Unsanctum was carried to its grave.…

Fertilizer – Demo

Artist: FertilizerCountry: CanadaLabel: Self-ReleasedFormats: Digital demoYear: 2022 As of late Canadian Black Metal is best known for the somewhat more refined and at the same time furious Black Metal scene, bands like Sorcier Des Glaces, Forteresse, Cantique Lepreux, Monarque and…

Djevel – Tanker Som Rir Natten

Artist: DjevelCountry: NorwayLabel: Aftermath Music / Impure Wedding Productions / Tour de GardeFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2021 With our apologies, this review comes to you somewhat late, but I should also add right away that I was…