Tales From The Underground
Tales From The Underground
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: 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: 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…
Artist: Acherontas (Αχεροντας)Country: GreeceLabel: Black Hearts Records / III Damnation Productions / Zazen SoundsFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2022 Despite Worship/Stutthof not being considered a direct predecessor of Acherontas by mastermind Acherontass, the roots of this prolific Greek…
Artist: Oldeath Country: Chile Label: Oratorivm Records Formats: CD Year: 2022 It’s almost inevitable, but every few days I write a review about a release of a Chilean Black Metal band. It is amazing how many Black Metal comes out…
Artist: VultyriumCountry: FinlandLabel: Werewolf RecordsFormats: CDYear: 2022 The first chance for the greater audience to be exposed to the sound of Finland’s Vultyrium was with the release of their 2020 split album with the fellow countrymen of Warmoon Lord. A…
Artist: EllendeCountry: AustriaLabel: Art Of PropagandaFormats: LP / CDYear: 2022 Ellende has been an intriguing project. Ever since its inception in 2011 by L.G., then being only 20 years of age, the project has reflected its main man’s innermost thoughts,…
Artist: PestlegionCountry: GermanyLabel: Osmose ProductionsFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2022 By some weird disconnection in my brain, I keep thinking Pestlegion is a French band (probably combining Peste Noire and Les Légion Noires into one word), but in…
Artist: Proclamation Country: Spain Label: Nuclear War Now! Productions / Ross Bay Cult Formats: LP / CD Year: 2020 After the break-up of Proclamation, the band members formed a new band, Sacrificio, that leans a bit more towards Black Metal…
Artist: Proclamation Country: Spain Label: Nuclear War Now! Productions / Ross Bay Cult Formats: LP / CD Year: 2020 While bands like Blasphemy, Beherit and in a lesser extent Sarfcófago defined a viciously suffocating brutal sound in the late 80’s…
Artist: Proclamation Country: Spain Label: Nuclear War Now! Productions / Ross Bay Cult Formats: LP / CD Year: 2020 Whether it is due to the limitations of the Blasphemy-based Black/Death Metal or simply to the unbridled commitment of these Spaniards,…
Artist: Proclamation Country: Spain Label: Nuclear War Now! Productions / Ross Bay Cult Formats: LP / CD Year: 2020 As a reviewer, you are happy if you can write something about a good band or a nice release. People who…
Artist: Proscriptor McGovern’s Apsû Country: USA Label: Agonia Records Formats: LP / Cassette Tape / CD Year: 2021 One of America’s most iconic Black Metal bands is undoubtedly Absu. The multi-headed monster that originally emerged from several previous incarnations and…
Artist: Sagenland Country: The Netherlands Label: Heidens Hart Records Formats: LP / Cassette Tape / CD Year: 2021 Despite the fact that Sagenland has been around since the early 00’s, 2021’s ‘Oale Groond’ is only their first album. Earlier, in…
Artist: Nachtheir Country: USA Label: Banner of Blood / Gleaming Ash Collective / TormentRex Formats: Demo Tape Year: 2022 I first heard of Nachtheir through the three-way split tape with Hekseblad and Vér (2022, Wilt-Shine). The song that this American…
Artist: Funeral WindsCountry: The NetherlandsLabel: Necromanteion / New Era RecordsFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2021 Sometime after the release of 2007’s ‘Nexion Xul – The Cursed Bloodline’, Hellchrist Xul brought Funeral Winds back to what can be considered…
Artist: Golod Country: Canada Label: Ván Records Formats: 12″ EP / CD EP Year: 2021 ‘…To Be Lost And Forgotten, In Solitude’ is the debut EP by this Canadian one-man act that was released upon mankind by Ván Records. And…
Artist: Isengard Country: Norway Label: Peaceville Records Formats: LP / CD Year: 2020 That Fenriz is a slightly odd duck is, of course, an understatement. And, anno 2022, we also know that musically he is basically all over the place.…
Artist: Gorgon Country: France Label: Osmose Productions Formats: LP / CD Year: 2021 Even if you think you are fairly well versed in the (Black) Metal scene yourself, it sometimes happens to you that you overlook something. For instance, I…
Artist: MorgalCountry: FinlandLabel: Werewolf RecordsFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2021 One of the interesting aspects of reviewing albums is diving into the musical history of a band, going back to the earliest material, and comparing how a band…
Artist: AlgaionCountry: SwedenLabel: Shadow RecordsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2022 For the development of the American (Black) Metal scene, the Full Moon Productions-label was of great influence and importance. Not only did it help American bands like Acheron and Black Funeral…
Artist: Затемно (Zatemno)Country: RussiaLabel: Heidens HartFormats: CDYear: 2022 After its debut EP via Russian Death Knell Records, this avant-garde ensemble found shelter with the never-conventional Aesthetic Death on which the first full-length album, ‘В петле’ (‘In The Noose’), was released…
Artist: AzazelCountry: FinlandLabel: Primitive ReactionFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2021 When you list the originators of the Finnish Black Metal scene, names like Beherit, Impaled Nazarene, Archgoat and Barathrum are inevitable. You would almost forget Azazel was right…
Artist: Lunar Spells Country: Greece Label: Northern Silence Productions Formats: CD Year: 2022 Anyone who follows the Black Metal scene a bit will have noticed that Melodic or Symphonic Black Metal is on the rise and is being widely embraced…
Artist: Liminal Shroud Country: Canada Label: Willowtip Records Formats: CD Year: 2022 ‘All Virtues Ablaze’ is the second album by Canadian Black Metal band Liminal Shroud, the first album, ‘Through The False Narrows’ (2020, Hypnotic Dirge), had escaped my attention,…
Artist: Haradrim Country: Sweden Label: Self-Released Formats: Digital demo Year: 2022 For the non-Lord of the Rings aficionado among us: The Haradrim were the race of Men from Harad in the region of Middle-Earth, directly south of Gondor. These people…
Artist: AncientCountry: NorwayLabel: Soulseller RecordsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2022 Earlier this summer, Dutch label Soulseller Records released a collection of old recordings by Ancient. A band that was hardly taken seriously in the past, at least, after their debut album.…
Artist: Olio Tähtien TakanaCountry: FinlandLabel: Avantgarde MusicFormats: LP / CDYear: 2021 The first band that people are most likely to recognize from the list of acts that v-KhaoZ features in is Vargrav, whose stellar debut `Netherstorm’ caused quite a stir upon release (not in the…
Artist: Niden Div. 187Country: SwedenLabel: Dawnbreed Records / De:Nihil RecordsFormats: Vinyl BoxsetYear: 2021 While both the Black and Death Metal genres were producing one groundbreaking record after another in the early nineties, the scenes exploded in volumes in the second…
Artist: VermisstCountry: PolandLabel: Esfinge de la CalaveraFormats: Cassette tape / CDYear: 2022 Polish Black Metal band Vermisst has been around for a while and already has quite a discography, a handful of demos and (split) EPs via various underground labels,…
Info Artist: Vel’HarCountry: GermanyLabel: Sentient Ruin LaboratoriesFormats: 10″ EPYear: 2022 Although the band denies it, Vel’Hal was part of Chile’s Black Metal underground elitist circle that goes under the name of ‘Pure Raw Underground Black Metal Plague’. Whether that is…
Artist: BelphegorCountry: AustriaLabel: Nuclear BlastFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2022 Admittedly, I had lost sight of Belphegor for a while. After the 2000 release of ‘Necrodaemon Terrorsathan’, I somewhat lost interest in the band. I did hear some…
Artist: Amorphous DominionCountry: ThailandLabel: Self-releasedFormats: Demo tapeYear: 2022 This Bangkok, Thailand based Black Metal band Amorphous Dominion started in 2018 from the spirited soul of ‘Sunrize Eclipse’, who after some time realised that he could only realise his black visions…
Artist: Hulder Country: USA Label: 20 Buck Spin Formats: 12″ LP / Cassette EP / CD EP Year: 2022 EP’s are often used by bands as a taster for a new album, a sort of sop, but it also happens…
Artist: KvadCountry: NorwayLabel: Forbidden Keep Records / TormentRexFormats: Cassette / CDYear: 2022 This Norwegian act has chosen a cover for its debut-album that is very much in the same vein as many of their fellow countrymen, it depicts a cold…
Artist: KvadCountry: NorwayLabel: Self-releasedFormats: Digital EPYear: 2022 The debut album ‘Cold & Dark, As Life’, released on cassette via Forbidden Keep Records, was my first introduction to the Norwegian Black Metal band Kvad. The album brought an interesting mix of…
Artist: Funeral Country: Chile Label: Burning Coffin Records Formats: Cassette Year: 2022 Although I don’t know exactly how old this Chilean Black Metal band is, I always wonder how it is possible that the creative minds of musicians can’t come…
Artist: IssoleiCountry: NorwayLabel: Terratur PossessionsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2021 Unconventional was the term used earlier to describe pretty much everything about Issolei. Fascinating would be another. While the `Devouring Current’ EP’s spent a lot of time disorienting the listener, only…
Artist: IssoleiCountry: NorwayLabel: Terratur PossessionsFormats: 12″ EP / CD EPYear: 2021 Considering that the intention of Issolei once was to create a singular `Devouring Current’ album, it may not come as a shock that `Devouring Current, Pt. 2: Treacherous Ascent’…
Artist: IssoleiCountry: NorwayLabel: Terratur PossessionsFormats: 12″ EP / CD EPYear: 2021 Releasing not one, not two, but three releases simultaneously is not something we often see, especially when a band has no previous releases whatsoever and the members or composition…
Artist: Hekseblad / Vér / Nachtheir Country: USA / USA/ Canada Label: Wilt-Shine Formats: Split Cassette Year: 2022 Last year the American underground label Wilt-Shine released a three-way split tape with the name ‘Abattoir Dust Vol. 1’ and had Oppressive…
Artist: Hekseblad Country: USA Label: Self-Released Formats: Digital EP Year: 2022 With the Woods Of Ypres-tribute EP as some sort of an interlude, the American Black Metal duo continues with this 1-track EP/single where they left off: the musical narration…
Artist: Hekseblad Country: USA Label: Self-Released Formats: Digital Demo Year: 2021 This is the first 1-track demo of this American Black Metal duo, consisting out of Frosk who is responsible for all instrumentation and Bruxa who contributes the vocals. When…
Artist: Hekseblad Country: USA Label: Fólkvangr Records / Grime Stone Records Formats: Cassette EP / CD EP Year: 2022 After a first 1-track demo, ‘The Night Of The Long Fangs’, the American duo of Hekseblad (which is actually Dutch for…
Artist: Hekseblad Country: USA Label: Self-Released Formats: Digital EP Year: 2022 After the release of ‘The Fall Of Cintra’ on last years’ Halloween, the American Black Metal combo of Hekseblad released another EP by the end of that same year…
Artist: Kūka’ilimoku / AarkanneCountry: USA / ChileLabel: Inferna Profundus RecordsFormats: Split LPYear: 2022 ‘Ele’abyssus’ is the title of a split LP between two rather stripped down Black Metal acts, Kūka’ilimoku from the USA and Aarkanne from Chile. Earlier releases by…
Artist: Klaaromstesterven Country: United Kingdom Label: Self-Released Formats: Digital demo Year: 2019 The Bandcamp-page of this one-man act says that it is from the UK, something I do not dispute, but judging from the Dutch band name it is a…
Artist: StormkeepCountry: USALabel: Ván RecordsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2021 In the wake of the popular `Galdrum’ EP, Stormkeep released their first full length album `Tales of Othertime’ in late 2021. Members from amongst others Wayfarer, Blood Incantation, Lord Dahthar and…