Tales From The Underground
Tales From The Underground
Artist: Fleshgrind Country: USA Label: Burning Dogma Records / Corpse Gristle Records Formats: LP / Cassette Tape Year: 2022 After the release of the demos compilation CD and cassette tape, both Burning Dogma Records and Corpse Gristle Records teamed up…
Artist: Fleshgrind Country: USA Label: Burning Dogma Records / Corpse Gristle Records Formats: Cassette Tape / CD Year: 2021 Before Fleshgrind became an established name in the Death Metal/Grindcore scene, the band released two demo tapes, ‘Holy Pedophile’ (1993) and…
Artist: Macabre End Country: Sweden Label: Xtreem Music Formats: 10″ EP Year: 2021 The only Macabre End recordings are the three tracks from the 1990 ‘Consumed By Darkness’ demo tape, released a year later by Corpse Grinder Records on a…
Artist: Necrophile Country: Japan Label: Xtreem Music Formats: 10″ EP Year: 2021 The Japanese extreme metal scene has always been rather limited in the amount of bands, but they always tended to bring something different to the table. The Japanese…
Artist: Roots Of The Old Oak Country: United Kingdom Label: Hammerheart Records Formats: Demo Tape Year: 2022 Roots Of The Old Oak is a Doom/Death Metal trio from the UK, that released their first four-track demo tape last summer through…
Artist: Thy Darkened ShadeCountry: GreeceLabel: W.T.C. ProductionsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2023 Despite a history that goes back as far as 1999, Greece’s Thy Darkened Shade didn’t really hit their stride until 2012 with the release of their debut album. But…
Artist: OcculsedCountry: USALabel: Everlasting Spew RecordsFormats: CDYear: 2022 Following the band’s simply amazing debut album, ‘Crepitation Of Phlegethon’, their label, Everlasting Spew Records from Italy, now brings you the bands two previously recorded demo tapes on one CD. And as…
Artist: Impetigo Country: USA Label: Xtreem Music Formats: 10″ EP / CD EP Year: 2021 ‘Giallo’ is basically where it all started. Although ‘Giallo’ is not the first Impetigo recording, it was preceded by the 1987 release ‘All We Need…
Artist: Necrovation Country: Sweden Label: Blood Harvest Formats: 7″ EP Year: 2023 Somewhere in the mid-00’s, there suddenly was Necrovation, one of the very best new Death Metal bands that would become a true cult act. With their first minor…
Artist: CutCountry: ChinaLabel: Gespenst RecordsFormats: Cassette tape / CDYear: 2022 That disgusting and totally depraved Black/Death Metal is no longer limited to a few of those early bands like Blasphemy, Naked Whipper and Archgoat is not quite a secret, yet…
Artist: Obituary Country: USA Label: Relapse Records Formats: LP / Cassette Tape / CD Year: 2022 Though a new Obituary record is commonly regarded as a moment of joy to all Old School Death Metal aficionados, I kind of lost…
Artist: EncabulosCountry: AustraliaLabel: Nuclear Winter RecordsFormats: CDYear: 2022 Under the fitting title of ‘Exhumed Abominations’ Nuclear Winter Records unearthed an almost forgotten piece of underground Death Metal history: Encabulos. They were a Death Metal band from Australia that released six…
Artist: Hellfire Deathcult Country: USA Label: Helter Skelter Productions Formats: LP / CD Year: 2022 My VM-Underground colleague already commented quite aptly on these American’s debut album that the music of Hellfire Deathcult would appeal to fans of Teitanblood, Adversarial…
While the real boom of Old School Death Metal bands has passed and, with the knowledge of today, the peak of that revival does seem to have been in the years 2010-2013, all that remains now are bands that are…
Artist: Haunter Country: USA Label: Profound Lore Records Formats: LP / Cassette tape / CD Year: 2022 Though Haunter has been around for about a decade now, they have remained under my radar up to this last album, ‘Discarnate Ails’.…
Artist: The Antichrist ImperiumCountry: United KingdomLabel: Apocalyptic Witchcraft RecordingsFormats: Cassette / CDYear: 2022 When I first heard Akercocke it was with their ‘Choronzon’ album, back in 2003, it left me amazed, baffled and intrigued. The band blended so many ideas…
Artist: Carnal SavageryCountry: SwedenLabel: Moribund RecordsFormats: Cassette tape / CDYear: 2022 With only six months between this new album and the previous one, ‘Scent Of Flesh’, Carnal Savagery’s Swedes have the momentum going well. The only question is whether it might not be a bit…
Artist: Carnal SavageryCountry: SwedenLabel: Huangquan Records / Moribund RecordsFormats: Cassette tape / CDYear: 2022 The Swedish Death Metallers of Carnal Savagery are returning to their one-album-each-year formula with their third album, ‘Scent Of Death’. Although, an album a year? I guess the COVID-19 pandemic was…
Artist: Dead SunCountry: SwedenLabel: MDD RecordsFormats: CDYear: 2021 This awkward release of Dead Sun, one of the many Rogga Johansson featured bands, is actually a re-release of a compilation tape which originally was some sort of collection of four different…
Artist: Soul Grinder Country: Germany Label: Kernkraftritter Records / MDD Records Formats: CD Year: 2022 While we were thrown an EP in the form of ‘Lifeless Obsession’, German Death Metal band Soul Grinder returns with a full-length album two years…
Artist: Severance Country: USA Label: Xtreem Music Formats: 10″ EP / Year: 2021 Xtreem Music offers another dive into the deepest underground Death Metal of the early 90’s with the reissue of Severance’s ‘Afterbirth Of Infamy’ demo from 1991. It…
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: Obituary Country: USA Label: Relapse Records Formats: LP / Cassette Tape / CD Year: 2022 Anyone who has ever seen an Obituary live show will agree that these veterans of American Death Metal sure know how to put on…
Artist: Obituary Country: USA Label: Relapse Records Formats: LP / Cassette Tape / CD Year: 2022 Like the simultaneously released ‘Slowly We Rot – Live & Rotting’ live record, this ‘Cause Of Death – Live Infection’ is also a recorded…
Artist: Pharmacist Country: Japan Label: Bizarre Leprous Production / Hells Headbangers Records / Sevared Records Formats: LP / Cassette Tape / CD Year: 2022 Formed in 2020, these Japanese Carcass-worshippers have been really prolific, with this second album, ‘Flourishing Extremities…
Artist: Pharmacist Country: Japan Label: Bizarre Leprous Production / Black Hole Productions / Grindfather Productions / Gurgling Gore / Sevared Records Formats: 10″ EP / Cassette EP / CD EP Year: 2022 Over the past two plus decades I have…
Artist: Vital RemainsCountry: USALabel: Xtreem MusicFormats: 10″ EPYear: 2021 One of the most underrated American Death Metal bands might be Vital Remains. Sure, they have a loyal fan base, but I’ve always felt that the band never reached their full…
Artist: Nunslaughter / Fluids Country: USA Label: Hells Headbangers Records Formats: Split 7″ EP / Split Tape EP Year: 2022 A split 7″ EP/cassette tape between two bands to who the concept of sharing a release is not exactly strange:…
Artist: MegaslaughterCountry: SwedenLabel: To The Death RecordsFormats: CDYear: 2022 In the midst of the booming Swedish Death Metal scene, legends were born that colored the early days of the much beloved buzz-saw sound. With one release after another, bands sprouted…
Artist: MegaslaughterCountry: SwedenLabel: To The Death RecordsFormats: Cassette tape / CDYear: 2022 To this day, albums and demos from the early 90’s are still re-released or unearthed from moldy cassette graveyards. Releases of bands that were forgotten, or never quite…
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: Morbid Stench Country: Costa Rica / El Salvador Label: Alkolik Holocaust Records / El Conjuro Records / Nuclear Winter Records / Putrid Cult Formats: LP / Cassette Tape / CD Year: 2022 Morbid Stench is a collaboration of musicians…
Artist: Morbid Stench Country: Costa Rica / El Salvador Label: Ablaze Productions Formats: CD Year: 2022 Just behind the release of Morbid Stench’s second full-length album, the band also comes out with this collector which features all the material they…
Artist: ToughnessCountry: SwedenLabel: Godz Ov War ProductionsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2022 ‘The Prophetic Dawn’ is the first album of a new band from Poland, founded in 2020 by a group of young musicians who were eager to play some Old School…
Artist: Necrogod Country: Costa Rica / Sweden Label: Transcending Obscurity Records Formats: LP / CD Year: 2021 A few years ago Swedish jack-of-all-trades Rogga Johansson and Costa Rican Ronald Jimenez (also known as ‘The Master Butcher’) of bands like Morbid…
Artist: CatacombsCountry: ColombiaLabel: War March RecordsFormats: CDYear: 2022 After a promo CDR that the band spread around at the very end of 2021, the Colombian Death Metal band Catacombs were able to strike a deal with War March Records for a release of…
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: 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: 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: Heads For The Dead Country: International Label: Transcending Obscurity Records Formats: LP / Cassette tape / CD Year: 2022 For those who missed the previous two full-length albums (and EP) of Heads For The Dead, it is yet another…
Artist: AssumptionCountry: ItalyLabel: Everlasting Spew RecordsFormats: LP, CDYear: 2022 The 2018 released album ‘Absconditus’ from the Italian Doom/Death Metal band Assumption was described by a VM-Underground colleague as Doom/Death effort that has a lot to offer and compared it to bands like diSEMBOWELMENT, Winter and…
Artist: Gorgasm Country: USA Label: Brutal Mind Formats: CD Year: 2022 When it comes to the more brutal sort of Death Metal with a distinct technical slant, there are very few bands that come close to the ingenuity of Gorgasm…
Artist: SubOrbital Country: Germany Label: War Anthem Records Formats: CD Year: 2022 Besides those classic gory and anti-religious themes, there’s more and more bands choosing a different path. Cosmic-themed Death Metal is no longer something that can be considered a…
Artist: Graveater Country: Estonia Label: Filth Junkies Records / Headsplit Records Formats: Cassette EP Year: 2022 Graveater is a new band from Estonia consisting of two members that gained their experience in bands such as Sküllfükk SS, Degeneratör and Ziegenhorn.…
Artist: Sepulchral Rites Country: Chile Label: Dunkelheit Produktionen Formats: 12″ EP / CD EP Year: 2022 Last year the Chilean, all-female Sepulchral Rites released their debut EP ‘Death And Bloody Ritual’ through Germany’s Dunkelheit Produktionen, and with their regressive sort…
Artist: UnleashedCountry: SwedenLabel: Napalm RecordsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2021 By the end of last year, one of the most renowned Swedish Death Metal bands released their fourteenth album, proving once again that Unleashed definitely belong to The Immortals. While a…
Artist: Ablaze My SorrowCountry: SwedenLabel: Black Lion RecordsFormats: 12″ EP, CD EPYear: 2023 To my mind, Ablaze My Sorrow has always been one of those bands that missed the boat. Deeply rooted in the melodic Swedish Death Metal scene, the…
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: Graceless Country: The Netherlands Label: Into It Records / Raw Skull Records Formats: LP / Cassette tape / CD Year: 2022 Dutch Death Metal outfit Graceless have been a band that has received quite some exposure over the recent…
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…