Mortuary – Final Mortuary Of Souls [Compilation]

Artist: Mortuary Country: Serbia Label: Darzamadicus Records / Grom Records / Necrovoid Records Formats: CD Year: 2021 Extreme underground metal has been forged in the most unlikely places of earth, even in the early days of the genre. Yet, many…

Abythic – Eden Of The Doomed [EP]

Artist: AbythicCountry: GermanyLabel: Iron Bonehead ProductionsFormats: 12″ EP / CD EP / Cassette EPYear: 2022 Abythic’s three albums have all been released by a different label, and certainly not the least. In chronological order, Blood Harvest Records, Xtreem Music and…

Larvae – Acid Horror Cult [EP]

Artist: Larvae Country: Romania Label: Dawnbreed Records / Sacred Tomb Records / Unholy Domain Records Formats: 7″ EP / Cassette EP Year: 2022 For me, this ‘Acid Horror Cult’-EP was my first introduction to the Romanian/Italian Larvae, but I wouldn’t…

Outre-Tombe – Abysse Mortifère

Artist: Outre-Tombe Country: Canada Label: Temple of Mystery Records / Timeworn Records / Triumph ov Death Formats: LP / CD Year: 2021 I think every Death Metal fan has imagined a ‘what if’ situation surrounding Chuck Schuldiner’s stay in Canada…

Scorching Tomb – Rotting Away [EP]

Artist: Scorching Tomb Country: Canada Label: Dismal Fate Records Formats: Cassette EP Year: 2022 Canadian Death Metal will mainly evoke associations with the mainly technical flank of the genre, bands like Cryptopsy, Gorguts, the more modern Archspire or maybe even…

Centinex – The Pestilence [EP]

Artist: CentinexCountry: SwedenLabel: Agonia RecordsFormats: 12″ EP / Cassette EP / CD EPYear: 2022 You can accuse the Swedes of Centinex of anything, except a lack of underground aesthetics. Despite taking a few years off (from 2006 to 2014), they have been tenacious…

Anathema – A Vision Of A Dying Embrace [Reissue]

Artist: AnathemaCountry: UKLabel: Peaceville RecordsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2022 When Anathema embarked on their 1996 tour supporting their then new ‘The Silent Enigma’ record they were captured live in Krakow, Poland. That footage ended up at the VHS which was…

Severe Torture – Fisting The Sockets [EP]

Artist: Severe Torture Country: The Netherlands Label: Season Of Mist Formats: CD EP Year: 2022 Dutch Death Metal is mainly linked to the more classic bands from around the 90’s. Of course, bands like Pestilence, Sinister and Gorefest have been…

Fall Of Seraphs – From Dust To Creation

Artist: Fall Of SeraphsCountry: FranceLabel: Memento MoriFormats: CDYear: 2022 The first thing I thought of when I saw the band name was the Mayhem song from their 1997 ‘Wolf’s Lair Abyss’ mini LP, but clear enough, this French Death Metal…

Belphegor – The Devils

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…

Worm Altar – Worm Altar / Demo ’22

Artist: Worm Altar Country: USA Label: Self-Released Formats: Digital demo Year: 2022 When I think of the state of Maine (USA), which I have never visited, my thoughts mainly consist of the imaginary and gloomy images I have acquired while…

Norfulthing – Norfulthing [Demo]

Artist: Norfulthing Country: Finland Label: Frozen Screams Imprint Formats: Demo Tape Year: 2022 Helsinki based Death Metal band Norfulthing released two digital single tracks before this same-titled full demo, of which the revenues are donated to a charity that focusses…

Exhumation – Twilight Of The Funebre Night [Demo]

Artist: ExhumationCountry: SpainLabel: Pesta Negra RecordsFormats: Demo tapeYear: 2022 For many listening to a Funeral Doom Metal record is, and fair enough, a gruelling ride; it may even seem a form of self-flagellation. To fully grasp the painfully slow music,…

Diabolic Oath – Aischrolatreia [EP]

Artist: Diabolical OathCountry: USALabel: Sentient Ruin LaboratoriesFormats: 12″ EP / Cassette EP / CD EPYear: 2022 After Shroud Of The Heretic went on a indefinite hiatus by the end of the 10’s some members went on to form this Diabolic…

Anal Vomit – Into The Eternal Agony [Reissue]

Artist: Anal VomitCountry: PeruLabel: Black Legion RecordsFormats: Demo tapeYear: 2022 It was about 17 years ago when I reviewed Anal Vomit’s ‘Demonic Flagellations’ (From Beyond Productions) for VM-Underground’s predecessor and also conducted an interview with the band about these early…

Frozen Blood – Revenge [Promo]

Artist: Frozen Blood Country: Chile Label: Self-Released Formats: Digital single Year: 2022 Frozen Blood is a new Old School Death Metal duo from Chile who will be releasing their debut demo tape by the end of this year through Diabolical…

Ribspreader – Crypt World

Artist: Ribspreader Country: Sweden Label: Xtreem Music Formats: LP / Cassette Tape / CD Year: 2022 Writing an introduction to Ribspreader is actually not all that easy. There is a lot and at the very same time pretty little to…

Nightbearer – Ghosts Of A Darkness To Come

Artist: Nightbearer Country: Germany Label: Testimony Records Formats: LP / CD Year: 2022 Not too long ago a non-metal-listening friend of mine commented on the covers of metal LPs, according to him they were so much nicer and made with…

Cianide – Rage War [Reissue]

Artist: CianideCountry: USALabel: Caustic CassetteFormats: Cassette tapeYear: 2022 American ultra-primitive Death Metal giants Cianide are set to release a new album somewhere in the upcoming months, but before that they reissue their 1996 ‘Rage War’-demo tape through Caustic Cassette. No…

Merciless Savagery – Demo 2020 [Demo]

Artist: Merciless Savagery Country: USA Label: Self-Released Formats: Digital Demo Year: 2022 In a male-dominated world it is always great to encounter an all-female metal band, especially when they sound as crude and savage as Merciless Savagery – a very…

Disfallen – The Echoing Despair [Demo]

Artist: DisfallenCountry: NorwayLabel: Self-ReleasedFormats: Digital demoYear: 2022 The genre of Doom/Death Metal has always been a bit of a niche in both the Death Metal and Doom Metal genres. It is not a genre that is played by many bands,…

Impure – Blasphemy [EP]

Artist: Impure Country: The Netherlands Label: Self-Released Formats: Digital EP Year: 2007 The young band Impure from Breda, The Netherlands, releases their first feat with this self-released EP With ‘Blasphemy’, the five-piece band presents itself as a Black/Death Metal band…

Tribulation – Where the Gloom Becomes Sound

Artist: TribulationCountry: SwedenLabel: Century MediaFormats: LP / CDYear: 2021 Amongst the earliest rumblings of a soon-to-be revived old school Death Metal earthquake, Tribulation were already releasing several demos and a strong debut. When ‘Formulas of Death’ marked a departure from that…

Mezexis – Demo 1

Artist: Mezexis Country: Chile Label: Self-Released Formats: Demo Tape Year: 2022 After the Big Wave Of Chilean Death Metal that started about 15 years ago, it now seems there’s coming more and more Black Metal from this South American hotspot…

Funeralizer – The Eternal Carnage [Demo]

Artist: Funeralizer Country: Japan Label: Self-Released Formats: Digital demo Year: 2022 We’ve known for years that Swedish Death Metal doesn’t necessarily have to be Swedish. In the meantime, some pretty good clones have come out of all parts of the…

Coscradh – Nahanagan Stadial

Artist: CoscradhCountry: IrelandLabel: Invictus ProductionsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2022 Leave it to Invictus Productions to present us with the finest of the savage Black/Death Metal bands the world has to offer. Among these underground gems are the fellow Irish lads…

Malevolent Creation – Demo 1990 [Demo / Re-Release]

Artist: Malevolent Creation Country: USA Label: Xtreem Music Formats: 10″ EP Year: 2021 Ever since Death Metal band Malevolent Creation formed in 1986 and despite the many ups and downs in their three-and-a-half decade career, the band has always been…

Krisiun – Mortem Solis

Artist: Krisiun Country: Brazil Label: Century Media Formats: LP / CD Year: 2022 Some certainties make life easy and enjoyable, that’s how you know that in addition to the sun rising every day, there is a political crisis in Italy…

Torture Killer – Dead Inside [EP]

Artist: Torture KillerCountry: FinlandLabel: The Other RecordsFormats: 12″ EP / CD EPYear: 2022 The Finnish counterpart of Six Feet Under strikes back, this time with a 3-track EP released on both CD and 12″ vinyl (with the same tracks on…

Naked Whipper – Painstreaks [Re-Release]

Artist: Naked Whipper Country: Germany Label: Iron Bonehead Productions Formats: LP / CD Year: 2022 Once in a while Iron Bonehead Productions digs up something from the German underground, earlier we saw for example Ungod, Baxaxaxa, Moonblood and Fulgor. With…

Naked Whipper – Moloch-Acid Orgy / 7″ [Re-Release]

Artist: Naked Whipper Country: Germany Label: Iron Bonehead Productions Formats: LP / CD Year: 2022 Together with the re-issue of the bands’ first and only album, ‘Painstreaks’, Iron Bonehead Productions releases this compilation of both the ‘Moloch-Acid Orgy’ 12″ (1995,…

Caustic Phlegm – Putrefying Flesh [Demo]

Artist: Caustic PhlegmCountry: United KingdomLabel: Self-ReleasedFormats: Digital DemoYear: 2022 These days gnarly and cavernous Death Metal seems to be incredibly popular. Labels like Me Saco Un Ojo and Dark Descent Records seem to be caught up in a kind of race in which…

Headless Dawn – Crap On Demand

Artist: Headless Dawn Country: The Netherlands Label: Into It Records / Meat 5000 Records Formats: Cassette tape / CD Year: 2022 “16 Tearjerkers For The Woke Generation” is what the promo sheet accompanying this EP says. That does not promise…

Hammer Of Gore – Mutilated And Forgotten [Demo]

Artist: Hammer Of Gore Country: Germany Label: Necrolatry Records Formats: Demo tape Year: 2022 Though Hammer Of Gore might be a new band to many, they are around for quite some time already. They formed in 2009 as Infected, changed…

Gravecrusher – Resurrection Of Deathly Visions [EP]

Artist: Gravecrusher Country: Hungary Label: Xtreem Music Formats: CD EP Year: 2022 In 2013 Swedish underground protagonist Blood Harvest Records released two rather devastating 7” EP’s, ‘Eternal Darkness’ by Necrosodomy and ‘Mutilation Ritual’ by Gravecrusher. Although both EP’s were in…

Hammerdeath – Hammerdeath [EP]

Artist: Hammerdeath Country: The Netherlands Label: Stageblast Records Formats: Digital EP Year: 2022 In the Dutch metal scene in the 90’s it was pretty much impossible to ignore the presence and influence of the Displeased Productions-label. It presented many a…

Disma – Earthendium [EP]

Artist: DismaCountry: USALabel: Doomentia Records / Necoharmonic RecordsFormats: 12″ EP / CD EPYear: 2022 Over a decade after the Death Metal sledgehammer that was ‘Towards The Megalith’ (2011, Profound Lore Records), Disma are back with this new ‘Earthendium’-EP. After the…

Cadaverous – Slam The Coffin Shut EP

Artist: CadaverousCountry: USALabel: Frozen Screams ImprintFormats: Cassete EPYear: 2022 At the ass-end of last year this American Death Metal band digitally released their first 3-track EP, which was put to cassette tape by Frozen Screams Imprint a few months later…

Coffin Lurker – Foul and Defiled

Artist: Coffin LurkerCountry: The NetherlandsLabel: Sentient Ruin LaboratoriesFormats: LP / Cassette tapeYear: 2022 Coffin Lurker is yet another brainchild of Maurice de Jong, an important figure in the Dutch underground metal scene responsible for a hell of a lot bands…

Dodenmis – Demo 1

Artist: DodenmisCountry: BelgiumLabel: Self-ReleasedFormats: Digital demoYear: 2022 Although being in the making for quite some time, Belgian’s Dodenmis finally materialized in 2021 and now comes up with its first demo, simply called ‘Demo 1’. Sprung out of the mind of LQW, known for past and…

Corpsessed – Succumb to Rot

Artist: CorpsessedCountry: FinlandLabel: Dark Descent RecordsFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2022 With Death Metal bands like Abhorrence, Amorphis, Demilich, Demigod, Purtenance, Funebre and Convulse the Finns do have quite a legacy, but around the turn of 2010 a…

Therion – Beyond Sanctorum [Re-Release]

Artist: TherionCountry: SwedenLabel: Hammerheart RecordsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2022 The second part of Hammerheart Records’ Therion reissues, after the great ‘Time Shall Tell’ 12” EP, is the bands’ second album ‘Beyond Sanctorum’. Indeed, skipping their great debut LP ‘Of Darkness…’…

Therion – Lepaca Kliffoth [Re-Release]

Artist: TherionCountry: SwedenLabel: Hammerheart RecordsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2022 The musical voyage of Therion, that led them from a pure, but atypical Death Metal band to a multi-layered and creative musical chameleon has been spread over four albums, with each…

Therion – Time Shall Tell [EP / Re-Release]

Artist: TherionCountry: SwedenLabel: Hammerheart RecordsFormats: 12″ EPYear: 2022 Introducing a band like Therion seems a little pointless as they are among the most successful bands on the Nuclear Blast roster – for a quarter of a century now. Much of…

Master – Demo 1985 [Demo / Re-release]

Artist: Master Country: USA Label: Xtreem Music Formats: 10″ EP Year: 2020 It is almost impossible and perhaps even morally wrong to leave Master’s legendary 1985 demo-tape out of a series that is called ’10 Inches Of Deathcult’, in which…

Tenebro – L’inizio Di Un Incubo

Artist: Tenebro Country: Italy Label: Xtreem Music Formats: LP / Cassette tape / CD Year: 2022 After a demo tape (reissued on 7” vinyl by Seven Metal Inches) and a 3-track debut EP which was initially only released on cassette…

Adramelech – Grip of Darkness [Reissue]

Artist: AdramelechCountry: FinlandLabel: Xtreem MusicFormats: 10″ EPYear: 2020 Finnish Death Metal, or ‘Finndeath’ as they like to call it, always had something special compared to bands from other countries who had a lively Death Metal scene. They often had a…

Paganizer – Beyond The Macabre

Artist: Paganizer Country: Sweden Label: Transcending Obscurity Records Formats: LP / Cassette Tape / CD Year: 2022 Ah! Rogga Johansson again found some time to record yet another album, this time with Paganizer. It sometimes just puzzles me how some…