Tales From The Underground
Tales From The Underground
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…
Artist: Father BefouledCountry: USALabel: Everlasting Spew RecordsFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2022 When it comes to Old School Death Metal there are hardly any bands that turned out to be more influential to the genre than Incantation. Especially…
Artist: BestiariusCountry: PeruLabel: Self-ReleasedFormats: Digital EP Year: 2022 Fresh out of Lima, Peru comes this new EP from Bestiarius. Which is the follow-up to the 2020 demo tape and digitally released by the band itself. With their all-consuming mix of…
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…
Artist: Druid LordCountry: USALabel: Hells Headbangers RecordsFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2022 When Druid Lord first hit the scene around 2010 with quite a few releases in only a span of like three years, it was expected that the guys would…
Artist: MorbificCountry: FinlandLabel: Headsplit Records / Me Saco un Ojo Records / Memento MoriFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2022 Morbific scored high with its first demos and debut album, “Ominous Seep Of Putridity”. The Death Metal with Autopsy…
Artist: Barbarity / PaganizerCountry: Russia / SwedenLabel: Coyote RecordsFormats: Split 7″ EPYear: 2021 On this split 7″ EP we find a collaboration between Russia’s Barbarity and the Swedish workaholics of Paganizer. Both bands each contribute a song on this EP…
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…
Artist: Poisonous Country: Brazil Label: Ablaze Productions / Morbid Ways To Die Formats: Cassette EP / CD EP Year: 2022 The Brazilians of Poisonous may be toxic, but it is a slow-acting poison. After their 2010 debut, ‘Perdition’s Den’, Poisonous…
Artist: Void ColumnCountry: CanadaLabel: Mouth Of Madness / Nihil ProductionsFormats: Cassette EP / CD EPYear: 2022 Early this year the anonymous Canadian entity of Void Column returned with another demo under the name of ‘Quiescence (Demo II)’, which was a…
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…
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…
Artist: Altar / CartilageCountry: Sweden / FinlandLabel: Xtreem MusicFormats: Split LP /Split cassette tape / Split CDYear: 2022 Despite the fact that the original material from this cult split LP had already been reissued by Xtreem Music in 2015, it…
Artist: EncryptmentCountry: SwedenLabel: Nuclear Winter RecordsFormats: Cassette tape / CDYear: 2022 Those already familiar with Encryptment via their 2015 EP ‘Suktar Efter Luft’ and the subsequent 2019 ‘Mangel Från Söderort’-demo have been able to hear the intention with which the…
Artist: Rotpit Country: Germany / Sweden Label: Self-Released Formats: Digital Single/Demo Year: 2022 The German/Swedish band Rotpit, with Jonny Pettersson (of Wombbath fame, amongst many others) and Henrik Poisingis and Ralf Hauber (both of Revel In Flesh), returns with a…
Artist: Gorgon Vomit Country: United Kingdom Label: Self-Released Formats: Digital Demo Year: 2022 This ugly creature crawled straight out of the London Dungeons and calls itself Gorgon Vomit. Named after the vomit of the gorgons, the three daughters (of which…
Artist: Void ColumnCountry: CanadaLabel: Mouth Of MadnessFormats: Demo tapeYear: 2022 Last year our VM-Underground Chief Editor Ricardo was very excited about Void Column’s first demo tape, ‘The Chasmic Death’. Now this anonymous entity returns with its second demo tape, ‘Quiescence…
Artist: AtaraxyCountry: SpainLabel: Dark Descent Records / Me Saco un Ojo Records Formats: LP / CDYear: 2022 Anyone who has followed the development of this Spanish Death Metal band will speak confidently of a particularly successful transformation. On 2010’s 5-track ‘Rotten Shit’ demo, the band…
Artist: Rotpit Country: Germany / Sweden Label: Selfmadegod Records / Seven Inches Of Metal Records Formats: 7″ EP / Cassette EP Year: 2021 Rotpit is one of the many projects led by Jonny Pettersson, best known for his work in…
Artist: IncantationCountry: USALabel: Relapse RecordsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2022 What is dead may never die. Sometimes it feels like yesterday that Death Metal arose from the graves of the underground to take the world by storm. But of course, the…
Artist: Infester Country: USA Label: Nuclear Winter Records Formats: LP / CD Year: 2022 Infester is one of the ‘hidden gems’ from the underground American Death Metal scene. They achieved a certain cult status with relatively little materialised legacy. 1992’s…
Artist: Fumes Country: Mexico Label: MVIRecs / Sentenced In Hellfire Records Formats: Cassette EP Year: 2022 From Mexico City comes this new four-piece Death/Black Metal band who are releasing their first EP with ‘Stellar Murders Upwards’. However, the four musicians…
Artist: Dwellers Of The Twilight VoidCountry: USALabel: PromulgatorFormats: Demo tapeYear: 2022 This three-pieces Death Metal act from Tampa, Florida is presenting their first demo to the world, which you might’ve guessed by the title of this three-tracker. But when listening these songs, it doesn’t sound…
Artist: Sexmag Country: Poland Label: Dying Victims Productions Formats: Demo Tape Year: 2022 After their “tasteful” debut EP ‘Sex Metal’ from 2021, these Poles returned last summer with this new demo tape, which, like the EP, was also released by…
Artist: Torturer’s LobbyCountry: USALabel: PromulgatorFormats: 7″ EPYear: 2022 Death Metal has a rich history when it comes to themes and musically elaborated concepts. The most well-trodden paths are death and destruction on one side and the anti-Christian on the other.…
Artist: Necrom Country: Ukraine Label: Osmose Productions Formats: LP / Cassette Tape / CD Year: 2022 Ladies and gentlemen, we’ve got ourselves a Nostradamus! VM-Underground’s very own chief editor Ricardo already predicted in May 2019 that Necrom would be picked…
Artist: Corpse DesecrationCountry: USALabel: Self-ReleasedFormats: Demo CDYear: 2022 Corpse Desecration is a Cleveland, Ohio based Death Metal crew and released their first demo only a couple of days ago. Apart from their origin, no further information about the band is…
Artist: Sexmag Country: Poland Label: Dying Victims Productions Formats: 12″ EP / Cassette EP / CD EP Year: 2022 A band with such a name immediately draws attention, add to that this fantastic cover artwork and you have yourself a…
Artist: Anatomia / MorbificCountry: Japan / FinlandLabel: Lycanthropic ChantsFormats: Split 7″ EPYear: 2022 This 7” EP, released by German-based Lycanthropic Chants, is yet another chapter in the ever-expanding discography of Anatomia. This time these prolific Japanese Death Metallers team up…
Artist: Sadistic Drive Country: Finland Label: Headsplit Records / SelfMadeGod Records Formats: Cassette Tape / CD Year: 2022 Anyone who has heard Sadistic Drive’s 2018 ‘Street Cannibal Gluttony’ demo/EP and then also 2020’s first album, ‘Anthropophagy’, has already noticed a…
There is a lot of talk about Russia, especially lately, but it is rarely about the good metal bands that the country has to offer. Recently I heard the great Bitter Loss from Saint-Petersburg and reviewed the well-deserved reissue of Mortem‘s ‘Amputator’ album.…
Artist: WombbathCountry: SwedenLabel: Self-releasedFormats: Digital EPYear: 2022 Pretty soon after the Russian unprovoked invasion of Ukraine last February 24th, many labels and bands expressed their support for Ukraine and its many metal bands. Benefit concerts were organised and special editions…
Artist: Sadistic Drive Country: Finland Label: Blood Harvest / Headsplit Records / La Caverna Records Formats: LP / Cassette Tape / CD Year: 2020 When I was immersing myself in this Finnish Death Metal band for a review for their…
Artist: Strigoi Country: United Kingdom Label: Season Of Mist Formats: LP / CD Year: 2022 If I am sufficiently informed, Vallenfyre was founded by Greg Mackintosh, best known as Paradise Lost guitarist, as a vehicle to help him cope with…
Artist: Oxalate Country: USA Label: Dawnbeed Records Formats: Cassette EP Year: 2022 Originally released in 2019, American Oxalate’s ‘Infatuating Sickness’ EP now sees a re-release on cassette tape via Dutch label Dawnbreed Records. Previously, it had been released digitally by…
Artist: Cryptic DissolutionCountry: RussiaLabel: Dismal Fate RecordsFormats: Cassette tapeYear: 2022 From Moscow, Russia comes this new trio playing Old School and Grinding Death Metal. Their first full-length album (although just clocking over 20 minutes), ‘Morbific Reminiscences In Physical Forms’ will…
Artist: Putrescine Country: Germany Label: Self-Released Formats: Demo Tape Year: 2021 From Berlin, Germany comes this three-piece Death Metal band. In 2020 they released their first demo tape ‘Putrescent Utterance’ through the Italian Unholy Domain label – with an extra…
Artist: DefleshedCountry: SwedenLabel: Regain RecordsFormats: 7″ EPYear: 2021 After a career of almost 15 years, Swedish Death/Thrash band Defleshed threw in the towel in 2005. Up to that point in their existence, the band had released five full-length albums and…
Artist: Human Corpse Abuse Country: USA Label: Caligari Records / Dark Descent Records / Obliteration Records / Selfmadegod Records Formats: Cassette tape / CD Year: 2022 Human Corpse Abuse is a new band hailing from, as they say themselves, the…
Artist: Mortem Country: Russia Label: Coyote Records Formats: Cassette Tape / CD Year: 2022 Reviewing this treasure is a bit of a little party for myself. In the early years of my ‘metal career’, I was lucky enough to buy…
Artist: EucharistCountry: SwedenLabel: Regain RecordsFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2022 While some bands in the Swedish Death Metal scene seemed to be fighting for the title of who was the hardest, heaviest, nastiest, most vicious… Eucharist was already…
Artist: WombbathCountry: SwedenLabel: Transcending Obscurity RecordsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2021 When Wombbath announced their return in 2014, a sense of enthusiasm was my first emotion. Then quickly followed by scepticism. How many of the ‘old masters’ who returned years or…
Artist: WombbathCountry: SwedenLabel: Transcending Obscurity RecordsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2020 In their persuit for the desired sound and place in the Old School (Swedish) Death Metal scene, Wombbath released ‘Tales Of Madness’ by the end of 2020 – actually their…
Artist: Repulsive Mass Country: Sweden Label: Brutal Cave Productions / Noise Horde Productions Formats: Demo Tape / Demo CD Year: 2021 Patrik Tegnander, the man behind this one-man Death Metal act we have featured on the pages of VM-Underground before…
Artist: UnanimatedCountry: SwedenLabel: Century MediaFormats: LP / CDYear: 2021 With their demos, `In the Forest of the Dreaming Dead’ and `Ancient God of Evil’, Unanimated became one of the pioneers of the Swedish melodic Death/Black Metal scene that arose in the…
Artist: EntrenchedCountry: PolandLabel: Self-ReleasedFormats: Demo CDYear: 2022 At the end of last year, our VM-Underground chief-editor Ricardo was very enthusiastic about the first demo of this Polish one-man Death Metal act. I know he loves that specific Boss HM-2 sound,…
Artist: Skinless BrideCountry: The NetherlandsLabel: Brutal Insanity RecordsFormats: Cassette EPYear: 2022 Skinless Bride sounds like a mix of Skinless and My Dying Bride… no, musically they don’t actually sound like that at all, but I guess that would be an…
Artist: Imperishable Country: Sweden Label: Self-Released Formats: Digital demo Year: 2021 Recently, I reviewed a compilation by a forgotten band from the Swedish Death Metal scene. In doing so, I argued that we still reap all the tasty fruits of…
Artist: VilespawnCountry: ChileLabel: Noxious RuinFormats: Demo tapeYear: 2022 This new two-piece Death Metal band from Chile released their first three track-demo last summer independently via their digital platforms. Now it also got a physical release through the American-based Noxious Ruin…
Artist: Bitter LossCountry: RussiaLabel: Self-ReleasedFormats: Digital EPYear: 2022 From St. Petersburg, Russia, comes this five-piece Death Metal band. Last year they spawned a first EP, ‘Oblivion in Ceremonial Void’, which they released on CD themselves and got a cassette tape…