Tales From The Underground
Tales From The Underground
Despite The Netherlands having once been big in Death Metal with bands like Gorefest, Sinister and Pestilence, the Dutch Death Metal scene has been somewhat thin on the ground in recent years. However, every now and then some new bands…
Artist: Goatkraft Country: Norway Label: Iron Bonehead Productions Formats: LP / CD Year: 2023 Norway, the land of the beautiful landscapes and equally stunning metal. Norway will forever be remembered as the country that has brought us the well-thought out…
Artist: SvartkonstCountry: SwedenLabel: Trust No One RecordingsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2023 Somehow I’ve never come across the work of Rickard Törnqvist’s solo brainchild Svartkonst before, despite the band being active for a little over a decade. But when I came…
Artist: Cult Ov Black Blood Country: Poland Label: Rex Diaboli Formats: Cassette tape / CD Year: 2023 Although this band was already founded back in 2015 and released three demos (all compiled on the Total War-released ‘Abhorrence Ov God’ CD)…
Artist: Dripping Decay Country: USA Label: Satanik Royalty Records / Old Shadows Records Formats: LP / Cassette / CD Year: 2023 Those who are lurking deep enough in the Death Metal scene might already picked up the name of this…
Artist: Sulphur AeonCountry: GermanyLabel: Ván RecordsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2023 The story you are about to read did not come easily. And that starts with memories of Sulphur Aeon. Their debut ‘Swallowed by the Ocean’s Tide’ wasn’t necessarily the first…
Artist: Cemetery Urn Country: Australia Label: Hells Headbangers Records Formats: LP / Cassette tape / CD Year: 2023 It has always been somewhat of a mystery to me why a band like Cemetery Urn has never received any more attention…
Artist: Gotthammer Country: Canada Label: Forbidden Sonority Formats: Demo Tape Year: 2023 As of late it seems that there is an increasing amount of bands that do seem to worship the sound of the old Black/Death/Grind-sound that was originally brought…
Artist: Luciferian Annihilation Cult Country: Germany Label: Self-Released Formats: Digital Demo Year: 2023 Black and white cover? Check. Red logo? Check. Satanic imagery? Check. Barbarian sounding band name and release title? Check! Even without listening to a single chord of…
Artist: Liturgy Of Desecration Country: Greece Label: Fallen Temple Formats: Cassette EP Year: 2023 The duo that make up Liturgy Of Desecration are finally back with a new EP, after being silent for a while since the release of 2020’s…
Artist: Deathwinds Country: Canada Label: Self-Released Formats: Digital EP Year: 2023 No less than nine years after the band’s last release, Deathwinds returns with a new EP, ‘Ripping Annihilation’. And yes, they have chosen this title very appropriately, this Canadian…
Artist: Miserable Creature Country: Australia Label: Transylvanian Recordings Formats: Demo Tape Year: 2023 Miserable Creature, a duo from Melbourne, Australia is presenting their third mutual effort under the rather uninspired title ‘3’. Just like with the previous two demos, released…
Artist: IncantationCountry: USALabel: Relapse RecordsFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2023 When a new Incantation album drops you just know you’re in for a treat. The musical formula of the band hasn’t drastically changed over the past decades, and why…
Recently I came across the first EP, released on cassette tape, of Italian Death Metal band Necrogore and although it was only the band’s debut I was pretty convinced. While there are so many bands that follow the path of…
Artist: Disguised Malignance Country: Finland Label: Prosthetic Records / Rotted Life Records Formats: LP / Cassette tape / CD Year: 2023 Not too long ago I reviewed these Finn’s second demo, released earlier this year. ‘Unearthly Death’ was a demo…
Artist: Guts Country: Finland Label: Morbid Chapel Records / Rotten Tomb Records / Vargheist Records Formats: CD Year: 2023 Lately, I have been mostly impressed by Death Metal bands from the more technical or avant-garde range, not because that is…
Artist: Tenebro Country: Italy Label: Seven Metal Inches Records Formats: 7″ EP Year: 2023 To celebrate the band’s first ever live appearance on this year’s edition of the NRW Deathfest in Germany, Tenebro joined forces (again) with Seven Metal Inches…
Artist: Necrogore Country: Italy Label: Wrong Disk Records Formats: Cassette EP Year: 2023 Necrogore from Italy is a new band on the block of its country’s Death Metal scene, but while the band might be a new acquisition to the…
Artist: CryptopsyCountry: CanadaLabel: Nuclear BlastFormats: LP / CDYear: 2023 I first heard Cryptopsy in the early 2000s, when it was arguably the peak of brutal Death Metal with a high degree of technicality, at least in terms of number of…
Artist: Tomb Mold Country: Canada Label: 20 Buck Spin Formats: LP / Cassette tape / CD Year: 2023 Although Tomb Mold might not have been the most typical down-tuned Death Metal band from the pack, the band’s rather stationary start…
Artist: Infernal Curse Country: Argentina Label: Iron Bonehead Productions Formats: LP Year: 2023 It has been about ten years ago since Infernal Curse first crossed my path, back then it was the also Iron Bonehead Productions released ‘The End Upon…
Artist: Asphodelus Country: Finland Label: Hammerheart Records Formats: LP / CD Year: 2023 It were those enchanting mid-90s when so many bands left their extremes to broaden their horizons, push musical boundaries and, to put it simply, shun the beaten…
Artist: UndergangCountry: DenmarkLabel: Dark Descent Records / Extremely Rotten Productions / Me Saco Un Ojo RecordsFormats: 12″ EP / Cassette EP / CD EPYear: 2023 Upon death, the human body undergoes a process called Pallor Mortis where it becomes pale,…
It was towards the end of last year, on December 6 to be precise, that I asked my former colleague and friend, VM-Underground commander-in-chief Ricardo, if he was interested in Death and Pestilence’s later records besides the usual ‘Scream Bloody…
Artist: Death Worship Country: Canada Label: Nuclear War Now! Productions Formats: 12″ EP / CD Year: 2023 Not including a demo and a promotional tape, this is EP number three from Canada’s Death Worship (which seems to be headquartered in…
Artist: Sulphuric DeathCountry: ChileLabel: Apocalyptic Productions / Burning Coffin RecordsFormats: Cassette EP / CD EPYear: 2023 When the old school Death Metal corpse started crawling back from the underground grave in the late 2000’s, bands like Dead Congregation and Grave…
Artist: Vomit Messiah Country: Spain Label: In Pulverem Mortis Productions Formats: Demo Tape Year: 2023 Just as the band needed remarkably few words to title this debut demo, it can sometimes be as easy to write a review. This brand-new…
Artist: WitchfukkerCountry: The NetherlandsLabel: Destruktion RecordsFormats: Demo TapeYear: 2022 With a band name like Witchfukker, nothing less than extremely non-subtle music will do. And the Dutch duo do not disappoint. Reeking of a primitive scent of Extreme Metal that walks…
Artist: Protrusion Country: USA Label: Unholy Domain Records / Sevared Records / A Sangre Fría Records Formats: Demo Tape / Demo CD Year: 2023 Although Protrusion is a new band at the front, three of its four members have a…
Artist: Tempest Country: Mexico Label: Self-Released Formats: Digital EP Year: 2023 Under the moniker Tempest, this trio, admittedly with modest experience in extreme metal, puts out a thoroughly enjoyable first EP. ‘Unending Torment’, a self-released 4-tracker with a total length…
Artist: Triclavian Country: Canada Label: Serpents Head Reprisal Formats: Cassette EP Year: 2023 While this trio from Canada may be a somewhat arcane entity, with all three members appearing only by their initials, the fact that this demo (or EP,…
One of the most interesting Death Metal albums of recent years was Occulsed’s debut album, released in 2021 by Everlasting Spew Records. It may be a new band, but with only a few demos on their record before the release…
Last year, Italy’s Thulsa Doom released their debut album, ‘A Fate Worse Than Death’ via Invictus Productions. The album is a breath of fresh air in a musical landscape in which Death Metal is becoming more and more similar, in…
Somewhere in the late 90’s I got some 7” EPs from a much older friend who liked this young kid that was me, devouring just everything that sounded remotely heavy. Amongst those 7” EPs was one of Malediction, ‘Mould Of…
If you are looking for complete objective reporting, in this case, you better look elsewhere. For me, music in general and metal in particular is not only an art form that is the vital lifeline in my existence, it is…
Over the last few years, Canada’s Grave Infestation have established themselves as a more than interesting band in the current Death Metal landscape. Last year the debut album saw the light of day as well as a compilation album featuring…
Artist: Avulsed Country: Spain Label: Xtreem Music Formats: 10″ EP / CD EP Year: 2023 One of Spain’s longest running bands is back with this new two-track EP, which is actually the first new material since the 2017 released split…
Artist: Undergang / Spectral VoiceCountry: Denmark / USALabel: Extremely Rotten ProductionsFormats: Split LPYear: 2023 A revival of old school Death Metal had been festering in the underground for some years resulting in some essential new wave classics such as ‘Breed…
Artist: Gravavgrav / Bastard Grave Country: Japan / Sweden Label: Behind The Mountain Formats: Split 7″ EP Year: 2023 As a fan of the split 7″ EP format for its (often) musical variety and the 7″ EP in general, it…
Artist: Casket Fesh Country: USA Label: Self-Released Formats: Digital Demo Year: 2023 Whether there will ever be a shortage of gory and zombie-inspired Death Metal is of course only questionable, but if it is up to Casket Flesh that moment…
Artist: Stenched Country: Mexico Label: Self-Released Formats: Digital Demo Year: 2023 There was a time when all muddy Death Metal would be gobbled up like sweet pie by me, around the transition from the 00’s to the 10’s, all over…
From Europe’s Death Metal capital, Copenhagen, there continues to be a never-ending stream of bands that keeps impressing time and again. Okay, most bands do seem to support the same club of musicians all the time, but that should not…
Artist: Dismorfia Country: Peru Label: Gurgling Gore Formats: Cassette EP Year: 2023 Barbarity from Peru, that’s not exactly new of course. It may not be the purveyor of extreme metal from South American countries, but the country has certainly made…
Artist: Nights Horn Country: France Label: Self-Released Formats: Demo tape Year: 2023 Of course, it is nonsensical to write an essay on Dissection’s far-reaching influence on today’s extreme metal scene. Almost weekly, we are treated to bands that (sometimes more…
Artist: Ritual Hammer Country: USA Label: Self-Released Formats: Digital Demo Year: 2023 There is little background information to give you any guidance before you turn on ‘Demo 2023’ by Ritual Hammer. But this demo, so far only available as a…
Artist: Weregoat Country: USA Label: Iron Bonehead Productions Formats: 7″ EP Year: 2023 Ahh, Weregoat. The ever-cheerful trio that has been ostentatiously hitting the road since the late 00s is making themselves heard again. Although their previous (and only) full-length…
Artist: Miscreance Country: Italy Label: Season Of Mist Formats: LP / CD Year: 2023 Although I came across the debut of this Italian Miscreance last summer, I did not get around to giving it a few words at the time.…
Artist: Worm Altar Country: USA Label: Gurgling Gore Formats: Cassette EP Year: 2023 Last year, one-man formation Worm Altar already delivered a very attractive piece of Doom/Death Metal with a self-titled demo. Although that particular genre has been troubled by…
Artist: Imperishable Country: Sweden Label: Hammerheart Records Formats: LP / CD Year: 2023 When I stumbled upon Imperishable’s ‘Deathspawn’ demo I was really very much intrigued by the fact that it had been able to get under my radar for…
Artist: Cattle Decapitation Country: Terrasite Label: Metal Blade Records Formats: LP / CD Year: 2023 Apart from maybe the very first outings (of which some were reissues on 2018’s ‘Medium Rarities’ compilation), Cattle Decapitation were never much of your regular…