Tales From The Underground
Tales From The Underground
Despite both lads rightly claiming below that Hertogenwald is not a Belgian band per se, as two of the three band members are French, Hertogenwald is still considered part of the increasingly interesting and improving Belgian Black Metal scene. The…
Artist: Tales Of Blood Country: France Label: Great Dane Records Formats: CD Year: 2024 Although French Death Metal band Tales Of Blood, in one form or another has been around since the early 1990’s, the band was totally unknown to…
Artist: Venefixion Country: France Label: Iron Bonehead Productions / Obscurity Of Error Records / Spikekult Records Formats: 7″ EP / Cassette EP Year: 2025 Quite some time has passed since we heard from Venefixion, one of the best and most…
Artist: Genocide Kommando Country: France Label: Osmose Productions Formats: LP / Cassette Tapes / CD Year: 2024 The very short-lived first incarnation of Genocide Kommando (2002-2003) left us only one album, the Moribund Records released ‘Black Metal Supremacy’ from 2002.…
Artist: Ad Hominem Country: France Label: Osmose Productions Formats: LP / Cassette Tape / CD Year: 2025 Few bands stir up more controversy than France’s Ad Hominem. Even without having heard a note, there are already fans and haters of…
Artist: Amargura Country: France / Portugal Label: Altare Productions Formats: LP / Cassette Tape Year: 2025 Some four years ago this rather enigmatic entity called Amargura debuted with their Altare Productions-released ‘L’astre Mort’ demo tape and while for today’s standards…
Artist: Gorgon Country: France Label: Osmose Productions Formats: LP / Cassette Tape / CD Year: 2024 Despite this being the seventh album in total, with the appearance of ‘For Those Who Stay’, it is fair to speak of the “third…
Artist: Hell Militia Country: France Label: Darkness Shall Rise Productions Formats: LP / Cassette Tape / CD Year: 2025 In recent years basically every record has been reissued, at least once. But there is still a bunch of albums that…
Artist: Sanctvs / Sotherion Country: Canada / France Label: Sepulchral Productions Formats: Split CD Year: 2025 Not all too long after Sotherion’s debut full-length, released last year by W.T.C. Productions, the French one-man band seemed to have started working on new material…
Artist: Mercyless Country: France Label: Osmose Productions Formats: LP / Cassett Tape / CD Year: 2024 With the publication of ‘Those Who Reign Below’, Mercyless has now released exactly the same number of records after reuniting as they did when they…
Artist: Skelethal Country: France Label: Hells Headbangers Records Formats: LP / Cassette Tape / CD Year: 2024 Probably recognisable to most readers: there are those bands that keep falling off your radar time and again unintentionally and for no apparent…
Artist: Cachot d’Effroi / Wolftower Country: France / Finland Label: Narbentage Produktionen Formats: Split Cassette Tape Year: 2024 On this Narbentage Produktionen released split tape two of the most interesting bands out of today’s European Black Metal scene team up…
Artist: ACODCountry: FranceLabel: Hammerheart RecordsFormats: LP / CD Year: 2024 A mix of Swedish melodic Death Metal with atmospheric Black Metal into something that could be described as a much heavier and more Black Metal version of more modern Dark Tranquillity, that’s how…
Artist: Profanation Country: France Label: Iron Bonehead Productions Formats: 12″ EP / CD EP Year: 2024 Profanation is a band that sprung from the minds of a number of French musicians who had previously earned their stripes in bands such…
Artist: Sotherion Country: France Label: W.T.C. Productions Formats: LP / CD Year: 2024 With the 2022 released two-track ‘Schwarmgeist’-demo we already had a bit of a sneak peak into what we could expect from Sotherion, a Paris, France based one-man band founded by BST.…
Artist: Depressive Witches Country: France Label: Self-Released Formats: CD Year: 2024 On the band’s first two albums, ‘Bad Flask’ (2021) and ‘Distant Kingdoms’ (2022) the two French brothers of Depressive Witches already tried to prepare humanity for something seriously different.…
Artist: Mütiilation Country: France Label: Osmose Productions Formats: LP / CD Year: 2024 With the trumpeting words “This entity, buried but not dead, whose return you hoped for but no longer expected…” the great return of Mütiilation was made announced.…
One of the longest-running and most consistent French Black Metal bands is undoubtedly Merrimack. The band’s founding dates back as far as 1994, so guitarist Perversifier has seen all the trends and hypes come and go but has always stayed…
Artist: Nights Horn Country: France Label: Self-Released Formats: Digital Year: 2024 Nights Horn is the brainchild of Thomas Lhairaud, a French multi-instrumentalist and ‘Divina Obscura’ is the work that follows up on the ‘Blood Soul’-demo tape that was released last…
Artist: Midoran Country: French Label: Self-Released Formats: Digital Demo Year: 2024 Midoran is the brainchild of Athäl’Zäckar, a French multi-instrumentalist who likes to keep a steep and steady working pace; having started in 2022 he already spawned no less than…
Artist: Merrimack Country: France Label: Season Of Mist Underground Activists Formats: LP / CD Year: 2024 Personally I am always fascinated by the difference in appreciation certain bands receive. Sometimes it feels like even the deepest analyses are not able…
Artist: Necrowretch Country: France Label: Season Of Mist Underground Activists Formats: LP / Cassette Tape / CD Year: 2024 Necrowretch has been amongst my favourite bands from the Old School Death Metal resurgence from around 2010. Yet, being completely different…
The reason for this Q&A was the release of Reflet Crépusculaire’s first full-length album that saw the darkness of night last month. Previously, the one-man band released several EPs, all of which intrigued me to such an extent that I…
Artist: Reflet Crépusculaire Country: France Label: Self-Released Formats: Digital Year: 2024 Out of the deepest and darkest corners of the French underground Black Metal scene comes Reflet Crépusculaire, one of the acts that has been intriguing me ever since I first…
Artist: Deathcode Society Country: France Label: Osmose Productions Formats: LP / CD Year: 2023 While the French Black Metal scene will be mostly remembered for its crude and harsh sound that was brought to our ears by the likes of…
Artist: Grïixis Country: France Label: Self-Released Formats: Digital Demo Year: 2023 Without the need of having to give any specific examples, some countries are special when it comes to their local (extreme) metal scenes. The beauty of Black Metal is…
Artist: AldaaronCountry: FranceLabel: Paragon RecordsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2023 With a striking cover on their latest album ‘Majestic Heights, Melancholic Depths’ the French band Aldaaron surely managed to pique my interest. And to those that see resemblance to the Limbonic…
Artist: Beyond The PermafrostCountry: FranceLabel: Naturmacht ProductionsFormats: Cassette tape / CDYear: 2023 Somewhat earlier this year I was pleasantly surprised by the French band ACOD with their musical presentation of what I ultimately described as a much heavier and more Black…
Just over a year ago, French Hats Barn released their debut album for Osmose Productions and sixth album in total: ‘Y.a.HW.e.H’. In my review, I described it as an uncompromising mix between Finnish, Polish and, quite naturally, French Black Metal.…
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: LureCountry: FranceLabel: Amor Fati ProductionsFormats: LPYear: 2023 In some artists, creativity flows in many shapes and forms. The name of Pierre Perichaud may ring a few bells, but it’s especially the pseudonym Business for Satan (or B.F.S.) that probably…
Contrary to the usually otherwise quite chauvinistic proud nature of the French people, the French Black Metal scene has remained quite modest when it comes to their influence on the overall genre. OK, that about the chauvinism might be a…
Artist: NoirceurCountry: FranceLabel: Self-ReleasedFormats: Digital demoYear: 2023 Anyone with any interest in the underground Black Metal of the 1990’s must undoubtedly have stumbled across one of the bands from the illustrious Les Legions Noires at least once. This collective comprised…
Artist: CatacombCountry: FranceLabel: Xtreem MusicFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2023 When the French cult band Catacomb announced their return, I couldn’t help but being both enthusiastic and sceptic at the same time. Of course, it is great to have a band…
Artist: AzgarathCountry: FranceLabel: ChaoscibelFormats: CD EPYear: 2023 Azgarath’s first EP and debut album were released by France d’Oil Productions, a label run by Dunkel, an active figure in the French Black Metal underground, known among others for Sale Freux, Drakonhail…
Artist: Reflet Crépusculaire Country: France Label: Canti Eretici Formats: Cassette Tape Year: 2023 The name says it all, of course, but on ‘The Tormented Wanderer Trilogy’, the three separate chapters from the trilogy of ‘The Tormented Wanderer’ are brought together…
Artist: Sotherion Country: France Label: W.T.C. Productions Formats: Demo tape Year: 2022 Though W.T.C. Productions does release cassette tapes every now and then, I can’t really remember when they last released a ‘real’ demo tape, if they ever did. With the two-track…
Artist: VéhémenceCountry: FranceLabel: Antiq RecordsFormats: Cassette tape / CDYear: 2022 Blending metal with folky and medieval elements are almost as old as the metal genre itself, from the very giants of the Heavy Metal genre, including Black Sabbath and Iron…
Artist: ACODCountry: FranceLabel: Les Acteurs de l’Ombre ProductionsFormats: CD EPYear: 2023 I was initially drawn to the band ACOD when they were featured on the Black Metal Promotion YouTube channel with their newest EP ‘Cryptic Curse’. To be honest, I…
Artist: ACODCountry: FranceLabel: Les Acteurs de l’Ombre ProductionsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2022 The French band ACOD was formed in 2006, but as years progressed the line-up of the band was reduced to just the duo of original members Fred on…
Artist: NécropoleCountry: FranceLabel: Northern Heritage RecordsFormats: CDYear: 2022 Nécropole’s star rose to fame with the rather sensational demos ‘Atavisme’ and ‘Ostara’. Both were examples of a rejuvenated style of French Black Metal that hints back at the infamous past of…
Artist: HouleCountry: FranceLabel: Les Acteurs de l’Ombre ProductionsFormats: 12″ EP / CD EPYear: 2022 From Paris, France hails the five-piece Black Metal band Houle. Formed in 2021, the band soon found their debut EP ‘Houle’ released on the esteemed label…
Artist: Blut Aus NordCountry: FranceLabel: Debemur Morti ProductionsFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2022 One of the longest running French Black Metal bands definitely is Blut Aus Nord. Having its roots way back in 1993, then initially formed as Vlad and released two really…
Artist: Hell Militia Country: France Label: Season Of Mist Underground Activists Formats: LP / CD Year: 2022 No less than ten years have passed since Hell Militia’s last album, the rather underappreciated and often misunderstood ‘Jacob’s Ladder’ from 2012. As…
Artist: CatacombCountry: FranceLabel: XenoKorpFormats: 12″ EP / Cassette tape EP / CD EPYear: 2022 One of my favourite early 90’s 7” EP’s is ‘In The Maze Of Kadath’ of the French Death Metal band Catacomb. Their doom-laden, almost hallucinating kind of Death Metal…
Artist: Depressive WitchesCountry: FranceLabel: WormHoleDeathFormats: CDYear: 2022 After the release of the band’s debut album ‘Bad Flask’ and after getting somewhat used to the band not taking themselves very seriously, we should be ready for Depressive Witches’ second album. Again…
Artist: Depressive WitchesCountry: FranceLabel: Self-ReleasedFormats: CDYear: 2021 Anyone here who has been around a bit longer and knows the Black Metal scene of the 90’s will remember the video clips of the likes of Immortal and Hecate Enthroned. Where the…
Artist: Sépulcre Country: France Label: Invictus Productions Formats: CD EP Year: 2022 Not long after having their name changed from Demonic Oath to Sépulcre, this four-piece came out with their first demo, ‘Ascent Through Morbid Transcendence’, which grabbed the attention…
Artist: Meyhnach Country: France Label: Osmose Productions Formats: LP Year: 2022 One of the most appealing and leading figures of the French Black Metal scene is undoubtedly Meyhnach (although I think his mother prefers to call him William). With his…
Artist: Nocturnal Depression Country: France Label: Ars Macabra Audio Formats: CD EP Year: 2022 When I first encountered Nocturnal Depression, a Depressive Black Metal band from France, I was not quite impressed. I have always thought that the term of…