Tales From The Underground
Tales From The Underground
Artist: Misanthropic War Country: Germany Label: Godz Ov War Productions Formats: CD Year: 2023 Rarely do you come across a cover that so tellingly mirrors the musical content of an album as this one on German Misanthropic War’s ‘Utter Human Annihilation’. A…
Artist: Heimdalls Wacht Country: Germany Label: Trollzorn Records Formats: LP / CD Year: 2023 Although we were treated with an excellent split LP with Ancestors Blood earlier this year, ‘Mystagogie – Lieder Voll Ewigkeit’ marks the return of Heimdalls Wacht…
Artist: Lagnia Country: Germany Label: Self-Released Formats: Digital Demo Year: 2023 With little to no information about this new German Black Metal band, I took a deep dive into their first recording. Just like the band name the title of…
Artist: Carnal Tomb Country: Germany Label: Testimony Records Formats: LP / Cassette / CD Year: 2023 Despite having seen some Carnal Tomb art-covers passing by before and the band having been on the road since 2014, it took until the…
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: Verhinderer Country: Germany Label: Kvlt Und Kaos Productions Formats: Cassette tape Year: 2023 Hot on the heels of the Black Metal band’s debut album, ‘Der Kettenritter’ from August of this year, the one-man project hat is Verhinderer returns with…
Artist: Verhinderer Country: Germany Label: Kvlt Und Kaos Productions Formats: Cassette tape / CD Year: 2023 After three smaller releases, two demo’s and an EP, this German one-man act returns with its first full-length album. Considering these are all done…
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: HagatizCountry: GermanyLabel: Amor Fati ProductionsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2023 Hagatiz is a new name to the Black Metal block and ‘Cursed to the Night’ is their very first record. But this fresh entry to the scene can appear deceptive,…
Artist: Baxaxaxa Country: Germany Label: The Sinister Flame Formats: LP / Cassette tape / CD Year: 2023 German Black Metal has always been something that has had difficulties to get recognition from other parts of the world. Whether it were…
Artist: Mystic Circle Country: Germany Label: Fireflash Records Formats: LP Year: 2023 Alright, here it is. Already. In my review of the remastered reissue of ‘Drachenblut’ earlier this year I predicted that this album would see a remastered version of…
Artist: WaldgeflüsterCountry: GermanyLabel: AOP RecordsFormats: 12″ EP / CD EPYear: 2023 Autumn equinox is here, and to celebrate the beauty of the leaves turning shades of red, green and bronze, Germany’s Waldgeflüster offers us with their latest EP, ‘Unter Bronzenen…
Artist: EndstilleCountry: GermanyLabel: Ván RecordsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2023 You cannot deny a band that released several songs with the title ‘Monotonus’ some sense of self-reflection, and for that matter, consistency. Monotonous isn’t a bad quality anyway, and in case…
Artist: Ancestors Blood / Heimdalls Wacht Country: Finland / Germany Label: Heidens Hart Records Formats: Split LP / Split CD Year: 2023 On the verge of the end of winter and the beginning of spring this year, Heidens Hart Records…
A little over a decade since their previous album, Cruel Force comes back to bring the power back into the Metal. With their latest scorching album ‘Dawn of the Axe’ the band once again professes their adoration for the glory…
Artist: Cruel ForceCountry: GermanyLabel: Shadow Kingdom RecordsFormats: LP / Cassette / CDYear: 2023 If you hadn’t heard about Cruel Force before, chances are you missed out. Between 2010 and 2011 the band released two rather stellar albums with ‘The Rise…
Artist: Order Of Nosferat / Lunar Spells Country: Germany & Finland / Greece Label: Northern Silence Productions Formats: LP / CD Year: 2023 Because both bands on this Northern Silence presented split LP released full-length albums fairly recently, with Order…
Artist: Verhinderer Country: Germany Label: Self-Released Formats: Digital demo Year: 2023 With ‘Groschenroman’, we already have Verhinderer’s third demo/EP in our hands, and that in less than a few months, as the band was only started in 2023. This one-man…
Despite leaving behind only a very modest discography, the German band Old managed to leave a solid impression in the Black/Thrash Metal scene. So much so that the band’s only full-length album, 17 years on, is widely regarded as a…
Over the past decade, the Black Metal genre has, once again, renewed, deepened and broadened. This can be largely credited to a number of Icelandic and Norwegian bands (always those Norwegians!), whose recordings often have been released under the watchful…
Artist: ThulcandraCountry: GermanyLabel: Napalm RecordsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2023 Admittedly, I only got hooked on the Thulcandra phenomenon quite recently. In the past, I had heard some individual songs, but then ultimately chose not to delve further into it. Reason?…
Artist: UnhallowedCountry: GermanyLabel: Folter RecordsFormats: CDYear: 2023 One should never judge a book by its cover, but it’s hard not to think of Dissection when a band is named after one of their many iconic songs. Even putting this name…
Artist: VerhindererCountry: GermanyLabel: Self-ReleasedFormats: Digital demoYear: 2023 Very hot on the heels, only three weeks after the release of the band’s debut EP ‘Ruhepol’, Verhinderer already presents its second feat with this new digital demo. ‘Ruhepol’ appealed to me not…
Not all too long ago I stumbled upon a great demo tape that blended all of those tasty elements of both Hellhammer and Isengard. It was a no-brainer to imediately order this first Dungeon Keeper demo and while reviewing it…
Artist: MotherwoodCountry: Brazil, GermanyLabel: Low Noise ProductionsFormats: Cassette TapeYear: 2023 The origins of Motherwood lie in Brazil, where both of its band members, Yuri Camargo and Guilherme Malosso, originate from. Somewhere after their self-titled debut album saw its release in…
Artist: VerhindererCountry: GermanyLabel: Self-ReleasedFormats: Digital EPYear: 2023 Bettler, the sole member behind this new Black Metal project from Germany, is not only really honest about his musical achievements but very humble too. Maybe not quite self-effacing, but well, blessed are…
Artist: Mortem AgmenCountry: GermanyLabel: Self-ReleasedFormats: Digital demoYear: 2023 Although Mortem Agmen is a new band, the German trio behind this act is not exactly inexperienced. Over the past years, the three musicians have gained their experience in a wide range…
Artist: Order Of NosferatCountry: Finland / GermanyLabel: Purity Through FireFormats: LP, CDYear: 2022 The previous album by this international Black Metal band was a good and organic album in which the loneliness of existence as a vampire clearly shone through.…
Artist: Order Of NosferatCountry: Finland / GermanyLabel: Purity Through FireFormats: LP, CDYear: 2022 When a band chooses a name that leaves so little to the imagination, it can only do its best to fully and completely live up to the…
Artist: Denial Of DeathCountry: GermanyLabel: Self-ReleasedFormats: DigitalYear: 2023 The Brazilian born and in Germany residing Glauber “Haereticus” Ataide formed Denial Of Death in 2021 as a solo-project with the ‘Unholy Trinity’ as his first feat. And although it remains a…
Artist: Rotpit Country: Germany / Sweden Label: War Anthem Records Formats: LP / CD Year: 2023 After a demo tape and single-track promo, of which a review can be found elsewhere on our VM-Underground pages, the trio that is Rotpit…
Artist: Dark MillenniumCountry: GermanyLabel: Floga RecordsFormats: LPYear: 2023 In the later years of the first Death Metal peak, say, the early 90’s there were bands that were pushing the boundaries of the genre. Into different directions, really. Of course, there…
Artist: Mystic Circle Country: Germany Label: Fireflash Records Formats: LP / CD Year: 2023 Actually, only just recovered from the shock of Mystic Circle’s unexpected return and, subsequently, their first feat in sixteen years, the German duo is already back…
Artist: AtomwinterCountry: GermanyLabel: Trollzorn RecordsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2023 Ever since the band’s inception, the warmachine that is Atomwinter rolls on, now, in 2023, arriving at their fourth full-length album, ‘Sakrileg’. And just with every diesel-fuelled heavy piece of artillery, it starts slow but…
Artist: AzaxulCountry: GermanyLabel: Misanthrophia DiscosFormats: LP / CDYear: 2022 Despite both bands having also existed simultaneously and side-by-side for a brief moment, Azaxul only really came to life when Moonblood was carried to its grave in 1999. Only then Azaxul…
Artist: Steingrab Country: Germany Label: Astral Nightmare Productions Formats: CD Year: 2022 ‘Fluch Der Ruhelosigkeit’ is Steingrab’s sixth album (not counting, the live and compilation album, nor the first demo), making this one-man quite a prolific one. Though it was…
Artist: Øde Country: Germany Label: Self-Released Formats: Digital Year: 2023 This new band, which emerged from the German Black Metal scene in 2022, is formed by a pair who have already gained some experience in a number of other Black…
Artist: WiltCountry: GermanyLabel: Self-releasedFormats: LP / CDYear: 2023 Just like the band’s 2018’s debut album ‘Faces Of The Grave’, Wilt took things in their own hands. That means that this sophomore album, ‘Into Nothingness’, is again a self-released product, available…
Artist: Dungeon KeeperCountry: GermanyLabel: Kellerassel RecordsFormats: Demo tapeYear: 2023 I remember when I first got into extreme metal and starting jamming out the tunes of Hellhammer’s ‘Apocalyptic Raids’ somewhere at the end of the 90’s, my two younger brothers were playing video games. One of…
Artist: Spectral WhisperCountry: GermanyLabel: Astral Nightmare ProductionsFormats: CDYear: 2023 Spectral Whisper was a band from Germany that was formed in 2017 and featured at least one member in the shape of Frater Noxathra. In 2020 the band name was changed…
Artist: Putridarium Country: Germany Label: Headsplit Records Formats: Demo Tape Year: 2023 At the very edge of 2022 the German Death Metal band Putridarium unleashed their third demo tape through their partners in crime since their very inception, Headsplit Records.…
Artist: Mánþiel / Wampyric Rites Country: Chile / Germany / Ecuador Label: Inferna Profundus Records Formats: Split LP Year: 2023 With ‘Ensomhet (Shattered Memories From A Distant Past)’ the admired Lithuanian Black Metal label Inferna Profundus Productions present two of…
Artist: Mánþiel Country: Chile / Germany Label: Inferna Profundus Records Formats: LP Year: 2023 This new Mánþiel (or Mantiel, if you prefer an easier version of their band name) album is one that will only have a vinyl release, done…
Artist: Pale Spektr Country: Germany Label: Amor Fati Productions / Nuclear War Now! Productions Formats: LP / Cassette Tape Year: 2022 Pale Spektre is a new German Black/Death Metal band that seemingly came out of nowhere. Though the four musicians…
Artist: Beyond HelveteCountry: GermanyLabel: Immortal Frost ProductionsFormats: CDYear: 2022 The oddly named one-man Black Metal band Beyond Helvete is the brainchild of Sven ‘Natrgaard’ Krause and was already formed in 2007. Though being able to release two albums and some…
Artist: Jade Country: Germany / Spain Label: Pulverised Records Formats: LP / CD Year: 2022 The German/Spanish Melodic Death Metal band released a demo in 2018 but went silent afterwards, it wasn’t until the very end of 2022 that the…
Artist: BloodCountry: GermanyLabel: Diablos RecordsFormats: CDYear: 2022 With a discography as extensive as the one of Germany’s Death Metal/Grindcore veterans, it makes perfect sense to see a compilation album like this one surface. In fact, it surprised me quite a…
Artist: Odal Country: Germany Label: Eisenwald Formats: LP Year: 2022 At the tail end of 2022 the German quality label Eisenwald reissued Odal’s debut album ‘Sturmes Brut’ on vinyl. Originally released in 2002 through the Christhunt Productions label, it hasn’t…
Artist: Fleshcrawl Country: Germany Label: Xtreem Music Formats: 10″ EP / CD EP Year: 2021 Before the band would become known as Fleshcrawl, one of Germany’s best and longest-running Death Metal bands, they were known as Morgöth and subsequently Suffocation.…
Artist: Nigrum Tenebris Country: Germany Label: Sol Records Formats: CD Year: 2021 Nigrum Tenebris comes from the rich Black Metal underground scene of the city of Kassel, over the past two decades this German city has produced many a good…