Mystic Circle – Erzdämon

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…

Atomwinter – Sakrileg

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…

Azaxul – Echoes Of Dreariness

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…

Steingrab – Fluch Der Ruhelosigkeit

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…

Øde – Bleg Og Ensom

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…

Wilt – Into Nothingness

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…

Dungeon Keeper – Fortress Of Evil [Demo]

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…

Spectral Whisper – Enchantress of Black Curses

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…

Putridarium – Dissemination ’22 [Demo]

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.…

Mánþiel – Vestiges Engraved In Frozen Mysticism

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…

Pale Spektr – Bereft Of Xerotic Layers

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…

Beyond Helvete – Anthem Of Decay

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…

Jade – The Pacification Of Death

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…

Odal – Sturmes Brut [Re-Release]

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…

Fleshcrawl – Festering Flesh [Demo / Reissue]

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.…

Nigrum Tenebris – I Am The Serpent

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…

Purgatory – Apotheosis Of Anti-Light

Artist: Purgatory Country: Germany Label: War Anthem Records Formats: LP / Cassette Tape / CD Year: 2022 Nossen, Germany-based Death Metal band Purgatory celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, making it one of the country’s longest-running extreme metal bands. While…

Vampyric Tyrant – Zorn Und Hass [EP]

Artist: Vampyric TyrantCountry: GermanyLabel: Purity Through FireFormats: CD EPYear: 2022 Only a few months after the German Black Metal band’s debut album, released earlier in 2022, Vampyric Tyrant returns with a new EP, ‘Zorn Und Hass’. This new EP was…

Vampyric Tyrant – Schwarze Schwingen

Artist: Vampyric TyrantCountry: GermanyLabel: Into Endless Chaos Records / Mortal Rite Records / Purity Through FireFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2022 After the 2021 released ‘Das Schwert der Sterne’ EP, the German Black Metal band Vampyric Tyrant returns,…

Leper Colony – Leper Colony

Artist: Leper Colony Country: Germany / Sweden Label: Transcending Obscurity Records Formats: CD Year: 2023 While this is the band’s first release and Leper Colony is a new band on the Death Metal front, the musicians are far from rookies.…

Mystic Circle – Drachenblut [Re-Release]

Artist: Mystic Circle Country: Germany Label: Atomic Fire Formats: LP Year: 2023 Time is a wonderful thing, it tends to heal wounds and make one think more mildly of things that happened in the past. When we listen to today’s…

Laere – Coagula [EP]

Artist: LaereCountry: GermanyLabel: Self-releasedFormats: 7″ EPYear: 2022 Laere’s first EP ‘Solve’ was a great entry into the musical world of the German band, presenting a well-performed rendition of Icelandic Black Metal. I would have expected that the band would be…

Laere – Solve [EP]

Artist: LaereCountry: GermanyLabel: Self-releasedFormats: 7″ EPYear: 2020 The band name Laere represents a combination of the German word for empty, leer, and the Norwegian word Laere, which means to teach or learn. Empty learning: the unison of two meanings of…

Soul Grinder – Anthems From The Abyss

Artist: Soul Grinder Country: Germany Label: Kernkraftritter Records / MDD Records Formats: CD Year: 2022 While we were thrown an EP in the form of ‘Lifeless Obsession’, German Death Metal band Soul Grinder returns with a full-length album two years…

Chaos Invocation – Devil, Stone & Man

Artist: Chaos InvocationCountry: GermanyLabel: W.T.C. ProductionsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2022 My first introduction to the music of the German band Chaos Invocation was their 2017 split with fellow W.T.C. Productions label mates Thy Darkened Shade. I remember seeing the excellent…

Nocturnis – Unsegen

Artist: Nocturnis Country: Greece Label: Black Sunset Formats: CD Year: 2022 After an independently released EP in 2020, the young German band Nocturnis returns with a full-length album released through Black Sunset, a division of the German MDD Records label.…

Protector – Excessive Outburst Of Depravity

Artist: Protector Country: Germany Label: High Roller Records Formats: LP / Cassette Tape / CD Year: 2022 The history of Protector is a rather messy one, with lots of band members getting in and out of the band and also…

Blood / Incantation – Split 7″ EP

Artist: Blood / IncantationCountry: Germany / USALabel: Hells Headbangers RecordsFormats: Split 7″ EPYear: 2022 This is the sort of split EP that you knew was coming, I can imagine the chuckle the label and bands had when working out the…

Agathodaimon – The Seven

Artist: AgathodaimonCountry: GermanyLabel: Napalm RecordsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2022 From the mid 90’s to the first few years of the new millennium, the German Melodic (or Symphonic, if you prefer) Black Metal band released some decent albums, of which especially…

Geistlicht – Fading Light

Artist: GeistlichtCountry: GermanyLabel: Self-releasedFormats: DigitalYear: 2022 In September of 2022, Geistlicht’s debut release ‘Hidden in the Mists’ pleasantly surprised me with beautiful artwork but most of all, a great album filled with atmospheric Black Metal. Possibly equally surprising, the band…

Disgusting Perversion – Remember Me

Artist: Disgusting PerversionCountry: GermanyLabel: Black SunsetFormats: CDYear: 2022 Judging by the album title you’d almost expect an album in some mid 90’s Doom or Gothic Metal style, but you couldn’t be more wrong. Disgusting Perversion brings you unadulterated Old School…

Slaughterday – Tyrants Of Doom

Artist: Slaughterday Country: Germany Label: Defying Danger Records / F.D.A. Records Formats: LP / Cassette Tape / CD Year: 2022 In the wake of the Old School Death Metal revival that happened around 2010, many a new Death Metal band…

Anael – Mare

Artist: AnaelCountry: GermanyLabel: Darkness Shall Rise Productions / Into Endless Chaos RecordsFormats: LP / Cassette tapeYear: 2021 Anael has always been a massively overlooked band in the German Black Metal scene. Not only were they able to bring something else…

Wargeist – Altar Of Genocide

Artist: WargeistCountry: GermanyLabel: Self-releasedFormats: Digital EPYear: 2022 Not much is known about this new band called Wargeist, except the fact that they are from Germany and recently digitally released their first EP, ‘Altar Of Genocide’. So, instead of digging into…

Blood – Dysangelium [Reissue]

Artist: BloodCountry: GermanyLabel: VIC RecordsFormats: CDYear: 2022 When talking about Blood, you are talking about German cult metal. I remember collecting all of their 7” EP during the late 90’s and early 00’s, digging through distros and mailing lists to…

Umbra Conscientia – Nigredine Mundi

Artist: Umbra ConscientiaCountry: Costa Rica / GermanyLabel: Cloven Hoof Brewing & Releasing / Terratur PossessionsFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2022 Somewhat out of the blue came this international combo of Umbra Conscientia, releasing their debut album by the…

Cryptic Brood – Caustic Fetid Vomit [EP]

Artist: Cryptic BroodCountry: GermanyLabel: Bitter Loss Records / Burning Coffin Records / Lycanthropic Chants / Necrolatry Records / Rotted Life RecordsFormats: 7″ EPYear: 2022 While Cryptic Brood by no means is the crème de la crème of todays Death Metal…

Triumphal Vengeance – Atavistic Darkness [EP]

Artist: Triumphal VengeanceCountry: Chile / GermanyLabel: Born For Burning Productions / Urtod VoidFormats: Cassette EPYear: 2022 This new one-man act, founded by an anonymous figure who goes under the name of Nebel, has its roots in Chile but now operates…

Trinitas – Total Heresy

Artist: TrinitasCountry: Germany / SwedenLabel: Ván RecordsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2022 When I first stumbled upon the band Trinitas in a playlist, I just played the track, enjoyed what I superficially heard and added it to my list of albums to…

Firtan – Marter

Artist: FirtanCountry: GermanyLabel: Act Of PropagandaFormats: LP / CDYear: 2022 Black Metal has always been a genre in flux and development. If you look at the First Wave Black Metal in which bands like Hellhammer, Bathory and Venom ruled the…

Rotpit – Rottenness [Single / Demo]

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…

Totholz – Weckruf Der Alten Zeit [Demo]

Artist: TotholzCountry: GermanyLabel: Self-releasedFormats: Demo tapeYear: 2021 Wow, this is quite a trip down memory lane. I am not sure whether the two in this German Black Metal band actually meant their title (which translates to ‘Wake-up call to old…