Tales From The Underground
Tales From The Underground
Artist: Pandemia Country: Czechia Label: Hammerheart Records Formats: LP / CD Year: 2025 During the late 90’s and first years of the 00’s eastern Europe had a rather vibrant Death Metal scene, a scene that went very well with the region’s ever-thriving Grindcore tradition. It…
Artist: Hesperia Country: Italy Label: Hammerheart Records Formats: LP / CD Year: 2025 Hesperia’s history goes back all the way to the mid 90’s, when this one-man band arose out of the ashes of an underground Black Metal act from the middle…
Over 20 years ago I spoke with Acheron’s Vincent Crowley for Vampire-Magazine. Back then it was mainly in connection with the then just released ‘Tribute To The Devil’s Music’-album consisting solely of covers of bands like Kiss, Iron Maiden, Mercyful…
Much like the artwork of ‘Heavenly Down’ suggests, the new album by Sear Bliss is a grand return to its majestic sound of old. Yet, just like the band never was easy to catch under a single moniker, they are…
Artist: Sear Bliss Country: Hungary Label: Hammerheart Records Formats: LP / CD Year: 2024 In the more melodic and atmospheric Black Metal constellation from roughly half of the 90’s to the mid 00’s, Sear Bliss played a significant role. Maybe…
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: Sarcasm Country: Sweden Label: Hammerheart Records Formats: LP / CD Year: 2024 While the musical transition from a more or less standard Swedish Death Metal in the band’s embryonical stages to the more Black Metal-infused sound after Sarcasm’s 2015…
After having missed the fact that the band released a 2-track EP in 2017, I was surprised to see Deviser returning with a new full-length album. Yet, it was not so much the sudden return of the band that really…
Artist: Vincent Crowley Country: USA Label: Hammerheart Records Formats: LP / CD Year: 2024 It feels rather pointless to write an introduction on the works of Vincent Crowley. Not only has the man a much discussed and rather notorious history…
Artist: Dead Head Country: The Netherlands Label: Hammerheart Records Formats: 12″ EP / CD EP Year: 2024 If Dead Head has proven anything over their extensive career it definitely is that keeping your musical course straight can be very much…
Artist: Master Country: USA Label: Hammerheart Records Formats: LP / Cassette Tape / CD Year: 2024 It has been more than 20 two decades since I have reviewed my first Master release, at the time I started with ‘Unreleased 1985…
Artist: Sadism Country: Chile Label: Hammerheart Records Formats: LP / CD Year: 2023 Being formed all the way back in 1988, Sadism definitely is one of the oldest and still running Death Metal bands from Latin America and with that…
When you are caught off guard by a new album from a band that has more or less fallen off the radar since 2006, it is not only enough for a set of puzzled eyes, but more importantly for sparking…
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…
One of the longest running Dutch Black Metal bands is Sammath, who, in the form of ‘Grebbeberg’, recently unleashed their seventh onslaught upon mankind. The album, which in my humble opinion is their strongest to date, again has the war…
Artist: Salacious Gods Country: The Netherlands Label: Hammerheart Records Formats: Vinyl / CD Year: 2023 It is remarkable to realise that the time that was between the first and last time I heard from Salacious Gods is many times shorter…
Artist: Sammath Country: The Netherlands Label: Hammerheart Records Formats: LP / CD Year: 2023 The award for most persistent Dutch Black Metal band goes to Sammath without question; ever since their formation in 1994, the band has stuck (for the…
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: Nattehimmel Country: Norway Label: Hammerheart Records Formats: LP / CD Year: 2023 From the ever-fertile and imaginative soil of Norway, many bands emerged at the beginning of the 1990s that gave colour and new impetus to the Black Metal…
One of Sweden’s longest running Black Metal bands suddenly reappeared (again) in 2020 and last year we could finally and definitely welcome Lord Belial back with a new album. On ‘Rapture’, the band’s ninth album and the first for the…
When one of the longest-running Dutch extreme metal bands releases a new album, as a true Dutchman you naturally have to subject it to a thorough examination. Dead Head’s seventh album saw the light of day already a year ago…
Artist: Defy The CurseCountry: The NetherlandsLabel: Hammerheart RecordsFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2023 This Dutch band, Defy The Curse, is a new collective formed by a couple of scene veterans. With ‘Horrors Of Human Sacrifice’, released on all…
Artist: DeviserCountry: GreeceLabel: Hammerheart RecordsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2023 Many of my reviews have started with the remark that there is more to the Greek Black Metal scene than your standard Rotting Christ, Varathron and SepticFlesh. Which, by no means…
Artist: Roots Of The Old Oak Country: United Kingdom Label: Hammerheart Records Formats: Demo Tape Year: 2022 Roots Of The Old Oak is a Doom/Death Metal trio from the UK, that released their first four-track demo tape last summer through…
Artist: Sarcasm Country: Sweden Label: Hammerheart Records Formats: LP / CD Year: 2022 Uppsala, Sweden based Sarcasm is a band with a story. When they started out in 1990 they were basically a rather standard Death Metal band, which, like…
Artist: Aurora BorealisCountry: USALabel: Hammerheart RecordsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2022 Some bands just tend to never get going. I am sure everyone reading this have some of those in their collections. Bands that, despite their musical efforts being decent enough to at least attract…
Artist: Phlebotomized Country: The Netherlands Label: Hammerheart Records Formats: LP / Cassette Tape Year: 2022 One of the most original bands that helped shape the ‘famous’ Dutch Death/Doom Metal scene was certainly Phlebotomized. With their 1992 ‘Devoted To God’-demo tape…
Artist: Phlebotomized Country: The Netherlands Label: Hammerheart Records / Petrichor Formats: 12″ EP / Cassette EP Year: 2021 Being one of the bands that helped shape the Dutch underground metal scene, many eyes were on Phlebotomized after it was announced…
Artist: ConsumptionCountry: SwedenLabel: Hammerheart RecordsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2022 Consumption is a band that was formed two years ago by Håkan Stuvemark of Wombbath fame and two fellow musicians with experience in a wide range of different bands. They didn’t…
Artist: ApostasyCountry: ChileLabel: Hammerheart Records / Sentient Ruin LaboratoriesFormats: LP, CDYear: 2022 First appeared in 2021 on both cassette tape and CD formats (by Cabalist Records and Fallen Temple respectively), this third album by Chilean cult thrashers got another run of releases in 2022 by…
Artist: Dead HeadCountry: The NetherlandsLabel: Hammerheart RecordsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2022 Considering this album was released by the end of April this year, I am a little late to the party with this review. Dead Head has never really changed…
Artist: Nattehimmel Country: Norway Label: Hammerheart Records Formats: Demo tape Year: 2022 Although Nattehimmel is a new band, none of its members are newbees, so to speak. Both Botteri brothers are involved, both were co-founders of In The Woods… and…
Artist: Lord BelialCountry: SwedenLabel: Hammerheart RecordsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2022 A somewhat unexpected return. After no less than fourteen years Swedish Lord Belial is back with a new album. With this year marking their 30th anniversary (though quiting and reforming…
Artist: TherionCountry: SwedenLabel: Hammerheart RecordsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2022 The second part of Hammerheart Records’ Therion reissues, after the great ‘Time Shall Tell’ 12” EP, is the bands’ second album ‘Beyond Sanctorum’. Indeed, skipping their great debut LP ‘Of Darkness…’…
Artist: TherionCountry: SwedenLabel: Hammerheart RecordsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2022 The musical voyage of Therion, that led them from a pure, but atypical Death Metal band to a multi-layered and creative musical chameleon has been spread over four albums, with each…
Artist: TherionCountry: SwedenLabel: Hammerheart RecordsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2022 With the bands’ 1992 album, ‘Beyond Sanctorum’, Therion proved not quite to be a band to play Death Metal-by-numbers. On the contrary. They already pushed the boundaries of the genre and…
Artist: TherionCountry: SwedenLabel: Hammerheart RecordsFormats: 12″ EPYear: 2022 Introducing a band like Therion seems a little pointless as they are among the most successful bands on the Nuclear Blast roster – for a quarter of a century now. Much of…
Artist: DismemberCountry: SwedenLabel: Karmageddon Media / Vinyl CollectorsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2004 Finally, after five years a new Dismember album. It was like waiting for the apocalypse, it never seem to come. But now it finally surfaced, and while listening…