Tales From The Underground
Tales From The Underground
From one thing comes another. A while back I interviewed Blackstream, and like things sometimes go, you continue the conversation and other bands come up. Orgiastic Pleasures, in this case. Like Blackstream, this band also appears to have been around…
Artist: Hellcrash Country: Italy Label: Dying Victims Productions Formats: LP / CD Year: 2025 With ‘Inferno Crematörio’ the Italian trio known as Hellcrash delivers its third full-length instalment, and, frankly, this is a logical continuation of what the band has…
Artist: Hydin Country: Italy Label: Self-Released Formats: Demo CD Year: 2025 Sometimes things don’t need to be perfect to strike a certain charm Or maybe it’s even that imperfect things tend to me more charming. In all sorts of music…
Artist: Woundead Country: Italy Label: Unpure Records Formats: Demo Tape Year: 2025 Just about five months after ‘Breeding Depravity’, the band’s second demo, Death Metal band Woundead already returns with a new demo tape. With three demos in less than a year, these…
Artist: Clactonian Country: Italy Label: Prehistoric Sounds Formats: Demo Tape Year: 2025 ‘Dea Madre’ was the short debut demo of this Italian Black/Death Metal band and displayed the steps of a decent, yet not completely convincing band. Their aim was…
Artist: Crepuscule Country: Italy Label: La Caverna Records Formats: CD Year: 2025 Among the set of demo tapes recently re-released by La Caverna Records is also this single demo from Crepuscule. This Italian band was formed by the duo Raff…
Artist: High Speed Death Country: Italy Label: La Caverna Records Formats: CD Year: 2025 The Bogotá, Colombia based label La Caverna Records decided to take a really deep dive into someone’s old tapes collection. At least, so it seems, as…
Artist: Urukhai Country: Italy Label: Narbentage Produktionen Formats: Cassette Tape Year: 2025 A certain amount of mysticism naturally contributes to how you view and experience a band, not infrequently that includes anonymity. Although that concept has become somewhat hackneyed by now, it…
Artist: Sadist Country: Italy Label: Agonia Records Formats: LP / Cassette Tape / CD Year: 2025 Originally debuting as one of the first bands on the cult but sometimes criticized Obscure Plasma Records label, that would later evolve into Avantgarde…
Artist: Fides InversaCountry: ItalyLabel: Self-releasedFormats: Cassette EPYear: 2024 It’s been rather quiet around Fides Inversa, but in late November 2024 the band made their return to the stages, performing at the Unholy Congregation festival in Belgium. To mark that resurfacing,…
Artist: Mörkvind & Tårfödd Country: Italy & Germany / Sweden Label: Self-Released Formats: Digital Year: 2025 Despite Tårfödd’s impressive output, having released three albums and two EP’s in 2024 alone, the band never crossed my path before. Mörkvind, on the…
Artist: Nubivagant / Häxenzijrkell Country: Italy / Germany Label: Amor Fati Productions Formats: Split 7″ EP Year: 2024 After having embarked on a tour together, this split 7” EP is meant to further strengthen the musical bond between both Nubivagant…
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…
Artist: Tenebro / Mortuary Ghoul Country: Italy / USA Label: Dismal Fate Records Formats: Split Cassette EP Year: 2024 This is one of those splits that you knew that was eventually going to happen. It is no surprise that Tenebro-chief…
Artist: Forgotten Tomb Country: Italy Label: Agonia Records Formats: LP / Cassette Tape / CD Year: 2024 Okay, let’s throw the cat among the pigeons. Forgotten Tomb is, hands down, the best Italian metal band. That indeed includes the respected…
Artist: Nubivagant Country: Italy Label: Amor Fati Productions Formats: LP / CD Year: 2024 With three records in exactly four years, you might wonder how much time goes into a 24-hour period for Gionata ‘Omega’ Potenti. Because besides Nubivagant, the…
Artist: Ignobleth Country: Italy Label: Masked Dead Records Formats: Demo Tape Year: 2024 Despite these three blokes from the Northern region of Italy being said to be in their mid-teens, they know their craft damn well. Being formed somewhere in…
Artist: Sadomortuary / In League With Satan Country: Italy Label: Non Resurgam Records Formats: Split Tape Year: 2024 This split cassette tape is quick to follow up on Sadomortuary’s first full-length album that was released only two months prior. This…
Artist: Sadomortuary Country: Italy Label: Unpure Records Formats: CD Year: 2024 After a couple of demos (also available on a US-released compilation CD) and a split with Nameless Tomb, ‘Inflicting Litanies Of Torment’ is Sadomortuary’s first full-length album. In just…
Artist: Clactonian Country: Finland / Italy Label: Self-Released Formats: Demo Tape Year: 2024 Forged out of the dark visions of a few like-minded folks from both Finland and Italy comes Clactonian. A band that took their name from an old…
Artist: Necrogore Country: Italy Label: Self-Released Formats: Digital EP Year: 2024 Last year I stumbled upon Italy’s Necrogore, a band that isn’t offering anybody a life-changing experience. On the contrary, Necrogore is playing it quite safe with their mixture of…
Artist: Pyra Country: Italy Label: Immortal Frost Productions Formats: LP / CD Year: 2024 In autumn 2022 the Italian Black Metal band Pyra introduced itself with their self-titled 5-track EP, which positioned the band in that smothering twilight zone between…
Even though new genres are always being invented, there are always plenty of bands who cannot suppress their urge to experiment and hypes follow each other in quick succession, fortunately there are also plenty of bands who want nothing to…
Artist: Infernal Angels Country: Italy Label: Immortal Frost Productions Formats: LP / CD Year: 2023 Infernal Angels is such a band that I have heard of before, but only by name. Despite the fact that the band is presenting their…
Artist: Abysmal Grief Country: Italy Label: Avantgarde Music Formats: LP Year: 2023 In March 2023 Abysmal Grief and Avantgarde Music releases a vinyl-only compilation LP to celebrate the start of their collaboration, it was also meant as a run up…
Artist: Tenebro Country: Italy Label: Xtreem Music Formats: Digital EP Year: 2023 Just five weeks after the release of the band’s second full-length album, Italian gore lords Tenebro are back with another (digital only) EP, their fourth in total. This…
Artist: Mörkvind Country: Italy Label: Self-Released Formats: Digital EP Year: 2024 ‘Hypnotiskt Vanvett Av Skogens Irrgångar’ is the the fifith release of this one-man project, it is following up on two previously released full-length albums as well as two EP’s. The…
Artist: Tenebro Country: Italy Label: Xtreem Music Formats: LP / Cassette Tape / CD Year: 2023 Besides two EP’s this second full-length album is the third release of this Italian tour-de-force of apocalyptic Death Metal, or, as they call it…
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: 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…
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…
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…
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: Abysmal GriefCountry: ItalyLabel: Avantgarde MusicFormats: LPYear: 2023 To celebrate the joyous fact that one of the most obscure Doom Metal bands has found a home with the celebrated quality label Avantgarde Music and as an advance sweetener in anticipation…
Artist: Blaze of SorrowCountry: ItalyLabel: Eisenwald, Moonlight Gate ProductionsFormats: Cassette Tape / CDYear: 2023 It was impossible for me not to be drawn to the artwork of the latest Blaze of Sorrow record, 2023’s ‘Vultus Fati’. The imagery of a…
Artist: Mithridatum Country: Italy / USA Label: Willowtip Records Formats: LP / Cassette Tape / CD Year: 2023 Mithridatum is a new band, founded last year, of a trio with their origin in both the USA as well as Italy,…
Artist: Hellcrash Country: Italy Label: Dying Victims Productions Formats: LP / Cassette tape / CD Year: 2023 In the review for Hellcrash’s debut album, ‘Krvcifix Invertör’ our chief-editor Ricardo got flabbergasted by the sheer Venom-worship of their music, so I…
Artist: Maze Of Sothoth Country: Italy Label: Everlasting Spew Records Formats: Cassette Tape / CD Year: 2022 With ‘Extirpated Light’, this Italian foursome is on its second album. After a good demo and a successful debut album, expectations are high;…
Artist: Necrotombs Country: Italy Label: Dark United Media Formats: Digital Year: 2022 With ‘Collectible Human Bodies’, Italian one-man band Necrotombs is already on its fourth full-length album. Musically, it brings little that is exciting, fairly standard and mid-tempo Old School…
Artist: Fourth Monarchy Country: Italy Label: Self-Released Formats: Digital Year: 2023 The history of this Italian Black Metal band dates back all the way to 2002, when the band was founded. In the very first years of their existence they…
Artist: Satanika Country: Italy Label: Osmose Productions Formats: LP / CD Year: 2023 ‘Horde Of Disgust’ is the fifth album for the Italian Black/Thrash Metal band Satanika. Although the band has been releasing their albums and EP’s through a wide…
Artist: Slug Gore Country: Italy Label: Self-Released Formats: Demo Tape/ CD Demo Year: 2023 The slug-themed EP/demo ‘Extraterrestrial Gastropod Mollusc’ of Italian based Death Metal/Grindcore combo Slug Gore, is the band’s first outing. And apparently, with all their sluggishness, they…
Artist: Nubivagant Country: Italy Label: Amor Fati Productions Formats: LP / CD Year: 2022 It was in 2020 that Gionata “Omega” Potenti (Darvaza, Frostmoon Eclipse, Chaos Invocation, ex-Acherontas, ex-Blut Aus Nord, ex-Fides Inversa a.o.) surprised the world with a stunningly…
Artist: EvilspellCountry: ItalyLabel: Blasphemous RecordsFormats: CDYear: 2021 Seven years after their last sign of life, the Italian Black/Thrash Metal band Evilspell returned to the front in 2021, with their third full-length ‘Padre Vostro’, which, if Google Translate is not fooling…
While the real boom of Old School Death Metal bands has passed and, with the knowledge of today, the peak of that revival does seem to have been in the years 2010-2013, all that remains now are bands that are…
Artist: Necrodeath Country: Italy Label: Time To Kill Records Formats: LP / CD Year: 2023 We’re writing early 2023 and I think we already have a strong contender for the corniest album title of the year. Seriously, what were they…
Artist: AssumptionCountry: ItalyLabel: Everlasting Spew RecordsFormats: LP, CDYear: 2022 The 2018 released album ‘Absconditus’ from the Italian Doom/Death Metal band Assumption was described by a VM-Underground colleague as Doom/Death effort that has a lot to offer and compared it to bands like diSEMBOWELMENT, Winter and…
Artist: XeperCountry: ItalyLabel: Soulseller RecordsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2021 Xeper, now operating out of Stavanger, Norway, but originally founded in Italy, released their fourth album last year through Dutch Soulseller Records. Though ‘Ad Numen Satanae’ is indeed the band’s fourth…
Artist: Liber Null Country: Italy / The Netherlands Label: Immortal Frost Productions Formats: LP / CD Year: 2022 Liber Null, for those who are not familiar with the band, is another band that has one of Black Metal’s most prolific…