Tales From The Underground
Tales From The Underground
Artist: Rôtn Country: Sweden Label: Altare Records Formats: CDr Year: 2025 Although I do like some of Magnus “Wagner Ödegård” Eriksson’s work, I always approach his work with a fair amount of scepticism and general caution. You really never know…
Artist: Unleashed Country: Sweden Label: Century Media Formats: LP / CD Year: 2025 In some of my previous reviews I already touched upon it, the way how you perceive an album (or a band as a whole) has not only…
Artist: Serpent Gate Country: Sweden Label: Self-Released Formats: Digital Demo Year: 2025 It is true that the things you grow up with always keep a certain charm, no matter your current age. Things tend to make more impact and help…
Artist: Lord Belial Country: Sweden Label: Hammerheart Records Formats: LP / CD Year: 2025 Admittedly, my relationship with Lord Belial has not always been one of true love. When I first ran into the band, some quarter of a century…
Artist: Fienden Country: Sweden Label: Self-Released Formats: Demo Tape Year: 2025 Everyone willing to dig just a little deeper than your average Black Metal band gaining their five minutes of fame through Black Metal Promotion, will know that there’s still…
Artist: Protector / Suicidal Winds Country: Germany / Sweden Label: Wolfkult Religion Format: Split 7” EP Year: 2025 Thrash Metal aplenty on this split 7″ courtesy of Wolfkult Religion. In one corner we have the once German, now Swedish legends…
Artist: Edge Of Sanity Country: Sweden Label: Century Media Formats: LP / CD Year: 2025 Without wanting to do any wrong to the musical legacy of Edge Of Sanity, this has always been a band that has mostly been appreciated…
Artist: Tyrannosatan Country: Sweden Label: Jawbreaker Records Formats: Cassette EP Year: 2025 Admittedly, I too initially ignored this band because of the somewhat cheesy band name. Tyrannosatan is not the most attractive name, and the album did not come with…
Artist: Armory Country: Sweden Label: Dying Victims Productions / Jawbreaker Records Formats: 7″ EP Year: 2025 ‘Mercurion’, Armory’s last full-length album, dated back to 2022, so it’s no luxury that we get a new sign of life from these Swedish…
Artist: Leper Colony Country: Germany / Sweden Label: Testimony Records Formats: LP / CD Year: 2025 In hindsight I might have been a bit too positive on Leper Colony’s self-titled debut album from 2023. Since the few spins around the…
Artist: Consumption Country: Sweden Label: Dusktone Formats: CD Year: 2025 After two full-length records for Hammerheart Records in 2020 and 2022, the Swedes of Consumption went for the Como, Italy based Dusktone for their third album. Without knowing any details,…
Artist: Death Pulsation Country: Sweden Label: Caligari Records Formats: Demo Tape Year: 2025 Although Death Pulsation is a new band, debuting with this 3-track demo, in its ranks we do recognize musicians who has earned their stripes in the underground…
Artist: HersirCountry: SwedenLabel: Darkness Shall Rise Productions Formats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2025 In my review of the 2023 demo ‘Hateful Draugar’ by Hersir, I lauded the heavy pummeling sound, and drew paralels with Behexen mixed with Mayhem, Emperor…
Artist: FaidraCountry: SwedenLabel: Northern Silence ProductionsFormats: 12″ EP / CD EPYear: 2025 ‘Militant : Penitent : Triumphant’ was a rather impressive record, released by the Swedish one-man act Faidra in late 2023. Basing its atmospheric Black Metal on a straightforward but…
Artist: Abruptum Country: Sweden Label: Nuclear War Now! Productions Formats: LP Year: 2025 Obviously, Abruptum is mostly known for its early work and their affiliation to Euronymous’ Deathlike Silence Productions. The band’s first two records and specially the ‘Obscuritatem Advoco…
Artist: Merciless Country: Sweden Label: Darkness Shall Rise Productions Formats: LP / Cassette Tape / CD Year: 2025 Obviously, Merciless is mainly known for their downright cult debut album. Not only for the musical content and its wide influence on…
Artist: Vider Country: Sweden Label: Self-Released Formats: Digital Year: 2025 On a miserable, rainy, grey and stormy January day, nothing really fits better than an all-consuming darkness in musical form. For that joyous occasion today, I threw in the debut…
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: Gnipahålan Country: Sweden Label: Purity Through Fire Formats: CD Year: 2024 At the very frayed ends of 2024 the overly-prolific Swartadauþuz comes with yet another record. I haven’t really counted his work this year, but at the beginning of…
Artist: Necrosorcery Country: Sweden Label: Self-Released Formats: Digital Year: 2024 As a jaded old fart, you rarely get truly impressed by new music (that’s different from enjoying good stuff!), so it’s extra pleasing to come across something that really opens…
Artist: Desultory Country: Sweden Label: Darkness Shall Rise Productions Formats: LP / Cassette Tape / CD Year: 2024 In a longer series of unearthed demos presented by Darkness Shall Rise Productions from Germany, this summer it was Desultory’s turn for…
Artist: Carnal Savagery Country: Sweden Label: Moribund Records Formats: LP / CD Year: 2024 Album #2 for Carnal Savage this year. A trick they have pulled before, as although 2023 passed without any new recordings, the band had also released their first two albums…
Artist: Tyranni Country: Sweden Label: New Era Records Formats: LP / CD Year: 2024 Tyranni came to my attention somewhere during the summer of 2019 with the 3-track ‘Baron Av Avoghetens Smärta’-promo tape, which ultimately led to the debut full-length…
Artist: Rotpit Country: Germany / Sweden Label: War Anthem Records Formats: LP / CD Year: 2024 ‘Long Live The Rot’ is Rotpit’s second full-length album and with a few short-players under their belts they can easily be considered a prolific…
Artist: Törnen Country: Sweden Label: Medieval Prophecy Records Formats: LP / CD Year: 2024 Although prior the release of ‘Under Korpens Visdom’ there was rumour that Swartadauþuz was a part of Törnen, it eventually turned out he was not. Yet,…
Artist: Bastard Priest Country: Sweden Label: D-Takt & Råpunk Records Formats: 7″ EP Year: 2024 During the resurgence of Old School-styled Death Metal in the late 00’s, Bastard Priest was a breath of fresh air. Most bands based their sound…
Artist: Bortglömd Country: Sweden Label: Heidens Hart Records Formats: Demo Tape Year: 2024 ‘Haunting Calls’ is the debut demo of a new Swedish duo with Dutch connections, yet with this 3-track demo tape the band is distinctly sounding more Northern…
Released via Sweden’s I Hate Records this summer, Abysmal Winds’ debut album, ‘Magna Pestiencia’ followed up the ‘Doom Prayer’-demo tape from two years earlier. Those who had the band on their radar back then may have already realised that we…
Artist: Wirdha / NachtheemCountry: Sweden / The NetherlandsLabel: Tour de GardeFormats: Split TapeYear: 2024 On this Tour de Garde released Split Tape, Wirdha and Nachtheem found each other. Wirdha is a new entity with anonymous Black Metal veterans from Sweden.…
Artist: In Aphelion Country: The Netherlands / Sweden Label: Century Media Formats: LP / CD Year: 2024 With ‘Reaperdawn’ the Swedish/Dutch alliance of In Aphelion delivers their second full-length album, and while the band is regarded as a new band…
Artist: Deteriorot / Rotpit Country: USA / Germany/Sweden Label: Seven Inches Of Metal Records Formats: Split 7″ EP Year: 2024 With the aptly titled ‘We Rot’ Seven Metal Inches Records presents a new 7” that brings together the long-running Deteriorot…
Artist: Abysmal Winds Country: Sweden Label: I Hate Records Formats: LP / CD Year: 2024 At the risk of sounding like a grumpy old man: the problem with much of today’s Death Metal is that it suffers from having too…
Artist: Hellbutcher Country: Sweden Label: Metal Blade Records Formats: LP / CD Year: 2024 While Nifelheim’s official status is unclear, it is most likely that the band died a slow death in the past decade. With only the occasional sign…
Artist: Yxxan Country: Sweden Label: Nuclear War Now! Productions Formats: LP / CD Year: 2023 In 2019 and 2020 the world was treated to two demos of an obscure one-woman act from Sweden. Yxxan presented itself in a total savage…
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…
Artist: Unleashed Country: Sweden Label: Darkness Shall Rise Productions Formats: LP / CD Year: 2024 Without going too much into the in itself somewhat sad history of Johnny Hedlund’s rather disgraceful tricking out of Nihilist by disbanding the band and…
Artist: LifvsledaCountry: SwedenLabel: Norma Evangelium DiaboliFormats: LP / CDYear: 2024 In 2022 we were forewarned that a new Lifvsleda album was incoming with the release of the 7” EP ‘Lifvspänn’, a prelude to the band’s second album ‘Sepulkral Dedikation’. This…
Artist: Necrophobic Country: Sweden Label: Century Media Formats: LP / CD Year: 2024 After the release of the ‘Death To All’-album in 2009 the future for Necrophobic never seemed brighter: a killer new record, a flawless back catalogue and a…
Artist: Puteraeon Country: Sweden Label: Emanzipation Records Formats: Digital Year: 2024 Personally I have always categorized Puteraeon as one of the more interesting Swedish Death Metal bands that do no belong to the classics from the early 90’s. Don’t ask…
Artist: FaidraCountry: SwedenLabel: Northern Silence ProductionsFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2023 It seems that in the past year the number of new Atmospheric Black Metal bands has been through the roof. Or rather, it feels that the term…
Artist: Övervåld Country: Sweden Label: Self-Released Formats: Digital Year: 2024 I am sure you recognize it. Sometimes it feels inevitable to use Google Translate to clear something, but when you see the outcome, it makes so much sense that you…
Artist: BergsvridenCountry: SwedenLabel: Self-releasedFormat: Digital EPYear: 2023 When Trollmania formed Bergsvriden in 2013, he was soon joined by fellow Midvintersblot members Trollpung and Öltomten. Not entirely abandoning the Folk Metal sound of their other band, with Bergsvriden they aimed for…
Artist: Carnal Savagery Country: Sweden Label: Moribund Records Formats: LP / CD Year: 2024 After having released two full-length albums in 2022, the duo that together make for the Swedish Death Metal band Carnal Savagery, more or less took a bit of a…
Artist: Ribspreader Country: Sweden Label: Xtreem Music Formats: CD Year: 2024 Although having come across the name before, I first really heard about Ribspreader with their 2007 ‘The Monolith’ 7” EP by Blood Harvest, a label that I religiously followed…
Artist: UrväsenCountry: SwedenLabel: Self-releasedFormats: Cassette EPYear: 2023 While Urväsen appears to hail from Sweden, the music on the debut EP ‘Fåror’ sounds far from the typical Swedish Black Metal style. Instead, the music on the five tracks has more in…
Artist: SvartkonstCountry: SwedenLabel: Trust No One RecordingsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2023 Somehow I’ve never come across the work of Rickard Törnqvist’s solo brainchild Svartkonst before, despite the band being active for a little over a decade. But when I came…
Artist: AtonementCountry: SwedenLabel: Dying Victims ProductionsFormat: LP / CDYear: 2023 With an album cover like that of ‘Sadistic Invaders’ you sort of know what you’re going to get. Well at least, a band like Deathhammer pops into my mind, and…
Artist: SpeederCountry: England / SwedenLabel: Self-releasedFormats: Digital EPYear: 2023 “A bunch of scruffy adolescent Hardrockers that claim they are bringing back the old school metal and killing any posers”. Speeder takes the words right out of your mouth in the…
Without any doubt, one of the albums that struck me most in 2022 was the debut album of Sweden’s Sordid Blade. Not only did ‘Every Battle Has Its Glory’ sound really authentic and straight in line with so many other…
Artist: MardukCountry: SwedenLabel: Century Media RecordsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2023 Five years. There hasn’t been this much time between two Marduk studio albums in the 33 years of their existence. Not that the best rested idly in the intermediate period.…