Tales From The Underground
Tales From The Underground
Artist: ArzhaabatCountry: SwedenLabel: Cosmic Cause ProductionsFormats: Cassette single / Demo tapeYear: 2023 Taking the inhumane working pace of multi-instrumentalist and overall musical wizard MBN in consideration, it might not surprise that he already returns with a follow-up to Arzhaabat’s great ‘Forest Tribes Triumphant’ demo tape,…
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…
Artist: BlodtårCountry: SwedenLabel: Nordvis ProduktionFormats: LP / CDYear: 2023 Off the back of their impressive self-titled EP that my colleague FelixS lauded for its blistering Black Metal onslaught with an almost Pagan-like melodicism comes the debut album of the Swedish…
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: UnpureCountry: SwedenLabel: Invictus ProductionsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2023 Sweden’s Unpure have already well reached their 30th anniversary, the band, formed in 1991, has been around for a while but spent their years somewhat in the dank underground. Although the…
Artist: CEPCountry: SwedenLabel: Pant Y MeddygonFormats: Demo tapeYear: 2023 It might not come as a total surprise, but ‘First Tape’ is actually this band’s first release. But while this might be the first offering of the band, at least one…
Artist: ArzhaabatCountry: SwedenLabel: Pant Y MeddygonFormats: Demo tapeYear: 2023 Arzhaabat is a new musical vehicle of the ever-prolific MBN (Chevallier Skrog among other and the person behind the Pant Y Meddygon label). This time, he is once again all alone at the helm, bringing us…
Artist: Blau BlutCountry: SwedenLabel: Pant Y MeddygonFormats: Demo tapeYear: 2023 Blau Blut is a new band made up of musicians from several countries, including Sweden, Austria and Slovakia. This international company, in which we recognise at least MBN (of Chevallier…
Artist: HersirCountry: SwedenLabel: Self-releasedFormats: Digital DemoYear: 2023 Five songs totalling nearly 21 minutes is what the Swedish band Hersir presents us on their second demo ‘Hateful Draugar’ that saw its release in March 2023. Musically the band’s Black Metal can…
Artist: Mist Of Misery Country: Sweden Label: Non Serviam Records Formats: CD Year: 2022 This Swedish Melodic Black Metal band has been formed back in 2010 and has kept a steady working pace ever since their inception, with ‘Severance’ being…
Artist: Death ReichCountry: SwedenLabel: Non Serviam RecordsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2022 After a few demos/singles and two EP’s this Swedish Death Metal band, comprised out of past and current members of bands like Grief Of Emerald, Runemagick and Sacramentum, felt…
Artist: An Abstract IllusionCountry: SwedenLabel: Willowtip RecordsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2022 Although ‘Woe’ is not the first album for these Swedes, it was only since this album that I really got hooked by them. Not that the debut album, or…
Artist: Furnace Country: Sweden Label: Obelisk Polaris Productions Formats: CD Year: 2023 Out of the many Rogga Johansson bands, which are frankly quite a bit too many, I think that Furnace is one of the least impressive ones. Not only…
Artist: Desolate GraveCountry: SwedenLabel: Grind To Death RecordsFormats: Digital EPYear: 2022 Desolate Grave is the name of this solo-project by David “Pos” Mauritzon, who has also been in a few other bands, of which the oddly named Belarus Beaver, despite…
Artist: BræCountry: Belgium / SwedenLabel: Amor Fati ProductionsFormats: LPYear: 2023 The debut album of Bræ entitled ‘A Thousand Ways to End it all’ was released in 2021 without any background information about the band. For the follow-up ‘Av Vålnader Bortom…
Artist: BræCountry: Belgium / SwedenLabel: Amor Fati ProductionsFormats: LPYear: 2021 When the new Bræ album caught my eye, the boss of VM Underground was kind enough to point out that the review material of their debut album ‘A Thousand Ways…
Artist: Bastard GraveCountry: SwedenLabel: Pulverised RecordsFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2023 With ‘Vortex Of Disgust’ the Old School Swedish Death Metal combo of Bastard Grave delivers their third album. And anyone who has heard some of the band’s…
Artist: Kiira / SvartsejdCountry: Finland / SwedenLabel: AvgrundsklangerFormats: Split cassette tape Year: 2022 The bands Svartsejd and Kiira are far from strangers from each other. Although they were formed separately in 2010 and 2011 respectively and even originate from different…
Artist: CentinexCountry: SwedenLabel: Diabolical Summoning RecordsFormats: Cassette tapeYear: 2022 Centinex has never been a band that made it big in the Swedish Death Metal scene. Instead they always kind of got stuck behind the biggest bands or even the ones that followed, making…
Artist: InsiktCountry: SwedenLabel: Amor Fati Productions / Mysticism ProductionsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2022 Insikt is one of the many vessels of Swedish Black Metal mastermind Swartadauþuz, of which the first and thus far only release ‘Wanderings Through a Cursed Mind’…
Artist: GreveCountry: SwedenLabel: Mysticism Productions / Purity Through FireFormats: LP / CDYear: 2022 Those with a weak spot for Black Metal will undoubtedly have heard one or more bands featuring the Swedish multi-instrumentalist Swartadauþuz, who also runs Ancient Records and Mysticism Productions.…
Artist: Crimson EvenfallCountry: FinlandLabel: Werewolf RecordsFormats: LPYear: 2023 Funeral Frost operated in the early days of the Swedish Black Metal scene, being formed in 1993. Their two demos and promo eventually led to the release of the 1996 debut album…
Artist: MorcaintCountry: SwedenLabel: Nordvis ProduktionFormats: Digital EPYear: 2023 In 2008, Ulvtyr and Heruhim formed the band Morcaint. Together, they started work on an album which they wrote, but ultimately never recorded. And so, the project was put on hold, while…
Artist: Eternal DarknessCountry: SwedenLabel: Xtreem MusicFormats: 10″ EPYear: 2021 Some of the Swedish Death Metal bands from the early 90’s gained huge amounts of fame, some of which still live on, and others just had too little to offer (or…
Artist: EucharistCountry: SwedenLabel: Regain RecordsFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2022 Nostalgia. ‘Mirrorworlds’ is an album that completely fits that description. It takes me back to a time when I was a teen. A time that the Gothenburg melodic…
Artist: EucharistCountry: SwedenLabel: Regain RecordsFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2022 Although the band made quite an impressive entry to the Swedish Death Metal scene with their demo tape from 1992, simply called ‘Demo 1’ and the ‘Greeting Immortality’…
Artist: ÄnterbilaCountry: SwedenLabel: Nordvis ProduktionFormats: LP / CDYear: 2022 Some labels release whatever band they like regardless of genre, others focus on a music scene from a certain city, and there’s some that are known for a specific sound. When…
Artist: Death BreathCountry: SwedenLabel: Electric Assault RecordsFormats: 7″ EPYear: 2022 When Death Breath first emerged with their eponymous 2006 released 7” EP, it marked the grand return of the ultimate Swedish Death Metal legend, Nicke Andersson, who, after leaving Entombed…
Artist: Putrevore Country: Spain / Sweden Label: Xtreem Music Formats: LP / Cassette Tape / CD Year: 2021 Putrevore is the collaboration of two of Death Metal’s most prolific veterans, Rogga Johansson (Paganizer, Ribspreader, Revolting among many others) and Dave…
Artist: Furnace Country: Sweden Label: MDD Records Formats: CD Year: 2022 With Furnace the multi-instrumentalist with too much time Rogga Johansson and Peter Svensson (Void Moon) went for a more melodic sound with their first two albums, ‘Black Stone Church’…
Artist: EschatologyCountry: Poland / SwedenLabel: Shadow RecordsFormats: 12″ EP / CD EPYear: 2022 Music brings people from all over the world together. In the case of Eschatology, this unites a Swedish Black Metal guitar player, a fellow countryman that earned…
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.…
Artist: Necrovation Country: Sweden Label: Blood Harvest Formats: 7″ EP Year: 2023 Somewhere in the mid-00’s, there suddenly was Necrovation, one of the very best new Death Metal bands that would become a true cult act. With their first minor…
Artist: LifvsledaCountry: SwedenLabel: Norma Evangelium DiaboliFormats: LP / CDYear: 2022 Shortly before the release of the sophomore album of the Swedish Lifvsleda, a small teaser was released premiering the track ‘Lifvspänn’. On this, the band continued the path set out…
Artist: LifvsledaCountry: SwedenLabel: Norma Evangelium DiaboliFormats: 7″ EPYear: 2022 After the release of their debut album ‘Det Besegrade Lifvet’, Lifvsleda didn’t rest on their laurels and started working on the follow-up record. With that came a move to a new…
Artist: LifvsledaCountry: SwedenLabel: Shadow RecordsFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2020 Lifvsleda was formed in 2019, but apart from the fact that the two members were veterans of the Swedish Black Metal scene, not much was known. Later, it…
Artist: Carnal SavageryCountry: SwedenLabel: Moribund RecordsFormats: Cassette tape / CDYear: 2022 With only six months between this new album and the previous one, ‘Scent Of Flesh’, Carnal Savagery’s Swedes have the momentum going well. The only question is whether it might not be a bit…
Artist: Carnal SavageryCountry: SwedenLabel: Huangquan Records / Moribund RecordsFormats: Cassette tape / CDYear: 2022 The Swedish Death Metallers of Carnal Savagery are returning to their one-album-each-year formula with their third album, ‘Scent Of Death’. Although, an album a year? I guess the COVID-19 pandemic was…
Artist: Dead SunCountry: SwedenLabel: MDD RecordsFormats: CDYear: 2021 This awkward release of Dead Sun, one of the many Rogga Johansson featured bands, is actually a re-release of a compilation tape which originally was some sort of collection of four different…
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: Bekëth NexëhmüCountry: SwedenLabel: Amor Fati ProductionsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2021 About a year ago the multi-talented and multi-instrumentalist Swartadauþuz presented a new album with Bekëth Nexëhmü, one of his most prolific projects. And if he does something, he does…
Artist: Bekëth NexëhmüCountry: SwedenLabel: Purity Through FireFormats: LP / CDYear: 2022 The full-length albums of Swedish Black Metal act Bekëth Nexëhmü follow each other in rapid succession. Just after the previous work, the one filled with mostly old demo material,…
Artist: Bekëth NexëhmüCountry: SwedenLabel: Amor Fati ProductionsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2022 With this third chapter in the (closing?) book of Bekëth Nexëhmü, mastermind Swartadauþuz again serves us with an overly long record. This time with a playing time of well…
Artist: MegaslaughterCountry: SwedenLabel: To The Death RecordsFormats: CDYear: 2022 In the midst of the booming Swedish Death Metal scene, legends were born that colored the early days of the much beloved buzz-saw sound. With one release after another, bands sprouted…
Artist: MegaslaughterCountry: SwedenLabel: To The Death RecordsFormats: Cassette tape / CDYear: 2022 To this day, albums and demos from the early 90’s are still re-released or unearthed from moldy cassette graveyards. Releases of bands that were forgotten, or never quite…
Artist: Necrogod Country: Costa Rica / Sweden Label: Transcending Obscurity Records Formats: LP / CD Year: 2021 A few years ago Swedish jack-of-all-trades Rogga Johansson and Costa Rican Ronald Jimenez (also known as ‘The Master Butcher’) of bands like Morbid…
Artist: Nazghor Country: Sweden Label: The Wild Hunt Formats: CD Year: 2022 Swedish Black Metal band Nazghor was founded in 2012 and have been releasing six albums from 2013 to 2017, which made them one of the most prolific Swedish…
Artist: BlodtårCountry: SwedenLabel: Nordvis ProduktionFormats: 12″ EP / CD EPYear: 2021 Around the turn of the year, the Swedish Black Metal band Blodtår released their self-titled debut EP, with the CD version by the very end of last year and…
Artist: UnleashedCountry: SwedenLabel: Napalm RecordsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2021 By the end of last year, one of the most renowned Swedish Death Metal bands released their fourteenth album, proving once again that Unleashed definitely belong to The Immortals. While a…
Artist: Ablaze My SorrowCountry: SwedenLabel: Black Lion RecordsFormats: 12″ EP, CD EPYear: 2023 To my mind, Ablaze My Sorrow has always been one of those bands that missed the boat. Deeply rooted in the melodic Swedish Death Metal scene, the…