Tales From The Underground
Tales From The Underground
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…
Artist: Eye Of Purgatory Country: Sweden Label: Transcending Obscurity Records Formats: LP / CD Year: 2021 Just when I thought I had reviewed enough of Rogga Johansson’s releases this year, having spent quite some words on a fair share of…
Artist: DawnCountry: SwedenLabel: Cosmic Key CreationsFormats: 10″ EPYear: 2022 The creation of the Swedish band Dawn dates back to 1986, when guitar player Fredrik Söderberg formed the band as a solo project. When he moved to another city and recruited…
Artist: In Pain Country: Sweden Label: Southcoast Productions / To The Death Records Formats: LP / CD Year: 2022 Being amongst the bands that were in the first batch of Swedish Death Metal bands from around the 90’s, In Pain…
Artist: Revolting Country: Sweden Label: Xtreem Music Formats: CD Year: 2022 Album number eight for Revolting, one of the many Rogga Johansson starring bands. What can be said that hasn’t been said about Johansson and any of his musical endeavours?…
Artist: DesultoryCountry: SwedenLabel: Floga RecordsFormats: LPYear: 2022 Founded as early as 1989, Desultory was one of the first Swedish Death Metal bands, but unlike many of their contemporaries, they opted for a different take on the genre. While most other…
Artist: DesultoryCountry: SwedenLabel: Floga RecordsFormats: LPYear: 2022 With the bands’ first album, the Metal Blade released ‘Into Eternity’ from 1993, Desultory firmly cemented their (then) original take on Swedish Death Metal into the collective brains of every Death Metal fan.…
Artist: Ceremonial OathCountry: SwedenLabel: Floga RecordsFormats: LPYear: 2022 If you take any old Swedish extreme metal demo, EP or debut album and look at the line-up, list of external contributions or even thank lists, you are basically diving into a…
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: Godsend Country: Norway / Sweden Label: Petrichor Formats: LP / CD Year: 2020 Though officially formed in Norway, Godsend is definitely best known to feature multi-instrumentalist and jack of all trades Dan Swanö. The band released demo tapes before…
Artist: Der TrauerschwanCountry: SwedenLabel: Soulseller RecordsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2022 When the Chilean band Hetroertzen relocated to the Swedish town of Västerås, they quickly recruited members from the local scene to complement their live line-up. One of the members that…
Artist: Paganizer Country: Sweden Label: Iron, Blood and Death Corporation Formats: CD EP Year: 2022 Because a wise man once told me: “There can’t be enough Paganizer reviews”, here’s another one. Earlier this year the Mexican label Iron, Blood And…
Artist: Paganizer Country: Sweden Label: Self-Released Formats: Digital Compilation Year: 2022 As if Paganizer’s regular releases don’t follow each other fast enough, we are also treated to a compilation album with great regularity. The content varies, but often overlaps. It…
Artist: Sarcator Country: Sweden Label: Black Lion Records Formats: LP / Cassette Tape / CD Year: 2022 Usually I am not quite interested in father-son kind of relations, or any other family relations, between musicians. I think that every individual…
Artist: Mara Country: Sweden Label: Immortal Frost Productions Formats: 12″ EP / CD EP Year: 2022 Formed in 2010, the Swedish Black Metal band Mara has already released three full-length albums prior this EP, released earlier year through Belgian Immortal…
Artist: Katakomba Country: Sweden Label: Redefining Darkness Records Formats: LP / CD Year: 2022 Generally, I find Redefining Darkness Records a bit of an odd label, a peculiar hodgepodge of styles and bands, a fairly large part of which also…
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…
Artist: Angra MainyuCountry: SwedenLabel: Self-ReleasedFormats: Digital EPYear: 2022 The story of the Black Metal band Angra Mainyu from Sweden goes way back to the early 90’s, when they were around under the name of Ahriman. Ahriman was an ancient Persian…
Artist: Lord BelialCountry: SwedenLabel: Iron Bonehead ProductionsFormats: LPYear: 2022 Earlier this year I spent a few words on Lord Belia’s latest album, ‘Rapture’ (Hammerheart Records), but that wasn’t the only release that was sent out to us that carried the…
Artist: OfermodCountry: SwedenLabel: Shadow RecordsFormats: 12″ EP / CD EPYear: 2022 Not long ago on these pages, I reviewed Ofermod’s latest full-length album, ‘Mysterium Iniquitatis’. In it, I dwelled at length on the band’s history and the undeniable importance mastermind…
Artist: Chevallier SkrogCountry: SwedenLabel: Pant Y MeddygonFormats: Cassette tapeYear: 2022 With this second full-length album, the ever-active Chevallier Skrog delivers its sixth achievement of this year. Where many one-person acts from the same Lo-Fi Black Metal corner that keep up…
Artist: DefleshedCountry: SwedenLabel: Metal Blade RecordsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2022 Not too long ago I spent quite a few words on Defleshed’s 7” EP, ‘Fleshless And Wild’, which was released to reintroduce us to the recently resurrected Defleshed. Arguably Sweden’s…
Artist: OfermodCountry: SwedenLabel: Shadow RecordsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2021 In the review for ‘Pentagrammaton’ on our pages, my colleague already spent a few words on Ofermod. It is hard to introduce a band with such a valuable legacy, but the…
Artist: Grafskymf Country: Sweden Label: His Wounds / Nihilistic Noise Propaganda/ Nithstang Productions Formats: LP / Cassette tape / CD Year: 2020 In October 2020, Afskum, the only soul behind this Swedish Black Metal project, wrote and recorded this first…
Artist: Altar / CartilageCountry: Sweden / FinlandLabel: Xtreem MusicFormats: Split LP /Split cassette tape / Split CDYear: 2022 Despite the fact that the original material from this cult split LP had already been reissued by Xtreem Music in 2015, it…
Artist: EncryptmentCountry: SwedenLabel: Nuclear Winter RecordsFormats: Cassette tape / CDYear: 2022 Those already familiar with Encryptment via their 2015 EP ‘Suktar Efter Luft’ and the subsequent 2019 ‘Mangel Från Söderort’-demo have been able to hear the intention with which the…
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…
Artist: Ultra SilvamCountry: SwedenLabel: Shadow RecordsFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2022 That Ultra Silvam was a band to watch out for was immediately clear after first hearing their self-titled demo. The band effortlessly combined a ferocious untamed Black Metal…
Artist: Rotpit Country: Germany / Sweden Label: Selfmadegod Records / Seven Inches Of Metal Records Formats: 7″ EP / Cassette EP Year: 2021 Rotpit is one of the many projects led by Jonny Pettersson, best known for his work in…
Artist: Chevallier Skrog / Dracul’s GraspCountry: Sweden / CanadaLabel: Pant Y MeddygonFormats: Cassette split tapeYear: 2022 The fairly large flow of releases indicates the healthy work ethics of the Czech/Swedish Chevallier Skrog. We have covered this intriguing one-man act before…
Artist: WombbathCountry: SwedenLabel: Self-releasedFormats: Digital EPYear: 2022 Pretty soon after the Russian unprovoked invasion of Ukraine last February 24th, many labels and bands expressed their support for Ukraine and its many metal bands. Benefit concerts were organised and special editions…
Artist: DefleshedCountry: SwedenLabel: Regain RecordsFormats: 7″ EPYear: 2021 After a career of almost 15 years, Swedish Death/Thrash band Defleshed threw in the towel in 2005. Up to that point in their existence, the band had released five full-length albums and…
Artist: EucharistCountry: SwedenLabel: Regain RecordsFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2022 While some bands in the Swedish Death Metal scene seemed to be fighting for the title of who was the hardest, heaviest, nastiest, most vicious… Eucharist was already…
Artist: WombbathCountry: SwedenLabel: Transcending Obscurity RecordsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2021 When Wombbath announced their return in 2014, a sense of enthusiasm was my first emotion. Then quickly followed by scepticism. How many of the ‘old masters’ who returned years or…