Tales From The Underground
Tales From The Underground
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…
Artist: WombbathCountry: SwedenLabel: Transcending Obscurity RecordsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2020 In their persuit for the desired sound and place in the Old School (Swedish) Death Metal scene, Wombbath released ‘Tales Of Madness’ by the end of 2020 – actually their…
Artist: Repulsive Mass Country: Sweden Label: Brutal Cave Productions / Noise Horde Productions Formats: Demo Tape / Demo CD Year: 2021 Patrik Tegnander, the man behind this one-man Death Metal act we have featured on the pages of VM-Underground before…
Artist: UnanimatedCountry: SwedenLabel: Century MediaFormats: LP / CDYear: 2021 With their demos, `In the Forest of the Dreaming Dead’ and `Ancient God of Evil’, Unanimated became one of the pioneers of the Swedish melodic Death/Black Metal scene that arose in the…
Artist: Chevallier SkrogCountry: SwedenLabel: Pant Y MeddygonFormats: Cassette tapeYear: 2022 Through the split tape with Kūka’ilimoku, I recently got to know Czech one-man Black Metal act Chevallier Skrog. This Swedish-based act had a few releases out before the aforementioned split…
Artist: Kūka’ilimoku / Chevallier SkrogCountry: USA / SwedenLabel: Pant Y MeddygonFormats: Cassette split tapeYear: 2022 This split tape is a collaboration between US-based Kūka’ilimoku, of which I have previously reviewed some releases and Czech Chevallier Skrog, who now operate out…
Artist: HetroertzenCountry: Chile / SwedenLabel: Listenable RecordsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2022 My first introduction into the art of the Chilean band Hetroertzen came upon the release of `Exaltation of Wisdom’. The band, that still features founding members Frater D and…
Artist: Imperishable Country: Sweden Label: Self-Released Formats: Digital demo Year: 2021 Recently, I reviewed a compilation by a forgotten band from the Swedish Death Metal scene. In doing so, I argued that we still reap all the tasty fruits of…
Artist: Incarnated Country: Sweden Label: Graveless Souls Records / Grind To Death Records Formats: Cassette tape / CD Year: 2021 From a world as vital, innovative and musically creative as the early Swedish Death Metal scene have sprung many bands…
Artist: EucharistCountry: SwedenLabel: Regain RecordsFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2021 The history of Eucharist is one filled with split ups and reunions before the band called it quits in 1998. Still, the band managed to record two albums…
Artist: AlgaionCountry: SwedenLabel: Shadow RecordsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2022 For the development of the American (Black) Metal scene, the Full Moon Productions-label was of great influence and importance. Not only did it help American bands like Acheron and Black Funeral…
Artist: CentinexCountry: SwedenLabel: Agonia RecordsFormats: 12″ EP / Cassette EP / CD EPYear: 2022 You can accuse the Swedes of Centinex of anything, except a lack of underground aesthetics. Despite taking a few years off (from 2006 to 2014), they have been tenacious…
Artist: Haradrim Country: Sweden Label: Self-Released Formats: Digital demo Year: 2022 For the non-Lord of the Rings aficionado among us: The Haradrim were the race of Men from Harad in the region of Middle-Earth, directly south of Gondor. These people…
Artist: Niden Div. 187Country: SwedenLabel: Dawnbreed Records / De:Nihil RecordsFormats: Vinyl BoxsetYear: 2021 While both the Black and Death Metal genres were producing one groundbreaking record after another in the early nineties, the scenes exploded in volumes in the second…
Artist: WatainCountry: SwedenLabel: Chaos Reigns / Darkness Shall Rise Productions / His Master’s Noise / Nuclear Blast / Soyuz MusicFormats: LP / Cassette tape / CDYear: 2022 Originally released on April 29th, I am a little late with this review…
Artist: Oppressive Descent / HellGoat Country: USA / Sweden Label: Corrupted Flesh Records / Feral Age Records / Jems Label / TormentRex Formats: Split LP / Split CD Year: 2021 ‘Death Knell Of A Dying World’ is a split LP…
Artist: Ribspreader Country: Sweden Label: Xtreem Music Formats: LP / Cassette Tape / CD Year: 2022 Writing an introduction to Ribspreader is actually not all that easy. There is a lot and at the very same time pretty little to…
Artist: TribulationCountry: SwedenLabel: Century MediaFormats: LP / CDYear: 2021 Amongst the earliest rumblings of a soon-to-be revived old school Death Metal earthquake, Tribulation were already releasing several demos and a strong debut. When ‘Formulas of Death’ marked a departure from that…
Artist: MortuusCountry: SwedenLabel: W.T.C. ProductionsFormats: LP / CDYear: 2022 Sometimes an album just leaves a lasting impression. You don’t have to listen to it weekly, monthly, or even yearly; it somehow remains flawless in your mind. I never played Mortuus’…
Artist: BegravCountry: SwedenLabel: Self-ReleasedFormats: Digital EPYear: 2022 Begrav is a one-man Black Metal act from Gävle, Sweden and released something under his ‘own’ name of Äbaddohn already, but this ‘Black Art & Magick’ is the first offering under the moniker…
Artist: I, Of The Trees And Wind Country: Sweden / United Kingdom Label: Self-Released Formats: Digital Demo Year: 2022 This oddly named new band is a collaboration of Swedish and British musicians, who put together this 2-track demo of cold…
Artist: TrolldomCountry: Iron Bonehead ProductionsLabel: Iron Bonehead ProductionsFormats: 12″ LP / CDYear: 2022 The sole member of Trolldom is the illustrious figure of Swartadauþuz. Anyone delving into the extreme (Black) metal scene of today will at least stumbled once upon…
Artist: TrolldomCountry: Iron Bonehead ProductionsLabel: Iron Bonehead ProductionsFormats: 12″ LP / CDYear: 2022 One of the two albums that got released at the very same time by Swedish Trolldom, the brainchild of Swartadauþuz. One of the brainchilderen, actually. As this…