All Notes from the Underground Posts
Notes from the Underground: Devil
Devil–Norway’s self-proclaimed “World’s Youngest Old Band”–perfectly capture the dirty, sleazy, hairy doom of early Pentagram on their debut demo, Magister Mundi Xum. Which is to say that the Norwegian five-piece—drummer Ronny Østli, guitarists Stian Fossum and Kai Wanderås, bassist Thomas Ljosåk and singer Joakim Trangsrud—pretty much sound like the Seventies incarnate. As the demo’s intro, [...]
Notes from the Underground: Pilgrim
When it comes to true doom metal, none come truer than Pilgrim. One listen of Forsaken Man, the latest demo from the up-and-coming Rhode Island doom metal power trio, and it’s plainly clear: these dudes are out to crush some skulls. Guitarist and singer Jon Rossi (who also handled bass duties on this recording) riffs [...]
Notes From The Underground: IN SOLITUDE
In Solitude 2010: (from left) Niklas Lindström, Uno Bruniusson, Pelle “Hornper” Åhman, Gottfrid Åhman and Henrik Palm The definition of “Black Metal” is an often debated topic amongst metal fans worldwide. Is it defined by the music alone? Or does black metal transcend musical boundaries and need to be defined by its feeling instead? Gottfrid [...]
Notes From The Underground: SONIC RITUAL
Sonic Ritual singer/guitarist Henrik Palm isn’t your typical metal-punk character. In fact, he’s quite far from the stereotypical bullet belt, denim-and-studs-wearing, Motörhead-worshiping punk rocker. Now that it’s cool for underground bands to call themselves metal-punk, Palm sees it differently. “I think ‘heavy metal punk’ is a cheesy description for Sonic Ritual’s sound. I’d rather say [...]
Notes From the Underground: OBLITERATION
Photo by Alexander Hojem Kolbotn, Norway’s up-and-comers Obliteration are an anomaly in the modern death metal scene. Not only do they stick out like a sore thumb in their native country—where black metal is Norway’s number one cultural export—they don’t exactly fit in with the rest of the world’s typical modern death metal formula either. [...]
Notes From the Underground: HELVETETS PORT
“Heavy metal is a clenched fist.” – Oscar Thunder (far left) I still remember the first time I came across the young Swedish classic metal band Helvetets Port. My friend and I were skimming through the vast metal section at New Jersey’s music haven, Vintage Vinyl, and Exodus To Hell, Helvetets Port debut full-length, caused [...]
Notes From the Underground: NOCTUM
Deep within the heavy metal underground, there exists a place where the old style of heavy blues-based doom rock is still practiced, where the hellish sounds of early Black Sabbath, Flower Travellin’ Band, Coven, Blue Cheer and demo-era Pentagram still ring as loud as they did in the Seventies. This is exactly where Uppsala, Sweden’s [...]
Notes From the Underground: ENTRAPMENT
Entrapment’s Michel Earlier this month, we reported about the release of Death Invocation Records’ Invocation of Death Volume 1 compilation cassette tape, which features 10 of today’s best-kept underground death metal secrets. One of the finest moments of the tape comes from the Netherlands’ Entrapment. The band is made up of just one person, Michel, [...]
Notes From the Underground: GHOST
In the past couple of weeks, the new Swedish band Ghost has crept into the radar of many in the heavy metal underground (with a major help from Darkthrone’s Fenriz on his Band of the Week blog). The mysterious black metal group, whose band members are unknown and nameless, are showcasing a sampling of their [...]
NOTES FROM THE UNDERGROUND: Möbius
It’s a well-known fact that Europeans take their metal pretty seriously. From the United Kingdom to Finland, and from Germany to Greece, European bands are known to stick true to their roots and bash out uncompromising metal in its heaviest, fastest and most extreme forms. Enter newcomers Möbius from the little country of Slovakia: a [...]
