Clandestine Cut Of The Year - Metal Storm Awards 2024

Ethereal Wound - Eclipse / Advent

Issue #3 Winner

Nuno Verdades and Sérgio Ramos are two musicians who have been active in various bands, such as The Devouring Void, Baltum, and Cold And Deceased, to name but a few. Ethereal Wound’s Eclipse / Advent offers a very balanced mixture of atmospheric black metal and dissonant death metal that shines with excellent songwriting. The first EP of the two Portuguese is a tribute to Berserk, the popular and highly influential dark fantasy manga by the legendary Japanese artist Kentarō Miura (1966-2021), and this is reflected not only in the lyrics but also in the music. The four tracks sound as brutal, grim, and menacing as a battle between a marauding troop of mercenaries and the monstrous creatures of a medieval fantasy world, yet there is still enough space for dense atmosphere and epic riffs. Sérgio's rough vocals and Nuno's guitar work are brimming with brutality, yet are technically refined, and they complement each other perfectly to create a mood akin to Miura's manga series. For anyone who happens to be planning to go to war against a horde of demons, Eclipse / Advent certainly provides the perfect sound backdrop for this endeavour.

Hämnd - Eldhav

Issue #5 Winner

When being associated with, and compared to the music of bands like Isis and Neurosis, even just superficially, expectations become high. Said expectations are met by the Swedish quartet Hämnd and their scorching post-metal/sludge debut offering, dubbed Eldhav. Of course, who else would come to your mind when mentioning Sweden and post-metal in the same sentence… none other than Cult Of Luna. Imposing guitar riffs are leading the way on this release, strongly supported by the pounding, steady drumming, and by the sovereign screams that are penetrating slowly, yet successfully. And the overall sound and tone is perfect.

Rotten Cavern - Profound

Issue #4 Winner

The new-coming force from the Iberian Peninsula, Rotten Cavern, is offering a thunderous smack of blackened-coated death doom metal through their 5-track demo, titled Profound. This is pounding down-tempo music, intertwining occasional double-bass drum parts, including classic twists with its severe death metal passages, and cooperating very well together with thick-sounding and ominous guitars. Omnipresent vocals are giving an additional sinister feel to the overall sound with the prolonged, immensely profound growls, and a concomitant echoing effect. With this first demo, the Spaniards Rotten Cavern put together a heavy and sombre piece of doom, creating a vastly unsettling atmosphere.

Silvasolum - Silvasolum

Issue #2 Winner

Silvasolum from Quebec are the continuation of the band Psomb, and, with their self-titled debut EP, they are expanding the sound of the old band that was laid to rest. This sound is a post-metal/progressive doom metal hybrid, relying on heavy riffs, while also featuring very lush melodies, and playing successfully with darkness and light. Depending on the mood they want to convey, the vocals take the form of either blackened rasps or grungy/stonery cleans, giving the music an extra ‘instrument’ that helps get the point across. Featuring three tracks that are between six and seven minutes-long each, this is a very well produced EP, with highly competent performances all around, and is sure to please the fans of bands like Cult Of Luna, Elder, Tool, and Alice In Chains.

Slow Goat - Common Enemy

Issue #6 Winner

Slow Goat is a conveniently named 4-piece heavy/doom/stoner band, based in Portland, US, and their 5-track debut EP runs for just under a reasonably lengthy half hour. Common Enemy features a wide range of melodic metal genres, offering the very best in stoner, doom, and heavy metal, while being tinged with ‘70s hard rock and heavy psych influences. With exceptional all-round performances, including the fabulous vocals (particularly on the 8-minute title track) of Rosie Peterson, groovy, fuzzy stoner-cum-heavy doom riffs and classic hard rock solos from Dan Cuffe, crushing bass from Gage Managhan, and, finally, powerful drumming from Eric Bloombaum, this is a band with great potential.

Spectral Sorcery - Dungeons Of Doom

Issue #1 Winner

Spectral Sorcery from Pennsylvania is a new stoner doom metal act, following the teachings of early Black Sabbath and Electric Wizard. The three long tracks on Dungeons Of Doom are filled with haunting lead guitar melodies, crushing and fuzzy riffs, and powerful drums that create a soundscape of eerie dungeons and impending doom. The vocals sound like they are invoking dark forces, while the instrumental passages switch from doom to psychedelia and vice versa, creating a caustic ball of acid. The atmosphere is shady and exudes an essence of fantasy, sorcery, and spirituality. The relatively lo-fi sound adds to the overall smoke-filled, gritty feel that the EP has, and the excellent songwriting makes the band totally stand out from the pack.

Sunstealer - Void Tapes Demo

Issue #12 Winner

Hailing from Estonia, Sunstealer is a quartet exploring post-rock/metal territories, with elements of blackgaze and doom. The band has great talent in intertwining pristine melodies with heavy riffs, and in building up tension in the songs before they send them to explode into the cosmos. The music is expansive, devastating, and effortlessly attention-grabbing. Only one track has vocals, but Sunstealer’s instrumental prowess successfully shifts the mood of the songs from lighter to darker and from delicate to crushing. The more Void Tapes Demo progresses, the heavier the music gets, remaining both melodic and hard-hitting. Such progression and emotional resonance are surprising for a newcoming band, especially considering that this is just a demo.

Swampworm - Architeuthis

Issue #9 Winner

Grindcore in its most basic form is one of the most abrasive and intense musical styles going; the idea of combining it with dissonant black metal heralds the creation of an even more daunting listening prospect. Architeuthis is the second EP from one-man Bavarian band Swampworm, following the 2022 EP Nahab (which was subsequently repackaged as a split with Marigold King by Total Dissonance Worship), although at 19 minutes in length, it’s easily into full album territory for a grindcore band. Swampworm welcome variation across the duration of Architeuthis, with a sinister, doomy approach (the double bass drum rolls aside) on certain tracks, including opener “Koloss”, and also by bringing in industrial and even sludge elements on occasion. However, when the album enters grindcore mode, there is a hellish madness to the dissonant blasting fury that makes a lot of contemporary grindcore sound positively accessible. Architeuthis is frightening, evil and extreme, and ranks among the finest that grindcore had to offer in 2024.

Tellmarch - Tellmarch

Issue #7 Winner

Twelve minutes and three songs isn’t a whole lot of time, but it’s long enough to show off a few different sides to Tellmarch, a new band featuring members from Nesseria, Dragunov and a few other bands. Both Nesseria and Dragunov feature elements of post-metal to varying degrees, and “Le Vieil Homme Et L’Amer”, the closing song on Tellmarch, also does. However, before reaching that point, Tellmarch unleash some grim, throat-shredding blackened sludge, and also some morose doom. Whether they’re abrasive, melancholic or atmospheric, the French quartet have a firm handle on what they want to achieve and how to go about doing so.

The Forest Forgets - Of Wind & Willows

Issue #10 Winner

‘How is this band not signed yet?’ reads the first comment on The Forest Forgets's Bandcamp page, and it's an exceptionally good question - one that only gets more pressing the more you listen to Of Wind & Willows. This EP wins you over with a rarely heard authentic, down-to-earth blend of stoner metal, bleak post-rock, riffy sludge, radio-friendly alternative metal, and a dash of doom - all proving that stoner can be a hell of a lot of fun without conforming to the usual stereotypes, such as the obligatory mammoths, mushrooms, wizards, or desert landscapes on almost every album cover. Looking for a few new songs to add to your playlist, the kind you can’t help but belt out as you drive down a dusty country road in an old convertible, with no fixed destination but a limitless horizon promising freedom, adventure, and a hint of the unknown? You don’t need to look any further because, thanks to the excellent songwriting and the powerful, dynamic vocals of Griffin Romprey, the five tracks on Of Wind & Willows are a perfect addition to any playlist.

Theist - Post-God Apocalypse

Issue #8 Winner

Theist originally comes from the small but refined Indonesian crust punk scene, and these musical roots are still quite evident in their self-titled EP from 2014. Ten years later, the ideological connection may still be there, but musically, the crust influence is now almost exclusively limited to the hoarsely barked vocals, making way for a lot of variety and diverse musical influences instead. Acoustic passages now blend seamlessly with wild blast-beat fury, and richly orchestrated, symphonic black/death metal is interrupted by ambient interludes. Just when you think you’ve finally grasped the musical concept, the contrast of angelic female guest vocals with brief forays into industrial takes you off into completely different realms. What the four Indonesians from Badung deliver defies easy categorization, but if their aim was to create a musical equivalent of the chaos of a cataclysm without descending into dissonance and cacophony, then they have more than succeeded. Post-God Apocalypse is dark and menacing, yet so infused with bittersweet melancholy that you almost wish you were there yourself, to gaze briefly into the abyss before the world, as we know it, comes to an end.

Volkra - Chronicles Of Ancestral Dust

Issue #11 Winner

Do you know that strange feeling of stumbling upon something by chance that mentally catapults you back to a specific point in your life, reviving the memory of that special moment so intensely that, for a fleeting second, it feels like everything is just as it was back then? Chronicles Of Ancestral Dust may trigger that memory for you, because it has a feeling for immortal melodies and the rare ability to create a profoundly uplifting atmosphere despite the ever-present melancholy. The black metal elements on Volkra's debut EP are more subtle than the doom elements, but they give the three tracks a raw aggressiveness that provides a welcome contrast to the often anthem-like compositions. The song “Anansi”, in particular, pays homage to a cunning, trickster spider god from ancient West African myths, and you won’t be able to get its chorus out of your head.