The Metal Storm Demo/EP Spotlight
Brand New Independent Metal Lives Here.
Welcome to the Clandestine Cuts!
Welcome to the Clandestine Cuts!
Is independent, unsigned, and underground metal what you seek? Weary traveller of the metal world, rest here a while. Clandestine Cuts are the best demos and EPs from these bands, the heart and soul of metal music. These musicians are slaves to their passions, and their blood keeps the metal machine alive and turning. Support them with a simple listen, and discover the future.
Metal Storm users: you can vote in the poll below to choose your favourite demo/EP of the issue. The winners each year are nominated in our annual Metal Storm Awards, so exercise your rights: this is the one category chosen completely by YOU the readers. Make sure your favourite independent metal is recognized each year!
(Do you think your band has what it takes to be featured in the Cuts? Email demos at metalstorm dot net to submit your music.)
In case you're new to this, go back and enjoy our last few issues:
Clandestine Cuts Vol. 15 #3
Clandestine Cuts Vol. 16 #2
Clandestine Cuts Vol. 16 #1
And now to the new music...
Unburier - As Time Awaits (UK)
[Technical Death/Thrash Metal]
Unburier is a band going for the more technical side of death/thrash metal, and even though fellow countrymen Cryptic Shift have already dropped a bomb of an album for the genre, these guys here are not to be taken lightly, using a more restrained approach and resembling Revocation from the other side of the Atlantic. Unburier’s music is often about brute force and aggression, but there is also an element of exploration and expansion without ever feeling that the songs travel without purpose or destination. The riffs do twist and evolve, and the rhythms do shift without warning, but all this happens while always being in control and maintaining structure, without ever becoming chaotic just for the sake of it. Lead guitar passages in the form of quick apparitions or more elaborate solos offer some melodic respite to the riff assault, making As Time Awaits a thoroughly enjoyable albeit succinct listen, clocking in at just under 15 minutes. Unburier are clearly ready for a full-length album and so are we.
by nikarg
Distorted Aura - First Distortion (Germany)
[Death Metal]
Distorted Aura is a new band from Germany playing old-school death metal, and the ‘old-school’ term refers to the type of death metal that was played in the early '90s, which was more riff-centric and relied less on production gimmicks to generate a certain atmosphere. First Distortion features six tracks clocking in at around 27 minutes and giving the listener a thorough experience of the band’s scope and sound. The music changes pace fairly often and features both faster sections and mid-tempo ones, and the track “Swarm Of Insanity” is a good one to sample to get the idea, while “Fairy Wartales” features the catchiest and most headbangable riffs. The lead guitar appears briefly either for a quick solo or a more melodic part in most songs, and “Untamed Voices” proves that this aspect could have been explored further. The short opener “Mass Of Resurrection” and the long doom/death closer “Dystopian Nightmares” (my personal favourite) indicate the variety in the songwriting and bookend the demo convincingly. The cover art is eye-catching, looking fairly ghoulish and visually representing the band’s name. All in all, Distorted Aura have chosen to go for an established and very familiar sound, but they are very competent in what they do and the songs provide opportunities to headbang around every corner, so this demo really flies by.
by nikarg
Serpent Icon - Tombstone Stories (Germany)
[Melodic Death Metal]
Some bands aspire to be unconstrained by genre and defined by no influence, while others embrace their heritage fondly. Germany’s Serpent Icon are unabashed in the source of their inspiration, channeling the spirit of the late 90s Gothenburg scene on debut EP Tombstone Stories while intentionally eschewing directions that the genre took in the new millennium such as breakdowns, synths or clean vocals. What it has instead are plentiful lush guitar melodic leads, biting riffs, and hoarse vocals in the vein of early Anders Fridén. Of the three Gothenburg progenitors, Serpent Icon are most similar to classic In Flames, particularly with some of the brief quieter diversions, although the straightforward aggression is arguably closer to Dark Tranquillity, while its anthemic tendencies have a hint of Arch Enemy to them. Five storming cuts perfectly recapitulate the essence of that iconic time for melodic death metal with ample supply of memorable hooks.
by musclassia
Achryma - Hollowlight (Belgium)
[Atmospheric Black Metal]
Achryma are a new band that seem to have materialized out of nowhere. Shrouded in mystery, shadow and despair, their debut EP Hollowlight is atmosphere-first black metal where tension and restraint do most of the heavy lifting. The pacing is moody and drags you into the darker corners of your memory, where you haven’t been in a long time for a reason. The journey takes you through dark tall trees that spear the sky above you in splinters. "Evil forest" but not in the fun, corpsepaint kind of way. Hints of post-black and metalgaze shimmer like unrecognizable shapes in the foggy distance. Nothing around here quite resolves into anything comforting. There’s always something darker just out of sight, gathering, circling, waiting for the right moment to close in. Like a storm, it brews and threatens to break but never actually does. And then, just like that, this two-track, fifteen-minute EP is over, and you’re left with the uneasy sense that whatever followed you through those woods is still standing there when the music has stopped.
by Thryce
Zvilpogghua - Frozen Dread (USA)
[Industrial / Avant-Garde Metal]
I’ve heard my fair share of strange and wacky metal over the years, but there are sounds you just can’t predict. Self-described as “jawgrind”, Zvilpogghua distinguish themselves by having a jaw harp as their main instrument, replacing the usual guitar and making their already extremely weird industrial soundscape even more bizarre. The eerie, half-whispered vocals are contrasted by this admittedly silly-sounding instrument, which makes for some uniquely memorable 10 minutes of music. Frozen Dread’s tracks could however greatly benefit from a longer run time, as they manage to create a neat atmosphere that unfortunately isn’t explored very thoroughly (especially since the project is themed around John Carpenter’s The Thing); but the potential is there, and I can guarantee that it will at least be the strangest release you’ll hear this month.
by Roman Doez
Haruspex Chants - Demo MMXXVI (USA)
[Death/Doom Metal]
I’ve been following Haruspex Chants for quite a while now, but I have to admit that I only recently came to understand the meaning of their band name. The term “haruspex” originates from the polytheistic religion of the Etruscans and refers to an ancient soothsayer who predicted the future through the interpretation of lightning and the inspection of entrails, particularly the liver of sacrificial animals. You don’t have to look far for this mystical, archaic aspect in the music of this band from Cincinnati, as Haruspex Chants play a primal form of cavernous death/doom that could have brought down any ancient structure. Both the slow, crushing passages and the surprisingly fast sections (by doom standards) share a sense of relentlessness; everything sounds menacing, unstoppable, and uncompromising, yet still highly memorable. Whether it was the Romans or perhaps the chants of the haruspices themselves that led to the downfall of the Etruscan civilization is debatable, but one thing is pretty clear: even today, the three tracks on this demo are more than capable of making quite a few walls tremble.
by Starvynth
