Written by:	Nefarious, nikarg, RaduP, Starvynth
Published:	July 22, 2019

Clandestine Cuts Volume 9, Issue #6
The Metal Storm Demo/EP Spotlight



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!

(Think your band has what it takes to be featured in the Cuts? Email demos@metalstorm.net to submit your music.)

In case you're new at this, go back and enjoy our last few issues:

Clandestine Cuts Vol. 9 #5
Clandestine Cuts Vol. 9 #4
Clandestine Cuts Vol. 9 #3

And now to the new music...

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Völtage - Spellbound Listen at Bandcamp Völtage is a five-piece from Atlanta, Georgia, mixing the riffs of NWOBHM bands with speed metal and punk rock. Vocalist Dolly Spottswood completely owns the stage wearing a red ribbon on her platinum blonde hair and waving a fan in her right hand, while sounding like a female, spellbinding version of Paul Di'Anno. The guitars churn out catchy rocking vibes, doomy and wicked chugs, as well as some speedy assaults, and, combined with intricate solos and fascinating twin guitar melodies, they are sure to get your face melted. The rhythm section suffers a little from the lo-fi production and the sound clearly needs much improvement, but luckily neither does the musicianship nor the songwriting. And the cover art has boobs, which is always a plus. by nikarg

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Slimelord - The Delta Death Sirens Listen at Bandcamp Very often one needs to have occasional changes of pace within metal to keep things from getting to stale, especially in ones so riff-centric as death/doom metal. British 5-piece outfit Slimelord get that, so even though most of The Delta Death Sirens moves at a reasonably low pace, moments when they hit the gas or when they go even slower feel powerful in contrast. What makes them even more powerful is that despite the relatively raw production and the one-dimensional grunty vocals, the moments of groovy bass combined with the raw riffs really play to this record's strengths and make it even more slimy. by RaduP

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Necromästery - Forgotten Prophets Listen at Bandcamp Old English font, umlauts in the band name, black and white framed artwork with skeletal figures. It could be anything, but you know for sure that it has riffs. And you'd be right. Forgotten Prophets play a slightly blackened brand of thrash metal, so you'd have evil-sounding music (especially confirmed by the horror movie sample in the beginning, which I suppose is from The Omen) with neck-breakingly fast riffs that trample all over the room. The production does make the vocals a bit too loud and the drums sound weird, but the riffs sound halfway decent and that's what matters, since now we can see what Necromästery are made of. And they're made of evil fucking metal. by RaduP

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Phantom Hymn - A Story Of Days To Come Listen at Bandcamp How do you like your crust punk? Blackened, doom-laden, epic, bassy, impulsive and at best melodic? But isn't that contradictory? One-man project Phantom Hymn from Portland, Oregon have just released their very first work to prove the opposite. A Story Of Days To Come is an uplifting but haunting hybrid of crust punk, black metal and doom, spiced by memorable melodies, riffs and solos you'd usually rather find in traditional heavy metal than in punk influenced music. The geographical proximity may just be a coincidence, but Portland's very own Tragedy and their sinister guitar leads are most probably the closest comparison to describe the musical style of Phantom Hymn. But there's no need for comparisons to highlight the quality of musicianship, the songwriting skills and the vocal capabilities performed on the two tracks of A Story Of Days To Come, when one single term can already serve the purpose: flawless. Luckily, a full-length album is rumoured to already be in the making. Don't you dare miss it! by Starvynth

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Nihilsect - Verge Of Collapse Listen at Bandcamp Nihilsect is a three-piece from Greece that formed earlier this year and Verge Of Collapse is their debut EP. From the opening strains of "Ashes Of Hope" you come face to face with gut-punching, raw, crusty black metal that sounds like the bastard child born of Human Serpent's vitriolic hate and Dødsferd's punkish spite. The second song, "Truth Is Foolproof", is equally hostile and chaotic, but it is the title track that will really blow you away with its slower, misery-laden and tension-building riffs spilling over to speedy punk bludgeons. If you like your black metal as eruptive as a Molotov cocktail, check this one out. by nikarg

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Bewailer - Promo 2019 Listen at Bandcamp You don't necessarily have to be a genius to realize that Bewailer may not be the very best choice of a band name if you intend to play the most cheerful music on earth. And the cover artwork (is this the dusk on the eve of the morning that never came?) may reinforce the first perception that these two musicians hailing from Russia's capital have some doom to share, melodic death/doom with a tad of funeral doom to be precise. Formed some day in 2018, Bewailer are still a rather young band but the originators Ovfrost (founder of one-man black metal project Malist) and Flammarius are obviously having great plans. Recently, their full-length album entitled Where My Demise Dwells has been announced and the two demo tracks of Promo 2019 provide a foretaste of things to come: diverse vocals (harsh/clean/spoken words) and rich guitar riffs alternating and interacting with subtly inserted acoustic guitars to build up a warm but gloomy atmosphere and beautiful melodies you can hardly escape. by Starvynth

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