Written by:	Nefarious, nikarg, RaduP
Published:	April 05, 2019

Clandestine Cuts Volume 9, Issue #3
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 #2
Clandestine Cuts Vol. 9 #1
Clandestine Cuts Vol. 8 #5

And now to the new music...

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Torso - Demonic Vomiting Listen at Bandcamp Torso from Finland checks all the boxes that any underground osdm band with a shred of self-respect needs to check; unreadable band logo, low budget gross artwork and sick riffs. And being the hound dog that I can be for your sake Metalstormers, I've managed to find out that members of the cult icons Torsofuck are involved (ok, I admit that with song titles such as "Ejaculate Inside The Carcass", it wasn't that hard to figure it out). Thankfully, the vocals of Torso are infinitely better and the grind element of Torsofuck is mostly absent. What is present in Demonic Vomiting is putrid, brutal and absolutely crushing death metal with riffs that weigh tons and drums that sledgehammer your skull. A disgustingly beautiful demo that will transport you right back to the beginning of the '90s. by nikarg

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Mount Saturn - Kiss the Ring Listen at Bandcamp Female fronted psychedelic stoner / doom is a path well-trodden by many a band, but what helps Mount Saturn stand out from the crowd are two distinct factors: Violet Vasquez's reverb laden powerful yet cavernous vocals recorded deep at the back of the mix and Ray Blum's brilliant guitar work both in the form of heavy, catchy riffs & fantastic solo's. Hailing from Bellingham, Washington, USA, Kiss The Ring represents is Mount Saturn's debut EP featuring 4 tracks & clocking in at about 25 minutes. It is a little rough around the edges in parts, but shows a lot of potential for the future as their unique identity & sound continues to develop. by Nefarious

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Krushhammer - Speed Blacking Hell Listen at YouTube / Spotify / Google Play Music Do you like Deströyer 666, Sarcófago and Deathhammer? Good, because the Krushhammer dudes dig these bands a lot too and they even have a track featured here called "Deathhammer". Now this demo is called Speed Blacking Hell for a reason and it fully lives up to its title. It is a speedy black/thrash dynamite, with screaming guitars that sound like demons raging from hell, manic vocals constantly trying to outrun the guitars and percussion on steroids. Just like every band or album trying to recapture the 1983-1985 period, it worships Slayer's Show No Mercy more than anything, with pinches of early Sodom and Kreator thrown in. The raw production and the authentic performance make Speed Blacking Hell perfect in its own right and, although it's just a demo with only four songs clocking in at less than 11 minutes, it is some of the best poser-exterminating thrash you're going to listen to this year. by nikarg

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Knell - Jactura Listen at Bandcamp Black Tongue made a lot of waves for their really slow and heavy brand of deathcore. Knell from Turkey took some cues from that, by making an EP that exhibits a really slow type of deathcore, almost like a sludge album with djenty chuggs. Sounds preposterous? Well it quite is, since sludge really really needs some bass, but Knell make up for that by having their two guitars tuned really really low and by playing really really slow. And the vocals often sound quite fit for sludge until they deliver those distinct deathcore gutturals. by RaduP

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Úir - Óenach Tailten Listen at Bandcamp I'm genuinely baffled as to why the cover art is so pixelated, because at it's core it should be an amazing one but it's just so disgustingly low quality. But aside from that, here we have Úir, originally started as a collaboration of Haar and Úlfarr members, but which a slight lineup change since their debut EP. Now released by Pest Productions, in their second EP, Óenach Tailten we have some bassy lo-fi (not quite as lo-fi as the cover art) atmospheric black that talks about pagan gatherings in pre-Christian British Isles. Due to the production being so raw, subdued and so bass-centric, it has a somewhat distinct sound from most forests and mountains type of atmo black bands as if slowly erased by time. by RaduP

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Sanity Control - Demo 2019 Listen at Bandcamp We really don't know much about Sanity Control. Their Bandcamp page just popped up overnight with one demo on it and the only information that tells us is that they're from Poland (as well as some recording and artwork info). So what are we to make of this not even five minutes long demo? Well, we are to be victims to a slab of very raw, fast and angry thrash metal that does care a bit about such meager things as song structures and experimentation beyond just raw fast angry thrash. The second song especially has some interesting sound effects within its already unexpected breakdown. But it would probably take you more to read this than to listen to the entire thing, so there's your time wasted. by RaduP

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