Written by:	RaduP, nikarg, musclassia, Starvynth
Published:	October 06, 2024

Clandestine Cuts Volume 14, Issue #9
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 to this, go back and enjoy our last few issues:

Clandestine Cuts Vol. 14 #8
Clandestine Cuts Vol. 14 #7
Clandestine Cuts Vol. 14 #6

And now to the new music...

---

Sunstead is a post-metal duo from Dortmund, Germany, featuring David Traut on vocals and Moritz "Mo" Malott on all instruments. The band offers an eclectic piece of music, featuring acoustic guitars and violins, fiery post-metal passages, immersive blackgaze sections, almost hardcore-leaning vocals, all within a very captivating atmosphere. The way the acoustic intro track, with the running water sounds, softly lures you in, only to have your face melted by the opening of “Part I: Destination” is ingenious. “Part II: Journey” continues the post-black intensity, until the melancholic outro brings the EP full circle, again in acoustic fashion. The runtime of Shallow But Dark Waters is short, and one can only imagine what this band will do, if/when they release a full-length. The gorgeous cover art by Stephanos Mangriotis, reminiscing a little of Messa's Feast For Water, complements the music perfectly. Fans of Numenorean, Neurosis, Dead To A Dying World, Amenra, and Exulansis should certainly eat this up and pray for more.

by nikarg

---

As a French metal band with self-proclaimed progressive and death metal elements, Gargantura are naturally going to inspire parallels being drawn to Gojira. It’s not an unreasonable comparison, as like the Olympic sensations, Gargantura exhibit groove metal elements and tapping, and like modern Gojira, the presence of death metal in Primary Pulse (the second EP from the group) is superficial at best. Their particular strain of prog feels closer to alternative metal (not least due to the groove elements), and they also take more than a few cues from metalcore. When everything comes together, you have sizzling guitar leads, tasty riffs that balance complexity with accessible groove, and the occasional yet infectious breakdown. Gargantura have a strong ear for melody to offset their inherent aggression, and light atmospheric aspirations further flesh out their well-rounded sound.

by musclassia

---

This isn't the first time that I've covered a Slovenian band in this series, and it is because of that band that I got to find out about Slugpit. While Teleport went on to become Siderean (more on that here), original guitarist/vocalist Jan Medved went on to form Slugpit. The thrash metal side that Teleport has also been removed here, partly because Jan only handles guitars, vocals being handled by Morost's Vid Fekonja, whose rasps edge between black and death metal, while the instrumental side, especially the drumming, injects a punky D-beat energy to it, while still keeping some of the dissonant angularity of the extreme metal. There are more songs shorter than two minutes than longer, to really drive the punk ethos home.

by RaduP

---

Hailing from Lansing, Michigan, Self Absorbed is a band of two main members, Dee Vicious on vocals and guitar, and Pat Wiliams on guitar, bass, drums and additional vocals. They already have a couple of demos released since 2022, but this newest EP, titled Not For You, is their best-sounding and more professional musical output so far. The blend of thrash metal and hardcore, or crossover thrash, if you like, or ‘hot girl thrashcore’, as they promote it, is vicious, pummeling, and right in-your-face. The influence of D.R.I. is present, and the pink cover art with Dee raising her middle finger could not be more fitting. Her voice is definitely a standout feature, whether it’s her hardcore screams, her deathly growls, or her melodic clean singing, but the riffs are also all-obliterating, and the breakdowns are pure stank-face. The closer, “Best Virtue”, is a punk rock/nu metal curveball, which only shows that the band is capable of pulling off a variety of sounds.

by nikarg

---

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 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 overcomes the issue that I have with a lot of grindcore by integrating welcome variation in approach 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 has to offer in 2024.

by musclassia

---

If you're in a black metal band and want to express your lasting enthusiasm for the formative period of the "Peaceville Three", there are two ways to channel that passion: either incorporate those influences into the music of your main band, or start a side project. Two of the three current members of Seid, joined by the former live drummer of the Stockholm band, have opted for the latter approach. Almost simultaneously with the release of the fifth album from their main band, they introduce the first EP of their new project, Walls Of The Desolate. On Grief, fans of the early doom/death scene will find exactly what the label Peaceville once stood for: the melancholy of My Dying Bride, along with compelling guitar riffs reminiscent of Paradise Lost's Greg Mackintosh, and diverse vocals that, like early Anathema, go beyond just growls. Of course, the three Swedes are not reinventing the wheel, but this little homage could offer more than just nostalgia for metalheads who, even after 30 years, still lament the shift of the aforementioned three bands from their original musical roots.

by Starvynth

---