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 #11
Clandestine Cuts Vol. 15 #10
Clandestine Cuts Vol. 15 #9
And now to the new music...
Graven Cross - Prognostic (Finland)
[Doom Metal]
If the words ‘Finland’ and ‘doom metal’ instinctively bring Reverend Bizarre and The Wandering Midget to your mind, then you will find good company with this debut demo by doom newcomers Graven Cross. Introducing themselves with two songs on Prognostic, the band’s riffs are weighty and hypnotic, without leaning on distortion alone, while the vocals are mostly narrative-driven and a bit like storytelling. Opening song “Stronghold” becomes more upbeat in its second half, while “Centuries” is slow, long, and melancholic, feeling as if every note is signalling an ominous prophecy. If you like your music to be patient, dense, and untrendy, Graven Cross is a new band for you to follow.
by nikarg
Strange News - Liar's Curse (USA)
[Hard/Heavy Rock]
Don't tell me that cover art doesn't look intriguing to you; at first glance, it looks to me like the cover of an old fictional fantasy story book, like the ones your parents may have handed down to you when you were younger. As for the music, well it's equally alluring, and just as nostalgic. Strange News are a hard rocking foursome consisting of Loren Thacher (vocals/bass), Sara Abrams (vocals/guitars), Collin Wolf (guitars), and Justin Lange (drums) that recently formed on the banks of the Mississippi in Illinois. Together they bring a delightful dose of country blues-tinged classic hard rock with a rockabilly spirit and 80s-style heavy metal with a hint of traditional doom on this highly impressive debut EP Liar's Curse. Strange News bring the golden age of rock to heavy metal like no other modern band can, and with classic catchy sing-along choruses, non-stop foot-stomping rhythms, groovy intertwining hard rock riffs, and classic bluesy solos like this, you simply won't be able to resist a good ol' headbanging time that transports you from the mid-20th century through to the present day. Liar's Curse is one of the most satisfying hard rock debut EPs in recent years, with a style that's nostalgic yet modern, and it'll have you eagerly wanting to hear more from them in the near future.
by AndyMetalFreak
Stonewielder - The Suffering Ritual (USA)
[Doom Metal | Sludge Metal]
The trio of Stonewielder from St. Louis, Missouri casually dropped a doom/sludge bomb in the form of a debut EP, titled The Suffering Ritual. Heavy-ass riffs with the right amount of groove and a fuzzy atmosphere make for an album that is adequately crushing, but also does not shy away from melody. The lead guitar parts and especially the solos, when present, are standout features of the tracks on offer, particularly due to how emotional and intricate they are, and how cleverly they are supported by the rhythm section in the background (check out the outros of “Bury Me” and “Kali”). The closing track, “The End”, is probably the most engaging and complete song here, opening with a cool solo and holding on to a catchy doomy riff that is only interrupted by yet another cool solo, until the chorus takes the listener to the end.
by nikarg
Right as I was gearing up to go out with a bang for my final Clandestine Cuts entry of 2025 (you know, more abrasive, undeniably delightful deathcore, the usual), this instrumental post-metal EP by Thrøsk crossed my path, shifted my mood and calmly dismantled the plan. So instead of smashing up my living room for the umpteenth time, I chose restraint. Variety. Growth. Or, failing all of that, at least a long, contemplative walk, wandering into nature with Signal Failure as the perfect soundtrack, ending up at a misty lake, staring dramatically at the winter-grey skies like I’d just been cast in season three of a Scandinavian crime series (because apparently that’s where my monkey brain goes when it sees a name like Thrøsk). Anyway. Signal Failure runs on slow-burning tension: brooding build-ups, gradually unfolding riffs, and mood-heavy soundscapes that sneak in like the winter cold does through my jacket. The hooks are subtle but ridiculously addictive once they’ve gotten their claws in. I sit by the fog-covered lake and play the EP again. Then again. With each listen, layer upon atmospheric layer reveals itself, giving the music room to breathe, knowing precisely when to hold back, until the moment is right and it all inevitably explodes. This is instrumental post-metal done exactly right: patient, deliberate, rolling in wave after wave, inching closer each time, wave after wave, until it finally blindsides me, sweeps me off my feet and drags me offshore into the distance, swallowed by fog. Another unsolved Thrøsk case file.
by Thryce
Neverseer - Neverseer (UK)
[Sludge Metal | Progressive Metal]
December is commonly one of the fallower months in the calendar for releases, but it is by no mean devoid of standout records to savour. Neverseer’s self-titled EP is the first release from ex-Iron Altar guitarist Daniel Drever, and as with his former band the sound is rooted in sludge metal, but there is also a tasty proggy slant to the songwriting on this record. As an unabashed fan of the likes of Dvne, Mastodon, The Ocean and others in this niche, I am very primed to appreciate Neverseer’s style, but the strength of the songwriting here transcends mere genre preferences; the riffs are delightfully chunky and groovy, the more melodic and complex elements are highly cathartic, and the clean vocals from Ali Lauder (Ageless Summoning), while not flawless, add a tasteful extra dynamic into the equation. Drever had to leave Iron Altar due to time commitments; I hope circumstances allow him to pursue this new project deeply enough to fulfil the rich promise on display on this first outing.
by musclassia
Lunar Amulet - Lunar Amulet (USA)
[Atmospheric Black Metal]
Music that aspires to be more than shallow entertainment or mere background noise for everyday activities has to take you on a journey. It must carry you off into a new, unknown world, or bring you back to a familiar place from your own past, a place you’d gladly return to. My own personal place of this kind is the abandoned quarry at the end of the bumpy forest path, where the thick oaks once stood along the riverbank. Of course, children were not allowed to play there, specially not at night, and certainly not in winter, when snow and damp leaves lay on the large boulders. But I did it anyway, and when I stood at the very top of the giant rock crusher, with the icy wind driving tears from my eyes as I screamed my name into the dark night, I felt like the king of the world for a moment. What led me back to this childhood memory is Lunar Amulet, the creation of Aaron Charles (Falls Of Rauros, ex-Feral, Panopticon). The music of his latest project is best described as if he had thrown all his past and present experiences as a musician into a big blender and replaced the neofolk component with a hefty dose of Bølzer. In other words: Lunar Amulet is a mystical and enigmatic, yet raw and vigorous surge of atmospheric black metal, and the perfect soundtrack for solitary walks through stormy winter nights.
by Starvynth
