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 #12
Clandestine Cuts Vol. 15 #11
Clandestine Cuts Vol. 15 #10
And now to the new music...
Mortal Void - Death Salvation (USA)
[Death Metal]
The debut EP by the Texans Mortal Void initially draws one in due to its eye-catching artwork, and subsequently demands attention due to its technical riffs and unmistakable groove. This is primarily an old-school Floridian death metal affair, but it spices things up by throwing progressive, technical, and melodic elements in the mix, and by even showing a slightly blackened character at times, particularly because of the higher range vocals that accompany the deep growls. The pacing of the songs can be fast and aggressive (“Global Turmoil”) or doomy and sombre (“Death Salvation”), and the production finds the sweet spot between ‘polished’ and ‘filthy’. Clocking in at just over 20 minutes, Death Salvation stays around just long enough to make a point that death metal can be crushing and intricate at the same time, and it is a very promising start for Mortal Void.
by nikarg
Pict - The Nomad (UK)
[Atmospheric Black Metal | Progressive Sludge Metal]
Naming influences as wide-ranging as Gojira, Winterfylleth and Conjurer, as well as the gloom of their native Scotland, Pict kicked off 2026 with a bang by releasing debut EP The Nomad on January 5th. With their ambition matched by their talent, the Glasgow quartet manage to make all those aforementioned influences clearly audible and yet seamlessly slot together; an atmospheric black metal sound fitting with the epic landscape on the artwork is regularly present, but going with it is murky sludge riffing, prog complexity (particularly on the longer songs at the end of the EP), Gojira-style tapping and riff rhythms at the beginning of “III. Searching”, and additional elements creeping in from other metal genres. The Nomad is an EP where sorrowful guitar melodies can soar over doomy gloom, cellos and violins can wallow within pensive acoustic soundscapes, and then only a moment later dissonant sludge trudges begin to drag down into the mire, and there’s never a moment where Pict don’t sound in complete control of their sound.
by musclassia
Nearless - Autumnal Ache (UK)
[Atmospheric Black Metal | Post-Black Metal]
Nearless is a new atmospheric/post-black metal band from the UK, and Autumnal Ache is their third EP, having already released another two in 2025, but it is the first time we feature them in the Clandestine Cuts. There is only one person responsible for the composition and execution of the music, ‘T.’, who is a talented musician crafting songs of melancholy and intensity, and creating soundscapes that very much fit a rainy autumn day. The music is guitar-driven, fragile, and dreamy, but it turns aggressive as well, while always staying melodic, with harsh vocals that are low enough in the mix so that they are basically utilized as another instrument. The band logo and the cover art display aching beauty, which can also be said to describe the music and lyrics. If you are looking for a soundtrack to falling leaves, you have just found it, and it came out on the first day of the year.
by nikarg
Right On Target - Tales You've Heard Before (Indonesia)
[Metalcore | Hardcore]
Get this: somewhere in Belgium, a guy randomly stumbles onto a Surabaya, Indonesia-based metal band that openly cites a Belgian band as their main influence. Crazy coincidence, glitch in the matrix, either way, if you’re the type who believes in signs from the universe before checking out new music, this poke in the ribs is pretty much it. Tales You've Heard Before runs on mid-tempo, chugging, rebar-chewing metallic hardcore that draws direct lineage from Belgium's Arkangel and Paris' Kickback , with a fresh Indonesian edge bolted on for good measure. Bruising grooves, riffs that could tear up asphalt, and hostile undertones do most of the talking. The aggressive songwriting is built on the bones of late-'90s melodic death metal that fueled the first metalcore boom, topped with raw, barked vocals and banshee-level screams. Tales You've Heard Before lands exactly where it promises: a throwback smack dab in the old-school metallic hardcore playground, bringing nothing new to the table, but serving as a reminder that those old tables were built sturdy for a reason.
by Thryce
Wasterider - Chronostasis (USA)
[Instrumental Stoner Metal]
Chronostasis, the second EP from California’s Wasterider following 2019 EP 0 RPM, was recorded between 2022-2025, with all aspects of its creation (instrumentation, production, artwork) handled by the band. It is evidently a real labour of love, but those efforts are not unnoticed here, as is an instrumental stoner metal record with far more unique personality to it than most other bands could accomplish. The heavier riffs can be a bit proggy in their phrasing, and they are contrasted with warm lush softer psychedelic passages that capture some of the charm of acts such as Elder. To make up for the lack of vocals, there are a multitude of captivating and meandering extended guitar solos to savour, and the EP is rounded out with 10-minute epic “Troposcatter”, which brings all of the band’s virtues together with a mesh of enchanting mellow psychedelia punctuated with tasty riffing and delicating noodling.
by musclassia
Black - The Deafening Silence (Austria)
[Funeral Doom Metal | Chamber Music]
Austria is the cradle of classical music, and many of the most important composers in European music history (Mozart, Haydn, Schubert, Strauss, van Beethoven, Vivaldi, Brahms, just to name a few) either grew up in Vienna and the surrounding area or spent their most significant creative periods there. You don’t necessarily have to know this as a metalhead, but it might explain why the Graz-based band Black was founded not in some completely random place, but in the second-largest city of the Alpine republic. Now, combining doom metal with classical instruments hasn’t exactly been a new idea since the heart-wrenching violin in Symphonaire Infernus Et Spera Empyrium and As The Flower Withers, but Juljan Murillo’s project goes much further than simply adding instruments like harp, cello, double bass, violin, piano, and classical vocals to a (funeral) doom framework for mere effect. In that sense, The Deafening Silence could almost pass as a late response to Elend’s early works. Without the French band’s trademark black metal shrieks, however, the 34 minutes of Black's first EP feel less disturbing, more measured and balanced, yet also more metallic due to the more restrained use of symphonic elements.
by Starvynth
