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. 16 #5
Clandestine Cuts Vol. 16 #4
Clandestine Cuts Vol. 15 #3
And now to the new music...
Aeger Aenima - The Falling Leaves (France)
[Electronic Black Metal]
Multi-instrumentalist Jehan Fillat, once owner of Apathia Records, a label that brought to the world the avant-garde sensation Pryapisme, has a new solo project. Aeger Anima (Latin for ‘Sick Soul’) is a creative and unpredictable EP, mixing black metal with electronic, ambient, and industrial sounds. Based on the anti-war poetry of WWI, The Falling Leaves borrows its title from a poem by Margaret Postgate Cole, while two more poems are read over two songs; Alan Seeger’s "I Have A Rendezvous With Death" and Wilfred Owen’s "Dulce Et Decorum Est". These narrations blend very well with the cold, atmospheric, and bleak black metal soundscape, especially due to the inspired rhythm shifts and the infusion of the electronic beats. The closing track is instrumental and possibly the most avant-garde of them all, given that it can be described as psytrance black metal. This debut EP is a risky endeavour and a bit outside of metal’s comfort zone, but it is a rendezvous well worth going to.
by nikarg
Dogma Vile - First Taste Of Humiliation (Greece)
[Death Metal]
Dogma Vile is a death metal band newly formed by veterans from the Greek metal scene. Here they present their debut EP First Taste Of Humiliation on which they unleash 15 minutes of gritty, uncompromising death metal with themes confronting authority, religion, and systemic injustice. Their style generally focuses on '90s Swedish OSDM with grindcore influences, containing heavy sludgy riffs with crushing grooves, infectious headbanging rhythms with furious blast-beats, and savage carnivorous vocals, while all of that is brought together by a raw, underground, but surprisingly nuanced production. Dogma Vile are indeed a vile act, bringing death metal to their listeners in its dirtiest and most ruthless form, and if this is only their 'First Taste Of Humiliation', then I'm definitely looking forward to finding out what their next taste will be like. Those who enjoy the grind-influenced, sludgy old-school side of death metal should definitely be keeping a close eye on Dogma Vile, as their rise to success on the Greek extreme metal scene looks to be inevitable.
by AndyMetalFreak
Hysteria - Hysteria (USA)
[Gothic Metal | Avant-Garde Metal]
Hysteria just entered the scene with a splash, and you can expect the unexpected from their self-titled debut EP. This duo (Olga Nuit and Laura Gonzalez) from Seattle, Washington, has a bit of an unconventional and theatrical approach, offering both operatic vocals as well as grief-filled shrieks and growls for good measure, occasionally at the same time. Their eclectic style of avant-garde has gothic/doom and symphonic metal elements as their cornerstones with the instruments conjuring the melodies and ambiance for the voices to shine. They're not afraid to experiment with sounds and the music is quite dark, dynamic, haunting, and full of eerie outbursts. All you have to do is keep an open mind.
by BloodTears
Pale Torch - Obscured By Wrath (USA)
[Death Metal]
Namaste again, my friend. Following last month's unfortunate cinder-block-related mindfulness exercise (or "aggravated assault", depending on whom you ask), I'm now court-ordered to listen exclusively to chamber music. Luckily there’s Pale Torch, whose trombone-crushing debut EP has all the grace of a grand piano dropped from a fifth-floor window. Firing on all cymbalinders, Obscured By Wrath sits smack in the middle of the Venn diagram where melody, technicality and brutality overlap. Actually, scratch that, I meant flutality. Conducting this whole affair is Damian Arias, together with vocalist Andrew Virrueta (also handling production, mix and master), better known for his work with Ingested, one of the, uh, bigbands in the trumpeath circuit these days. Now if you'll excuse me, my probation officer just texted asking why there's a circle pit going on in the waiting room. What are they gonna do, arrest me again?
by Thryce
Towers Below - Dwell (Australia)
[Deathcore | Technical Death Metal]
An intercontinental Southern Hemisphere showcase, Towers Below is the result of collaboration between members of the Australian and Argentinian extreme metal scenes. The result of this fusion is one that straddles the line between deathcore, technical death metal and melodic death metal to fine effect; Dwell defies its name by refusing to dwell in only one niche, instead bringing together technical yet melody-infused riffs, emotionally charged bite, delicious groove, and breakdown brutality, all of which are covered within the 3 minutes of feisty opening song “Wretched Son”. At some points Towers Below sound like a more Gothenburg-inspired iteration of The Black Dahlia Murder, at others like a mesh of all the best trends in deathcore, with “Red Trophy” littered with tech-death brutality, scintillating tapping leads and malevolent atmosphere.
by musclassia
Obsolete Tears - Yön Veisuja (Finland)
[Black Metal]
'Obsolete Tears' sounds like the name of a gothic metal band, it would probably work just as well for a doom metal act, and you might even expect it to be a DSBM project. In reality, however, Obsolete Tears have absolutely nothing to do with any of those styles. The four musicians from Tampere are devoted to black metal, playing it fast, loud, and with a strong punk edge. The album title, Yön Veisuja ('Songs Of The Night'), may be a little misleading as well, because there's nothing on these three tracks that would lull you to sleep. There's no melancholy, no keyboards, no frills, no endlessly drawn-out intros, and no whining vocals. Instead, Yön Veisuja bursts with raw, unrestrained energy. A wild party in a graveyard, stumbling drunkenly over tombstones, feeding the bonfire until not a single wooden cross is left standing, all while shouting along to the old Darkthrone classics? That's exactly the kind of soundtrack Obsolete Tears provide. Or, if you prefer, you can simply throw on this debut EP whenever the mood strikes and appreciate the fact that there are still black metal musicians out there who clearly enjoy what they do and don't take themselves and the heavy metal subculture too seriously.
by Starvynth
. This is one of the most original bands that have contacted us, in my opinion, in the sense that I cannot remember another band having two female vocalists feeding off of each other this way over music that is quite experimental. Along with Aeger Aenima and Pale Torch, they are my favourite releases of this bunch, and I am having a hard time choosing who to vote for.