Blessed Are the Sick: Morbid Angel’s Last Advance

by Daniel Maarat on September 11, 2016

morbid angel blessed are the sick original

Nirvana’s Nevermind turned twenty five yesterday but since we at the Death Metal Underground condemn pop-punk Boston worship, we will celebrate a different anniversary today. Morbid Angel‘s Blessed Are the Sick was released twenty-five summers ago. Blessed Are the Sick was the last Morbid Angel record focused on inwardly improving the music rather than compromising it for commercial appeal to a mainstream market. The band had been obsessed with refining and expanding upon their compositions since Trey Azagthoth shelved the release of 1986’s Abominations of Desolation and fired then drummer/vocalist Mike Browning.

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Father Befouled Announce Desolate Gods For 2017

by Daniel Maarat on August 24, 2016

father befouled upcoming record desolate gods

Father Befouled, one of the only even semi-competent Incantaclones, have announced on their Funbook page that they will be releasing a new album, Desolate Gods, next year on Dark Descent Records. Hopefully the band has progressed beyond straight imitation of Incantation, Profanatica, and Havohej.

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Deceased –Fearless Undead Machines Reissue

by Daniel Maarat on August 24, 2016

deceased - fearless undead machines reissue cover

Death/speed metal hybrid band Deceased‘s Fearless Undead Machines has been reissued on CD by Transcending Obscurity Records.

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Metal Curmudgeon: Bolt Thrower’s Blitzkrieg Halts

by Daniel Maarat on August 20, 2016

bolt thrower - realm of chaos cover

Starting in the mid to late Eighties, many of the originators of death and black metal started to commercialize their music into straight speed metal for mass appeal to a bar show, beer metal audience; social concert goers in the uniforms of leather jackets, band tees, and high tops who treated shows as a time to socialize and shoot the shit with their friends while listening to typical bands that never challenged their musical preconceptions or startled them away from their ritualized moshing. Just a few years prior, many of these types would’ve been the same idiots seen in Heavy Metal Parking Lot. While most of their peers moved on from Judas Priest to Motley Crue and Guns ‘n’ Roses, many listened to what was considered an “acceptable” fusion of heavy metal and radio rock played by groups like post-Ride the Lightning Metallica, Anthrax, and Testament.

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Initial Impressions of Serpent Ascending – Ananku

by Staff on August 19, 2016

serpent ascending - ananku cover

Article by Anton Rudrick.

Following a tradition of Finnish death metal, Serpent Ascending first proved its allegiance to the old stream of thought on The Enigma Unsettled. The project stood out as possessing that rare gift that grants vision past forms and into the value therein encased as dormant power, codified, awaiting a worthy hero who can pull the Sword from the Stone. While using techniques and musical structures that are well-known, interesting counterpoint and chant-like melodies can be seen in that first album, inserting them in between more conservative power metal riffs that were eerie enough to belong to occult death metal but also displayed a penchant for memorable phrases. Five years have elapsed since then, and several Desecresy albums have seen the definition and reaffirmation of that band into a distinctly esoteric style. Many were keenly expectant upon the future of Serpent Ascending.

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