Various Artists – The Underworld…and hell is here!!!

What’s the best thing to do with some money saved? The answer should be evident – do some shopping in the undergroud distros! And as with the already reviewed 5-way split, from my order received from Akné Productions (Slovakia), I’ve put into my player this nice compilation (released by Akné as their 34th release). It’s actually a sequel to the first one (which, unfortunately, I don’t have). Anyway, let’s have a look at this interesting selection.

14 tracks, over one hour of extreme music. That’s the first positive thing, there’s a lot of bang for your precious moolah.

Opening the compilation are Estonian epic black metallers from BESTIA with the song “Ronkade Parved”, originally released on their 2009 full-length of the same name. Great stuff, but it should be no surprise, with their start in 2001, they know their stuff.

Then, GODHATE brings “In Praise of Sin” from their 2009 album Equal In the Eyes of Death and it’s melodic, it’s death metal…oh, wait, those guys hailed from Sweden. Enough said. Unfortunately, the band has split up. Shame, this song kicks ass heavily.

“Necrogenesis” is the title of the song #3 here, coming from Italian black/death/thrash metal fanatics VEXED, and originally it was released on their 2006 full-length Hellblast Extinction. I like that muzzled-like sound of the recording, and they just roll over the song with a gusto. Yep, so far, this compilation rules, that’s no doubt about it.

CRISTALYS is a black metal act from France, song “Gallus Malleus” comes from their 2009 album Suréminence. Starting with a nice melodic preludium, they soon enough unleashed the right black storm upon the unsuspecting listener. Oh yeah, that’s the stuff I like. Nothing “raw” here, the production is excellent, as well as songwriting and musicianship.

Now, this one was a little problematic, but it’s nothing related to music. ANAX is spelled as “The Anax” in the booklet, and there’s also a misspelling of the song title, originally it’s “Purification” (not “Putrification”) and it’s a song from the 2007 album Return to Hell of those Brasileros. Total underground sound, total underground death metal. It might not be on the level of the previous tracks, but it certainly is not to be dismissed. Anax are probably long gone (can’t find anything past their aforementioned 2007 album), but their appearance on this compilation will be a witness to their efforts.

EVILNASTY from Italy hails with “Necromaniac Blood”, the opening track from their only compilation album from 2007 with the same title. Old school black metal, primitive and catchy, enjoyable thing. And 7 minutes long, aaaaarrrrgh!

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any info about ARGANOKK, who present their song “Immortal” under the number 7, it’s really a shame, their Scandinavian black metal is nice and delightful trip through a memory lane back into the early 1990s. Hypnotically monotonous in part, it’s nevertheless mesmerizing and worth of repeated listenings.

Brutal death metal from Germany is taking part with the song “Screams of Pleasure” by occultists from DISINFECT, this particular track is featured on their 2009 full-length Screams of Pleasure. Not bad, however, to be totally honest, not the highlight of the compilation. But that’s just my opinion.

And yet another totally underground sonic attack is PAGANFIRE from Phillipines, and their “Lust Possessed”, the song which has appeared on a few of their releases, lastly on their 2013 album Wreaking Fear And Death. That’s something for you, underground thrash metal fanatics!

ASTARIUM is the one-man project from Russia, and if you swear by the symphonic black metal with ambient vibes, then this is something you might check out. This guy probably records and releases his material even in his sleep, for example, just in 2020 he put out 5 releases, but if his other stuff is in the same vein of music as this song “Breathing Of The Forest” (from 2008 opus On The Edge of Chasm), I can’t complain. It’s nice, dreamy…well, ambient black metal, what do I need to describe here, right?

And from the dreamy journeys in Russian forest we’re tranferred into the puszta in Hungary, where old school death metallers AGE OF AGONY perfect their craft, “On Bloody Pathways” (from their 2005 album War, Hate, Blasphemy) evokes the spirit of US death metal, and it’s such a pleasure! That’s some track for a serious headbanging.

WARNAMENT is a thrash metal group from North Macedonia and “Slow And Painful Death” comes from their 2007 demo Executional Order. It might sound like a simplistic thrash metal, but you can’t deny its charm and it works for me. I especially like the vokills. And the solo! The solo! That’s where we start talking, guys!

I can say that this compilation really embraces the majority of the major genres in the underground and Greek one man project DAWN OF DIVISION with its song “Ashes” (from its 2010 album Tears Of the Ocean) adds another one to the mix, this time it’s a depressive suicidal black metal. OK, don’t know how much suicidal, but depressive BM it definitely is. Slow, melancholic, with the crying guitar riffs and cool choirs, it’s quite a surprise for me. The only downside – it’s too short. I wouldn’t mind it being twice its normal length.

And it would be the end, if it’s not for US death/black metal warriors KOMMANDANT and their song “Sulphur Chariot”, from their 2010 EP Kontakt, which closes this nice little compilation. This is what you can call fast and furious, not that hip-hop shit from the movies…Superb! And visually, even better!

I can’t say nothing else than to state my satisfaction. Oh, and just to mention – this is a purely DIY product, so if you want some digipacks, booklets…shit like that, forget it. This is CD-R with a xerox insert. And I have no problem with that. Do you?