Lucifer - I (2015)

   Even though the '70s hard rock vintage wave isn't so active and eventful as any nostalgia waves in the extreme underground, it can come up with very interesting projects indeed. One of them is Lucifer, a multinational band who leads back the listener to the crossroads of doom, heavy metal and hard rock.
   This direction of course makes it inevitable to "borrow" plenty of riffs from the one and only Black Sabbath, the band who paved the way for heavy metal and its subgenres. And unsurprisingly on the side of the sound quality, many themes are quite reminding to Black Sabbath. Similar to classic bands, there's pretty high focus on band's singer, Johanna Platow, who basically resurrected the occult doom metal femme fatale persona, that originally have been invested by Jinx Dawson of Coven. Except Frau Platow is (hopefully) not intending to ruin the whole image by switching to a radio pop direction. It's definitely not a role that would be easy to fill, since having a great voice isn't enough, must perform in a certain ominous (doom metal-like) style and have to stay authentic on stage as well. No wonder that there aren't many similar endeavors to find, but she at least successfully mastered the whole thing. By her performance the threatening embrace of darkness feels soft and magical. According to nowadays radio tendences their music counts pretty much as radio compatible (depends on country and region of course), but musically and by sound it's definitely heavier than most fellow vintage hard rock based bands. The vocal performance softening the main impression, and lyrically Lucifer is also not too explicit. Their more "decent" approach is the sign of a sort of elegance that was long lost from the genre during the '80s, when explicitness became one of the main tools of attention seeking. In total, for the fans of hard rock and the most ancient sound of heavy and doom metal, Lucifer's music might be enjoyable and nostalgic.

Morgoth - Ungod (2015)

   It took for a bit longer, but the reunification and returning wave of old school death metal bands didn't avoid Morgoth either. But while most of these similar returns were quite disappointing, Morgoth did manage to leave behind a great material again (before they've split up again).
   And they did that without former frontman Marc Grewe by finding a voice very similar to his (Karsten Jäger). And indeed, without that characteristic and unique vocal style Morgoth definitely couldn't have been the same. The band's discography basically reflects the life stages of the members. In their earliest period the most extreme aspect of their music was created by the "Resurrection Absurd" and "Eternal Fall" EPs. On "Cursed" a professional death metal band could be heard, "Odium" came out when the death metal scene was exhausted, and some bands were into technical and progressive experiments in the hope of renewing their style. And their most hated release "Feel Sorry for the Fanatic" was made when an inevitable switch happened by interfering features of adulthood like the everydays life of workers, career building and settling. A becoming serious switch to some, meaningless bullshit for others. Except the reuniting wave influenced by the New Wave of Old School Death Metal, "Ungod" also represents the nostalgia ambition for the band members. Over a certain age many wishes to return to their roots and teen age favorites/ influences, and since the members of Morgoth were basically teens when they've formed the band, this nostalgia seems reasonable for the band members. Most specifically for guitarists Harald Busse the only founding member who was left and Sebastian Swart who joined the band in 1990. So "Ungod" wasn't meant to disappoint the old fans and it didn't. Those who missed the early sound of Morgoth might have been certainly satisfied. It wasn't just an imitation of the old times like most of the time like "let's play just something similar like back then". The riffs and some themes might sound very familiar, but not as rip-offs of the old records. The character and spirit of old Morgoth have returned (or resurrected in some absurd form). By music, sound quality and intensity "Ungod" could be embedded between "Cursed" and "Odium" as an imaginary extension of the band's old school death metal era. 

Antiversum - Total Vacuum (2015)

   Antiversum showed up as a genuine rare gem in the extreme metal underground by their demo "Total Vacuum".
    At one hand the concept of their music that's basically the mix of black, death and doom metal is quite old school and only a couple of similar bands could be mentioned that have tried something similar, but they all sounded completely different from each other and Antiversum does too. And at the other hand the implementation followed the actual musically minimalistic, and strongly atmospheric trends of the '10s underground scene, therefore "Total Vacuum" sounds enough modern to not be confused with any '90s classics. Basically the dense atmosphere bonds the three distinguishable influences together into a noisy mass, that despite the dull sound, still effects heavy enough. The minimalist approach might suggest raw outcome, but thanks to the various influences and effective song compositions, the demo sounds way more diverse than how it might be expected. Also the biggest advantage of Antiversum's music is that it couldn't be confused with other black/death metal, also it's not close to war metal. Maybe the unfriendliest aspect of death/doom (mainly Incantation influenced) is the most comparable to their music. However, it sounds like the band's intention was to keep some balance between strong atmosphere based melancholic touch and overwhelming intensity based noisy-down pulling impression.
   Strongly recommended for the fans of atmospheric black/death and death/doom. 

Saturnine - Mors Vocat (2015)

   After a quite promising self-titled demo, Saturnine debuted with an excellent sludge/doom album, that mainly relied on melancholic impression.
   The wider appearance of sludge/doom bands in the European scene was one of the advantageous features of the underground scene from the late '00s. Similar to most, Saturnine preferred pretty basic themes, and exposing them with the heavy sound and extended song structures of doom metal. In fact, this was nothing new, and also counts as an absolute win recipe that's difficult to ruin, but to hear such minimalistic and effective approach, that focuses on the core essence of the style is quite refreshing. Especially on the side of the long line of hipsterizing endeavors in the hope of coming up with something new, that were (and still are) mainly trending in the metal scene in general. "Mors Vocat" has a strong, down-pulling atmosphere by the sludgy features, but great themes are making it diverse enough to not fall into repetitiveness. The album's mysterious, atmospheric, but still sludgy-noisy approach is pure (dark) magic. If there was an ancient Far East saying about female metal bands, it might sound something like: "If you find any you like, and you are able to watch them live, don't hesitate, cause they might be not active for long. If you want to get their merch, do it now, cause the possibility of reprints and re-releases is quite low." This made-up imaginary rule proved to be pretty accurate about Saturnine, but in case of underground female metal bands in general too. Cause while keeping an underground band together could be definitely challenging, but in case of a female lineup it seems to be even more difficult.  In total, "Mors Vocat" might be a potential favorite for the fans of sludge/doom.

Chiral - Abisso (2015)

  "Abisso" was basically Chiral's second demo record from 2014, that also had a limited CD release one year after with two extra songs, that extended the demo to decent full-length duration. And it was definitely worth to make such a release, since the demo was in various ways pretty interesting.
   A wide range of influences could be discovered in Chiral's music, that was in this current state the mix of atmospheric black metal and black/doom. The latest always counts as something extraordinary to find, partly because black/doom is quite rare in general, and also the two styles aren't too easy to combine. Therefore not many can manage to create something enjoyable and impressive out of them. In case of Chiral the black/doom features were a consequence of experimenting, that came from atmospheric approach. This is usually not really supporting the heavier sound that doom metal themes might require, but the atmospheric sound and effects are also including epic elements, that are strongly related to classic doom metal. The sound still didn't become as heavy as it supposed to be, but the thick, misty melancholic atmosphere worked out pretty well with the slow themes. In the two longest songs of the record this solution was well applied. In the rest of the songs drastic switches from soft melodies to intensity are common. This might remind to some death/doom classics of the early '90s, cause the way of experimenting was somewhat similar at the heralds of the subgenre. It's another question how intentional the whole thing was from Chiral, but the results were exciting indeed. The involvement of doom features opened further depths for the atmospheric blackened melancholy, and made the album more diverse than what could be expected in this style. Strongly recommended for the fans of atmospheric black metal and blackened doom.

Surge Assault - Lust & Misery (2015)

   Surge Assault debuted with "First Division" a raw, but promising blackened thrash EP, that wasn't too refined yet, but the band's imagination about what they wanted to do was clear.
   By "Lust & Misery" their full-length album they have returned as a band who mastered black/thrash metal completely and whose name could be mentioned among the heavy hitters of the style. Also the black/thrash they played was strongly related to the '80s nostalgia based trend that keeps frequently appearing at Swedish bands, such as Bewitched, Mordant, or early Paganizer. The only difference is that Surge Assault didn't intend to sound exactly like a long forgotten band from the '80s. They focused on thrashing intensity instead and for this an advantageous sound was picked. Thrashing black at it's best so to say, and by this quality their intensity is comparable to what many South American bands do in this style. The same spirit and the same overwhelming energy. Catchy and wild riffs combined with punk rooted thrashing beats, probably it's the best and most effective combination for an old school concept like this. And the biggest advantage is that it's pretty difficult to fail in this style. For the fans of thrash and blackened thrash "Lust & Misery" is a potential long term favorite. 

Mass Burial - Soul's Necrosis (2015)

   Mass Burial debuted in 2012 with "Of Carrion and Pestilence". It was a stunning album that followed the Swedish style of old school death metal. If we shoo off the thought that the death metal scene definitely suffers from Swedish death overdose in general only by bands from Sweden already (that leads to boredom), and things not getting better if similar bands keep forming in every other country with somewhat worthwhile metal scene, then this endeavor could seem promising. 
   However, Mass Burial's debut was a bit more experimenting and therefore less unified, and more diverse. Their return by "Soul's Necrosis" took the Swedish path more consistently. Excellent sound quality gave the well known "Swedish buzzsaw" sound more advantageous basics, and it was brought into highlight. The song structures also became more unified. The band had great and catchy riffs even on the previous album already, and they really did their best this time. But for the cost of less freedom if it's about experimenting and creativity, since the music had to fit into the strict rules of their preferred direction. And it turned out to be so good that it would be impossible to tell without and background information that they're not a Swedish death metal band. For those who dig the style and never can get enough of it, "Soul's Necrosis" might be a potential favorite.