Looking for something new to listen to? Get acquainted with these tracks from some lesser-known bands released in April 2023 thanks to our monthly Underground Roundup! Check out our playlists below featuring this month's picks (as long as they're on streaming services), and you can listen to all previous editions of the Underground Roundup here.
Agriculture – "Look, Pt. 1"
Agriculture is here to put the ecstatic back in black metal with their new self-titled record due out June 21. Get into it with the short burst of blinding heavy light "Look, Pt. 1" below, featuring Patrick Shiroishi on saxophone.
Bear – "Vanta"
Bear's new track "Vanta" is a standalone single, which sucks a little because we could use a whole record of this. From technical djenty-styled riffing to soaring vocals, this song is a great combination of confusing and catchy.
Birdflesh – "Chainsaw Frenzy"
CHAIN! SAW! FREN! ZY! Birdflesh's new album Sickness In The North is out now and it'll hack you into bits. Better yet, the below track features Matt Harvey (Exhumed, Gruesome) for maximum disgusting.
Blood Star – "Cold Moon"
Blood Star just released their new album First Sighting. Vocalist Madeline Michelle brings the hooks throughout, while founding member and Visigoth guitarist Jamison Palmer knows damn well what to do when cranking out heavy metal riffs.
Burner – "Prometheus Reborn"
Panic chords? Check. Vocals that span guttural lows to throat-shredding highs? Check. Bits that'll make you mosh everything around you into dust? Check, about 20 times in one song. It All Returns To Nothing is out June 23.
Danava – "Let The Good Times Kill"
If you ever wished that Motörhead were a little more stoner rock-ish (with all their usual aggression), you're gonna love Danava's new single "Let The Good Times Kill". Danava released their new recordNothing But Nothing on April 28.
Dozer – "Dust For Blood"
Dozer is back for the first time in 25 years with a new record Drifting In The Endless Void, which goes to prove that Sweden does that American desert rock sound better than we do sometimes. Check out "Dust For Blood" below and light one up.
Gateway – "The Coexistence Of Dismal Entities"
Gateway, the one man project of Robin van Oyen, will release its first new album in eight years Galgendood on July 5. If you like your death doom as filthy as a freshly dug-up grave, this one's for you.
Howling Giant – "Sunken City"
If you're in the mood for beefy riffs, vocal harmonies, and keyboard-driven melodies, then you really need to get into this new Howling Giant track – it rules. Howling Giant will release a currently-unannounced new album this fall, so stay tuned for that!
JAAW – "Total Protonic Reversal"
What do you get when you put together members of Petbrick, Therapy?, Squarepusher, and Mugstar? Apparently some seriously low-tuned riffing and industrial percussion. We're down. JAAW will release Supercluster on May 25.
Johari – "Daedalus"
Johari, headed up by guitarist Gabriel Castro and keyboardist and vocalist Connor Hill, grabbed members of Entheos, The Contortionist, Foreign Waves, Archspire, and and Last Chance To Reason for this technical nightmare of a single.
Johnny Booth – "Collapse In The Key Of Fireworks"
Johnny Booth is back with a chaotic new single "Collapse In The Key Of Fireworks" and a new record Moments Elsewhere due out sometime later this year. The single comes with a music video filmed and edited by Gulab Singh and Johnny Booth.
Memorrhage – "Reek"
Memmorhage is the nü-metal homage project headed up by Garry Brents of Cara Neir and Gonemage fame. From record scratches and grooves to feedback and spoken word bits, Memmorhage nails what it was like growing up in the 2000s.
Misanthropæ – "Shrine"
Misanthropæ just dropped their new EP MMXXIII and it's grimy, blackened grindcore that'll make you need to take a shower after listening. I assume those sounds at the start of the song are Misanthropæ crawling out from under the subway system.
Neurotech – "The Coming Storms"
Neurotech has been walking the line between Sybreed and Mechina for years, and doing so wonderfully. Neurotech's new album Ave Neptune is out now and "The Coming Storms" is all the mechanized riffing you could possibly want.
None – "Rest"
Oregon-based depressive black metal unit None is back for the first time in four years to bum you right the fuck out. Start with "Rest" below, get Inevitable when it's out on June 30, and make sure to shut the blinds.
Order Of Decay – "Blood Libation"
From the depths of Scotland comes Order of Decay and their devastating debut album Mortification Rites. Check out "Blood Libation", which is sure to drag your day way down into the blackest reaches of nothingness. Mortification Rites is out June 2.
Penny Coffin – "Ballistic"
Why not give Penny Coffin's Conscripted Morality a spin? It's exactly as bleak as its cover suggests, and you'll come out on the other side well below that gravestone. Here, we'll even get you started on your trip down with "Ballistic".
Runemagick – "Endless Night And Eternal End"
Swedish masters of death doom Runemagick has returned with a gloomy new single "Archaic Magick (After the Red Sun)" and a new record Beyond The Cenotaph Of Mankind due out April 28. Get wrecked in slow motion.
Sól án varma – "Afbrigði I"
Sól án varma released their self-titled debut album in early April and you really need to check it out. "Afbrigði I" is only one chunk of the melodic black metal goodness held within, but it'll give you a pretty good idea of what to expect.
Ὁπλίτης – "Τρῶξις"
Who the hell is Ὁπλίτης? How have they released two killer albums in 2023? The answers are unknown, but "Τρῶξις" is here to beat you into the center of the Earth. Ὁπλίτης's second album of the year Τρωθησομένη is out now.
Spinebreaker – "Spectral Forge"
Spinebreaker, the band featuring members of Sunami, Ripped To Shreds, and Gulch), is here to kick your ass with their crushing new single "Spectral Forge." Spinebreaker's new EP Cavern Of Inoculated Cognition is out May 5
The Supervoid Choir Ensemble – "|||||"
Cloudkicker mastermind Ben Sharp is back with a new band called The Supervoid Choral Ensemble. The band features Sharp and drummer Vinny Roseboom making fantastic, atmospheric instru-metal, and their debut 7" is out now.
Terzij de Horde + Ggu:ll – "A Robe Of Words"
What do you get when you combine the crushing sounds of both Terzij de Horde and Ggu:ll? Something horrifying as you'll find out with the collaboration's single "A Robe Of Words" below. Terzij de Horde and Ggu:ll released their EP Van Grond on April 22.
Torture Rack – "Decrepit Funeral Home"
Torture Rack is back with their first new full-length in five years Primeval Onslaught, due out June 9. You can begin the torture right now with the new single "Decrepit Funeral Home," which might be one of the most death metal song titles of 2023.
Vorder – "Introspective"
Vorder, the band featuring current and former members of Katatonia, Besvärjelsen, and Blodskam, is now streaming their dreary new single "Introspective" from their upcoming record False Haven due out May 26. Have the skies turn gray below.
Voidscape – "The Unsaved"
Voidscape, featuring members of Tombs and Replicant, is here to shatter your eardrums with their new single "The Unsaved". Coupled with an equally dark music video, "The Unsaved" is brutal through and through. Odyssey Of Spite is out now.
Wytch Hazel – "Angel Of Light"
Wytch Hazel is back with a new record Wytch Hazel IV: Sacrament due out June 2 and a brand new single "Angel Of Light." If you're looking for a very Thin Lizzy-esque jam bathed in birghtness, then you're going to love what Wytch Hazel has to offer.
