Redrum: "Power Corrupts"

Unpolished gem of old school thrash from when the genre was on its way out of style

Redrum from Sacramento, CA, should by connoisseurs be considered a classic underground American thrash band. They only ever released a handful of demos of varying quality, but the main attraction here is their one full length album Power Corrupts, which was re-released in 2007 by Evil Legends with new artwork (and thank god for that, 'cause the old artwork was terrible and speaks of a limited budget).

Somnam: "Melancholy's Masquerade"

Appealingly demented ventures into electronics and ambience

Somnam began some time back in 2005 in Finland, but the one-man project has miraculously endured the passing of time with bravour, having released a full length album as recently as 2015.

Skjaersild: "Skjaersild" & "Damned Roots"

Unfulfilling and incoherent idolatry

Black metal is mostly inherently abrasive in nature, and to most outsiders most bands sound alike. And true, some (read: most) bands don't exactly contribute with anything worthwhile. Skjaersild from Spain are one of those groups that in their quest to sound as much like their Scandinavian idols - their Norwegian name gives them away - as possible they become entirely bland, contributing instead to the wrongful notion that all black metal bands do, in fact, sound the same.