Subterranea: Icelandic death metal monsters stream new album in full

Monstrous, magnificent and probably not recommended for anyone with a dodgy ticker, this is death metal could perform a blood eagle on any modern DM band.

Iceland should be a natural home for extreme metal bands for many reasons, not least because it’s powered by geothermal volcanic activity that erupts from the earth, heats most homes and therefore, if you take a shower the water will probably smell of sulphur. Not only that, its long, dark winters and threats of blizzards mean there isn’t much to done other than hole yourself up, give yourself to the powers below and rehearse your ass off until you sound as goddamn awesome as Reykjavik’s Beneath.

As precisely calibrated as the Hadron Collider, and arguably more powerful, this five-piece play dense, juggernaut-groove death metal that spits out bewildering brutality, unholy, epic atmosphere and moments of radiant melody with the kind of conviction that could outstare the gods, and thanks to the hardy folk at Unique Leader records, we have an exclusive stream of their furious follow-up to 2012’s Enslaved By Fear, The Barren Throne, released on 29 April. Monstrous, magnificent and probably not recommended for anyone with a dodgy ticker, this is death metal that scoops up huge handfuls of the genre’s primal murk, but played with a technical, whirlwind brilliance that could perform a blood eagle on any modern death metal band. Strap yourself in, and get ready for The Barren Throne below!

Check out Beneath’s Facebook here!

And order The Barren Throne here!

Jonathan Selzer

Having freelanced regularly for the Melody Maker and Kerrang!, and edited the extreme metal monthly, Terrorizer, for seven years, Jonathan is now the overseer of all the album and live reviews in Metal Hammer. Bemoans his obsolete superpower of being invisible to Routemaster bus conductors, finds men without sideburns slightly circumspect, and thinks songs that aren’t about Satan, swords or witches are a bit silly.