There's been a lot of talk of 'proto-black metal' over the last five years, and while Ghost - the band that term is usually applied to, and conversation normally revolves around - plays the proto-black metal card with all the theatrics of early Mercyful Fate, a much more granular proto-black band like HexenHammer is usually left out of the conversation entirely. Which isn't surprising: most of us, despite our long-standing extreme metal immersion, have probably never even heard of the group. And that includes this scribe, as Underground is a first exposure to what is one of extreme metal's most obscenely overlooked and under-appreciated bands.

Forming in 1984 and hailing from Tennessee (with a brief stop for a cup of coffee in Jacksonville, Florida), HexenHammer released four demos between 1989 and 1990, demos that were brimming with righteous flares of early black metal, Chuck Schuldiner-inspired death metal and a sound that was probably considered extreme thrash at the time. Listening to Underground recalls days in 2009 when Detroit-based proto-punk band Death (not to be confused with metal's Death) finally saw its debut record, For The Whole World To See, released to ears that could barely believe such an essential sound had been recorded in 1975, years before everyone else played with that kind of visceral ferocity. It’s the same surreal sense with HexenHammer: the listener takes it in, all the while thinking, with incredulity, “this was written in 1989?”

In terms of the merits of the material itself, Underground is a remastered version of the 1990 demo tape of the same name and while it has been significantly cleaned up for this release, the songs remain raw, which is such a positive. In fact, one wishes that this material has been re-released without the remastering process, as the original demos are far more urgent, showcasing the proto-black nature of these tracks even more substantially than the remaster here, and that’s not meant in any sort of elitist ‘kult’ or ‘true’ sense. But that sort of thing is a minor concern given how vital these demos are and, while listening to Underground, what continually emerges and re-emerges is a sense of gratitude that these tapes were rescued and re-released for consumption instead of lying idle, lost in a box in someone’s basement. More generally, these songs are well-written and masterfully performed, and should be required listening for the discerning extreme metal fan, whether he/she be a lifer or just entering the depths of these catacombs. And the most unique part, as we sit here shaking our heads at the unreal quality of this release, might be how the songs are surrounded by the sort of immensely listenable guitar tones that owe so much to Type O Negative.

Except, when this was recorded, Type O Negative didn’t exist yet.

Bloody hell.