texas metal

Texas Underground
Death/Black Metal

texas metal

Texas has a long and intense metal tradition of creating great bands that are later celebrated while socially-aggressive bands who are promoted initially for their popularity fade away quickly. The necessary conclusion is not to believe the hype, but to look for the elites buried in the shifting sands of social opinion.

News

Extreme Texas Metal Fest

If you would like your Texas Death/Black/Doom Metal-related event to be displayed here alongside other announcements from the Texas Underground Metal-related community, please send an email to prozak@anus.com.

Texas Metal News The Texas Metal News mailing list covers all Texas events in the underground and above, with special focus on those that are ignored by the popularity contest called "the scene."
Dark Legions Mailing List Important Texas events are covered here as well, in the context of a worldwide survey of the underground metal that does not descend to populist levels.
Texas Metal A catch-all list which covers most Texas metal events, but all too often focuses on the popularity contest not the music.
Underworld Productions Sign up here for weekly updates to the Underworld, a weekly club at Numbers; this list includes general news for pragmatic reasons.

Bands

absu tara from dallas texas
Absu
Speeding chaos in the style of a modern black metal band with a melodic core that brings to mind Mercyful Fate or Iron Maiden. [more]
absu homepage
acerbus from austin texas
Acerbus
Taking music further than social pretense allows, Acerbus hammer through polyglot rhythms of deathgrind and add a displacing complexity of arrangement and melodic guitar. [more]
acerbus homepage
adumus from houston (ex-imprecation)
Adumus
Having changed style recently from flowery late-model Swedish-style melodic metal, Adumus are making progress in a newer, simpler and more rhythmically violent style.
adumus homepage
averse sefira from austin texas
Averse Sefira
Electric speed of full-on assault cloaks these contemplative poems of existential navigation as told from a celestial perspective. [more]
averse sefira homepage
bahimiron black metal from houston texas
Bahimiron
Melodic yet blistering black metal within the best tradition of European metal merged with an American brutality and hardcore sensibility for riding rhythms and urgent riffs. [more]
bahimiron homepage
burning midget from college station texas
Burning Midget
Collection of recycled tropes from melodic Swedish metal and Florida death metal together create a band with a vaguely carnival aspect to its wandering songs; seems a "humor" band.
burning midget homepage
crimson massacre from houston texas
Crimson Massacre
Loud and abrasive black metal backed by keyboards which moves between raw modern riffing and classic heavy metal parts.
crimson massacre homepage
demure from dallas texas
Demure
Elemental throbbing of rhythmic death metal placed into the framework of black metal aesthetics makes for a droning listen.
demure homepage
hideously defleshed from baytown texas
Hideously Defleshed
Contextured melodic metal with fast death metal riffs mixed with hardcore, power metal and heavy metal quotations to the cadence of a ripping death vocal.
hideously defleshed homepage
imprecation from houston
Imprecation
Dry sawing death metal with an occultism of small patterns arrayed in formations of starkly broad conflict. [more]
imprecation homepage
infinite singularity from dallas-forth worth texas
Infinite Singularity
Exotic genres embedded in an alternative/pop format with underlying interplay between metal riffs and progressive-style narrative keyboard playing.
infinite singularity homepage
infliction from amarillo texas
Infliction
Standard deathgrind of basic two chord riffs, harmonics and thudding, pounding rhythm playing on an unrelenting cadence (with fills).
infliction homepage
insidious decrepancy from houston texas
Insidious Decrepancy
Alternatingly pounding and speeding Suffocation-inspired deathgrind with guttural vocals locked in cadence over drums keeping mid-paced tempo within a context of faster timekeeping.
insidious decrepancy homepage
irreverence from dallas texas
Irreverence
A combination between lush melodic death metal and gracefully self-interlocking strings of notes forming a enduring harmony; like Sentenced or Rotting Christ.
irreverence homepage
last eve from spring texas
Last Eve
Melodic heavy metal/black metal with compact songwriting and a standard but qualified use of sentiment in songwriting.
last eve homepage
masochism from texas/mexico
Masochism
Fast minimal black metal in the older style as updated in a spinning lightspeed approach of fluid yet aggressive death/black metal.
masochism homepage
mortality from san antonio texas
Mortality
Very basic pounding cadences of thunderous repetition in old school rhythmic death metal that does not relent and has a few modernizations in simple dissonance.
mortality homepage
necrovore from san antonio texas
Necrovore
One of the original templates for underground metal, this band use simple songs with unpredictable changes in structure to make brief framents of melody into rhythmically compelling songs.
necrovore homepage
nosferion from san angelo texas
Nosferion
Like many American bands, Nosferion produce a standard hybrid of "raw" (melodic) black metal and basic death metal/punk riffing that achieves an atmosphere of consistent impression.
nosferion homepage
of the fallen from austin texas
Of the Fallen
An Iron Maiden-inspired heavy metal band who added keys and black metal sound, these gents put out an inspiring demo and then froze in motion.
of the fallen homepage
panteon from brownsville texas
Panteon
An old school heavy metal band that kept mutating until it reached an aspect of black metal and developed a melodic, evenly-paced style.
panteon homepage
putrilage from san antonio texas
Putrilage
Cut straight from the book of deathgrind in the simplest of death metal's styles, this band is thunderous cadence, churning riff and flickering harmonic sound with a basic aptitude that makes it listenable.
putrilage homepage
reign of terror from el paso texas
Reign of Terror
Fast and mid-paced death metal which emphasizes both drawn-out and painful drone riffing and short impacts of morbid rhythmic recursion.
reign of terror homepage
rigor mortis from dallas texas
Rigor Mortis
Blistering melodic assault with intricate phrasing that wraps around thrusting, undulating, unrelenting rhythm. [more]
rigor mortis homepage
severance from mcallen texas
Severance
Pugilistic death/grind with ebullient rhythm and a frontier of hazily defined song structures in which riffs change semi-randomly. [more]
severance homepage
thornspawn from san antonio texas
Thornspawn
Reminiscent of bands such as Summon, this band strings together riff salad songs in the death metal style but ultimately achieves little that Summon did not.
thornspawn homepage
to scale the throne from houston texas
To Scale The Throne
A blunt blasting black metal assault patterned after the style of European hyperspeed metal mixed with American blackgrind.
to scale the throne homepage
enearthed from austin texas
Enearthed
Somewhere between a mid-paced death metal band and the Pantera-Metallica axis of angry and firmly rhythmic metal, this band cycles through known riff styles with melodic undertones.
unearthed homepage
vesperian sorrow from georgetown texas
Vesperian Sorrow
Really a heavy metal band in black metal attire, Vesperian Sorrow combine atmospheric asthetics with well-known patterns from metal past.
vesperian sorrow homepage
vex from san angelo texas
Vex
A fusion of simple black/death metal and melodic heavy metal, this band use bludgeon-simple riffing to offset wandering song structures and harmonizing transitions.
vex homepage
violate from laredo texas
Violate
Fast attack deathgrind that seizes a rhythm and holds it with a counterpoint to establish cadence, then tears both asunder for a verse-chorus song.
violate homepage
xphyxia from dallas texas
Xphyxia
Hard-working band fuses technical death metal with metalcore while maintaining an intricacy of playing and metal ferocity.
xphyxia homepage

Sites

Texas Metal
Texas Metal This site has abundant information on a range of Texas metal-related pursuits.
Unholy Scriptures Although hard to read visually, this site has a wealth of information and links to functional parts of the Texas scene.
Texas Death A resource for death metal bands and fans in South Texas from TheCarcass.
Texas Underground Metal Distro and general information page with many links covering bands and locations in the Texas metal scene.
Brutal Collapse Collection of ideas, links and commentary from the south Texas scene, offered up in gore-splattered red-on-black web design.
Radio and Clubs
Texas Metal 2001 KVRX 91.7 has a radio show called "The River of Gore" which covers extreme metal. Sunday 1-3 AM.
From the Depths KTRU 91.7 FM has a show on from midnight Thursday to 2:00 AM Friday morning, hosted by a former member of Imprecation.
Underworld Every Thursday night, you can hear black/death/industrial at Numbers Nightclub.
Zines
Where's My Skin? Disturbed magazine about black metal, guns and self-mutilation. [more]
Hagglegash Zine covering the needed aspects of a regional and international scene.
Internal Heretic Rigid devotion to the extremes of metal in Texas.
Morbid Demo Underground zine addressing topics of death and metal.
Festivals
December to Decay Yearly gathering of diverse metal bands in Victoria, TX.
Sacrifice of the Nazarene Child Black metal festival yearly in San Antonio, TX.
Stores
Sound Exchange - Houston A supporter of metal for years, this store has now taken the lead in promoting Houston metal events and bands. Run out of a house on Richmond, Sound Exchange supports Houston's own metal radio program and periodically has sales, events, discounts for metalheas.
Vinal Edge - Houston Good basic selection of metal and periodic finds that are obscure anywhere else, but mostly covers the midsize metal labels and classics.
Hog Wild - San Antonio Although this place periodically threatens to close out its metal selection, it has a huge amount of new/used stuff including t-shirts and many hard-to-finds.
Sound Exchange - Austin About two feet of metal space and some humorous although consistent support for employees gives this potential to be a great store, but being in Austin ("poseur town") it sees few metalheads beyond the mainstream.
Sound Waves - Houston Now mostly a surf/techno shop, this store carries an abundance of records from indie genres including metal at reasonable prices.
33 Degrees - Austin Although expensive, this specialty store carries a wide variety of the more interesting metal and associated genres. Ask to use the restroom for a completely inconsistent answer.
Venues
The Axiom A longstanding Houston metal club that now has a more artscene outlook but still supports grimy and destructive metal bands.
Cardi's Dark and opulent, this is a classy West Houston club hidden in an impoverished strip mall yet has been a consistent supporter of extreme metal and other chaotic music.

For more reviews like these, check out the Dark Legions Death Metal and Black Metal Review Archive.

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