From Galicia, Spain, we received an email from Occult Shrine. By now, we get these kinds of emails quite frequently, and normally we don’t immediately review every demo or album that comes our way. In this case, however, we felt it was worth taking a closer look.
The demo from Occult Shrine has actually been out for a while, since the summer of 2024, but that didn’t make it any less interesting. As far as I could find out, it has just been re-released as a tape on Profaner Records from Spain.
Occult Shrine is the project of Amaro, who is also a member of the band High Sorceress, which leans more towards Stoner/Doom. Occult Shrine, however, is a completely different beast. Think of the Belgian underground scene with bands like Forbidden Temple, Perversion Ceremony or Moenen of Xezbeth, but also the early ’90s Greek scene with names like Necromantia and Twilight or Zemial. Don’t forget influential acts like Beherit or Baxaxaxa. Anyone familiar with these references will have a good idea of how this Spaniard prefers to shape his Black Metal: dark, mysterious, and deeply rooted in the underground aesthetic.
We’re dealing here with three tracks and an intro, all presented with a wonderfully raw underground sound. The production is rough around the edges in exactly the right way, grainy, cavernous, and utterly unpolished, allowing those heavy, biting, and surprisingly catchy riffs to shine through. These riffs don’t just carry the songs; they evoke a very specific era and place. They pull you straight back to the Mediterranean underground of the late last century, to that unmistakable atmosphere where primitive Black Metal met occult mysticism and regional character.
What Occult Shrine delivers is nothing short of a full-hearted worship of that style. It’s the kind of sound we old bastards fell head over heels for when we were still young punks discovering extreme music for the first time. That sense of danger, mystery, and darkness is fully intact here. The music feels black, arcane, and cloaked in shadows, pure Necro Metal dragged from the deepest, dampest dungeon, complete with the rusted chains, dripping stone walls, and ritualistic intent that defined the genre’s most underground roots.
There’s no pretense, no modern gloss, no attempt to reinvent the wheel. Instead, Occult Shrine pays tribute to a tradition, capturing that ancient spirit with conviction. And in doing so, these tracks become more than a nostalgic throwback, they feel like a genuine continuation of a lineage that never died, only retreated deeper into the crypt to be rediscovered by those who still know where to look.
85/100
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