Very underrated albums

On my way home from work today I was listening to Stronghold - Cult of Remorse (black/death) and realized how I have almost never heard that awesome album mentioned by anyone. It's super good the whole way through, but it came out 13 years ago and not a lot of people seem to know about it.

What are some albums that you think deserve more attention?

I will come back to this topic but I have to say that album is amazing and is the reason I follow all their projects: Dalit, Aspiration and Cloth all have members. They are all outstanding.

I’m not sure how well people know this one but since not
everybody is all the time talking about this it is underrated:

Grave Declaration: When Dying Souls Scream Praise (2013)

Funny, a couple tracks from Cult Of Remorse came up on shuffle for me today.  Very good band and like FF said, all their members' various projects are excellent!

I can think of plenty...  But a few that come to mind first are:

The Autumn League - Concept Of Irony
Ekklesiast - both albums [I think they're lesser known because they sing primarily in Russian]
Epta Astera - everything of theirs
Sawol - Past The Gate

Yeah! Our Sawol! Many other Finnish Christian metal bands
are underrated too.

Antithesis - s/t
Faith Factor - Against a Darkened Sky
Septer - Transgressor

White cross
 Holy soldier
Seventh angel
Rez
Actually there are many. many of them

Was there a previous Stronghold album?  I don't remember for sure, but I think I had one way back that I thought was average/unremarkable and sold/traded away.  But I'm not sure.

For what it's worth, I think Grave Declaration is pretty well thought of by fans of the genre. 


Bands that I think are underrated/unheard would be Neocracy and Neizbezhnost.  I also have absolutely loved Royal Anguish's Mysterion album, which nobody ever seemed to talk about.  Also Common Yet Forbidden "The Struggle" I think is awesome and seem to be mostly alone.

Temple of Blood wrote:Antithesis - s/t

I would not have known about this album if you hadn't recommended it in a different thread that I saw. I own a copy of it now and it is amazing!

Grindboy wrote:Was there a previous Stronghold album?  I don't remember for sure, but I think I had one way back that I thought was average/unremarkable and sold/traded away.  But I'm not sure.

They had an EP called Prayers from a Yearning Heart. I also didn't find it to be all that great, but man their album is fantastic.

Grindboy wrote:For what it's worth, I think Grave Declaration is pretty well thought of by fans of the genre.

Yeah I thought so too. They were one of the first black metal bands I ever got into, and their EP and album are both phenomenal. They announced a long time ago that they had started working on another album. I hope it gets released someday.

Grindboy wrote:Bands that I think are underrated/unheard would be Neocracy and Neizbezhnost.

I thought that Neizbezhnost's album was cool too but i started transcribing the English translation of the lyrics from the album booklet for the guy who ran Unblack Archives and was super put off by the lyrics. There wasn't much distinctively Christian about it - it seemed to be all about how evil mankind is, but not about the salvation that we have in Christ. It was very sad.

Solamors- Depravity’s Demise

I never see this mentioned, which is a little surprising since it features Jason Wisdom (Death Therapy, ex- Becoming The Archetype) on vocals backed by members of Aletheian. It’s a pretty killer piece of melodic death metal that any fan of the genre should check out.

Teramaze Doxology. Band was a one hit wonder and doesn’t write Christian lyrics anymore, so there is also that.

CrimsonWarrior wrote:

Grindboy wrote:Was there a previous Stronghold album?  I don't remember for sure, but I think I had one way back that I thought was average/unremarkable and sold/traded away.  But I'm not sure.

They had an EP called Prayers from a Yearning Heart. I also didn't find it to be all that great, but man their album is fantastic.

Interesting I actually prefer their EP over their full-length!  They also had their demo available on their website to download for free.  It had two songs later featured on the EP plus another called The Day Of The Lord.

Wildcat wrote:Solamors- Depravity’s Demise

I never see this mentioned, which is a little surprising since it features Jason Wisdom (Death Therapy, ex- Becoming The Archetype) on vocals backed by members of Aletheian. It’s a pretty killer piece of melodic death metal that any fan of the genre should check out.

That's a good'un for sure, though for whatever reason it never really clicked with me as some of the other BTA or Aletheian material did.

I like this topic.   I can probably come up with many, but here's a few:

Dark Sky - Initium

Thunderchild - The King

Chained - Grateful Sinner

Doomenicus - Endless

Letter 7 - Salt Of The Earth, Trust, Follow The Light

Deth Enemy - Unmovable

Dawnbreaker - Vanquished Horrible Night

Angelic Forces - E.P.

Miriam - Karu Maa

Sacrecy - s/t

Oskord - Weapon of Hope

Hesychast - Ageless

GLORIAM Dei

My Awesome Timothy wrote:GLORIAM Dei

Yes I was going to mention "The Covenant," totally agree.
Excellent album, looking forward to the new one (hopefully in 2021).

Yes, CW you have it right, I had Prayers from a Yearning Heart.  Your comment makes me think I should check out the full-length, but Kerrick makes me think twice!  I didn't know of the members work in other projects, but I do love Dalit and I think some Cloth could be coming for Christmas. . . .

I did like Solamors, but like Kerrick not as much as (the best of, anyway) BTA or Aletheian.  Still a solid piece, though.

Sub-Train - Sub-Train
(former members of Jesus Freaks)

Erase - Mental Overload

crucifyd wrote:Sub-Train - Sub-Train
(former members of Jesus Freaks)

Wow!  You dug about as deep as you can go with that one.  I assume you mean that 3-song EP?  I've never head of them making anything else.

I take the OP of this thread to mean underrated within the Christian metal community.  By some standards anything by Stryper is underrated.

Instead of listing specific albums, I'll list general categories:
Probably any classic metal made in the mid-90's to mid 2000's counts (when Tooth & Nail took over the hard music scene).
Less-talked about albums by favorite bands (I don't see a lot of love for post-Jayson Sherlock Mortification for instance).
Good bands that are a bad fit for their label (Thieves & Liars on Facedown Records).
Bands with no US distribution (Nomad Son, Cat O Nine Tails).

Thieves and Liars rule! I remember buying WDBR on a lark, and I was blown away!

eatbugs wrote:

crucifyd wrote:Sub-Train - Sub-Train
(former members of Jesus Freaks)

Wow!  You dug about as deep as you can go with that one.  I assume you mean that 3-song EP?  I've never head of them making anything else.

yes, I only came across them a little over a year ago and there isn't much info
to be found...

the EP was, or at least the copy I have is, four songs:
https://www.discogs.com/artist/7316432-Sub-Train

Wow.  I have a completely different Sub-Train demo EP with three completely different songs.  Even Google comes up empty for it.

I don't know much about it at all, except that it was members of Jesus Freaks and I saw it advertised in HM Magazine.

did you order it from HM?
what does the cover look like?

I don't remember specifically (this was 20+ years ago), but I probably saw an ad or read a review and ordered it directly from the band.

There is no cover.  It is a CD packaged in a paper sleeve.

could you post the title?
track listing?

do you have a Discogs account?
maybe add it if so...