Underdark (band)

Underdark are a British black metal band from Nottingham, England, formed in 2015 by guitarists Ollie Jones and Adam Kinson and drummer Dan Hallam. The band's current lineup consists of Jones, Kinson, bassist Stephen "Stig" Waterfield, vocalist Abi Vasquez and drummer Dan Blackmore. The band's sound has been categorized under the "post-black metal" label. The band's anti-fascist beliefs, which they have held since their inception, have led to them being associated with the "anti-fascist black metal" and Red and Anarchist Black Metal (RABM) movements, although they do not consider themselves to be a "political band".

Underdark released their debut EP, Mourning Cloak (2016), with original vocalist Max Speelman. Speelman quit the band was replaced by Vasquez shortly after the recording of its debut album, Our Bodies Burned Bright on Re-Entry, in 2019; the album was not released until 2021 due to delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Their second album and first with Blackmore, Managed Decline, was released through Church Road Records on 24 November 2023.

2015–2018: Formation and early releases
Underdark were formed in 2015 when guitarists Ollie Jones and Adam Kinson (of Statutes) approached drummer Dan Hallam (of Castaway) about the possibility of starting a black metal band "similar to Deafheaven with scream influences such as Envy". The members all came from "hardcore or hardcore-adjacent" musical backgrounds; Hallam had little-to-no experience with black metal prior to joining the band. They then recruited vocalist Max Speelman, whom they had seen perform live once, before recruiting bassist Stephen "Stig" Waterfield. The band takes its name from the Funeral Diner album The Underdark (2005).

Hallam said that Underdark's music started off as "purely Deafheaven and Envy worship", and that they gradually began incorporating post-rock and post-metal-influenced textures into their songwriting to make it "grander". In 2016, the band self-released their debut EP, Mourning Cloak, which was distributed through the DIY record labels Adorno, Slime Citadel, Third-I-Rex and Sell Your Soul. Underdark toured heavily throughout 2017, including a weekender tour with Nihility. In February 2018, the band released a split 7" single with Antre, which entered the top-selling black metal chart on Bandcamp. In July 2018, the band embarked on their first European tour, before playing on the "New Blood" stage of the Bloodstock Open Air festival in August.

2019–2022: Our Bodies Burned Bright on Re-Entry
Underdark began writing their debut album, Our Bodies Burned Bright on Re-Entry, in 2018. It was initially planned as an EP but was expanded into an album over the course of a year. The band recorded, mixed and mastered the album in January 2019. Not long afterwards, Speelman quit Underdark. "There were too many conflicting ideals and it all came to a head at one point and we just parted ways", Hallam said. The band were nevertheless "gutted" by his exit and briefly considered breaking up, but decided to continue "cause we've worked so hard towards it." They began advertising for a new vocalist, and in June 2019, recruited Abi Vasquez, formerly of Yuri. Vasquez, who had been on a hiatus from music due to surgery before auditioning for Underdark, first met most of the band's members whilst she was working as a booking agent in Leicester; Hallam had also played shows with Yuri when he was in an emo band. Underdark announced the addition of Vasquez to their line-up in September 2019, hours before her first performance with the band. Vasquez subsequently recorded new vocal tracks with her own lyrics for Our Bodies Burned Bright on Re-Entry,  after which the album was remixed and remastered.

Although Underdark had finished Our Bodies Burned Bright on Re-Entry by March 2020, they were forced to delay its release due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On 30 October 2020, the band released a limited edition cassette single, featuring a cover of The Cure's "Plainsong" and a re-recording of Mourning Cloak track "With Bruised and Bloodied Feet", as a way of introducing Vasquez and the direction of their forthcoming debut album to the public. It was released through Surviving Sounds in Europe and Red Nebula in North America, and limited to 50 copies per label. On 11 May 2021, Underdark announced that Our Bodies Burned Bright on Re-Entry would be released on 30 July 2021. The band signed with three record labels to distribute the album; Surviving Sounds in the United Kingdom, Through Love in Europe and Tridroid in North America. The album received positive reviews from critics. Underdark embarked on a small tour of the United Kingdom following its release, and played one-off shows opening for Dawn Ray'd and Conan. In March 2022, Underdark and Mountain Caller supported Svalbard on select dates of their UK tour for that month. The band were due to perform at Cult of Luna's Beyond the Redshift Festival in London that same month, but it was postponed.

2023–present: Managed Decline
Underdark began working on new material at the end of the COVID-19 pandemic. By July 2021, they had completed half of the writing for their second album. Towards the end of writing, Hallam left Underdark and was replaced by Dan Blackmore. In the winter of 2022, the band recorded Managed Decline with producer Joe Clayton at Nø Studio in Manchester. It is a concept album, detailing the long-term effects of Thatcherite neo-liberalism on a post-industrial town in the Midlands across three generations. Jones said that the events detailed in its lyrics were based on "an amalgamation of accounts" from people Vasquez interviewed about their experiences in post-industrial towns.

On 5 July 2023, the band announced they had signed with Church Road Records and released a cover of Massive Attack's "Unfinished Sympathy". The band released Managed Decline through the label on 24 November 2023. It received similar acclaim to their debut, with Metal Hammer naming it one of the best black metal albums of 2023. Around the time of its release, Underdark went on tour supporting Cruelty. The band will perform at the ArcTanGent and Core. festivals in August 2024, and at the Damnation Festival in November.

Musical style and influences
Underdark have been described as black metal, post-metal, and "post-black metal". Their sound incorporates elements of shoegaze, post-rock, post-punk, blackgaze, screamo,   and post-hardcore. Ollie Jones has said that the members of Underdark do not consider genre when writing music, instead trying to "write what we want to hear". Whilst they were influenced by black metal's aesthetics, Jones does not consider the band to be black metal "necessarily" due to the band's diverse range of influences. The band's musical influences include Alcest, City of Caterpillar, Cradle of Filth, Dawn Ray'd, Deafheaven, Deftones,  Envy,  Mogwai,  This Will Destroy You, and Weakling.

Lyrically, Vasquez has stated that she "very much [writes] about real shit, whether it's personal or something that affects people on a wider scale". She prefers to write songs as a longform narrative, and the lengthy nature of Underdark's songs allows her to discuss and research her topics in depth. Jones said that Vasquez's lyrics are heavily influenced by J.R. Hayes (Pig Destroyer) and Patrick Kindlon (Self Defense Family and Drug Church). The writing of Our Bodies Burned Bright On Re-Entry was more "fragmented" and personal than her previous output, addressing the attempted suicide of one of her close friends, her struggles with drug addiction, the Mexico–United States border, the Grenfell Tower fire and her fears of burnout. When writing lyrics for the album, she was listening to Dessa, Sadistik and 070 Shake. She cited Kendrick Lamar as an influence on her storytelling in Managed Decline.

Political views
Since their inception, the members of Underdark have held anti-fascist beliefs and have been associated with the "anti-fascist black metal" movement against National Socialist Black Metal (NSBM),  which emerged in the mid-2010s. The band have also been associated with the Red and Anarchist Black Metal (RABM) movement. In Black Metal Rainbows (2023), Daniel Lukes and Stanimir Panayotov define RABM as "not so much a subgenre tied together by any musical affiliation, but more a network of bands that share a commitment to left-wing, socialist, communist, and anarchist politics and organizing." In a 2021 interview with Knotfest, Hallam said that the band's political stance reflected its member's experiences: "Compared to other black metal bands, we're not Norwegians who have grown up in the woods in isolation, we're in a place where there are fuck-ups by the Tory government left, right and centre, there is horrid shit happening left, right and centre, and we're going to write songs that reflect that." Despite this, Underdark do not consider themselves to be a "political band". In a 2021 interview with Distorted Sound, Vazquez said that she considered herself "more of a storyteller than an orator", though also stated that the band does not reject the RABM label. She also believes that the best way of combatting NSBM is to play better music than NSBM bands. In a 2021 interview with Metalhead, Vasquez stated:

"[Y]ou can't live and die by your message alone, that's a good way of being a flash in the pan [...] If you're very right and progressive, that's all well and good—but if your riffs sound like shit, there's not going to be many people listening to your message."

Band members
Current members


 * Abi Vasquez - vocals (2019–present)
 * Adam Kinson - guitar (2015–present)
 * Ollie Jones - guitar (2015–present)
 * Stephen "Stig" Waterfield - bass (2015–present)
 * Dan Blackmore - drums (2022–present)

Past members

Timeline
 * Max Speelman - vocals (2015–2019)
 * Dan Hallam - drums (2015–2022)

Discography
Studio albums EPs Split releases Singles