Shub Niggurath

Starting out as Tormentor in 1988 before changing their name to SHUB NIGGURATH in 1990, this Mexico City band played a brutal occult-sounding black/death metal that is not for the faint of heart.  Taking their name from Lovecraftian lore, the madmen of Shub Niggurath cited Morbid Angel, Terrorizer, and Master as influences.  And it is definitely not hard to hear these influences on their first demo, 1990's Horror Creatures.

The title track from Horror Creatures

In the early nineties, Shub Niggurath wasn't extremely prolific in terms of releases, but they became one of the most well-known faces of Mexican extreme metal on the world stage.  With EP's such as 1991's Unknown Adorer, 1992's Blasphemies of Nether World, and 1994's Evilness and Darkness Prevails, you can hear their black/death sound maturing.  It's still more heavily indebted to death metal than black (heavy on the Morbid Angel worship!), but worth listening to nonetheless.

"Zatanazombie" is from Evilness and Darkness Prevails

Shub Niggurath's first phase came to an end with the release of their 1997 album, The Kinglike Celebration (Final Aeon on Earth).  This album marked a definite shift in sound.  While the death metal influence was still clear as day, the band's sound now resembled some other black/death bands more clearly than it used to (Angelcorpse springs to mind).  The production was clearer and less old-school, and this alienated some fans.  However, I think this album is probably the one that fans of old-school black metal would enjoy the most.  Shub Niggurath never played by anyone else's rules, that's for sure.

"...From the Stars, Nyarlathotep" is off of the 1997 album in question

Select Discography:
Horror Creatures (demo) (1990)
Unknown Adorer EP (1991)
Blasphemies of the Netherworld EP (1992)
The Black Goatlike Arise (demo) (1993)
Evilness and Darkness Prevails (demo) (1994)
The Kinglike Celebration (Final Aeon on Earth) (full-length) (1997)

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