I was reading the "bands which squandered their potential" thread, and it occured to me that I tend to think more about the opposite; There are plenty of bands out there which I can invision doing great things and making classic albums in the upcoming years, and I've got my eye on a few who I suspect to have potential in spades. I thought there might be the opportunity for a thread in that, so without further ado, here's what I reckon on the matter;

Pharaoh: Pharaoh seem to be building in popularity slowly, and have certainly got more of a following now than they did when I first joined metal-archives. The fourth album is certainly a factor, but I feel that the best is yet to come - they have buckets of potential.

Atlantean Kodex: I can se this band gathering an impressively large cult-following. If their second full length album is as good as, or hopefully better than, their first, I can see a very metioric rise to acclaim happening.

Hail of Bullets: This band is already mighty, but if they keep making albums as good as the two that they've made, they'll be a death-metal institution, and I'd Hail them (no pun intended) as the spiritual successor to Bolt Thrower.

Which bands do you invision releasing the classic-albums of tomorrow?

Finally some positivity. For me, it's gotta be Pilgrim. Misery Wizard is my contender for album of the year and it's only their first.

Pilgrim is damn tasty stuff - I had vague memories of reading about Misery Wizard somewhere, and I'm glad I found the band. I've not listened to the album thoroughly, but it looks all round solid.

Not a new band, but Nokturnal Mortum just landed on my 'bands to watch' list because I finally checked out 'The Voice of Steel' and was blown away by it. It's been three years since it came out, and they seem pretty slow on releasing new stuff since about 2000 or so, but when they do come out with their next album, I'll be all over it.

As far as newer bands go, I'm thinking Nekromantheon is poised for a bright future. 'Rise, Vulcan Spectre' is a fine album, and their live show is energetic and fun.

I hate melodic stuff, rarely enjoy comedy in my music, and if songs were tangible I'd punch every one that has ever had a breakdown in it, so for me to be nominating a melodic death metal band, it has to be something unique, that stands above the rest by far, and that is the case with Nekrogoblikon; I've been loving everything they've done since the release of Goblin Island and still can't belive they haven't gotten signed by a major label already or have a much broader audience.

Children of Technology, Dammerfarben, and Zombie Inc. are some bands that I can think of with real bright futures ahead of them.

Children of Technology have a real energetic and memorable feel to their songs, and I really hope we see a new album from them this year.

Dammerfarben are an excellent atmospheric BM band, that may not be so well-known, but Im Abrendrot is a hell of an album. To top it all off, they're already in the studio for another album.

Zombie Inc, while filled with guys that are hardly new to metal, bring some awesome filthy mid-paced death metal to the table, and if they keep it up, they'll be the next mighty death metal act to behold.

Hail Of Bullets are right up there with my absolute favorite bands regardless of genre. If they keep making music for a long, long time I'll be very happy. They have the perfect blend of....everything.

I will say that 'ones to watch' to me usually means bands that may be kind of under the radar with the ability to rise up and really hold weight in their particular genre. Hail Of Bullets is (more or less) a 'supergroup' and are by no means under the radar, though I'm not sure how much exposure they get in the US. I didn't learn of them until 2009, IIRC and would love to have found them sooner.

So, bands to watch out for that I think are really underrated, unexposed, or otherwise flying under the radar (perhaps!) that maybe shouldn't be along with the relative genre for me are:

Begging For Incest - BDM (brutal death metal)/slam

Abysmal Torment - BDM/slam

Deivos - death metal/BDM

Beyond Creation - death metal/technical death metal

Recueil Morbide - death metal/brutal death metal/technical death metal

How could I forget Beyond Creation! Breakout band of 2011 for sure.

Pharaoh are already awesome.

Yes. They need no improvement.

For me, there are four major answers:

Hail Spirit Noir - This band's debut is a fascinating progressive black metal release. Seriously, one of the highlights of 2012 already.
Eumeria - Rebel Mind landed on the scene last year and delivered excellent power and memorable songs. Awesome US prog/power band.
Dissona - The sleeper masterpiece of the year. Avant-garde/prog that is both energetic and mesmerizing.
Anubis Gate - I know I've lauded this band's work as much as anyone, but I think we may see even more stunning work in the future. They consistently do what they do, and with few shortcomings. Also, The Detached is simply one of the greatest things ever.

hopefully COT will get more recognition (ok, here on MA they are mentioned not so rarely), I absolutely love their sound and imagery (post apocalypse all the way, yeah!). And, yes, there wil be a new output this year. At least one EP ist coming out (with a cover made by me ).

Atlantean Kodex, as mentioned by the OP, will def. get more big. Pretty sure that their blend of epic Bathory, early ManOwaR and a distinct own note is just what people are looking for. The first album was a pretty big success here in germany and I'm quite certain that this will spread further!

A band I personally hope for to both release a new album and get more attention is Ironsword. Those guys git better and better with every album and deliever brillant old school (true) metal with both a raw and slightly bombastic/epic edge. However there haven't been really any major news since quite some time now :/

Njiqahdda is a band everyone should keep their eyes on. Theyre fairly well established in their own niche, and have released a lot of material since 07. But more recently the band has gained some attention with the incredible "The Path..." The amount of ideas and unique takes on metal this band has put out is enough to affirm them as one of the best bands I know. Yet very few take notice. Maybe because the sheer length of their discography is a little off putting for a first time listener, or perhaps theyve heard some of their material that they didnt enjoy and assumed the rest of their music was similar. As of now the band is getting better and better, and I hope more people will begin to pay attention to this amazing band.

Also Progenie Terrestre Pura is a band to watch out for. Their one 20 minute demo is incredible space inspired black metal. Very progressive, and shows so much potential. I can see this band really reaching pretty big heights if future releases are as good as the demo.

That much is certain - I love everything that they've released. They've nowhere near finished being awesome, however, and have great things to come, as far as I can see.

You guys should definitely check this band out I'm pretty sure they will become big in the future of trash metal.

"Essence" http://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Essence/115124

Listen to the song "Blood Culture". And I agree with Pharaoh too.

this is a band i really like http://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Deadnight/41931

there debut messenger of death was great, it had great riffs and it was very catchy and stuck with you for a while. the EP was just as great and they have a new album coming out this year, so definitely check them out if you like blackened thrash

This is great. I'm totally out of touch with new bands. I did not recognize a single band listed here. So much new stuff! Great thread.

In addition to the ones I mentioned before, I've thaught of more;

Black Breath: Simply put, Sentenced to Life seems to be a monster of an album, and there stuff before that gets plenty of love too. A continuation of such quality would, suffice to say, go down well.

Lol NM have been around for >15 years. I know what you're trying to say but I think they don't really fit in this thread.

Anyway, guess I'll throw out the obligatory Vektor mention. Their 2 albums are forward-thinking, energetic and catchy, yet still firmly rooted in thrash without adding in too many extraneous elements. I hope their albums become classics one day.

Njiqahdda's new direction is also something to keep an eye on. The evolution of their sound from day 1 has been pretty gradual, but The Path signified a radical shift in their style. Who knows what will come next?

As far as the bands mentioned in this thread go, these guys are well on their way to being a mighty beast in metal. They deserve it too.

I'm also going to throw in Ketzer. If they combine the evil feel of their first album with the speed and tightness of their most recent one, we could have a fucking classic.


Sweet. I'll be waiting for it

Ash Borer, Fell Voices, Wolvhammer, Martyrdod, Mitochondrion, Ulcerate, Oranssi Pazuzu, and, as others have said, Njiqahdda. All of these are relatively new, and have released what I'd already consider "classics" (well, modern classics I guess), and I can't help but guess that they'll all keep doing so (and, of the few Njiqahdda albums I know, "The Path..." is my favorite, so if they keep doing anything in a similar vibe, I'll be very happy).

^^^ The Ash Borer full-length that came out last year is great.

I run a black metal review blog and, in the sea of horrible shit I review, a couple of notable exceptions stand out. Pestilentia from Belarus has consistently impressed me, "For His Satanic Majesty's Glory" by Ptahil from Indiana, "Stained Glass Revelations" by Negative Plane, etc. There's also a ton of bands who just flat out suck who will probably become super famous because there really isn't any credible way to judge black metal.

Awesome band... one of the best new Black Metal acts...

keep an eye on the next Hades Archer full-lenght. the first was fucking great.

I think mentioning Vektor would be fairly obvious, as they have already released two stunnning albums that will most likely be held as classics in the coming future, and they are nowhere near as finished from a creative point of view. Another band that I believe deserves attention is Poland's Evangelist, a modern epic doom metal outfit that, even if not very original, released a rock solid debut album in last year's In Partibus Infidelium, and I'm eager to hear more from them. The same applies to Canada's Aeternam, a brand new death metal group that, while on first listen seems like nothing more than a mere Nile/Behemoth clone, actually has it's own distinctive sound. Plus, they are remarkably good songwriters.

That's all off the top of my head. Will see if I can come up with more later.

Seconding Aeternam. I wish they released info on their second record.

Gloominous Doom

I fucking love these guys, pretty much my favorite local band.

Sorrowseed. I may be a bit biased since I'm actually in the band, but we're making some damn good stuff that'll be out in the summer. Plus we just started playing live again after a year of inactivity and our first show back went excellently. Plus I was a big fan of the band before I joined if that counts for anything.

Kin Of Ettins was the first band that came to mind for me. They play an interesting blend of folk/doom metal and their debut was one of my favorite albums that came out in 2009. I'm really hoping that their followup is coming out sometime soon.

I'm also hoping that Maax really starts picking up in the near future. They play some great blackened thrash and their latest album did get them a decent amount of attention.

Anhedonist

I posted a link to the song "Estrangement" last week. Saturnine is streaming at this location:

http://www.axestogrind.com/ALBUM-REVIEW ... wards.html

Check it out. This band and album is the real deal.

I feel like Ghost and Holy Grail have some really good potential. I also feel I must mention Mutant, They need to hurry up and come out with a full length album!

With fierce impatience I await it's arrival.

Definitely seconding this.

I would also like to see Undergang and Miasma gain more recognition in the future- they are both staples in the new Death Metal stuff coming out.

Funny you should mention Essence, 'cause I happen to think they're one of the most run-of-the-mill standardized new thrash bands out there. In my ears they're doing nothing that hasn't been done a million times before and better by other bands.
Being from Denmark I get the feeling that the only reason they get any attention is because they're one of the only active Danish thrash bands from newer times.

Heh, I agree with this sentiment. Other than a bit of interesting bass playing, and some Artillery-ish riffs, their brand of midpaced thrash is horribly lacklustre.

Exactly. And they replaced their bassplayer some time last year I think, so I'm unsure if there's gonna be more of that type of stuff. Also the vocals are very uninteresting.

i absolutely love these two songs you've posted. i checked out their demo The Drear a few days ago and really liked it, but these new songs sound like they've really upped their game. i can't wait to hear the full album!

teitanblood, is def a band to watch in my opinion. there 7 chalices album was amazing.

Anyone dig Rings of Saturn? It's not usually my cup o' tea, but I found their album addicting.

Ok, I'll be taking my own definition for a band to watch in the future, being a band that either has shown a lot of promise but yet to fully fulfil, or a band which has already got the sound right but hasn't gotten around to releasing a full length, which means no Pharaoh, no Vektor, no Undergang etc. All excellent bands that need more attention, but less because they have greatness to come in the future, which I'm sure they will have, but because they already have incredible releases under their belts.

Lantern
An amazing band bringing a healthy dose of speed and pure unadulterated Finnish to the current OSDM scene. EP's are magnificent, if they get around to a full length, it will be a masterpiece.

Ritual Necomancy
Their album is rightfully lost a bit in the current scene in dirty OSDM, as a large portion of it is quite flat and by the books, but the last two songs on Oath of the Abyss are exceptional, and show that band has a little something extra to offer.

Anhedonist
Obviously already mentioned, and will soon have a full length out, but the demo is fantastically heavy, and while what I've heard of the album is pretty different, it sounds quite promising

Njiqahdda
Again, already mentioned, but they're quite an interesting prospect. I feel thier songs run for way too long aimlessly, but they're making some very interesting music.

Adversarial
Pretty well known around these parts, these guys have got their music perfectly set, and are just a good production away from perfection. They've had shitty, shitty sounds on their releases, but the riffs, the energy and songwriting is dead on.

Jute Gyte
Easily the best band that has ever asked me to review their stuff, very obscure at this point, but what this guy does is very cool. Exceptionally violent and noisy while still filled with a good sense of ambience. At this point the band hasn't got a full length to fire perfectly all the way through, and in some ways the sound is lacking, particularly the drums, but if he fixes up these little set backs JG will be something to look at.

A Million Dead Birds Laughing
A local techy grindy deathy thing. They should probably lose the grindcore asperations and expand the songs a bit more, they have a lot of ideas musically and vocally that can't get explored fully in 50 seconds, and their music really isn't intense enough to really get that burst of extremity effect they're going for.

Origin of Darkness
Catacombs, but in a death metal context, complete with the amazing cavernous vocals and wierd lead work.

There are more, several which have been mentioned, but I'll think of them later.

Cauchemar

Jute Gyte certainly have uniqueness on their side. I'm listening to his newest one just now, having read this. I've not given it a proper listen yet, but I really enjoyed Young Eagle and Verstigenheit. He very kindly send me his black-metal albums in a physical medium when I reviewed the latter.