Review by Norbert on August 2, 2026.

Although the last few years have complicated relations somewhat between Warsaw and Budapest, despite all the political turbulence, the old saying “Polak, Węgier - dwa bratanki, i do szabli, i do szklanki” — “Pole and Hungarian brothers, good for fighting and good for drinking” — still seems to be doing quite well. Especially when, instead of glasses, it’s underground metal tapes that land on the table. Poles certainly know how to make noise that smells of a damp crypt, mustiness, and a freshly dug-up cemetery. Hungarians do too — the debut tapes from the hordes Vér and Holt are proof of that.

Vér are a Budapest crew formed in 2023, made up of people coming from the hardcore/punk scene who, rather than messing around with modern tricks, opted for barbaric, rotten death metal with a clear nod toward classics such as Morbid Angel, as well as more contemporary — but by now also classic — acts like Undergang. On their demo, dirty, stinking riffs drag themselves along like zombies clawing their way out of a grave, only to suddenly give way to catchy grooves that can stick in your head just as effectively as mud sticks to military boots. Add to this the deranged, Hungarian-language vocals spat out with vicious intensity and drumming that alternates between crushing blast beats and slowing down to the weight of a gravestone. Importantly, despite all the basement-level aesthetics, the material is packed with memorable moments. It is therefore hardly surprising that the debut tape, originally released independently, quickly opened the doors to Me Saco Un Ojo Records — one of the most important labels in today’s death metal underground.

Holt, a mysterious entity associated with Bone Chapel Collective, takes a completely different path. Here, anonymity is part of the concept, but in the end it doesn’t really matter who is behind this material. The music is all that counts, and it is as overwhelming as a concrete slab sliding down onto a coffin. Holt plays doom/death rooted somewhere between the monumental heaviness of Winter and the funeral atmosphere of Disembowelment, adding to it a modern claustrophobia reminiscent of Spectral Voice. The debut demo offers just under twenty minutes of suffocating metal, resembling the soundtrack to a funeral in some forgotten backwater. Most of the time, the band/project (?) moves at a snail’s pace, building a claustrophobic atmosphere with massive, grinding riffs and inhuman growls that sound as if they are coming from the depths of a family tomb. When faster passages and blast beats appear from time to time, they offer no relief — they only emphasize the overall heaviness even more. The intro and outro also play a huge role. Instead of typical filler, we get evocative soundscapes of a crematorium and a funeral ceremony, and apparently knowing Hungarian allows you to pick up on a healthy dose of very black humor as well. It’s hard to find a better example of how even a story about burning corpses can be delivered with a mischievous smile.

Both tapes reveal two different faces of the contemporary Hungarian underground. Vér go for energy, catchiness, and barbaric death metal with a punk edge, while Holt opts for slowly suffocating the listener and presenting an almost cinematic vision of death and decay. What they have in common is authenticity and a complete lack of calculation. There is no room here for polished productions or chasing trends. Instead, there is plenty of mud, graves, decomposing corpses, and an atmosphere that stays with you long after both tapes have ended. And Vér will soon be playing in Warsaw — in November, at the fourth edition of the Death Is Not The End festival — so there will be an opportunity to see how this cemetery stench comes across live. And then, in keeping with tradition, there will be an opportunity to raise a toast. Perhaps, assuming any copies are still left by then, you could knock back a “Blessing” — an excellent 8% double IPA, the result of a collaboration between the Hungarian brewers at First Craft Beer and Poland’s own Green Head Brewery. This kind of brotherhood definitely speaks to me. 😉

Rating: 8.5 out of 10