Our latest addition:
Ye Olde Obscure North American Heavy Metal 7-inch Guide - Sampler #2"The Corroseum’s ultimate guide to olde & rare American Heavy Metal and Hard Rock singles, a.k.a. Ye Olde Obscure North American Heavy Metal 7-inch Guide keeps growing and we all owe our Swords to thee mighty work of Kristian “Khnud” Knutsson for this unique project. Presented here are another rockin’, bangin’, ravin’ LOUD selection of underground classics (few) as well as yet unearthed pearls (plenty) from this scene. IMHO you really couldn’t ask for a hotter HM-partystarter sampler than this, at least if you wanna impress and outshine your NWOBHM-or-bust snobby friends. A frickin’ Goldmine of a scene that we hope to keep exploring for many years to come!"



Samplers related to

Demo(nic) Steel - Volume IThe only Corro-sampler (yet) to mimic an old compilation cassette, this was put together by Hellenic Steel admin Johan Pettersson and features some of the best tracks from various Heavy, Speed and Power Metal demos of the Greek 80's and 90's. If you're looking for more obscure Greek Metal demos, check out Hellenic Steel's official YouTube-channel, which incidently also features a stream of this very same sampler...
The Heavy Metal Mania - Volume West"Hellcome to the world of lost Teutonic Steel! In your hand is a taster-sampler of some of the finest lost gems of the German Heavy Metal underground of the 80's, all thoroughly dissected at The Corroseum's latest feature, The Heavy Metal Mania - The German Hard Rock and Heavy Metal Guide. Should your HM preferences lean more towards the East, do not miss the GDR companion to this sampler, downloadable at the bottom of the main page..."
The Heavy Metal Mania - Volume East"If you ever had any doubts about the quality of Heavy Metal from old East Germany, or as ignorant as to believe it nonexistent, let this taster-sampler be your guide into The Gray! The latest mega-feature of The Corroseum website, The Heavy Metal Mania - The German Hard Rock and Heavy Metal Guide, presents hundreds and hundreds of long lost (and plenty of familiar) German bands from both sides of the Iron Curtain. Should you want to explore the BRD-part of the Teutonic underground, check out the western companion to this sampler at the bottom of the main page..."
1977-1991 Eest Evropá Mietál - Zinglû ÇomplišzatjièThe Complete* Encyclopedia Of FWOEHM Singles was one of my favourite pet projects and this collection of fave tunes from 7" singles of the old Eastern Bloc turned out quite awesome if I may say so myself, the ridiculous bullshit mock-slavic title and Supraphon-cover pastiche included...
Ye Olde Obscure North American Heavy Metal 7-inch Guide - Sampler #1"Even if releasing your own private 7" was less a "thing" in the US and Canadian Metal 80's than in many European countries, North America still holds the largest undiscovered treasure trove in this field by far. We're simply outnumbered! American metal-fan and collector Kristian "Khnud" Knutsson's decision to start documenting this scene was thus a gift sent from The Gods and the perfect addition to The Corroseum's stable of collector-focused features, and so, once again a mix-CDR of the goodest of the greatest tunes just had to be added! The first volume of many we pray..."


Samplers related to

Veterans Of The Various-Wars - Volume 1: Teutonic Evasion(designated forum-thread)

"After years of hoarding ugly, rural compilation albums from all over the world just to add to The Corroseum's Metal Compilopedia, I felt it was time to put this pile of 85% useless junk to even better use. Me and Keir have dabbled in the field of compilation-compilations before, resulting in 4 volumes of virtual CDRs (downloads in the link below) compiling our favourite tracks from all forms of metallic samplers. This time the focus will shift solely to the most Underground form of Steel there is: that which only appeared on obscure, mixed-styles albums produced by local music organizations, radio stations and/or d.i.y. labels. Occationally we will meet old familiar friends on their first steps into the Metal sphere, but for the most part these bands are so arcane they didn't even produce demos(!) - The Epitome Of Ubsküre Metal Kült! Of course this means the general quality won't quite match that of the previous comp-comps, but this time I'm more interesting in cataloguing and exposing what's out there rather than making a Greatest Hits series. Bear in mind I've at least had the decency to exclude the most dire compositions. (Oh don't worry, we'll have a special edition of the truly hilarious WORST-Of-The-Worst-type of stuff in due time..)

For the sake of neat packaging and conceptualization I will also try to compile these samplers country-by-country ("Bloodstains.."-style) for as long as it's possible. We randomly start off with West Germany. There were tons of albums like these from this country and I've already got over an hour of remaining German material waiting on my hard drive, but for the next volume we'll probably be travelling somewhere else, like Russia, or maybe Italy, or why not Sweden??"
Veterans Of The Various-Wars - Volume 2: Not Just Spaghetti And Minotauro"Welcome to the 2nd volume of The Corroseum's Veterans of the Various-Wars series. In tonight's episode: Italy!

For those unfamiliar with the concept, the VotVW-series collects all those odd Hard & Heavy tunes off the mixed/rural compilation albums featured in The Corroseum's Great Olde Metal Compilations Encyclopedia (thecorroseum.org/comps) and exposes them to the Olde Metal public. This time around I've put the spotlight on one of my absolute favourite Metal scenes and since I'm an almost-completist (yeah I'm fooling myself there really is such a thing..) collector of Italian Steel I've had plenty of material to choose from - in fact there's more than a full CDR's worth of stuff remaining for a future volume.

So, this is like, totally gonna rooooooooooool, right?? Um... well, it's definitely a very underground'y collection of songs, meaning it's also very amateurish and rough on plenty of occations. It needs pointing out that the purpouse of this series is not to make a Best-Of selection but instead to document the most obscure Metals ever put to on vinyl, with little regard to quality-control. With this caveat out of the way, I do hope/think most Obscure Metal-fans will enjoy it. C-U at Vol. 3 - it will be even better."
Veterans Of The Various-Wars - Volume 3: Old Eclectic Warriors"We've now reached the 3rd volume in The Corroseum's Veterans of the Various-Wars series, and it's time for the first UK edition!

...meaning this will be the
least obcure volume, content-wise so far. Die-hard NWOBHM-aficionados should be familiar with most of the featured material, and I'm sure even your average everyday NWOBHM-amateur will recognize a title or three. This comes as no surprise since this scene is probably the most researched and well documented of all Olde Metal areas, local mixed-styles compilation albums included.

That's the theme of this virtual mix-CDR series btw, in case you're new here. The Corroseum's Great Olde Metal Compilations Encyclopedia (thecorroseum.org/comps) has been cataloguing all forms of Metal-related V/A-released since 2009. VotVW is the vehicle where we present the most obscure Steels there are to the masses, i.e. all exclusive, Heavy recordings from these rural oddities. The credo is Completeness Over Greatness, so watch your step and mind the turds..."
Veterans Of The Various-Wars - Volume 4: Knallhård Betongrock!"Were you to make some comparative selections at The Corroseum's Great Olde Metal Compilations Encyclopedia (thecorroseum.org/comps), you'd be let to belive that no other country in the world had more d.i.y. compilation albums by local music org's and indie labels per capita than Sweden ...and you might even be right! The main reason however for this overrepresentation is that it's the home country of yours truly and with the help of plenty of friends and fellow collectors I've been amassing rare Swedish Hard Rock and Heavy Metal comp-tunes for almost 2 decades now, leaving me with almost 10 hours worth of material to portion out. I say we start off where most things tend to start off in this universe: The Beginning!"
Veterans Of The Various-Wars - Volume 5: Underground Rendez-Vous!"It's time once again for a deep dive into the underest, grounderest, obscurerest of Steels & Rocks, namely that which we've mined from the homegrown, local/d.i.y. compilation albums-fad of the 80's. The focus of this 5th edition has been the much collectable country of France, land of... French Metal!

As usual there's hardly been any cherry-picking at all - if it's heavy enough for The Corroseum and not absolutely aids-inducingly awful, we'll take it - we're here to Document & Preserve as much as to Inspire. That being said, we do hope you'll enjoy the odd track or three..."
The Great Olde Metal Compilation Encyclopedia - a listener's companionThe very first sampler I ever put together for the site, where me and Keir cherrypicked our favourite gems from various Metal (and other) compilations we had started reviewing for the site...

"The Great Olde Metal Compilation Encyclopedia is The Corroseum's lates project, aspiring to be the most comprehensive guide to the subject in question. We hope this little taster will open a few eyes & ears to this exciting format. Enjoy!"
The Great Olde Metal Compilation Encyclopedia - a listener's companion - Vol. 2"Since its initial launch in the fall of 2009, The Corroseum's The Great Olde Metal Compilation Encyclopedia has grown into the largest resource for 80's Heavy Metal V/A-trivia on the web (?) and we thought it was high time to once again spread the gospel of forgotten comp-Steel to the starving masses. 18 obscure gems, especially hand picked-by The Specialists for your listening pleasure! Once again we hope this little 'virtual mix-tape' will inspire you to further excavations on the matter..."
The Great Olde Metal Compilation Encyclopedia - a listener's companion - Volume 3This 3rd volume was compiled by the Compilopedia co-author Keir, while I was busy slaying dragons, posers and Ancient Ones in some dark, forlorn dimension, saving the world of earthly Heavy Metal in the process. Somehow it still turned out great!

"By popular demand, here is the third mix CD featuring a selection of obscure and exclusive compilation tracks. Unlike the first 2 volumes, this compiled solely by me (hence the 'Unofficial') and I apologize for the resulting lack of diversity. -Keir "
The Great Olde Metal Compilation Encyclopedia - a listener's companion - Vol. 4The last of the "Comp-comps" in the old Best Of-format, this one entirely composed by me...

"It's the summer of 2015 and as I'm writing this, The Corroseum's The Great Olde Metal Compilation Encyclopedia has reached its 500th listed title, going on its 6th year and has no intention on slowing down on the road to become the ultimate site for old cult Metal V/A-trivia. Ever so ready to please and inspire, here's another collection of absolutely awesome tunes that have crossed our path during our exploratory expeditions into the compilation underground..."



Samplers from the


Kegelapan Dari Jenggara - 10 obsucre Doom Metal anthems from Malaysia, 1985-1991Made by me in a spontaneaous burst of inspiration, after hearing too many awsum Doom Metal tracks lost on these forgotten releases...

"In your hand is a retrospective collection of rare Doom Metal songs grabbed from 80's and early 90's HM vinyl from Malaysia. Were there really THAT many Doom bands from this area and era you might wonder? No, not really but the traditional HR/HM scene was huge, with hundreds of albums released during this period, all in cassette format and most of those also made in very limited promo-only vinyl versions. It's from this very large selection that we at The Corroseum have managed to scrape together a full-length LP's worth of ghoulish, sludgy, menacing yet atmospheric tracks heavy enough to please even the most demanding Doom Metal fan out there. It's quite a diverse bunch but I honestly think every single track is a pearl in its own right and I hope you hear it too."

TASTY : Truly Obscure Vintage Hard Rock (USA-1976-1983)Yet another compilations-themed series, though this time from forum member and resident Olde Hard Rock-conneiseur bigfootkit...

"In the 1970's & 1980's a little-remembered but common promotional tool for U.S. radio stations was the local artists compilation LP. Often the groups included were chosen to appear through local battle of the band style contests, but later on some of these competitions went statewide or even national, and were often sponsored by big booze companies like Miller or Seagrams. Whilst the majority of these bands shuffled straight back into obscurity often leaving these compilations behind as the only record that they ever existed, many aspiring rockers who later became well known got their first break on these things.

These records usually veered all over the place both stylistically & in terms of quality, but with persistent digging the occasional golden nugget can be found amongst all the dross. Here are 17 unsung but very worthwhile songs, plucked from some of those long forgotten records and conveniently assembled in one place for your listening pleasure. Primarily taking in Hard Rock & Heavy Metal, with the occasional excursion into Southern Rock, AOR or Pomp Rock territory, all the tracks were recorded between 1976 & 1983. It's a weird time capsule, a sampler album from a Twilight Zone parallel universe where every teenage bedroom has posters of the Dave Steffen Band & Dave Feinstein's Thunder on the wall and no-one knows who Judas Priest or Aerosmith are. Enjoy!"

VARIOUS : TASTY TOO : More Truly Obscure Vintage Hard Rock (1977-1983)Volume 2 of forum member bigfootkit's pearl-diving into the old 'homegrown' scene of local American radio station comps...

Magyar Harcosok - 15 lost gems of olde Hungarian MetalMade more or less on a whim by me in 2016. You can find more info on some of the tracks in the Hungarian sections of the East-European 7" guide as well as the Compilopedia..

"...because all music sound better once you put it on a mix-tape.

That's a fact. I happened to have a bunch of odd Hungarian Hard Rock and Heavy Metal vinyls in my collection where great tunes were spread about them that wouldn't see the light of day and get played as much as they deserved if I didn't do something about it. Thus this comp CDR of "Hungarian Warriors" happened. All songs are taken from LPs and 7"s released between the years 1980 and 1992.."

Sirens From HellPossibly the first sampler made on the forum, this was pretty much a collective effort that originated from this thread, discussing our all-time fave Metal songs w/ female vocals. User bigfootkit later compiled 16 of these tracks, and user Helm made the cover art. While not really including much in the way of ultra-obscüre material*, it did turn out quite an awesome "mix-tape"!

* = If obscureness is what you're looking for in this field, I'd like to take this opportunity to plug forum user khiijol's ancient yet excellent Female Fronted Heavy Metal-blog.


Obviously there are gigabytes of Metal music shared on the forum, but these are ones that came as a 'packaged deal' so to speak. Forum user and long-time Corroseum-contributor doomedplanet's 7" metal and hard rock mixes on soundcloud deserves an Xtra plug in this context.




(a.k.a. old & somewhat unrelated shit..)

Incredibly Strange MetalNo, this was never really related to The Corroseum, as I made it one year before the site was launched. Lustfungus Productions was a CDR "mock-label" I played around with during the years 2000-2003. The idea was to release odd, unusual, unhip and/or underappreciated music of all sorts (literally!), mostly in the form of samplers, but a few demos from friends were also part of the discography. This was one of the very few Metal-related releases. The theme was inspired by the "Incredibly Strange Music" books on REsearch and the cover was a straight mock-up of their compilation CDs.
There's a few embarrassing errors and blurbs among the liner notes that I'm tempted to censor, but for the sake of honesty and correctly preserving history I'll leave them as is.

"..I won't be surprised if some of my fellow metalheads will see this compilation as a piss-take on the music we love. Believe me, it is quite the contrary. It may be sacrilege to put such superb bands as BLACK HOLE and DRAKAR on the same disc as disasters like KUSTER and TORN FLESSH, but the point is that they shared something: A very unique interpretation of a music accused of being onedimensional and predictable, thereby saving it from drowning in its own clichés..."

(A note for all die-hard CDR-collectors out there: The original is easily distinguished from any home-printed copies as it was a pro digital print on a rather unusual, latex-coated paper stock made for hospital use. Blood-proof!)


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