About the site

OnlyDeathIsReal.rip – exploring the dark, hard underbelly of the music underground since 2019. From the extremest of extreme metal to the most esoteric of neofolk, from the most psychotic psychobilly to the vilest horrorcore rap, OnlyDeathIsReal.rip covers all kinds of hard, dark, extreme and obscure underground music past and present. Without prejudice, but with some predilection.

About the reviews

We no longer assign a numerical score to the reviews, as of summer 2021. Older reviews have a numerical rating system. All reviews are obviously entirely subjective, but also absolutely infallible.

About submissions

Yes! We do accept submissions for reviews. We accept both digital and physical material (CD, CDr, tape, vinyl). For digital material, we request a download; we will not review streams (for example Soundcloud or Spotify). When queuing material for review, physical items will always have precedence over digital items.

You can get in touch via the contact form.

Due to the volume of promo submissions we get, we regrettably cannot guarantee we will review everything or always even be able to respond to every email if it’s about digital promos. If you’re offering to send us a physical copy of your release, we will always respond.

What genres do we cover?

Basically: any and everything we feel like. Most of the time this means: any kind of industrial music, from the harshest of noise and power electronics to danceable EBM; neofolk, martial industrial and neoclassical; metal, especially of the darker and harder kind; punk, in particular oi! and bootboy music; psychobilly; horrorcore rap.

But feel free to offer us stuff outside these styles for review. Our tastes are broader, and we love a challenge.

About the author

J. is a guy in his forties with over 20 years of experience in writing about music with a large range: from underground metal to post-industrial to punk to rockabilly, country and roots music. His musical tastes range from Hank Williams to Hellhammer, Big Bill Broonzy to Black Sabbath, Toots & The Maytals to Those Poor Bastards, Incantation to Insane Clown Posse, Death In June to Depeche Mode. He also creates neoclassical martial industrial as Dieux Des Cimetières.