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TULUS “Morbid Desires”
TULUS “Morbid Desires”
By Lord Randall
The histories of many Scandinavian black metal scenes are incestuous, members shared, then each member branching off into a dozen other projects (often simultaneously – I’m looking at you, Shatraug), often including members of yet other bands on different instruments than they’re known for. Yet none may be so convoluted and interwoven as Norway’s KHOLD and TULUS.
While the latter was formed nearly a decade prior, when KHOLD was placed on hiatus in the mid-‘00s, what were members Sarke and Blodstrup to do except resurrect their original band?
Bolstered since 2008 with the rumbling bass attack of Crowbel (who also did an over ten-year stint in the other band – I swear, don’t get me started on that again!), TULUS returns with “Morbid Desires”. “Salme 2” swirls into being, curling, twisting guitar patterns a fog around the battery of the rhythm section. Early on is also when the trio determinedly distances itself from its near mirror image, instantly the more layered, and experimental of the two, classical guitar seasonings and the bass work of Crowbel is fluid as slush just before it turns to ice
While “Skabb” is more straightforward in execution, “Tulus” (because every band needs a song named after it) injects what for lack of a better word might be thought of as boogie-woogie as interpreted by Northern Europeans to great and ass kicking effect. “Kistesmed”, however, swings wildly and gleefully between maniacal ARCTURUS moments and a hypnotic, hazy yet frigid groove. Frantic in the way of early OZ and MOTÖRHEAD, “Hedengangen” races through the paces, ideally placed in the running order so as to crank up the energy level on an already vigorous album.
“Fossegrimens Vakt” easily puts those who write off black metal (and metal of all sorts) as so much noise in a very humble place, the first minute spent in skillful acoustic-based explorations before becoming a snappy yet slightly (as expected) off-kilter mid-paced banger. Ending with the 8+ minute “Sabbat”, one can envision this blown out doom extravaganza as nothing less than a reverently raucous send-off to the Masters Of Reality themselves, BLACK SABBATH. And Hell yes, that is a fuckin’ harmonica!
“Morbid Desires” stands as, in some ways, more than an album alone. Call it a statement of intent, an austere expression of defiance against conforming to what is expected of it, and of black metal that not only retains but bleeds legitimacy. Call it TULUS.
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