Tulus - Fandens kall (2023)

As one of the most underrated Black Metal bands from Norway, Tulus carved a path with excellent releases in the late 90’s and went on hiatus for a while. With their music being raw and punishing, one can argue that Tulus should have been as recognized as Darkthrone, Immortal, Satyricon and Enslaved. With that signature frosty and incisive brand of BM, the band has nicely baked Black’n’roll elements into their sound to create superbly catchy music, and “Fandens kall” is a brilliant example of this.

Opening with the album title track, Blodstrup and Sarke waste no time to unleash waves of vicious riffs, nicely enveloped in highly melodic passages and a hellish snarl. The band’s core sound is simple and yet quite effective, keeping the old-school Scandinavian Black Metal sound alive while delivering bangers like “Lek”, “Slagmark”, and the chaotic “Allstøtt”. Perfectly balancing funky melodies with the sinister bass guitar of Crowbel, the band creates some engaging and yet powerful tracks like “Isråk” and the Darkthrone-esque “Snømyrkre”.

As our favorite tracks, “Bloddråpesvermer” and “Sjelesmerte”, nicely mix some jazzy/folky elements and hypnotic female vocals to create very different and engaging songs. These little surprises and additional elements are what has made Tulus be one of our favorite bands since their 1996 release “Pure Black Energy”. Never rocking the boat too much, the band has been able to experiment with new sounds and new ideas over the years.

In general, “Fandens kall” is one of those Black Metal releases that are heavy, frosty and have all the requirements that purists of Norwegian Black Metal look for, while also keeping things fresh and interesting. Having been more consistent in releasing albums in the last few years, and also playing live gigs, we would love for the band to keep up their current push and get the recognition they deserve.

Label: Soulseller Records

Release: February 17th, 2023

Genre: Black Metal

Country: Norway