Tulus is back.
To mark its 35th anniversary, the band led by Sarke (drums, Khold), Blodstrup (guitar/vocals, Khold), and Crowbel (bass, Kråbøl, ex-Funeral, ex-Sarke) is releasing its eighth album, Morbid Desires, via Darkness Shall Rise Productions.
Salme II opens this new album gently with soaring keyboards, but darkness and aggression arrive soon enough in the form of abrasive riffs and growls, contrasted by clean vocals and keyboards bordering on symphonic black metal. Yet the mix works well, just like Skabb, which follows suit and adopts a much groovier rhythm—almost Black’n’Roll in certain passages—while others are built on furious old-school elements, in contrast to Tulus, which returns to more ethereal touches over a fairly minimalist foundation. A new wave of violence with Kistesmed, a composition also torn between all the band’s icy influences allowing them to let both blast beats and harmonics shine and doesn’t hesitate to switch from one to the other without transition, then Vanvidd offers us tones that are almost too cheerful along with a bit of heaviness. Unfortunately a bit too fast for my taste, the track still treats us to a solo before leading us to Hedengangen, another fairly short track that immediately drops its catchy riffs and heady touches of hard rock before returning to gentler tones on Fossegrimens vakt, a composition that begins acoustically but soon lets distortion haunt it once again. The finale is much heavier, but it will calm down again with Skauånd, returning to its hypnotic, repetitive sounds that make it intoxicating, before Sabbat brings the album to a close with eight minutes of shifting, Heavy-infused riffs, always relying on the roughness of the vocals to accentuate the aggression even in the softer passages that punctuate the march, even passing through a few surprising moments.
Still drawing on diverse influences, Tulus’ Black Metal remains extremely effective! While some tracks seem a bit short, Morbid Desires is, overall, a good, highly diverse album that never hesitates to surprise.
80/100