Majestic, melancholic, and meticulously moulded…
Released through Temple Of Torturous (website; Facebook; Bandcamp) on 21 October 2016 and reviewed by Jason Guest
Siberian post-black metal act Ultar are upon us with their debut full-length album Kadath. Very post and very black, it’s very good. With a distinctly atmospheric black-metal sound, who else is there to turn to for inspiration but H. P. Lovecraft? Having served so many other bands so well, Ultar are much in his debt. But that’s not to say that this record wouldn’t be what it is without him. Far from it. At times harrowing, at times harsh, at times beautiful, and at all times moving, Kadath is a fine piece of work.
The compelling atmospherics, the menace and the control, the fury blasted out in many a rapid riff, and the melancholic malaise spread across the album are well balanced, well utilized and well executed. Most post-whatever albums usually bore the crap out of me and usually for the same reason: the structures follow tried and tested and well-worn paths. Not here. Ultar know what to do with a line and how to keep it captivating without falling foul of the easy and the predictable. Well-crafted, each of the tracks is a journey in itself and together they make for an album as broad as it is deep and as immediate as it is enduring. Majestic, melancholic, and meticulously moulded, Ultar have spent many an hour on Kadath. And it shows. An album to spend many an hour with.
8 out of 10
Track list:
- Nyarlathotep
- Azathoth
- Shores of the Sleeping Seas
- Xasthur
- The Ancient Ones
- Kadath
