CTULU - Ctulu

Ctulu - Ctulu (2016, MDD Records)

With a name that’s synonymous with the greatest Horror writer of all time’s, read here H. P. Lovecraft, most grotesque and disturbing creation, Ctulu, the Germans are coming in 2016 with an untitled or self-titled fourth album that is full of ‘’pathetic disappointments transformed into hate’’. Think of the Extreme Metal of Behemoth, Rotting Christ, and Temple of Baal.

When I receive albums from promo people I often have a smile on my face especially when I see the genre they attribute to the albums they want us to review. As it is, for this record the label of Extreme Metal might be accurate but the music of Ctulu has more melodic moments than the usual Extreme Metal I expect. What’s interesting here is that they did not trying to be something or someone else. Their music is guitar driven and the chants and vocals are engaging. Also, I like that there are moments of fast blast beats while there is space for slower/heavier sections that makes this album in the very good to great ratings.

In the song ‘’Totenhauswinde’’ there are guitar riffs that remind me of the Volcano era of Satyricon while Ctulu stays into their blasting fast Metal. Then you get to the slow yet efficient ‘’Rozgoryczona, rozczarowana, a gotowa na wszystko’’ that’s like a Rotting Christ choral done right. It is the longest song on the album at 6:39 minutes and it shows how they edited and trimmed their songs to keep it tight and make you want more a repeat the listen again and again.

This is a surprising album that got me off my guard and I usually don’t like the recent outputs by Rotting Christ but the arrangements and the sound mixing makes it shine without sounding too finished like a Dimmu Borgir album.

8.0