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KULT
The Eternal Darkness I Adore

Folter (2018)
Rating: 8/10

In 2001 the Como region of Italy spewed forth this black metal ensemble; a grim, pitch-black horde that since their formation has released a trio of albums including this one.

Members Tumulash (vocals), Kacele (guitar), D.White (bass) and Thorns (drums) have constructed a blazing, billowing wreckage of an album that is choc bloc with tales of nihilism and Satanism. So brace yourself for a myriad of fiery gusts and blizzard blasts.

While containing many icy blasts of gruelling air, Kult’s newest opus maintains weight and measures in abundance with slower, malevolent tempo changes which then build steadily into grim scurries. Kult doesn’t sound like an ancient force or an act attempting to be something it’s not, this is downright genuine furious and hate-filled extreme metal injected with sharp angles and a fiery vocal outpouring. Tumulash has a sort of gnashing chop to his snarls, while behind him raging guitars act as foaming black seas and join forces with manic bass and drum. The result is one huge vacuum of evil fury that is brim full of slower, chugging passages.

From the off this nine-track affair is catchy as the Hell it was born from. The menace of the title track brings varying speeds as it engulfs the listener, and then the spiky threat of ‘Pandemonium’ lives up to its name with the guitar tone reminding me of a sped up Hellhammer / Celtic Frost except they are coated in a filthier vocal smirk.

‘Black Drapes’ opts for a more straight-forward black metal blasting as if someone is dragging sandpaper across your brain, but again there are those threads of tight melody. Meanwhile, hideous closer ‘Devourer Of The Night’ lumbers with the greatest menace; a cold, plodding and extremely remote bleat of a track whereby the drums nod in sombre fashion to create a truly desperate and aching atmosphere.

But before such dissonant horrors there lies such gems as ‘Gruesome Portrait’ with its twisted riffing and death metal nuances, while another jewel in the bloody crown is ‘Canticle Of Thorns’. The latter is a miserable, vast and epic-sounding sprawl of spreading guitar tone and mumbling bass, and proof that Kult has many strings to its bow as they wander down numerous avenues within what has often been deemed a slightly limited genre.

It’s difficult to know when Kult are at their best – the harder, racier aspects are as equally stirring and vile as the slower, pensive moods. But either way, this is top-notch black metal that I can’t recommend enough to the followers who seek something more from their chosen field of wickedness.

Neil Arnold

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