Vulvark – Vulvark (2009)

When it comes to rawness Vulvark would get the highest marks, however the whole raw concept of the album gets a bit tired after a while and then you are left with a disconnected array of several elements that would have made for a better album under the hands of somebody more creative.

The ten minute epic opening track and the next two made me very optimistic about how this album was going to turn out, but as the next tracks made their appearance this illusion quickly faded. Clocking at 1 hour and 6 minutes, I think this album should have been cut at track 3 and this would make a great EP. However the last 5 songs just destroyed the whole momentum the band built on the opening tracks.

While I enjoy experimentation in any kind of genre, here it’s just a bunch of random stuff thrown together linked by some riffs and guitar effects. Talking about the first 3 songs I could only praise the intensity, rawness and grittiness Vulvark achieves, but after that it’s just plain weird and for lack of a better word: boring.

Vocal wise Vulvark is up to par with any other good Black Metal band; some of the guitar riffs have a very eerie sound to them as well. The drumming sometimes feels very disorganized as if they where just random blast beats here and there, making some of the tracks not cohesive.

The ideas are here to create a very solid album from start to finish, but I think Nihilaz, the man behind the ‘band’ just ran out of solid lines to create a full track, or just felt like experimenting too much. However, if you like a trip into the bizarre world of ‘weird’ but different sounding Black Metal then you will enjoy this album very much.

Release: June 2009

Country: Germany