Album Review: Ctulu – Ctulu (MDD Records)

Ctulu are an extreme metal band from Germany that were founded in 2004 & this is their fourth release.

In their own words, the band describes the new album as follows: “We have been collecting pathetic disappointments for the last three years and now we have transformed them into hate.”

The opening song of any album is one of the most important parts of any album. It’s the introduction, the place-marker, it can either build anticipation or deflate expectations. It’s so important to get the start right something Ctulu manages with ease.

Serce Krwawe is a stunning start to an album filled with some of the most blackened metal to be released this year. It’s a nasty & visceral start that instantly elevates any & all expectations, the drumming just crushes.

This 8 song, 34 minute album works itself into the ground spreading its evilness throughout your brain & you’ll love every moment of its succulent beckoning to join it in Hell.

It’s not just intense heaviness that Ctulu brings to the table though, they also bring some hard-hitting riffs & stunning groove. This isn’t just a black metal album, it’s got an undercurrent of good old fashioned heavy metal. Treibjagd, Totenhauswinde, Heerführer der Herrenlosen, it’s just one excellent song after another.

Rozgoryczona, Rozczarowana, a Gotowa Na Wszystko has a really dark & doomy beat for most of its run with some delectably evil sounding monk-like added vocals cropping up occasionally. It’s an incredible listen & one of the highlights of the album especially when it changes tempo off a building drum beat.

One of the reasons why this album is so brutally heavy is the drumming, it is intense stuff that really stands out. Drummer I.D. is able to do the hard-hitting rolling black metal beats that often sound messy before switching to a style that hammers harder & with more structure.

There isn’t a bad song on here. Every time a song seems like it isn’t going to offer anything interesting it completely surprises you with a sudden shift in tempo or style. Dämmerung is one such song, seeming to have played its best hand early on before dropping some gorgeous freshly picked riffs midway.

This is one of the best black metal releases of the year, dark & depressing but impossible to put down until the final beat plays out. Vocally it’s not doing anything unique but it doesn’t matter as it’s there to put an exclamation mark on the music, something that it manages with ease.

Ctulu comes to an end with a flurry of furious metal that doesn’t end the album as strongly as it begun but proves once & for all that Ctulu (the band) know how to write great songs, often refusing to take the easy path even if that would result in a perfectly solid song.

This is a band expanding the black metal horizons while staying true to its roots. Get this album!

Full Track Listing:

1. Serce Krwawe
2. Treibjagd
3. Totenhauswinde
4. Rozgoryczona, Rozczarowana, a Gotowa na Wszystko
5. Heerführer der Herrenlosen
6. Dämmerung
7. Von Mondeswächtern und Menschverächtern
8. Die Arkaden von R’lyeh

We’d like to thank Ctulu & Against PR for providing us with a copy of the album for this review. You can pick up this new album over on their bandcamp page & on MDD Records. If you want to know more about the band you can check out their official website, find them on Facebook & on YouTube.