Album Review: Ulkum – Ulkum (Live Fast Die Recordings)

Minneapolis MN’s bleak funeral doom band Ulkum have combined their rehearsal demo Demonstration and the live recording demo First Prophecy. Now available on cassette via Live First Die Recordings.

If the bleakest of doom metal is your thing then Ulkum deliver & then some. The self-titled release is 6 tracks of dismal & severe doom but one that is essential listening. The three part Rehearsal series bringing a deep, pulsating darkness that pulls at the soul. Distorted guitars, booming drums & just a hint of grandness.

Things then get even more unsettling for the very lengthy (14:54) I. Clothed in the Ashes of Fallen Brethren. A track so slow & moody that it feels like you’re walking through the thickest & stickiest of molasses. Just when it’s beginning to drag, the heaviness & the gloominess begins to increase followed by an exciting up-tempo turn.

At the halfway stage there are very few surprises left from Ulkum now. By this stage you know exactly what you’re getting with them & the final two tracks don’t change the formula much. II. Breathe Darkness, Swallow Light & III. Children of Ulkum are unrelentingly bleak-sounding with the occasional injections of pace breaking up the constant slow doominess.

This is certainly not going to be an album for many. You have to have an ear for funeral doom & really enjoy lengthy trips into the darkness to get everything you can out of Ulkum’s self-titled release.

Ulkum – Ulkum Full Track Listing:

1. Rehearsal I
2. Rehearsal II
3. Rehearsal III
4. I. Clothed in the Ashes of Fallen Brethren
5. II. Breathe Darkness, Swallow Light
6. III. Children of Ulkum

You can pick up the album digitally & on cassette over on Live Fast Die Recordings Bandcamp. You can also pick up the two releases separately via Ulkum’s Bandcamp. Find out more about the band on Facebook.