ULVEHUNGER – Retaliation

vote
7.5

• Band:
  ULVEHUNGER
• Duration: 00:42:06
• Available from: 07/18/2024
• Label:

• Darkness Shall Rise Productions

To trace the history of Norwegian Ulvehunger, we have to go back to the early nineties, with bands such as Cadaver and Balvaz. Among the members of this new project we find Anders Odden (Cadaver) and Lasse Johansen (Cadaver and Balvaz) joined for the occasion by Frost on drums for an album of black metal infused with death, whose sound comes directly from Carpathian Forest, Gorgoroth and Cadaver, but without limiting itself to slavishly reproposing styles and ideas now hackneyed.
Although not straying too far from the classic Norwegian sound, the experience of the musicians involved means that in the forty-two minutes of “Retaliation” you can always find something interesting and unexpected, especially in certain guitar riffs, which do not disdain dissonant and almost progressive incursions, as in the opening track “Desecrator”, which in less than four minutes passes through continuous rhythmic and mood changes, with blast-beats always well-measured. More furious instead is “Sacrifice”, which proposes the discomfort of Gorgoroth from the Gaahl period with the surgical precision typical of death metal, a genre that takes over in the subsequent “Leave Them In Disgrace”, one of the best pieces of the album for dynamics and atmosphere, and “Consumed By Hate”, with its black and roll groove.
In their more black metal moments, Ulvehunger recall post-“Rebel Extravaganza” Satyricon, with songs like “Rise From The Shadows” or “The Mighty Pentagram” that unfold between twisted harmonies, never predictable drum parts and an unhealthy and unreassuring mood.
Although the average length is around four minutes, the writing is characterized by quite changeable structures, with numerous tempo changes, breaks and variations on the theme that require a more careful listening, all tempered in some moments by more atmospheric and melancholic passages, such as in the finale of the splendid “Covenant Of Pestilence”, the only song to exceed six minutes.
If at first glance the songs tend to sound a bit similar, this is not actually a flaw, given that with the right amount of time you can only appreciate the effort in seeking the most personal formula possible, finding the right compromise between effectiveness and complexity, which is perhaps the greatest merit of this “Retaliation”.
A great debut, then, made by veterans of the scene who still have the desire to get involved with intelligence and enthusiasm.