Tulus (Norway): “Old Old Death”

Tulus, an old glory of Norwegian black metal less known than other bands from the same country, recently resurrected from an eight-year silence after Olm og bitter from 2012. It must be said that all members are involved in other projects, mainly Khold that released an album in 2014 (Til endes). However, already in 2012, as I pointed out in the review, Tulus had evolved towards black'n roll in the footsteps of Satyricon, and the new album Old Old Death continues on the same path. Nothing new then, even if Tulus has perfected and personalized their songwriting a lot. What is immediately striking is a very clean production with a perfectly polished sound where the bass lines have a strong presence and sustain the guitars. The songs are generally slow-paced, very punk/rockesque, for example the third track “I havet hos Rån”; the only slightly faster parts are in “Folkefall” and “Villkjeft”. On the other hand, the album is a sonic monolith without any variation in tone, and the extra polished sound does not help; consequently, the album is a bit dull, bland, lacking in brilliance. But it is still a Tulus album, and its importance is in that.
 
Notes:
Old Old Death was released on March 6, 2020 via Soulseller Records as digital release, CD, and vinyl.
 
Personnel:
Sarke: Drums
Blodstrup: Vocals, Guitars
Crowbel: Bass
 
Text by Herjann
herjann@unholyblackmetal.com