ULVDALIR – ...Of Death Eternal (LP) Black Gatefold Vinyl

ULVDALIR (Russia) - ...Of Death Eternal (used LP copy) (2019) Released by Iron Bonehead Productions on 140gram Black gatefold vinyl - - issued with 12-page LP sized booklet & A2 sized poster - limited to 500 copies.

One of black metal's best-kept secrets, ULVDALIR belong to the inner circle of Russia's True Ingrian Black Metal Death, alongside IRON BONEHEAD labelmates KHASHM, with whom they share two members. As such, the sound they've patiently crafted since 2001 - and which made its full-length debut in 2008 with TWO albums, Flame Once Lost and Soul Void, both equally aptly titled - likewise bears a tangibly gnarly physicality contrasted by an almost-levitational aspect: truly, an alchemical melding of aggression and atmosphere.

Truly worth the wait, ...Of Death Eternal displays the full bloom of ULVDALIR's rotten, bountiful harvest. Swarming with dire intent and unnervingly precise malice, the quartet's attack here pushes and pulls, coils and crushes, but always carries an ever-forward momentum. Equally slipstreaming and trance-inducing, their gnarled 'n' gnarling style of Black Metal emits space and shade at every crooked turn, finally enveloping the listener whole within their black hole.

Each of the album's six central songs patiently unfolds their respective black holes across lengthier track times, yet ones never too exhaustingly long; again, malicious precision is the order of the day on ...Of Death Eternal. In that regard, and alongside the finessed physicality here, one could slot ULVDALIR alongside the more orthodox Black Metal movements still coursing through Sweden and Greece, but with a sterner sensibility that's distinctly Russian. -- Iron Bonehead Productions ‎– IBP390