CoC : Tulus - Mysterion : Review

Tulus - _Mysterion_
(Hot Records, 1998)
by: Paul Schwarz (5 out of 10)

Tulus don't sing in English. This doesn't really bother me, I love Enslaved's _Eld_ album, and although these aren't translated some of my favourite albums don't have 'translations' of their incomprehensible vocals; but it is probably Tulus' most notable quality. Mysterion is not a bad debut, but it displays no hints of a revolution about to happen. Songs like "Skuggeskip" have nice, slickly produced guitar riffs and an ample amount of blast beats among other less typical drum rhythms. The band also manage to combine atmospheric keyboard parts and use of acoustic guitar. However, this really boils down to a case of (decent) black metal by-the-numbers, which accounts for the by-the-numbers style in which I've written most of this review. Tulus are worth getting if the Arcturus / Covenant style of non-brutal, no blast snare black metal is starting to get you down (not a problem I have): it has distorted guitars, screeching vocals and some decent use of dynamics.

(article published 7/6/1998)

ALBUMS
10/12/1999	A McKay	9.5	Tulus - Evil 1999