It took me ages to track this album and buy it. As a fan of Unaussprechlichen Kulten music, I always felt that my collection is terribly empty without their debut CD "Wake Up in the Night of Walpurgis", which was released by Proselytism Records back in 2005 in 1000 copies limited edition. But finally I got it. It wasn't cheap, but who cares... I have it, that's what matters and I can finally give it a listen, because I never heard it before.
And well, technically speaking you could recognize that it's Unaussprechlichen Kulten, due to some characteristic details, which their music always had - dense, brutal death metal with very obscure, eerie aura and with very original vocals from Joseph Curwen, sound of his demonic growl and Spanish accent. Yeah, it's all here as well. "Wake Up in the Night of Walpurgis" sounds much rawer and uncompromising when compared to their future materials, their music here is more savage and vicious than ever before, with very harsh production and brute energy, which flows from this music. Songwriting isn't quite as good as they showed it on some future recordings, songs are more simplistic, primeval, speaking of their structures, basic ideas, which often are only focused on blasts and brutality. But it's a good listen, I think. I just enjoy many of these Chilean death metal bands, with their merciless, savage and evil sounding death metal assault. Kulten belong to the best. If you dig Pentagram, Incantation, Sadistic Intent, Mortem, then you'll love this band as well.
"Wake Up in the Night of Walpurgis" is not easy to find, at least in Europe, but check this album out. It's worth the money, despite only 27 minutes of music. But I think it's actually good that the album is short (all their albums are short, especially "People of the Monolith"), this way there's no chance you'll get bored. Also, Proselytism did fantastic work when releasing this CD. I love that 7" vinyl gatefold sleeve, layout, etc. It looks super awesome. And did I mention the concept of Unaussprechlichen Kulten music? I always do mention it in my Kulten reviews, so I’m not gonna repeat myself. Just check this shit out!
Verdict: 70/100
This is a review for band whose name is quite difficult for me to remember. The music presented on this debut however is memorable enough to warrant a praise. So, let's get started.
Aggression bleeds heavily from every track on this record. Thus, it reminds us how competent most bands in the Chilean scene really are. Songs like ‘The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Youngs’, ‘Prophecy of Al-Azif’ and ‘Esoteric Order of Dagon’ are among the highlights, with band members displaying their flagrant disregard for subtleties. ‘De Vermis Mysteriis’ is also a notable example of this illustration. There are some random solos bursting out from left and right but they are not doing anything special except mauling your disturbed emotions with pure malice. The songs are precisely written composed note by note, allowing for sufficient sonic assault on your ears even after repeated listens. Although the band plays death metal, there is some atmospheric intricacy interwoven in some of the tracks; a trait commonly found in stripped-down black metal. I don’t know, maybe it’s just me but ‘Blasphemous Cult of Yuggoth’ and ‘Nyarlathotep’ are good examples of how close this band, whose name I’m not even going to type again here, has come to incorporate black metal style. ‘Blasphemous Cult of Yuggoth’ starts in a demented fashion, with choppy stop-go sections that are further embellished with infernal ferocity thanks to Butcher of Christ relentless battery. There are of course some slow parts on this debut.
‘Nyarlathotep’ in particular sees the band encroaching on near doom territory. The melodic bass line at the beginning is especially out of the ordinary, and that is not something that I expected from a band this fierce. With the band’s brutal, choppy composition, it won’t be long before a barrage of vicious riffs and crucifix-trampling double bass come raining down on you. The mid-paced pummeling is further explored in ‘Azathoth Have Mercy!’ Not so appropriately named, considering the fact that the song is nowhere near merciless as the first few titles. But it too has its moments, particularly forward-marching riff-fest from 02:10 until the song concludes its three-minute sprint.
Closing the album is the two-in-one track ‘Reanimated From Beyond Sphere and Time’. While the two songs are separated in one single sitting, the other half of the song, which I believed to be the part where ‘Time’ started right after the first ends, there is a long silence in between these tracks. Hence, it explains why the run time reaches over seven minutes. In reality, both songs clock in just around 06:03. While it is clear that the band is just trying to mess around by inserting the silence, the whole song is just as vicious as the first eight. It’s a very reasonable conclusion, but the second half of the song fares slightly better than the first because it features all things fast that the band has previously put to the test. The speedy double bass part is especially headbang-worthy but it is somewhat brief. You simply lose the momentum when the song fades out to a cavernous reverberation that is then closed with some random chants. Had it been longer, it would be far more enjoyable than it already is.
‘Wake Up in the Night of Walpurgis’ is definitely worth checking out if you like regular death metal peppered with Lovecraftian themes. While countless other bands have carved their own path in approaching the subject matter, Unaussprechclichen Kulten’s approach is no less intellectual than its peers but with a primitive certainty that makes the band sticks out from the crowd. They may not be the fastest band around, nor do they bring something new to the table, but they are good at what they do. The production is very dry. You can almost feel the Equatorial heat emanating from the stereo. It is recommended that you listen to this album with a few glasses of water. And yeah, while listening to the last track, I can't help but remember that particular scene from Re-Animator where Megan Halsey (played by Barbara Crampton) is molested by the severed head of Dr. Hill. Good one indeed.