Necronomicon I

Wurdulac is a savage vampyric one-entity project harking from the northern climes of Canada, headed by the ominous Vassago. Sitting somewhere between the crushing crawl of Ride for Revenge and the bestial barbarism of Sadomator, Wurdulac stands with bloodied talon deep in each flesh grave; fulminations of doom laden raw black savagery its total mode of expression. Dungeon Lord was the first offering Vassago placed upon the sacrificial altar. It featured a colossal bass-driven noise that would wake even those buried deepest in subterranean towers, but with his most recent offering, Necronomicon I, Wurdulac has imbibed deep from the celestial inkwell and brought forth a deluge of shattered mirrors.

The production is a massive upgrade of Wurdulac’s last offering, improving each aspect from before, Vassago returning with a reforged arsenal of blood-soaked weaponry to the fore. The undead wielder of vampirism drowns the mix in black reverb, the sound coming forth from beneath a murky ocean of harsh echo and savage dissonance. Power chords pummel the listener into a slow exercise of self-flagellation. Simple—but impressively concocted—the melodies evoked rip through the rest of the mix, and are elevated, rather than drowned out by the percussive fury marching dread in the depths below.

The militant battery of drums creates the main framework of the piece; cymbal driven patterns smashing deep in the depths of the stone tombs of old, tempo mid-paced and constrained. “Dying Truth / Out” being a prime example of this; the drums maintaining a solid pace, with outbursts of staccato savagery emboldening the composition to sanguine heights of horror. This wall of sound approach resonates perfectly with the brutal simplicity of the guitar work, amplifying the melodies without draining any of their sulphuric artistry.

Wurdulac howls from the depths. Deep, penetrating barks that echo amongst the perpetual spirals of the void - truly nasty in their execution. They sit fairly high in the mix, but due to the spareness of their delivery, they still allow the rest of the instrumentation to shine in merciless bliss. The visual aspect of Wurdulac is impressive and the photo of Vassago upon the demo cover does an excellent job of illuminating the artist as a reanimated corpse, brought forth from the grave to unleash the sounds of rotted mud and void whispers. The layout is also vitriolic in execution and the choice of a purple duotone really sets it apart from it’s typical black and white counterparts.

Wurdulac is a coffin creating exercise in malefic sadism. Sanguine power-chords, pummelling drums, bottom heavy production, revenant aestheticism and mausoleum vocals, all coagulated into a violent storm of vampyric proportions, that contemporary acolytes of Baphomancia, Vengeance Sorcery and Goatcorpse would devour without mercy. Born beneath the embers of demolished fog, Wurdulac impales the dying truth, that they who drink of blood, shall only know everlasting reflections of their own wretched immortality.