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Blind purchases can really screw you over. Over the years I have managed to pick up quite a few gems but also, as basic laws of probabilities dictate, ended up with more than my fair share of duds. Unfortunately, this album falls into the latter category.

After finding out the band was from Colombia, I hastily popped the album into my stereo system expecting something along the lines of Inquisition or Infernal. My stomach lurched at the sight of the stupid looking band photos but I was still reasonably optimistic…

If one is familiar with the music of Dark Funeral and newer Marduk, you pretty much have an idea what this album sounds like. Norsecore.

The album opens with a cheesy organ track accompanied by a man reading the invocation to Satan and then reciting the Infernal Names. After three minutes, the blasturbation commences.

Unlike Dark Funeral and Marduk, Utuk-Xul does not possess the decency to limit their "songs" to 2 to 4 minutes in length. The first two songs (2nd and 3rd tracks) are both longer than 10 minutes and consist of unrelenting, high speed blasting (with little variation), poorly defined and constructed riffs we've all heard before (that repeat ad fucking nauseam) and grating vocals devoid of any emotion. This description could be given to any of the three tracks which follow; except for the fifth track. This one is an "instrumental" (i.e. blasting without vocals) and is by far the best track on the album, thanks mainly to its short length.

As expected, the production of the album is biased towards the drumming. However, unlike other Norsecore albums, the guitars are a bit higher in the mix and somewhat audible. The vocals suffer the most from the production and are pushed the furthest back in the mix but given the vocalist's thoroughly unoriginal and unconvincing style, this is definitely a plus point.

Not satisfied with the monotony of the music, Utuk-Xul writes repetitive lyrics to escort their compositions. From the track "Whispers of Typhared" -

"Typhared power of the wind
Chockman spirit of the night
The ancient powers of the winds
Powers of the wind in the night

The ancient power of the called of the wind
Spectral vision of the night
Typhared inner power
Power of the wind"

One must be grateful that rather than following Dark Funeral's lead and yelling "Satan" every other second, Utuk-Xul throws in a little "variation" and instead rather "cleverly" hails Lucifer and Leviathan. Being evil for the sake of it is getting increasingly tired.

You are not losing out if you fail to listen to this album. Everything on it has been done before, and even then it was far from good. There is no conviction and the band just seems to be going through the motions. Paradoxically, there is no intensity despite the intended forceful nature of Utuk-Xul's sound. Eventually, the "music" just devolves into a blur and remains as an annoying background noise. Stay far, far away from this album.