HULDER - Vessel Of Suffering (From ’Verses In Oath’ LP, 2024)

HULDER Vessel Of Suffering From ’Verses In Oath’ Releasing February 9th, 2024 LP / CD / TAPE / DIGITAL (links live at 11am Eastern December 15th) 1. An Elegy 2. Boughs Ablaze 3. Hearken The End 4. Verses In Oath 5. Lamentation 6. An Offering 7. Cast Into The Well Of Remembrance 8. Vessel Of Suffering 9. Enchanted Steel 10. Veil Of Penitence The hauntingly grandiose new Hulder album ‘Verses in Oath’, created during the dreariest cold months of the Northwest winter, constitutes the most majestic, untamed manifestation thus far in the band’s journey of conquest, as new territory is put to flame and conquered by sword and shield. A pivotal 2022 saw Hulder release ‘The Eternal Fanfare’, a 5 track mini-album, marking a new phase in the project’s rapid development. Further to Hulder’s audial ascendency, the band set the live stage ablaze, touring widely in North America throughout the year and into 2023, which brought the band to European shores for the first time as well. Spurred on by these noble victories the ground was prepared for the immensity of ‘Verses in Oath’. Tracked by Hulder in the Northwest, the mix and master was entrusted to cult legend Ahti Kortelainen of Tico Tico Studios in Finland, whose overwhelming list of credits stretch back decades to include Barathrum, Belial, Impaled Nazarene and Moonsorrow among countless others. The result is both unsparingly savage and wistfully evocative; black blood on white snow. The ancient sorrow-filled melancholy and seething spirit that are the essence of ‘Hearken The End’ permeate the entire album, by now a fundamental detail in Hulder’s identity where roots run deep in long forgotten soil. And whilst the slashing cruelty and torn flesh of ‘Vessel of Suffering’ and ‘Enchanted Steel’ embrace a predatory barbarism, it is the joining of all those elements that places ‘Verses in Oath’ in the timeless pantheon of Black Metal’s most strident lineage. While Black Metal has evolved into myriad offshoots and subgenres to the point of incomprehension, Hulder is resolutely steeped in the genre’s destructive preeminence, rituals and traditions, carrying the torch of its origins and heritage. And still ‘Verses in Oath’ astonishes with the malevolent spirit of creative autonomy and individual freedom essential to reach the genre’s exalted heights. Hulder - Guitars, Vocals, Synth Necreon - Bass CK - Drums All music and lyrics by Hulder Recorded at De Pestkerk Studios, Jan - March 2023 Drums recorded at The Underworld Studios January 2023 Mixed and mastered by Ahti Kortelainen at Tico Tico Studios, June 2023 Photography by Liana Rakijian Illustrations by Mfaxii Logo by D. Andersson Layout by Dan Fried DECIBEL MAGAZINE TOUR 2024 Hulder, Worm, Devil Master, Necrofier 2/21: Roseville, CA - Goldfield Trading Post 2/22: Oakland, CA - Thee Stork Club 2/23: Los Angeles, CA - Echoplex 2/24: San Diego, CA - Brick by Brick 2/25: Mesa, AZ -The Nile 2/27: Austin, TX -Empire Control Room 2/28: Dallas, TX - Trees 3/01: Atlanta, GA -The Masquerade 3/02: Orlando, FL - The Abbey 3/03: Miami, FL - Gramps 3/05: Greensboro, NC - Hangar 1819 3/06: Baltimore, MD - Baltimore Soundstage 3/08: Philadelphia, PA - Underground Arts 3/09: Brooklyn, NY - Brooklyn Monarch 3/10: Boston, MA - The Middle East 3/12: Pittsburgh, PA - Preserving Underground 3/13: Cleveland, OH - Grog Shop 3/14: Detroit, MI - Magic Stick 3/15: Chicago, IL - Reggies 3/16: St. Louis, MO - Red Flag 3/17: Lawrence, KS - The Bottleneck 3/18: Denver, CO - HQ