Beats and yelling: Tulus

Morbid Desires
Out 27^th March on Darkness Shall Rise Productions

Being Tulus must be a thankless task. Even the promo blurb accompanying this release can’t quite muster the requisite enthusiasm, boasting “concise mid-tempo songs performed by proficient musicians”, ‘Morbid Desires’ is “by no means a one-dimensional album” and has “plenty of variety”. On that last point I cannot disagree. And herein lies the chief frustration with this artist. Whether playing black metal, folk, or just undiluted rock ‘n’ roll, it’s fanfiction in all but name. But they have been condemned to relative obscurity for their troubles regardless.

The Norwegian black metal band that time forgot, Tulus arguably established black ‘n’ roll before the likes of Satyricon got their teeth into it. Although their debut ‘Pure Black Energy’ released in 1996 works as a rough and ready companion piece to Darkthrone and Gorgoroth of that era, they took the austerity and simplicity of the genre to heart and stripped out any pretence of majesty, sweeping naturalism, and opulence from the experience, leaving us with nothing but tremolo strummed pub rock. But even as their sound grew far more legible to a none black metal audience they remain a relatively unloved addition to the annuls of the genre, largely forgotten even by its most devoted acolytes.

‘Morbid Desires’ continues this trend. Oscillating wildly between their still latent black metal DNA and their obvious love of good old fashioned rock ‘n’ roll. We are welcomed into the album by ‘Salme II’, a beautiful early Ulver derived exercise in bracing folkist energy. We are seen off by the closing number ‘Sabbat’, a classic rock track whose only link to black metal is the vocals.

The issue with Tulus, something that has plagued the band ever since ‘Pure Black Energy’, is not so much the rock ‘n’ rollisms, which they have managed to articulate far more convincingly than Darkthrone or Satyricon over the years. No, it’s the fact that no matter what style they lean into, their music amounts to little more than a series of platitudes. This is the essence of pub rock. If you’re working the live circuit specifically catered toward that layer of casual, incidental listeners and want to avoid straight up covers of rock standards, you need to deliberately craft your music to be as generic and crowd pleasing as possible (ironically something AI excels at in recording form).

This is essentially where Tulus have landed. I have no issue with their explicit melding of black metal with rock. They are far more consistent and playful with this than most. There is a charming naivety to it lacking in modern bands who attempt to smuggle rock ephemera under the guise of something more cerebral. Tulus are transparent and honest about what they do. But whether they’re playing ethereal folk melodies or Chuck Berry-esque boogey numbers, the style is so off-the-shelf and just about serviceable that it lacks any value beyond idle entertainment. If I was sinking pints at my local and Tulus rocked up and started cranking out these numbers it would make for a fun evening. But that’s the problem. The kind of band that entertains idle drinkers are adept at blending into their surroundings, of submersing anything that looks too showy or artistic, of keeping everything fun but familiar. They turn the absence of identity into an artform unto itself. A series of rank inanities lacking any motivation outside of decorating specific, lackadaisical moments.